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?

Flat plan

I have a got a copy of my story board which I scanned into pro forma to allow people to see what my original intentions were regarding this children’s book. I have picked out a couple of examples to follow up on. The first picture on my story board is almost exactly how I imagined it to look. The final product of the first page shows this where the granny gives away the pigs. I have kept things from my story board such as the home in the background were they all would have lived. Obviously for effect I have added extra things to make the final piece more naturally pleasing to the eye, things such as the clouds going over head, tree line in the background to fill out the white space.Throughout every stage of my production, I was constantly looking at the shortened version of the story as well as my own story board to give me the best idea of what I wanted my final pieces to look like. What I was drawing out my pigs, I tried out three different styles of how the pigs cold look, when it came to producing my final piece it because a lot easier if I linked each pig with the house they make. For example; the pig that built their home from wood was a lumberjack. In my storyboards I would never draw out what would be in the background. This was done purposefully to allow me to have some leeway on how I could alter the background and use different effects such as (night and day) to make it specific to the scene I was doing

How well have you constructed your images?

How well have you constructed your images? You could talk about the overall visual appearance and well as the use of texture and colour.

I feel that I have put a lot of thought into my characters and the way they are used in each scene. I have the wolf in page nine trying to tempt the pig out with blankets. I have made an inside reference in my book toward the food which you often have on Christmas dinner. ‘Pigs in Blankets’ I have done this by stating that pigs love blankets. This is an inside joke which the aimed at audience might not get. But due to the audience been of a much younger age, they might have parents reading this to them which could make it quite comical for them or amusing.

We would usually link blankets with sleeping and night time so I made this scene in a dark atmosphere to relate to this.

Not only this but I have put the side of the pigs head just above the window and a few Z’s which we would see as an indication that the pig is asleep in this scene

The main style I used in this work was rotoscoping. The reason for this is because it allows you to create your own characters and objects from real life images. When you do this you can even get things such as extra detail from the original image to make the rotoscope look better.

The texts in each page was used to fill out the areas which didn’t have many visual elements to take in meaning it would be easier for the audience to read on a single coloured background

How well have you used text to anchor your images

• You should talk about the combination of words, images and text.

In my work I have tried to make sure in every image I have used that the text is in the area of the image which would be most easy to read from.

Due to the text been white for the majority of the final pieces, I have used strokes around where I feel necessary to bring the text forward from the image.

When planning this out I had to cut the original script down into twelve pages. In these twelve pages you need to have the full story just simplified down to make sure that each group of text I

use could be illustrated in the book with fitting the guidelines I have made to make this book specific to my target audience

When producing this you need to make sure that if there was no illustrations, that you would be able to follow the story, start to finish and not be unsure on how something happens in the story.

The last thing I would make sure is that no text would overlap any of the key things you would look at in the image that I had produced to make even more clear what’s text and where the illustration starts. There needs to be the obvious link between text and the image as well.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I don’t think that anything in my children’s book could be seen as inappropriate towards my target audience. The text in the book has been placed and worded specifically so it would be easy enough for someone of that age to follow the story line without difficulty. Not only this but I have made it so it might been seen as quite entertaining for whoever is reading the book as well. Due to the target audience been quite young it would usually be the parent who would read this the child.

I only gave the first pig a name. the reason I didn’t give the second two a name is because it allows for this book to be open to both genders without any conflict between if the book is specific for a curtain gender. (Which it’s not) due to their been a mix of genders in the book already. All of ‘The Donors’ in this book seem to be played by the stereotypical male character who you would expect to have the curtain materials. Where as in the first scene the old granny has to give the pigs away and set them off on their journey.

When talking about the class. I wouldn’t say that this book would have a specific class due to the audience been very young. You would usually have stories read to children no matter if they are upper, mid or lower class. You could argue that upper-class children might not have books and would be spoilt with other things such as toys instead.

If I had to say it was specific to one I would say middle class because this is usually the class you would be when starting a new family and would have to invest in things such as this children’s book to entertain the child

Non of the imagery I have used in this book is seen as violent or gory meaning there could be any issue with this.

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

• Reference specific tools you used with imagesI have used quite a wide range of techniques to allow me to get everything I need for my final product. When doing my rotoscoping I would use parts from many different images to make the final piece. After you

have the basic outline of what you’re trying to produce. The way you do this is by using the Polygonal Lasso to go around the area you want selecting

I like how you can use the original image to gain more detail. The way you do this is by using the colour range tool and selecting for example all of the darker colours such as the shading and this allows you to pick up extra detail and make the final piece look more realistic. To do this you need to god to Select-Colour range

Another things which I like about the techniques I have used is the use of gradient. The gradient tool was used for quite a lot of things in my production. One thing which you might realise it’s used with is making the atmosphere in the pages seem like either night time or day time.

