Digital Graphic Narrative

Development

Danny Kewley

Shape Task

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I created my image with an abstract style, not keeping exactly to the dimensions of the original image. This allowed me to adjust the shadowing and highlights of my image, using various shades of the same colour in the process. I didn’t want to go to in detail with features such as eyes and fur. I tried to keep a flat, minimal shape style to give the image a cartoon feel, without being to realistic.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would first start by creating a sketch using paintbrush to overlay on the image I chose. This would allow me to recreate shadows and highlights with ease, and allow me to focus on the accuracy of my shapes, instead of taking too much time deciding on the colours and shades to use.

Rotoscopes

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?For my Obama rotoscope, I decided to go with a very minimal shape style, with hard, sharp edges with little detail in facial features. I liked the simplicity of this rotoscope and began to experiment with using shadows to show detail, for example the nose and suit sleeves.For my Bradley Cooper rotoscope, I decided to keep the same simplistic style, but add more detail in the facial features and hair. I liked the way I used jagged edges for the beard and hair, to give it a realistic flair.

What would you improve if you did it again?To improve my Obama rotoscope, I would take more time to adjust the edges and positioning of my shapes, as some corners and spaces where shapes intersect are jagged and have incorrect spacing. This would help to give my image a cleaner look and improve the overall accuracy of my rotoscope.To improve my Bradley cooper rotoscope, I would put a little more detail and shadowing into the skin to make it more a more lifelike cartoon.

Text Based

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?For my text styles, I liked the use of adding images into the fill of the text. I also liked using both lowercase and uppercase letters to differentiate the Forename and Surname.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would focus on my letter placement and experiment with other ways of displaying the text in different perspectives. I would also use a range of fonts, and find script type font to create a signature style surname, underneath a sans serif forename.

Comic Book - Supernatural

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I experimented with different effects to create various comic book style images. I liked the 2nd effect the best. This is where I used a combination of the cutout filter and threshold adjustment to create a silhouette on the layer above the cutout filter.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would try choose an image with more colour variation so the cutout filter would perform better. It would help to separate shapes and not combine areas of the image I would like to keep. I would also try to refine the level of threshold I choose so that the silhouette created does not create a pixelated edge on the characters.

Comic Book – Hot Fuzz

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I like the way the image is flat and uses flat colours for shading. The black background helps to contrast against the two characters, and draws attention to them.

What would you improve if you did it again?If I were to attempt this again, I would experiment with images with a larger array of colours. The image I chose, although it worked well and contrasted with the black background, was a little plain, and didn’t have much detail or colour variation. With a more complex image, I would have been able to display more of the shading I particularly liked.

Photography – Happy

Photography – Confused

Photography – Lonely

Photography – Excited

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I liked the clarity, and range of colours that I was able to produce in each of my images. I took all of them in RAW, which enabled me to fix any discolouration, and sharpen the faces of the individuals in the photographs.I also tried to use the rule of thirds to position my characters in the centre/off-centre of my photographs. This helps to focus audience attention to the emotion being displayed on the faces of the individuals.

What would you improve if you did it again?If I were to take more photographs, I would experiment with different locations, and perhaps take the images in a studio location. This way, I would have more control over the lighting and, I would be able to use a plain background, making the emotion displayed the primary focus, without a distracting background scene.

Illustration

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I liked the use of different shades of green, to show shadows and highlights within my image.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would spend more time on putting detail into the background. I sketched a quick scene behind the dinosaur to display the habitat in which it would live in, once I had finished my main illustration. I would also use a black market pen to create bolder outlines for my illustration.

Illustration

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I liked the cartoon-like approach I took when creating the facial features. The monkey’s eyes and mouth are large and exaggerated to show emotion. I also like the simplistic outline I used, instead of a rough sketch.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would perhaps use different shades of colour to create shadowing, similar to my first dinosaur illustration. I would also spend more time on making sure the colours are neat, and don’t have jagged edges.

Initial Ideas

Setting & LocationsMy main story location will be the forest during Red’s journey to her grandmothers. I’m going to keep my tree styling simple, and colourful. Lots of shadowing will also be included to help to intensify the mysterious atmosphere I am going to create during the scenes when the wolf appears. To keep consistency with the story, I need to include a pathway through the forest. I will also have various other settings, such as the Mother’s house to begin the story and the Grandmother’s house to end the story.

