My Evaluation

Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

• I think that my final book follows my original intentions of my storyboard to a certain extent. My flat plans were slightly different to my final pages, but I think that the changes that I made were improvements. The start of the book follows my flat plans, but after page 4 I only include the most relevant detail from my flat plans in the book. By doing this, I gave myself time to create better images than the original ones I had intended on making. One thing that was a big change in my book was the layout. Originally I had a unique layout, which generally included a number of different images on each page, however when making my image, I found it best to just stick with one image per page.

This ended up looking more aesthetically pleasing. The only page in my book that contains more than one image is my first page, as that was my test page and I like the idea of introducing Jack and his family all instantly, so that the children know straight away that he is the protagonist. On my flat plans I split the last page into two halves, and included two images on the last page. However, when making my final pages I created two separate pages for each image, this gave me chance to add more detail to the text, as there was more space to write in. For example, on the last page there was much more space for extra text, so decided to end the book positively, by saying ‘ happily ever after ‘.In conclusion, I think that I generally followed my flat plans, and the things that I did change were positively altered and they were all just improvements on my original intentions.

Pages one and two followed almost perfectly to their original flat plans.

Originally I had planned on having pages three and four containing four images. However I decided to miss out the image of the key and the lock, and I gave each of the three remaining images their own page in order for them to each get a lot of text that would help to tell the story better and in more detail.

How well have you constructed your images?

I believe that my images are well constructed overall. I think that they’re aesthetically pleasing as they contain all the necessary detail that’s needed. Every object/person/location is clear and looks good. Throughout the book I keep the same style of illustration, which means that my book looks complete and like a finished article. I am especially pleased with some of the effects I used. I like the textures I used when creating things like carpet and concrete. I’m also pleased with my use of the gradient effect on things such as eyes of the characters and I also used this effect when creating the sky. It makes things look more realistic and life-like.

Gradient Effect on the sky:Lighter shade

Gradient Effect on the sky:Darker shade of sky

Grass has darker shades in places to give it a realistic effect. This was created by the threshold effect.

A gravel-like texture used on the road to give the image a realistic feel.

I’m extremely happy with the way that the sacks of money came out. I used the warp tool on each sack in order to make them all look unique.I’m also pleased with the painting on page six. To achieve this strange object I just changed the brush setting to create something unique and interesting. Then I changed the perspective of the image in total to make it look as if it was actually hanging on that wall.To improve my images I would spend more time adding specific detail to each character, such as changing the skin shades and tone. I would also make sure that each object/character is smooth and that there are no rough edges. I would spend more time improving things such as Jack from the side angle, as I’m not completely happy with that. I would change his arm position to make him look more comfortable, and I would change his face shape to make him look more like the original character.

Interesting painting that was created by changing the settings of the brush tool.The perspective was also adjusted to match the wall.

Each individual sack of money looks slightly different, as this is realistic. I used the warp tool to achieve this.

Jack’s uncomfortable arm looks like he is waving rather than walking.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

Throughout my whole book the text goes under my images. The reason for this is so that it stands out. My images in my book are fairly busy, and I wanted to include quite a bit of detail in the text, so I was concerned about spacing. In order to create the book I had in mind, I had to write the text under the images. The text manages to still clearly stand out, and the images are just to the quality that I want them to be. There’s enough space in between letters for kids to read the book themselves. The book only has a few slightly more complex words, but hopefully parents would be able to help there children to improve their vocabulary by reading my book with their kids.

Text is nicely positioned under the image, therefore it is easy to read on the plain white background. Also makes the image clearer and stops the child getting confused why writing would be on the wall next to the lift in this image.There’s also the possibility of there not being enough empty space on some of my images, as they will be too busy.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I believe that my product is suitable for my audience, as I had planned on the book being aimed at 2 to 6 year olds in my proposal. The book is interesting and has a lot of excitement in it towards the end. It’s short, so it will work well with a young child’s short attention span. Also, for kids aged 2-4, their parents can read this book to them, but for older kids aged 5 and 6, they can attempt reading my book themselves, especially the ones who are good readers. My images were ‘colourful and detailed’ as I stated I would try and do in my proposal. By doing colourful, detailed images, it will give the children something to look at, focus on and enjoy.

