Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Use this template to help you evaluate your project.

You should give specific details about your work.

You should provide both written and visual examples to explain your project.

You should find areas to praise in your work. Be specific about why you think they are good or why you are proud of them.

You should also find areas that could be improved. Look for areas that you could make better if you went back to them. Be specific about what you would improve.

Add additional slides as you need to. Don’t be restricted by what is here.

Any blank slides should be deleted before submission.

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

When comparing my final product to the original preproduction, it is very close to how it was first intended. Especially when looking at the digital flat plans. I felt it was important to get a clear image of what each page should look like. This helped me fill each page with new and interesting ideas, rather than reusing the same shapes and layers too much.

I went away from the storyboards original page designs. The characters a shown in positions that when it came down to production would be extremely time consuming to create. This is because the character would need to be recreated from scratch, if a different perspective was needed. Over the last few pages a character I decided to cut from the final book is present. The Giraffe character has been replaced for a Bear character. Since bears scratch their backs on trees it made more sense for the character who points Timmy the R-rex in this direction.

The script has not changed from the moment i thought of the idea of the book. From the beginning I realised it would be memorable for children to have a short, reoccurring set of words throughout. This turned out to be the title “Sorry I Can’t!”, this also fits in well with the use of repetition which is often used in children's stories.

How well have you constructed your images?

I began to make the test page with the intention of using solid colours with textures taken from other images using the colour range tool. This was a good aesthetic for the first character I made - the t-rex using this technique.However, although pleasing to look at, this was impractical as it would prevent the character from being fully animated. The original method prevented animation as any distortion to the character’s shape would also distort the textures making them not appear as the are supposed to. In the end adding darker and lighter coloured blocks warped to fit the outline worked efficiently along side a satin effect to produce a 3-d effect.

I later increased my skill in this technique and began to draw my characters by hand, then followed by colouring the characters on photoshop using colour overlays and satin effects amongst others. While I believe the characters I created later in the book are my strongest asset, this method always seemed to create jagged and pixelated outlines and the use of a stroke only made it more pronounced. I had to carefully draw over every line using the paint brush tool. This corrected the problem to an extent although it still shows in my final work. All characters are fully animated in my book. This is an achievement I am proud of.

The backgrounds are a mixture of hand drawn scans and rotoscoped shapes from the internet. At times it is clear that several shapes have been reused. This was a time related issue and with a greater production time would be something I would improve. What I have done I believe to be a good standard of work with relative page to page variation, despite reused layers. Before production began I proposed to make the backgrounds interesting and detailed with plenty of features for the reader to spend time observing.

I believe this has been achieved to an extent, I tried to ensure that every page was not too similar with the same types of surrounding. I included mountains, the sea, jungle and fields.

The characters merge well onto the background. They also fit directly to the artistic style. Almost everything uses a satin glow. I made sure that the characters did not appear to be hovering in front of the background. To do this I often tried to place layers from the background on top of the characters. For example, on several pages the characters feet are shrouded by grass. The use of a drop shadow when necessary added to this effect. My weakest page is the first. It has a very simple and unvaried background with some spacing issues. The t-rex character is my worst character. There is a clear area where I have attempted to merge the head to the body. This can be seen where the colours meet although I have done my best to amend this with various tools. The outlines are grainy and undefined and in a number of places look as if there has been a chip taken out of the shape. The stroke effect on the hands is an area where this shows. The character required a solid outline and by doing this exposed its deficiencies. In particular the hand almost looks deformed. This issue is not present in characters I created later on as I developed my skills, certainly by the final character I made, the bear character.

The sunset effect I made using a gradient overlay works to very nice effect to signify the need of the story and is also very pleasant to look at. It is a welcome change to the blue sky used throughout the book and given further production time I would do a similar thing to every page in the book with a different colour scheme to show the progression of the day. This would have tied in nicely with my statement to give pages an vibrant and feature full appearance.