Lastly, I like the fact there was variety in how I made all of my characters. The pigs and the wolf were made with rotoscoping where as the granny and the three men who are ‘The donors’ in my book are made with the shape warping tool. The reason I did this is because I felt it would be good to employ more than on style in my work and I also did this to work out why way would be more efficient for the book I was making

I dislike the fact I only produced one type of tree, meaning when I’ve been making my backgrounds with tree lines in it, there’s not much variation with how they all look. This could be changed by just adding one more style of tree to make it seem less repetitive as well.

Another thing I dislike is the fact I wasn’t consistent with putting strokes around object to make them more prominent on the main image.

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

Like: I like that every page carries on from the last quite fluently. You don’t get lost in the story whilst reading. Not only this but I have put a stroke around the text on every page to make the text more prominent on the background. I also like that I have used the stereotypical professions to link with the materials the pigs use to build their homes. This is so even for the younger audience, they would still be able to make out what the idea behind the use of those character areThere is a variety on the time of day each scene Gradient has been used to create things such as shade under the trees where not as much light would get through or even when making the sky, this allows you to make a more realistic effect

Dislike:I dislike the fact I haven't put more detail into the image which is the only scene which is shown from inside the house. I could have added things such as furniture which would be suitable for what a pigs home would be like. I could have used more textures on the floor of the left hand image due to the only detail which has gone into this is I’ve put a gradient on the dirt track to represent the light hitting the ground from one side.

Why did you include the content you used?

Images:I used the image I did to link with what my text was better. For example ‘the builder’ who is the donor in my

story is the person who gives the third pig the bricks which allows him to defeat the wolf at the end of the story.

I also used the same image of the pigs to produce all three pigs but then went onto changing characteristic about them to meet what materials they were going to use with their homes.

Fonts:The fonts which were used in this book don’t have much variation. I have used the same font throughout the

whole book as well as keeping the text roughly the same size or altering it slightly to fit the space saved specifically for the text.

I have also made all of the text white with a stroke around it to bring the text forward from the image.Effects:I have used the gradient effect in this book quite a few times. With things such as scenery and the axe of the

lumber jack, this has been used to make the image seem more realistic as well as to add more detail to the objects.

ColoursI used the stereotypical colours you would use for each character and object in my final project. There‘s a part

where the building I used had grey bricks but the stack of bricks next to him were orange in the background when the third pig is trying to get bricks to build his home. This is something which could be quite noticeable to the audience.

I haven’t used any colours white represent blood or gory or anything which might be seen as a scary colour. All the colours used in the book would be quite bright, vibrant colours which would be more pleasing to a younger audience.

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

Choices of colourThe choice of the colours I used in my final project is very dependent on what scene it is. If the scene is meant to be at

night you would naturally use darker colours such as dark browns, greens and blues. These are all colours when darkened can give off the effect that it’s night time.

Not only this but with metal objects such as the end of the mans axe, you can use a darker grey and a lighter one in a gradient to make the texture look more like metal should instead of one straight colour.

Style: This is a book which the style is very dependent on the who the audience is. The illustrations have been purposefully

made cartoon to make it more pleasing to the target audience which very young due to it been a children's book. I have used quite vibrant colours as well as strokes to make it easier to recognise where which asset starts. Not only this but I have made sure this whole book, text and illustrations are suitable for the audience I’m aiming this at so it means there are no scenes which involve blood or gory.

Locations:Most of the scenes are made to look as if they’re outside. I think there’s only one or two scenes which are shown

from indoors. The reason for this is because at the beginning I had only made assets which work with an outside scene. Meaning it would have taken extra time to get more detail in the scenes where they’re indoors.

Character design:There have been elements which I have put into this to make a stereotypical link with the materials which are used by

the pigs to create their homes. The builder gives the bricks, the farmer gives the straw and the lumberjack gave the pig the wood to build a home. All of these have been put in a symbols which a younger audience might relate with each other.

Tone:Due to their been not to much change in the weather apart from the fact some scenes are day and some night. The

reason the wolf comes at night is to make the atmosphere scarier. This means the tone throughout my book stays roughly the same. Another you could pick up on is the last scene, due to their been the caldron cooking and it’s indoors. It give the scene quite a warm tone, not only this but this is the scene which the wolf gets sorted out so this could be a good things to represent the pig finally relaxing

What representations can be found in your work?

