Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

My digital flat plans were rough guides which helped me plan the logistics and the practical side of creating my children’s book. They helped me imagine in my head how each page was going to look and decide all of the scenes that I will need and the movement of all of the characters that was needed.To a large extent, my final product does reflect my original intentions. However, there are notable differences between them such as the use of speech bubbles in my plans that weren’t incorporated into my actual pages. Also, because of the requirements for the technique and style that I used, I had to change some of the angles and view of some of the pages as all of the backgrounds are based on photographs/images. A good example of this is the background that is used for page 3 and page 6 that went from being a horizontal path across the image to a vertical scene that shows depth and mystery. Another significant change that I had to make was the positioning of the characters which from my digital flat plans was hard to adapt to my scenes. An example of this is on page 7 and page 10 where the devil in the flat plans is in the bush, which I had to change because I couldn’t find an appropriate image to rotoscope.

Examples of my final products reflecting my original intentions

Page 3 and page 6 digital flat plans where the background had to change position.

Final background for page 3 and page 6.

Page 7 and page 10 digital flat plans where the devil had to be moved.

Finished page 7 which shows where the devil had to be moved to.

How well have you constructed your images?

I am pleased with the quality of how my images have been constructed. I feel that they accurately represent my capabilities with Photoshop. I am particularly happy with the outcome of my backgrounds that I made using existing photography and adapting the light the look of the image by experimenting with styles. I really like the style that the results have and I think that they fit really nicely with the story “The Poor Devil”.

As for the texture of the style, I felt that I didn’t need to do any further work as there was already enough detail in the images. I liked the edgy and rough look of the pages that I created. I didn’t want overcrowd the page and end up ruining the style of my children’s book.

The colour palette of my pages has remained consistent. I have used much dirtier colours rather than bright colours: Primarily browns, greens and bluish greys. I think that this has worked really well with the setting of my book and added to the uniqueness.

Comparison to professional work

When put next to the very famous book The Gruffalo, I like to think that the design is similar. These both have unique styles that are appealing in their own way.

The illustration for The Gruffalo was done by Axel Scheffler who is a professional illustrator and animator.

My backgrounds:The Gruffalo:

How well have you used text to anchor your images

I feel that the text has been well adapted to suit the style of the images. Within the text, there are lots of ellipses that create tension and suspense. The images and characters that I have made reflect this. For example on page 3 “She found a mysterious path and curiosity got the best of her…” and “He decided to go and get help from a nearby village…” on page 6 which adds to the ‘what happens next’ factor and makes children use their imagination to fill in the cliff hanger. I think that this is a good use of the text to engage with children and make the book seem more interesting to them.I also tried to use language that would be appealing to an adolescent, but not so difficult that they can’t understand it. An example of this is “mysterious” and “magical” which would seem endearing to a child. Some light alliteration has been used to help with pronunciation of words such as “The path became marshy and muddy and she slid into a sticky swamp.” The word choice was a tough decision as all of the language had to be appropriate for my demographic.

Examples of using text to anchor images

On all of the pages, the text tells the story and keeps the images in context. Without the text being there, the story wouldn’t exist, it would just be a set of images.

I like the use of text on this page. It’s short and subtle yet lets the reader know what’s going one without giving too much away.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

In my proposal I stated that the audience for my book will be ages 6-8 of both genders of any English-speaking background who are quite mature for their age and can grasp a more serious children’s book.I would say that the end product is suitable for my targeted audience in regards to the visual images. They turned out more or less how I would expect them to look and I am happy with them. I also think that the final script adaptation is appropriate for the target audience as it’s been carefully edited to be suitable.

Here is the Audience section in my proposal:

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

In my production methods section of my proposal, I stated that my production technique would predominantly be rotoscoping existing photography/images and editing them to suit my needs. Because of its nature, this has required lots of detail but has had its advantages and disadvantages.

My favorite background images as a result of my technique:

Production ProcessFirst, I found an image that I thought was appropriate for the first page.

I then rotoscoped some of the largest shapes in the image to act as a base.

I then added lots of layers to create depth and detail in the image.

Once completed, I added the “Poster Edge” filter in the Filter Gallery.