Similarly, just like the sky on the last page, I also found the entirely coated floor with sunflowers, was something I would do throughout the book. I would change it slightly to show various other plant and flowers to give far more detail to the empty space. The problem with this is that there would be less free area for text to be placed. I could solve this issue by expanding the page dimensions. The only reason I was able to do this on the last page is that it is a double spread.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

The text was something I took a lot of inspiration the book I researched, “Shark’s Big Surprise”. I used the use of onomatopoeia as used in the book frequently to highlight and make words standout. To extend this effect the font, size and shape were edited to resemble the words they mean. This further enhances what there is to be viewed on the page, as my original intention was to create something driven by illustrations rather than story and text. The age group I have aimed at are more interested in images than text at this point, therefore creating visually appealing text is a valuable asset.

I designed the text to pop out from the page and bend around illustrations. This works well for the most part except at times where the text is perhaps to warped and skewed, but never too much so that the text is unreadable. The text font chosen called “Harrington” is perfectly suited to the story and illustrations, it gives a jungle feel to it. The Harrington font uses serifs. The use of serifs assists new readers when moving their eyes from one word to another.

The text is designed with he intention of making reading the text as easily as possible for inexperienced readers.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I believe my product is matched perfectly to my target audience. I chose to use animals with friendly and round faces as my characters as I believe this is the best way to appeal to children. The illustrations are designed to be the main focus of every page with plenty to look at. The audience I am aiming at is likely to have the book read to them by a parent, therefore all the child will be doing is listening and looking at the illustrations. The text was something I wanted to make stand out and not to be seen as the boring part, which I am sure many children think about it this way. The text is almost part of the illustrations. I tried to make sure it is not just standard blocks of text along side the image. The text is also designed in a way that encourages children to join in reading with the parent. I have done this by making every sentence overly dramatic, exaggerating using alliteration and making words very pronounced.

I believe my target audience is a child under the age of 5 having the the book read to them. They are able to read at the age and should join in if possible. The repetition throughout the book encourages the child to join in with the repeated sentences. For example, whenever a character is disappointed they are unable to help Timmy, they say “Sorry I Can’t!” Hopefully the child will look forward to this bit and join in with the parent reading. This quote is one that has an exclamation mark at the end to perhaps persuade the child to get excited at this point, also considering that this is the title of the book. This should work in the same way that when a character is introduced he is always doing “something” along or about. For example, Monkey is “hip-hopping” along.If this use of words has worked efficiently then the child should look forward to finding out what the next animal is doing.

What do you like/dislike about the techniques you have used?

There are two techniques for creating characters that I used. The first one was to find a similar shape on an image to that of the shape I was trying the create. Firstly I would use either the magnetic or polygonal lasso tool, whichever was the most appropriate, to cut the shape out. Then I would warp the image followed by adding a colour overlay. This gave the basic shape and colour which I wanted. This was effective. I used this method to design the t-rex and the monkey characters. The problem was that it was very difficult to create accurate shapes, making it hard to create the character I had in my head. This process was also very time consuming. The second method which I learned to prefer was to hand drawn the shape and some detail and to scan in the image and further edit the image from then. This was a much faster way if done correctly. Though despite my best efforts to leave no gaps there always seemed to be empty area where colour could escape to the rest of the page. This only tended to happen when the scanner was not available, leaving me no choice but to take a picture of the image I had drawn and trace it with a marker pen. The problem with this was that the lines were very low resolution. This left me needing to go over every line once more using the paint tool. This used up even more time than the rotoscoping method I reviewed previously. Towards the middle of the book I realized hand drawing shapes were far better and began to use it for the majority features including the sunflowers on the last page and the lightbulb above Timmy’s head.

What do you like/dislike about how your final product looks?

In comparison to the first page the main character seems to lose quality, maybe due to several compressions and recompressions. This is not an issue with the other characters as they are not used to the same extent.

There are a large amount of reused layers especially on the first page, when I was at the stage where I was beginning to learn the software whereas by the later pages I began to create original features for every page. The reusing of trees at several points in the book is due to a lack of time. I was far faster doing this to create the form of a forest. However I turned this to my advantage on the final page by use of sunflowers that cover the earth and cover the characters legs, providing a good sense of scale.