I think that both young boys and young girls can enjoy my book. This is, because it’s an all round interesting book. Any child who likes an adventure should enjoy my book. My product also contains a dog, which might appeal to children who like to read about dogs. Scruff the dog is a main character in my book, so any animal loving children might enjoy my book.My storyline is very basic and easy to follow, so therefore I do think that my book is suitable for the target audience I originally had in mind. In fact, now looking back on things, I think that I would extend the age range of the target audience from 2-6 to 2-8. I think that 7 and 8 year olds might enjoy reading this book as it is exciting and it can be a book that they can use to help them learn to read, and some children might take pride if they can read my book fully. This is a benefit of only making the story short.

This image is colourful and busy, as there is a lot of detail, so there is a lot of things for the child to look at. I plan on adding fencing to this image to improve it and make it even more busy.

A well illustrated dog that children might like to look at.

The writing isn’t too complex for children. Also, once I have changed my font it should be easier for a child to read through.

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

In my book I am very pleased about many techniques and tools that I used.I think that the textures that I used in my book work well on the carpet and the concrete. It keeps my book feeling realistic and adds more detail. I also think that the grass looks good as I used the threshold tool on an image of some real grass and lowered the opacity so that it would blend with the bright green background I was already using. This technique helped to shape the grass and added more detail to my images.In order to create the money notes I had to be creative and make my own design. I was very proud after making them.

Realistic looking concrete. Achieved by using a concrete-like texture.

The threshold effect used to make the grass look much more detailed and realistic.

The money note looks fairly realistic, but still cartoon-like, which fits with my whole style.

Throughout my book I used the technique of rotoscoping. By doing this I managed to create the characters, locations and backgrounds, I have mixed opinions on my rotoscoping.I rotoscoped the buildings and sky and clouds and edited them slightly to make them look like a cartoon and in order for them to fit my style, sadly I wasn’t very impressed with my skyscraper building. I think it looked too flat and not tall enough. Although I was fairly impressed with the other buildings in my product, although they did look a bit too 2D, but this doesn’t bother me very much. When making the characters I used famous celebrities as templates for my characters and I rotoscoped them and then changed them ever so slightly to give them their own identity. I also just used an image of a dog and rotoscoped that for Scruff. I was quite happy with some of Scruff’s images, especially the side view, I was satisfied with the front and back views of Jack, however I wasn’t very impressed with Jack’s side profile as I didn’t think it looked real enough.

This doesn’t look tall enough. Looks almost if it is falling backward.

To me Scruff’s side profile is exactly how I wanted it. Looks fairly realistic, yet still like a cartoon. Looks detailed and aesthetically pleasing.

Doesn’t look real enough. Head is at a strange angle. Parts of him slightly out of proportion.

I also used the opacity tool to change how see-through things were.The opacity tool was very useful when creating things such as Sir Alan Salt’s shadow and I was very pleased with this outcome. It gave an eerie look to the character, it actually looked somewhat like a shadow. During my work I also used an outer glow effect, at the part where Jack opens the double doors. The outer glow makes it seem as though inside the doors the room is glowing, which is the effect I intended on creating, as it gives a positive and welcoming feel to the building. Due to the fact that this technique worked, I was pleased with the outcome of the outer glow.

The outer glow effect gives a positive view to what is behind the door as it looks bright and ‘holy’

I am very pleased with this shadow, I think it looks fairly realistic as you can still partially see the carpet underneath. This was created by dropping the opacity on a dark human shaped figure.

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

The main thing that I am pleased about in my final product is that it all looks like a complete book. I don’t think that any of the images look out of place. Each image fits the style that I was going for. To achieve this style, one of the things I did was add a stroke to each part of the image to give it an outline. This helped in making my final product look aesthetically pleasing.I am also fairly happy with how the images and the text are displayed on each of my pages, however I’m disappointed with the fact that some images have had to be reduced in size and stretched in order to fit onto the page with the amount of writing that is needed.