Likes and dislikes of my techniqueThe part I like the most about my technique is the outcome of the pages. I was really surprised how well my final pages turned out. I like the style and I think that it suits my story.The tool I used for most of this work was the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Shortcut=L). It was very enjoyable and has virtually infinite possibilities, however, one thing I found frustrating with it was that it was so easy to cancel the selection that I was working on. Some of the objects that I had to draw around were in detail and could take me up to 15 minutes, so when I accidentally deselected it, it was very annoying.The biggest dislike about my technique would be how time consuming it was. It took me a very long time to essentially draw around the photographs in detail and decide which part I should include or leave out. I definitely think that it’s been worthwhile as I’m happy with the result.I feel that at the beginning of the project, I could have experimented with other techniques more to see if there are any other easier techniques/shortcuts I could have used to save time.

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

Overall, I am very pleased with how all of my final pages look. However, there are definitely things that I think can be done to improve them.

This is page 3 and is one of my final pages. It’s one of my favorites because of the depth of the image and how mysterious it is. I love the position of Daisy and how she isn’t facing forward which adds a bit of variety to the pages. The spooky shape of the trees and the mist also complements the story. One thing that I would change and improve is the level of detail in the foreground, which should be much greater than in the background to give perspective rather than just a flat image. I might also add more trees, just so it fits with the style of Page 1 and to keep it consistent.

This is probably one of my least favorite finished pages. I really struggled with the design of the Devil character and couldn’t get something that I was happy with. I didn’t know what pose he should be in, what his characteristics should be or what to base him on. In the end, I made something that I was satisfied with. I still think he looks a bit crooked, but maybe that’s a good thing considering he’s the Devil.

This is also the background that I was the least happy with. I don’t know where that’s because it is too similar to the page 1 background or that it is the supposed villain's hideout, but I just don’t like it as much as the other backgrounds. I feel that as a scene, it doesn’t have enough depth or things going on. This is definitely something that I could work on.Something I do like about this background is the light shining through the canopy that gives the image a bit more perspective, and without it, the image would be flat.

Why did you include the content you used?ImagesBecause of the level of detail that I wanted in my style, it was necessary in my technique to use photographs or images to base my scenes on. I wanted my pages to be detailed, realistic and unique in the way that they look. Without the use of a template or something to be based on, this would have been very difficult. It took a lot of research to find images that would suit their purpose and could be used in my book, but I’m happy with the ones that I found. The example below shows how I converted a photograph into my own page.

FontThe font that I used in all of my pages was Microsoft Sans Serif. I chose this particular font because I feel that it’s easy for small children to understand as there are no lower case letters, just upper case letters and slightly larger upper case letters. This allows children to easily recognise the letter, while also clearly showing where the beginning of the sentence is or the names of characters. Here is an example:

EffectsThe effects that I used are key to the style of my book. The main two are effects that I used are colour overlay and the poster edges effect. The colour overlay was necessary as a part of actually making the shapes that creates my pages. It re-colours the area that I have selected which can be changed to any colour. It can be found in Photoshop Blending Options > Colour Overlay.Poster edges was used to add the black outline around all of the shapes on my pages. I included this in my work because I felt that it made the pages look finished and polished. I used a smaller edge thickness on the characters than on the backgrounds. Poster edges can be found in Photoshop Filter > Filter Gallery > Poster Edges.

ColoursAll of my pages used the same colours with certain exceptions. I created them like this to give them the same theme and keep consistency in my work.

All of these pages use the same browns, greens and blues. It makes them feel like they belong together: a part of a set.

This background is an exception as the mood of the story as changed slightly, and I thought this should be portrayed in the colours of the image. This page uses lighter browns, oranges and yellows. Although it uses different colours, it still looks and feels similar the other pages.

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

To an extent, the colours that I’ve used in my book represent the solemn feel of the story. The pages use lots of darker colours like browns and pale green which make the story seem more serious than your stock children’s book. The Devil is an interesting character. Because the whole plot of the story revolves around having pity and sympathy for the Devil, it was hard to show him in a way that wasn’t evil or malevolent. The colour red is commonly associated with anger or rage which made it difficult to create him and show who he is.

