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?

Yes, I think that my finished product is exactly how I planned it out to be with some added extras. I used the same basic plot that I devised in my planning and used the same style of illustration that I had originally thought of. My digital flat plan is almost an exact replica of my finished product. The only difference is that I touched it up a bit in suitable areas. For example, I chose to make the fox and the gingerbread man drawn on paper using pencils so they stand put, rather than rotoscoped like the rest of the images. I also gave all of the windows panes so it would add detail and it looked more professional than just a blue square for a window. I also warped the gingerbread man to look like he was running towards the reader. I also painted some lines on the road to add to the page’s shape.

This is the Page plan

This is the finished page

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 my images as a whole have been very successful. I chose to do two kinds of image manipulation. Firstly, I chose to rotoscope my background in a cartoon and simplistic fashionSo there was no specific texture or look to any of the buildings except for the whole shape being one color. This made it look bright and intriguing. Then for my characters I drew them by hand using pencils so they looked like a child drew them. I did this because the child would look at the pictures and be able to relate to how the characters have been drawn. I feel this was successful as in my final product, you can see the characters standing out from the background which was one of my primary goals as I wouldn’t want them to be camouflaged into the buildings. Another reason I am proud of my pictures is that after drawing them out, I do not need to edit them at all after scanning them into the file as they already have a good texture from the pencils. So in conclusion, I am very proud of my images.

Below are pages 4, 6 and 8.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

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

I feel that my text and my images go well together because they narrate exactly what IsHappening in the picture below. There is no direct dialogue in my story so narratingthe images was a good idea as otherwise, there would be no words and only picturesand it needed to have some narrative to it as it is a book made for children aged 1-6 years.

These are the years where children begin to recognize words and shapes so a book like this will help improve their reading skills. But something I would do next time is try and write a bit more as on most pages, it is just one sentence and that is quite repetitive.

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

Is your product suitable for your audience?

• Reference your proposal

• Give an audience profile and describe suitability in reference to content

My product is very suitable for its target audience of 1-6 year old children. My bookIs not aimed at a specific gender as the story is a simple tale of a fox chasing a gingerbread man. Although both characters are male, this has no representation or relevance to the target audience of the book.

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

• Reference specific tools you used with images

I like that I used a technique that not many people seem to use and that is scanning. I drew out my characters on paper and scanned them into my photoshop file to give a childhood effect that the children who are reading the book can relate to. This gave the characters a certain look and texture that you just couldn’t do digitally. For my background, I used adobe photoshop and rotoscoped multiple images to make very detailed backgrounds with a simplistic design. I didn’t add texture to the buildings as I liked the look of just one color and no texture to give it a good 2D look. I based my idea around the styling's of the programmeSouth Park. Below is an example of a page and a picture of the south park background.

South park background Page background example

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

I like how my images were exactly how I imagined them to be. They are clear and simplistic yetyou can see that as a detail and not as a simple or lazy design. I like this because it is very hard

to put your imagination onto paper and I feel that I did that exact thing. I am very proud of this. Something that I do not like as much is that my text is very short, very simple and very repetitive, I know that this book’s text shouldn’t be complicated or hard to read and understand but I feel that after a while the reader could be a bit bored and irritated after a while. But luckily, this book is 9 pages long. And only about 3 sound very similar. But I guess that the repetitive words give the book a nice rhythm and flow and somewhat builds suspense to the dramatic climax in which the fox ends up catching the gingerbread man, and eats him.

Below is an example of the repeated pages including the images I am happy with.As you can see, “Freddy chased the gingerbread man through..” is repeated

Why did you include the content you used?

• Images, fonts, effects, colours

I included the images I used because I wanted the story to have a variety of locations which I feel I have included. In one page, I show the characters moving from London to Paris and then from then on, the story is set in Paris. This is a good use of successful continuation as if I were to put it back to London then it would be an error. I didn’t use any texture effects as I wanted a simple 2D design. But I guess my simplicity is an effect in its own. I also like that my colors are all very simple and primary. There has been no thorough detail in getting the right brightness or shade. I have just kept it simple. I used the simple Arial Black font as it is clear and easy to read. It is also a very common font so that when children read another book, they will be able to understand it better as they recognize the font and letters. For my characters i drew them out and then scanned them in. I am very happy that I did this as it gives them an effect like no other. They massively stand out and are clear when put in front of any background.

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

• Choices of colour, style, locations, character design and tone all give additional meaning to your work.

The choice of color and style of text were a good choice as they are very simple and childish. As said before, I have tried to keep it as simple as possible so that the children can easily and clearly understand the words and pictures in the book. For locations I used well-known artifacts of the cities London and Paris. For London, I used Tower Bridge and the Eiffel Tower for Paris. I did this because it will educate the children of these artifacts and where they are situated. Although this is not a crucial part of the book, its nice to add in any other kind of information that they will learn at school as at ages 4-6 they will be getting ready to start school.

What representations can be found in your work?

• How are men, women or children shown in your work? Does your work feature different ages, races, social groups or religions? Does a lack of any variety of character types create its own representation?

My work features a male fox and a male gingerbread man. This book is entirely fiction and there is no fact whatsoever when it comes to the characters. The characters live life like humans do and this is very much the case in other folk tales so I guess that the gingerbread man, fox and the birds all have the representation that folk tale animals can talk. The characters in this book do not represent anything on paper but this is because the reader should interpret the representations of the characters. For example, is the fox the villain for cooking a gingerbread man? Or is it the gingerbread man? The whole idea of this book is that it leaves the character’s characteristics to be decided by the reader.

What style have you employed in your products?

• Discuss influences/ existing products

• What visual style does your work have and why did you choose it?

As said before, the background of South Park influenced me a lot as I have alwaysliked the simplistic 2D design. So, my work has a simple 2D background and design to it,Very much like South Park. Also the cartoon “Charlie and Lola” influenced me to draw my characters using pencils as it gave the cartoon look. It also looked very innocent, which the children could relate to.

South Park

Charlie and Lola

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

• How did the planning and research help

• How well did you manage your time

• Reference specific examples

I feel that my pre-production and planning went really well. I managed my time accordinglyTo my schedule and at some points, I surpassed a day’s targets. A weakness I did have was understanding Photoshop at times. At the end, I could understand it and now I feel I have learnt a great deal of skills on the programme but I can recall times when I struggled. For example, applying colour to a rotoscoped image was something I often forgot how to do but once I had finished my book, this problem was solved.

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?

My work is based on the very popular folk tale “the gingerbread man”. I altered the story in parts though. For example I told it from the fox’s point of view and instead of adding in characters such as the grandma. I made it a lot more simple so that the fox cooks the gingerbread man then chases him.

Peer Feedback

• Summarise peer feedback and discuss

– Responses you agree with

– Responses you disagree with