In each image, the objects/people/locations all have a stroke around them, even if it’s only a slight one. Also these three images are all different sizes, this is one of the negative things about my final product. I wish each image was the same size.

At the moment I dislike the font, so therefore I am planning on changing my font. I like the structure of my book and how it’s only a short and snappy story, yet I think it’s a really good modernised version of Jack And The Beanstalk.Also, right now the book is set in London, yet they use the dollar sign in the book. To fix this I’m going to change the location to somewhere in America, possibly New York.I also plan on adding fencing to the second page as two houses by themselves on the horizon looks fairly poor and not busy enough.I included colourful images with quite a lot of detail on some pages as I think that children like detailed pictures with lots of information to look at and explore, so I am very pleased with how they’ve turned out. Some pages however are not as detailed as I’d of liked, so I am slightly disappointed with them.

This serif font comes out all in capitals and I just don’t think it’s very nice to look at. Plus children find it harder to read capitals.

I believe that I need to add fencing to this image, as I think it would add detail to my image. It would give the children something more to look at and also it would give the image more depth, as right now it just looks as if the houses are sitting on the horizon.

Why did you include the content you used?

In my book I chose my characters wisely. I wanted to pick a Springer Spaniel as scruff, as they’re scruffy looking dogs, yet they’re very cute and friendly, so therefore I thought they’d be a good breed to use in a childrens book, as they will appeal positively to kids. I feel like if I’d of used a larger breed such as a Husky or German Shepherd, then this may have been frightening and masculine rather than cute and scruffy. Springer Spaniel’s seem like child-friendly dogs to me. I picked an actor to rotoscope as Jack, so that from different angles Jack would still look like the same character. I wanted to include a skyscraper as the main building, as I think children will think of them as massive, scary buildings, this will reflect what Alan Salt is. A tall, scary man. I chose sack of money as I knew that it would be easier to make Jack and Scruff carry the money if they were in sacks.

German Shepherd

• Large dog.• Not very fluffy.• May come across as scary to

children, because of it’s large height and weight.

• Fluffy.• Friendly looking.• Floppy ears.• Small dog that doesn’t weigh very much.• Colourful.

Springer Spaniel

I wasn’t very impressed with my font, so therefore I am wanting to change it to a different serif font that doesn’t just contain capitals. I am going to pick a serif font, as I believe that the letters are easier for children to read as the letters lead on from one to another easily. By changing the font it is possible that my book could be used to help children learn to read.I believe that the effects I used worked well, they all added different aspects to my product. At the end of my book, I had a kind of rainbow coloured background that was very bright. I thought that these colours reflected happiness and a bright time in Jacks life, as he and his family had just become rich, because of his triumph.I made sure that the key in my book was bright yellow/golden. This was to make it stand out and show that it could lead to a bright future. Because it’s gold it easily stands out on the page.The money is also green, so that they clearly stand out as being money and so that the children know how much of it there is. Their eyes will be immediately drawn to the pile of money, as it clearly stands out on the dull floor. Also the button that Jack pushes to go to the money room flashes green, this is supposed to reflect the colour of the money.

Bright colours in the background rainbow, reflect how Jack feels and how bright his future will be, due to the money he now has.

Green money in order to stand out over other colours.

(Page 2) The key is golden both to stand out clearly on the dull background and also to indicate that this key leads to a bright future.

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

When making Jack I made him wear a hoodie, as that helps to give the idea that he is a very common child, who’s main companion and best friend is his dog. That is how he is introduced to as, as his human friends are never mentioned in this book. However, he does wear a backwards cap in order to stand out from other people.In my book Jack’s mother is the only parent mentioned, this gives the impression that he doesn’t live with his father, so his mum is a single parent. This straight away hints that Jack and his mum are poor as it’s a stereotype that people with single parents are lower class. Also the fact that Jack’s dog is named Scruff gives the initial impression that his family are poor and scruffy.

Common clothes, a hoodie, brown trousers and some shoes. This shows that Jack is a common child who’s clothes aren’t anything special, however Jack does wear a cap in order to stand out from the crowd.