A more subtle symbol in my work is the warning sign on page 3, a sign that is widely known as a danger. It hints to the reader that something is going to go wrong.

What representations can be found in your work?

Representations are something that I could’ve put more thought into. The implications of genders, ages, races and religion is vital in any form of media, but more so in a children’s book, since they are so easily influenced. There is a distinct lack of ethnic variety in the characters and settings in my book. It revolves around the setting of a European farmland/countryside which is a narrow portrayal of the world’s cultures. However, it might seem disproportional or not representative of reality if I had lots of diverse characters in a small place.

Gender-wise, my story is about a farmer (male), the Devil (typically male) and a cow (female). In a certain context, the cow being rescued by the Devil could be considered a classic “damsel in distress” situation like in many fairytales. The female character gets themselves into a trap and needs to be rescued by the typical masculine male character. Maybe in an improvement of my book, I could introduce a female character that perhaps breaks the stereotypes as it’s important that there are both male and female heroes/heroines.

What style have you employed in your products?

The visual style of my book came about when I was experimenting in Photoshop for my test page when I had the idea to rotoscope a landscape photograph in a rough manner and see what happened. I liked the result. It looked abstract and individual in a good way. I would describe the visual style that my work takes as edgy and stylised. I wanted something that looked individual in it’s own right and like nothing that already exists. However, the finished pages could be compared to children’s books like The Snowman by Raymond Briggs in that the art style is unique and enticing.

I actually think that The Poor Devil has more in common in the style of a graphic novel than a stereotypical children’s book. In the example to the right, it is similar in that they are both detailed, use the same type of darker/pale colours and are consistent with the scene setting.

Similar Styled Products:

Dissimilar Styled Products:

This is a comic that has a employs a similar style to my children’s book. It is subtle and suggestive with its detail, especially in the background art.

This image is from a magazine called Gamut in the late 70s. I think that visually, it’s unique and relies a lot on the little details that have been put in, particularly in the characters.

These are some children’s books that are quite different to The Poor Devil. They are much simpler in terms of style, and on an intellectual level. Although they are children’s book, I would expect that these are targeted at an earlier age to my book.

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

StrengthsThere were numerous strengths of the preparation before making my children’s book. The planning document in particular helped me organise my time effectively and kept me on schedule for the work deadline. It showed me what progress I should be making and what I should be working on throughout the project. This was useful to me as I needed to keep on track of my work to complete my project as efficiently as possible.The proposal section of the development pro forma was another tool that was useful to me. It reminded me the aims of my book at points where I had to make key decisions about the logistics of my project.The mind map and mood board section of the development pro forma were also advantageous when I was first deciding what I wanted my children’s book to be like. It was useful to get all of my initial ideas out of my head and into a format that could be evaluated.

WeaknessesEqually, there were also disadvantages of pre-production and planning.One of the primary weaknesses of planning my children’s book was I didn’t know how everything was going to turn out when put into practise in Photoshop. The digital flat plans for example, were difficult to create as I didn’t know what problems I would encounter with choosing specific actions. Obviously, the finished pages don’t have to be like the plans and this is part of the production process. Another issue I had was falling behind on the schedule of the planning document. It was very ambitious to allocate one page per hour session of Photoshop and somewhat unrealistic. This meant that when I did inevitably fall behind, it was difficult to use the schedule to my advantage and at times I felt overwhelmed by the amount I had left to do.

Historical and cultural context

In modern culture, some of the most famous titles in children’s books include “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, “The Cat In The Hat” by Dr Seuss and “Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter. These books have set the standard in the modern children books with their unique and fascinating ideas.

ComparisonTo “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”: This book is one of the all time classics and everyone knows the story of Peter and Mr. McGregor. Visually, it includes a style that is artistic and rather endearing. My book tries to imitate this charm using a detailed style and lovable characters.

To “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”:The Very Hungry Caterpillar is simple and easy to understand. It uses basic counting techniques to appeal to and entertain young children. My book follows this simplicity in that the storyline is straight forward and easy to understand.

To “The Cat in the Hat”:The Cat in the Hat is unique in its character. The format and how the text integrates with the images is something to be admired.