Characters & AnimalsMy characters in my story are going to be very simple, with flat colours and shapes. I’m going to use shading to create a 3D like effect for placing layers over one another. The simplistic style I am aiming for will be suitable for my target audience of children, as it won’t be too complex for them to understand.I also intend to use a variation of colours to differentiate the two wolves within my story. One a light shade, and one a dark shade.

I’m going to use Black Chancery as my title font, and Neuton as my Body Font. Black Chancery is a font with an artistic styling, including tails and trailing lines. This matches the old style, classical front cover I am going to aim to create.Neuton is a very simple font,and doesn’t have any too fancyor distracting features. This willhelp the children reading mybook to focus on the illustrationalong side the story. Both ofthese fonts are Serif fonts.

In addition to using these fonts, I am going to experiment with various icons and images to customize my title font for my front cover. One of the idea’s I’m going to try is placing the howling wolf icon within the blank space of the ‘O’ in ‘Of’.

Fonts & Styling

Mind Map of Ideas

Adaptation Explanation

ProposalDimensions

Landscape A4, around 12 Pages (6 double spreads)

Story Overview

My story is an adaptation of the well known folktale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. It’s based upon the main girl protagonist being a wolf herself, along with her family (Only Mother & Grandmother shown as characters within the story). The red hood she wears is the only thing protecting her from turning into a wolf when there is a full moon. The journey ‘Little Red’ is set upon by her mother is not just to deliver treats to her grandmother. It is also the day in which she is taught that she has a second being as a wolf. This is done via the comments made at the end of the story towards her grandmother in bed (What big eyes you have etc.). In this adaptation, these comments are not referring to a separate, wolf character, but rather the grandmother.

Export Format

PDF

Advantages: Easy to create and fairly compatible with all modern operating systems, graphics can be saved at full resolution, can be raster or vector images, can embed custom fonts.Disadvantages: Large file size without compression, can be difficult to edit without specialist software or the original document.

Deadline

15th May 2015

Audience

I am targeting children aged 7+. This is due to the fairly complex storyline adaptation. Children under this age range may not understand certain parts. It is a gender neutral story, although due to the wolf character and possible spooky atmospheres, it could potentially appeal more to a male audience. It also needs to appeal to the parents purchasing the book too. I believe that because the book is based on a classic tale known by the majority, this will help to market the book positively among parents.

Production Methods

I am going to use two methods to create images for my book. One will be to illustrate the images by hand, scan them into Photoshop and add a comic book effect to them. This is done using the Photoshop filter gallery and applying filters such as cutout to stylise the image. Another method involves finding suitable pictures on the internet or pictures taken with my camera to rotoscope in Photoshop. To rotoscope, I will use the selection tools and shape tools to create a cartoon styled image from a realistic photo.

What are the strengths of the proposal? What areas of the proposal need further work?

A good proposal, you explained your reasoning behind everything for the production and gave a clear understanding of the story. You also looked at every possibility for the production (rotoscope, warping etc)

Good proposal which explained and rationalised your thoughts and ideas.

Write more on the audience, is the book gender neutral?

Adapt the audience ideas a bit more, perhaps?

What are the strengths of the idea generation? What areas of idea generation could have been further developed?

You have a good story with lots of creative ideas, your annotations are clear. You also looked at a good range of fonts. Good mindmap, lots of details.

Strong idea generation. A nice tale to adapt an idea from.

(Annotations for the rest )In settings and locations maybe talk about some of the photos (is it illustration or rotoscope?)

What are the strengths of the proposal? What areas of the proposal need further work?

Clear understanding of what the book dimensions are going to be. You have also clearly summarised the plot of the story.Nice, detailed summary of the export format.

You have said that the story is aimed towards children aged 7+ but you haven’t mentioned whether or not they are male or female.

What are the strengths of the idea generation? What areas of idea generation could have been further developed?

The mind map is very extensive and covers a wide range of ideas.The fonts are very well chosen and they fit very well with the theme/tone of the story.Great adaptation idea.Lots of creative ideas especially potential title generation.

None, very well thought out.

Feedback SummarySum up your feedback.My feedback explained that my strengths included a strong mindmap and adapted story idea, with clarity in technical aspects of my book such as fonts, file types and dimensions. My story adaptation was also praised and was portrayed as strong and creative. It was also discussed that the areas I need to improve on are my mood board annotations and my audience demographic.