On the first page, only these three characters are mentioned when talking about Jack’s family. This gives us the idea that he doesn’t live with his father.

The fact that you can see the sky from Alan Salt’s office, gives us the impression that he has a lot of power and lives in a huge building, so tall that you can’t even see the floor, it makes the viewer think that he’s much higher up and better off than Jack.By Alan Salt only being represented as ‘ evil ‘ and as a shadow, it makes him come across as dark and scary. The only time we see Alan Salt is through a large shadow, and you hear what he is saying. Alan Salt sends out a threat, which also gives us a further impression that he is mean and brutal.When opening the double door’s there is a glow, this symbolises that behind the door could lead to a bright future, which does eventually happen at the end. I think that my style is fairly detailed, so it gives a realistic effect, however, most parts of my images have a stroke around them, this gives them a cartoon effect, which makes sure that it’s not real.

You can only see the sky and the clouds, this indicates that this room is located high up the skyscraper, which demonstrates Alan Salts power.

Alan Salt is only shown as a dark shadow. This gives us the thought that he is an eerie character, as shadows are dark objects, that don’t show us what is really there. This makes shadows mysterious, which is what Alan Salt is.

At the beginning of the book, Jack looks quite moody, however at the end, Jack has a huge smile on his face when he is surrounded by money. This helps people to know that Jack was very poor and sad, but due to his hard work, things paid off and he ended up being happy at the end of the book.At the beginning of the book when Scruff finds the key, a question mark is above his head, and this symbolises confusion, and it makes it clear that scruff has found something interesting.

Eyebrows and eyes larger than original image, and also different shaped eyebrows to show happiness. The smile helps to show happiness, especially how it’s tilting, it makes it look like a very big smile.

The eyebrows are close to the eyes, not much emotion is shown due to this. No smile, the mouth is closed, and you can only see Jack’s lips.

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

Media texts require us to have a certain level of cultural understanding to be able to interpret them.

At a basic level, this could mean being able to read the language that a magazine is written in.

At a deeper level, it means being able to interpret signs and symbols that we use a visual shorthand to communicate ideas.

We recognise these signs in our own culture but find it harder to understand when looking at others.

We create and attach meaning to signs and symbols in many different forms.

Creative Media Production 2012

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What is this?

This is a Norwegian Pine tree, covered in snow and with a red ribbon on.

Our cultural understanding allows us to interpret its meaning.

To us, in British society, it means Christmas, presents and family.

This is because we share a cultural knowledge.


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There are many other signs and symbols that we attach meaning to.

A leather jacket can imply rebellion.

A sports car can imply wealth and power.

A cross can represent religion.


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Visual representations of everyday objects are often the same the world over. A car appears as a car, no matter what country it appears in.

What that car means however, can be very different depending on your cultural background.


What representations can be found in your work?

In my product, dogs are shown as been incredibly intelligent, helpful animals that can assist their owners in order to make their lives better. Scruff first of all finds the key, to begin Jack’s journey. Then after this Scruff also carries one of the three money bags that they take back home, so therefore he is helpful and aids Jack. Therefore dogs are portrayed as very loyal animals in this book.In my book rich people are portrayed as being ‘evil’, as Sir Alan Salt is the only rich man we know and he is described as ‘evil’. He is tall, which helps to show his power, and he owns a huge skyscraper, which gives the readers the intention that he towers above everyone else and is very important.

Women are shown as loyal and alone. The only woman in my book is Jack’s mum, and she is a single parent, who we imagine has always taken care of Jack and stood by him.In my product Jack is young and Alan Salt is older, both are male. In my book Jack steals money, which represents him as being a criminal, yet he does it to help his poor family become wealthier, and he takes money from someone who has stolen from the poor, which sort of makes things better, as I’m sure some of the money he stole belonged to him anyway.Alan Salt, is described as ‘evil’ and someone who ‘takes money from the poor’. This means that both ages are criminals, however Jack is just taking back the money that Alan Salt has stolen. The older generation of men are portrayed as being ‘evil’ and the younger generation bring justice to criminals.My work doesn’t include any race or religion, so therefore there shouldn’t be any ethical issues. The reason for this is that you only see one family, and that’s Jack’s.