My book has a few of these elements in it. The fact there are 3 middle aged men and the old granny at the beginning shows that there’s diversity between

the ages of my characters. Due to the pigs been pigs, it’s hard to show that one pig is older. If I was going to go back and alter the pigs I could put some facial hair or something like this on it to represent one is older than the rest.

I have got a mix of races in my work as well. The 3 men all have different skin colours which means they could all be from different races. If I didn’t include things like this it can be bring around questions like “Why have you not included any other races or ages in the book?” I don’t want the book to come across as bias or prejudice to one culture or race.

I have used the same style throughout producing all the people in my book. They have all been made through shape warping. I have made all of the donors males only because all of the stereotypical jobs you would find that relate to the materials used to build the houses are usually male dominated meaning I’m just trying to stick to everyone’s stereotypical thoughts on this.

I don’t feel that my book has a lack of variety. Another reason why it’s a good idea to include different ages and races is because it makes the book more visually interesting for the younger target audience.

The clothing I have used on the male characters tend to be stereotypically colours which guys would wear. An example is that they wouldn’t be seen as normal if a builder was dressed in pink.

What style have you employed in your products?

When it comes to producing this. I would tend to put more detail in the section of the book which would be more noticeable. I wouldn’t put extra detail into the backgrounds due to it usually been either a tree line, top of the hill or bushes. All of these are fairly simply made in Photoshop.

Where as when you come to things such as the buildings. They tend to use textures of the material used to create them in the book to make them look that little bit more realistic. I would also use this on things such as grassy areas. Some I would use texture or some I would use gradient to change the way it looks like the lights coming in from an angle or to make it easier to make a scene which is night time. I would tend to put more detail in things which were closer to the front of the image.

Not only this but using the stereotypical thing you would tend to find on at curtain times of the day makes it a lot easier to make scenes which work well with the story.

I tried to at least use a thin stroke around most things especially the text just to make each object stand out more against the background.

I have mainly tried to go for the cartoony look, where I just use block colours and have extra detail for the things which are either been spoken about in the narrative or something which links a character with the material such as the builders hammer and tools on the wait band.

I didn’t have many influences. The only things which gave me ideas is going over the original script and thinking of ways I could change it slightly to either make it easier to illustrate or to make it more interesting for both the younger target audience and the parent or carer who might be reading this book to the younger audience.

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

How did the planning and research help?Planning was something which helps greatly. First strength is creating the flat plans to get your ideas out of the

table and see what style you want to employ when it came to actually producing this book. Next you would get the original script and then shorten it to make it suitable for a 8-12 page book with illustrations.

Having the planning booklet to mark down how much time we need for each section made it a lot easier to produce the work because you could keep looking back to this when you get stuck or you don’t know what to do next when you’re in a curtain session. It allows you to see how much time you have for each section and I find it easier to stay on top of work when it’s marked out

what you have to do in each set amount of time. Story boards are a good way of seeing what illustrations you can use on each page to make sure the images link with the storylineStory Board:

Mood boards are loads of images which relate to the styles I want to employ in my work. For example I used rotoscoping a considerable amount but the final result of this is good. Mind maps allowed me to get many ideas about which book I would want to do as well as what objects and assets I would need to produce to great the book I wanted.How well did you manage your time?Apart from the sessions I have missed due to been in lesson. I have managed to keep to my planning on where I needed to be and when. I have had to put extra time in out of lesson to make sure things are complete but apart from this everything has been going according to plan

Mind MapMood board

Historical and cultural context

How does your work compare to what has come before?I have used the basic story line of the original ‘Three Little Pigs’ The reason I have done this is I was able to put

my own little twist on what happens in the story. Using the illustrations to make this easier for the audience to work out.

In a lot of the previous books which have been produced even the spoofs, the majority of the illustrations which follow with this book are either drawn out or are done with water colours meaning the style I have gone for is used not so much with this type of children's book. I think that they would normally draw it out so that you can put in more textures which are drawn by you instead of from another image.

I have employed new traits which haven’t been used in the previous books such as linking the donors with stereotypical job you would find the materials with. The reason I have done this is to make the book more interesting for the reader who would normally be the parent as well as it allows the younger audience to be able to make the link for themselves through who the character is.

What other similar products have existed in the past? There's’ a spoof made of this same book where they have swapped the places of the wolves and pigs. This is a

good idea to do because it’s ironic because you wouldn’t usually find the wolves been chased by a pig as well as it’s a change from the stereotypical three little pigs book. This is a good way to bring diversity to your work.

What current products exist?Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad WolfThe Three little Wolves and the Big bad PigThe True story of the Three Little Pigs – this is a good title for the book in a way due to it technically stating that

every other version is false or not the original, makes it more noticeable to the audience

Peer Feedback

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