I am proud of the outcome of the final page and would continue this method of covering the floor on other pages given the extra time. I hope children will enjoy the pleasant ending to the book. I felt it was important to show all the characters in one page (or double page). I also hope children will spend time admiring the detailed and fanciful illustrations from the sunset and sun to the autumn tree.

At times the text feels forced into place and this is true to an extent. For example, this was certainly a problem I came across on page 9. I was unable to use the quirky, stylised word I have been using throughout the book (such as the word “waddling” on page 6). On page 9 I was forced to compress the text down to a slightly smaller size, although this is barely noticeable.

On page 6 I attempted to create a forest in the background. The trees I drew to be

scanned in and duplicated. Unfortunately it turned out rushed and bare with little to it. The clear gaps in foliage mark empty green background and the trees were also to a low quality looking like lolly pops.

Something I like is on page 5. The scale of the characters seams completely random. The page shows Billy the Boar looking up at Timmy the T-rex with a bewildered look on his face at the impossible challenge he faces of itching Timmy’s back. By hugely decreasing the scale of the Boar character I was able to exaggerate the task’s difficulty he had been given. Unfortunately with the already lowered resolution of Timmy and the upscaled model to cover half the page it only exposed his lower quality. The outline is also not particularly obvious as I left it just about unaltered apart from the unobvious glow surrounding the character model. I tested a number of techniques including a stroke effect to amend this although it only highlights it’s shortcomings as did a drop shadow.

Why did you include the content you used?

I thought it was very important to give my book a unique art style. The appearance of every page was paramount for the child to enjoy reading it. Illustrations were key to attracting readers. Therefore not only did I work hard on the rotoscoping and hand drawn aspects, but the text must be attractive for the child to look at. This was because I pictured an adult reading it to them. I hoped stylised text would encourage the child to read and observe the text. The effects I used in production were of a block colour with shaded areas. I liked this as it gave a 3D effect and also gave realism while retaining the cartoon childish look which was vital.

As the book is set in nature plenty of greens and blues were important to be easy on the eye. If I had created the book to include greys and blacks the book would set a darker tone, which would likely put young readers off. Some illustrators have used a technique like this, for example, “Funnybones” by Allen and Janet Ahlberg. The book is about skeletons in the night and has an element of minor horror. To which this art style worked effectively. As my book sets a lighthearted tone with bubble writing as cute looking animals I decided a bright and friendly colour scheme was required.

The use of fully animated character was something I strived to achieve. This allowed for a book designed to give realism, which was very much my aim. Others have created books with two diminutional characters which only seem to face directly towards the reader. It is a style that works well, just not a style I was trying to achieve.

To create a subliminal feeling of progression, I engineered for the hero of the story, “Timmy the T-rex” to always be facing to the right and positioned at the left of the page. This means that the characters he was talking to were always on the right. This was to appear as if Timmy was walking through the jungle instead of backtracking. Had it been called for, for the character to return to a previous place then he would enter the page from the right.

What signs, symbols or codes have your used in your work?

Firstly i though it was important to have no human contact in the book. The book is set in nature from beginning to end. The locations I tried to show were as differing from page to page as possible, while still retaining the look of nature. To hammer home the nature theme is had the constant use of greens, blues and browns. The satin effect was a very important tool for me during the construction process. It allowed me to expand on the current shapes I had already formed and coloured. The satin effect allowed me to quickly and efficiently shade the outline of a shape. If not for this tool I would have needed to add rectangle shapes and warp around the edges in a darker shade.

The whole tone of the book is to be very lighthearted, this has been done possible as much as possible. The characters I have created are as friendly and child friendly.

What representations can be found in your work?

The story I have made is not so much to do with plot and character representation or hidden meanings but far more to do with colourful illustrations and unusual text which are enjoyable for the child to read while learning new words along the way. Three of the characters are introduced with male names, the other is left with the name “Monkey” alone for no specific reason. This characters gender can be left to interpretation. Given the opportunity I would perhaps go back and make there is a female character for the sake of variety. I could argue the case that since the reader is to assume the characters are children or at least younger than adult hood that the characters represent equality and free will since it is later in life that we begin to categories people groups.