Scruff’s intelligence, loyalty and companionship is shown here as he’s carrying one of the money sacks for Jack in order to help him escape with as much money as possible.

What style have you employed in your products?

I was influenced by the ‘Little Princess’ books by Tony Ross. I was very impressed by the layout of these books, so therefore I used a similar layout in mine. By using this layout I think both the images and the text stand out. The text is nicely placed at the bottom of the page on a white background, so that no colours clash and it’s easy to read. And the image has a slight stroke over the top to make it stand out clearly.I also really liked the detail of the images in the Gruffalo books. Therefore I decided to keep my images fairly detailed to a certain extent.I liked the font of the text in the Gruffalo books, and when I change my font, I will be looking for one similar to the one they use in that, as it’s a good serif font that is easy to read.I chose my specific type of visual style as I think images have to be detailed in children’s books, as kids like to look at colourful, busy images. I believe that part of the success of the Gruffalo book is down to it’s fantastic imagery.

Strokes around the characters in order to give them a nice effect that proves they’re not real.

Incredibly detailed images with aesthetically pleasing, busy images.

Nice Layout, the images are clear.Strokes around the characters and objects. A border goes around the image to help it stand out.

The text is easy to read as it’s on a white background and does not clash.

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

planning I believe that both my planning and research went well. They both contributed massively to making my work what it is like now. The planning helped me to stick to a time schedule and keep on track with my work, so I didn’t fall behind. The research helped me on what types of images I should create. I liked the detail of the images in books such as the Hairy Maclary books. I think that these books are great for children and I wanted to replicate something similar to their images, as they were extremely detailed and busy. The research also helped me to decide how to lay out my pages. Books such as ‘The Little Princess’ series gave me ideas on how to lay out my whole book.

Especially busy and detailed images in the Hairy Maclary books. The animals and objects have a stroke around them. Also, the image is full of detail, there is barely any empty space.

I managed my time very well whilst creating my book, as I stuck to the schedule, so therefore I didn’t fall behind, I made sure I always focused and did the work to the best of my ability. My schedule was detailed and realistic and I also included the session to be a session that I could go back and improve any work, and that session could also be used to complete unfinished work. So even if I had of fallen behind, I would’ve used that session to catch back up. However I only used this session to improve my work that I had already done.The weaknesses of my planning was that there wasn’t many full body shots of the actor I used when rotoscoping Jack, so I had to improvise a lot when creating his body. Now I think that I should’ve used a different celebrity.I also wish that I had looked more into how books are written when planning my book, as I find it hard to actually write a book that sounds good to children. Another thing that I would do differently when planning, would be to add more pages and more characters into my book when creating my flat plans and script. Maybe someone of a different race who Jack could meet early in the book to teach children equality.

Historical and cultural contextMy book is a modern remake of the classic children’s book ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Instead of having a huge beanstalk growing in a garden, I made Jack find a key to a huge skyscraper. I believe that this worked better as a skyscraper is a modern building.Another change I made to my book was changing the ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’ part. In the original version, the giant threatens to grind Jack’s bones to make his bread, however in my adaptation, Alan Salt says that he will sell Scruff’s bones to pay for his bread.Jack and the Beanstalk is still a well known fairy tale, and that’s why I think my book is good, because it is more relatable for the kids of nowadays.Similar to the original, Jack and his mum live together and she is a single mother.Also, instead of Jack having, and selling a cow in order to get the magic beans, Jack owns a dog, Scruff, who ends up sniffing and finding a key that leads Jack to where he can get money. I believe that my version shows loyalty to an animal and it also shows good companionship, which is a good example to kids. Jack’s dog also aids Jack in escaping with the money, by carrying a sack of money for him.

English Man-original

English Dog-My adaptation

Jack lives alone with his mum. Jack leaves to sell his cow.

Jack and his mum live alone (same). He leaves to walk his dog (different).

Peer Feedback

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

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My Evaluation