Which parts of your feedback do you agree with and why?I agree with all of the points that were discussed, especially the focus on my audience. It is currently not very detailed and doesn’t describe who the book is going to appeal to, other than the chosen age demographic. I also agree with adding information to my settings mood board regarding the styling of the images I’m going to use, such as rotoscoping. I believe that the story adaptation I have chosen to do is strong and was a good choice for my intended audience.

Which parts of your feedback do you disagree with and why?I don’t agree with the point that there were no points to improve upon in my idea generation. I think that my mind map could include more references to current books and stories, and that my mood boards could be annotated in more detail.

1A, 1A2, 1B, 1B2 2A, 2A2, 2B, 2B2 3A, 3A2, 3B, 3B2

4A, 4A2, 4B, 4B2 5A, 5A2, 5B, 5B2 6A, 6A2, 6B, 6B2

STORYBOARD (Pages 1-6)

Storyboards

7A, 7A2, 7B, 7B2 8A, 8A2, 8B, 8B2 9A, 9A2, 9B, 9B2

10A, 10A2, 10B, 10B2 11A, 11A2, 11B, 11B2 12A, 12A2, 12B, 12B2

STORYBOARD (Pages 7-12)

Secret of The Hood: Break Down1. Little Red given basket to take to grandma’s house.2. Little Red starts journey through the woods.3. Little Red bumps into a wolf (Secretly her mother).4. Wolf tells her to keep her hood up at all costs and to stay on the path.5. Little Red continues on her journey through the woods.6. Arrives at grandma’s house and places basket on the table.7. Enters grandma’s house and sees a wolf like figure in grandma’s bed.8. Little Red describes wolf features and becomes scared.9. Realises the wolf is her grandma and becomes confused.10. Little Red is told of her true wolf self and the ‘Secret of The Hood’.11. Mother enters as the wolf from the beginning.12. Red removes her hood and howls.

Original Script

Original Script goes here with link to where it came from

Final Script

1A Once upon a time in a far away land, 1A2 There lived a young girl with a basket in hand.1B “Take this to grandma” her mother did say,1B2 “Cookies and cake to brighten her day!”

2A “Remember your hood and wear it with pride,”2A2 “Into the forest, use the path as your guide!”2B Agreed did Red with all of her heart,2B2 Leaving for grandma’s, her journey did start.

3A In the forest she walked, though the grass and the trees,3A2 Then she heard a loud sound, and shake did her knees!3B Out of a bush, a wolf did pop!3B2 Scaring Little Red till her heart almost stopped!

4A “Don’t worry Red, I mean you no harm,”4A2 “I just came to warn you, so try to stay calm!”4B “Keep your hood up and don’t walk astray,”4B2 “Keep a quick pace as it’s just gone midday!”

5A And with that he was gone, no fur to be seen,5A2 All she could see was the grass that was green.5B She continued her journey to deliver her treats,5B2 Surrounded by squawks and flaps and tweets.

6A Out of the clearing, a cottage did appear,6A2 Red better hurry, as night is very near!6B She opened the door and entered the house,6B2 Placed her basket on the table as quiet as a mouse.

Final Script

7A ”Grandma are you home?” Red shouted with glee,7A2 “I’m in bed my dear, could you fetch me some tea?”7B She entered the room and stood in shock,7B2 As something with fur was wearing a frock!

8A “Don’t worry my dear, do not be afraid!”8A2 “Come a little closer, you’re stood in the shade!”8B Red shuffled forward with unease and distress,8B2 Who could be wearing dear grandmother’s dress?

9A “Your ears are pointy and your eyes do gleam,”9A2 “Do I see fur, or is this a dream?”9B Her fright level rose as the creature did say,9B2 “I’m a wolf by night and a granny by day!”

10A “The old story goes a little like this,”10A2 “It began with a wolf who turned with a kiss!”10B “At day he returned to being a man,”10B2 “But when the night came the transformation began…”

11A A knock at the door and a patter of paws,11A2 There stood a wolf with big set of jaws.11B “Red I’m your mother, do you not see?”11B2 “Although I have fur, the wolf is still me!”

12A As Red removed her hood, it all became clear, 12A2 She was changing in form, but shed no tear,12B Claws and teeth, Red felt no fear,12B2 “You’re one of us now, a wolf my dear…”

Front Cover Back Cover

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