The fact that my book features no human characters and are all animals could suggest that there is no representation present whatsoever, as animals live the way they do with no question. I would say they are simple and mindless, but then I would not have made them anthropomorphisms. It is required for the plot for the characters to talk and animals make a better learning basis for children as they can ask whoever is helping them to read it what all the different animals, plant and backgrounds are. Of course it was necessary for the story for animals to be the characters or the plot would not work. In conclusion the characters should be taken as they are not for what they represent.

What style have you employed in your products?

The visual style I followed was that of block colours and slightly shaded outlines. This style this was achieved with various methods but was always coloured on Photoshop. As I spoke about earlier, my page style is heavily based from the children’s book “Sharks Big Surprise” which uses illustrations with lots going on in them for the reader to explore. This book also uses the dramatic writing that I have adopted in my text. Although the illustration style is purely my design the layout and idea of having hidden “easter eggs” throughout and other unique backgrounds are inspired.

When I designed my story I knew there had to be an aspect of repetition as there is with most children’s stories. The plot had to have a conclusion that included all the characters on the same page, as it would tie up nicely with a double page spread. Again I took this idea from Sharks Big Surprise.

As seen on the pages taken from “Shark’s Big Surprise” on the left the words “Got You!” and “pounced” are a very similar style to those that I have used. The illustrations are vibrant and crowded with backdrops and sea life. This is what I was trying to accomplish with my illustrations.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-production and planning

During preproduction it was of great help to have the use of a digital graphic narrative was very helpful to establish an accurate idea of how the pages would vary. It also allowed me to workout placing for the text. As the text hovers over the top of illustrations it was necessary to have set positions for text, as i found during production text can easily run out of room and need re positioning or resizing.

My intention was to complete roughly one page per session (day) with a day or two at the end to allow for much needed fine tuning. During this period I was made sure each and every page matched the last in style and tone. The text was important to be consistent throughout. One the occasional page the text size has been reduced by the smallest amount possible to allow the text to fit comfortably on the page.

The importance of preproduction is to make sure there is a strong foundation of which to build on. Having a good idea of plot, ideas for the art style and the tone the book will set can really shorten production time. My research on existing children’s books was incredibly helpful as it allowed me to find a basis for which to set my art style. As I have mentioned my book is influenced by the book “Sharks Big Surprise”.

Historical and cultural context

• How does your work compare to what has come before? What other similar products have existed in the past? What current products exist?

As I have spoken about before, the book is modeled on Sharks Big Surprise, and just like my book, “Sharks Big Surprise” is a very modern style. It is entirely computer generated from characters to text to backgrounds. It is not a traditional way to position the text on top of the illustrations. Traditionally the text would usually be around or on a separate page to the illustrations. This method used by the creators of “Sharks Big Surprise” and myself is one that can be constantly adjusted and altered as much as needed. This allows for text to be repositioned and backgrounds changed or elements removed.

For my book I decided to use an almost entirely modern method of production. This is apart from the fact that various backgrounds and characters were drawn. There is not too much shading used and the shading that is there only follows the outline and does not travel into the middle of shapes, unless there has been a specific reason for it to do so. This decision was to make a simpler design while not being bare. The character and shapes do not look two dimensional but stand out as a unique and pronounced art style. It is simply another method of doing illustrations.

A book I can use as a relative opposite is “Hairy Maclary’s Bone” This book uses skilful drawing skills and the use of colour added by hand, or at least created in a style so that it appears to be hand drawn. The text is also on a separate page in a single block centred in the middle. There is no text on any of the illustrations. What I also noticed is that the image did not always span the very edge of the page. There was usually a plain white border that merged with the image to an extent. I bring this up because my intention was always to fill the page as much as possible illustrations and text. This is a very good example of a book that has been made following traditional methods of children’s books production.

Peer Feedback

• Summarise peer feedback and discuss– Responses you agree with– Responses you disagree with