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?

COMPARISONS TO MIND MAP & MOODBOARDIn my mind map, I discussed and gave examples of the different components of my story and how it would appear to the reader. One thing that I keep consistent was the colours I used in my pages. I wanted to use sunset, purple and green based colours which relate to the African culture/style. Here are the colours I suggested I wanted to use in my book and beside are some examples where I used those colours in the book.

In my mind map, I gave examples of text styles I wanted to use and the layout of the book. The layout I wanted was to have the text on one page and then on the corresponding page, the right page, I would have the image. I did achieve this in my book and I added a boarder too for effect. This is an improvement on my original intentions.

For text I wanted to use fonts that was very rustic and African style, that almost looks carved. I didn’t quite use this text style because it made more sense to use a more simplistic text to make the book easier to read. However, for the front cover I did use a carved, rustic text which looks like stone but at the same time it looks somewhat regal to represent the royal figure in the story.COMPARING DIGITAL FLAT PLANSPage one in both my digital flat plans feature the lion in his castle with the drum glowing in front of him. In the drawn, first version of my flat plans the lion also has a scythe/staff. On page one in my actual book there is the lion, the glowing drum and he is in the castle. This is an example of how my final product represents my original intentions well. In fact the image I used in my flat plans, is the same image I used to source my final product. However, page one in my final product does not feature a scythe/staff so you could argue that it doesn’t entirely match the flat plan.

A page that didn’t match my drawn flat plans was page 4. In initially aimed to make a page which was split in two and it would have the tortoise with food on one side and the angry animals on the other. Whereas, I actually ended up making an image of a feast on a table. The flat plan did contain food so I didn’t completely move away from my initial idea, but I still didn’t follow the flat plan as closely as some of my other pages.

How well have you constructed your images?My initial style was inspired by an artist called Will Terry. Through research I found that I really loved his style so I aimed to replicate it in my book. The rounded style and the vibrant, vivid colours is what I really wanted to imitate in my book.

TEXTURE – I often used textures or patterns in my images to liven them up and make them look less flat or bland. I would use a clipping mask over an existing object or I would use ‘threshhold’ to make the pattern black and remove any unwanted areas. I really like the effect using textures gave and I feel like that was something really good about my images. As you can see, the tree I used on page 6 and 8 has a pattern on the trunk. This really finishes off the image and without it the image would not look as good.COLOUR – The colour scheme for my book was heavily based onAfrican culture and the overall appearance of Africa, but withemphasised colours. I used yellow based greens to create the grassto represent the lush savannah in Africa. In pages 1, 2 and 6 I used a sunset colour palette to create the sky. To make the sky look more realistic I used a gradient so it was not just one colour and make a more realistic sunset. In page 8, I used a radial gradient to make the sun look more realistic. I made the colour in the centre yellow and the outer colour blue and changed the angle and scale a little bit to create the sun. I really liked the effect this technique gave.

Here is a scene from his book “Skeleton For Dinner”. As you can see Terry has used textures and vibrant blues; none of the colours are muted or pastel. Also the characters are very rounded with no jaggered edges.

This is page 8 from my book, and as you can see the style is

similar in some respects. Everything is smoothed off and I have used textures just like in

Will Terry’s art. Also I have used lively, bright colours, which

again is like Terry’s style.

Page 2 was my test page where I experimented with different techniques, colours, placements and textures. The whole premise of my book was to create it using shapes and source images (especially for the characters), however I did use some rotoscoping for some areas. One thing that I’m not 100% happy with if how the tortoise turned out using just shapes. I would’ve liked it if the head was a different shape to what it turned out to be and I would’ve liked the hands and feet to look a bit different. One possible way I could improve this is by using various source images rather than just one and try using different techniques. Below shows the development of Page 2 and a talk through of techniques used.

This I my source image for page 2, as you can see the tree in the image is very similar to the tree in the actual page. This is because I used shapes and rotoscoping over the image to create the actual tree.

Here is the first draft of page 2, it’s very basic and simplistic with no real gradients or texture; it’s very bland. The sky gradient is not as smooth as I would’ve liked.

In this next draft I had added African patterns to the path, sun and tree. I changed the perspective of the path pattern to make it look like it was getting smaller. However I was still not happy with the grass and sky. I also added the tortoise and leaves.

After I had finished all the other pages I went back to Page 2 to try and improve it with the knowledge I had gained. I had learnt from page 8 that I could use a radial gradient to create a more realistic sun and sky. So I did this using orange and yellow to make a sunset. I added in some silhouettes in red on the horizon because I knew this was a nice effect to the image after creating page 6 and 8. Another thing that I added a gradient to was the grass, this was to make it look rounded and like it was going back into the distance. Finally I changed the pattern of the path and changed the perspective.

OVERALL APPEARANCEGenerally speaking I am very pleased with how my pages turned out using the techniques I listed, and I think they are well constructed. I especially like how I constructed Page 8. I wanted to add some animals to the watering hole but I didn’t want to overwhelm the image, so I just made them silhouettes instead. Because they were at a watering hole, I needed to add a reflection in the water. I did this by by distorting the silhouette using ‘ripple’ and then adding a gaussian blur. Finally I changed the opacity so it didn’t just look like I’d layered it over the water. However there are a few areas I don’t think are as well constructed as they could be, for example the drum and lions body/robe. I would like to eradicate the black line around the image because nothing else in the book has this black line, so it looks a bit out of place. I would possibly like to try adding a body to lion so it looks a little more realistic under the robe.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

Facial expressions, colours, time of dayCompare to other booksShow bad and good Conclusion

How well have you used text to anchor your images

IMAGERY/INCONOGRAPHY Anchorage is demonstrated well in my work through use of colour, facial expression and generally just linking the text to the image by illustrating certain words. In page 8 I have placed a broken love heart above the tortoises head, also I have added tears. It is said that the tortoise “with a broken heart” speaks to his family These two aspects represent how sad the tortoise is and how text is used to anchor it to the image.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONSAnother image where I have involved emotions and where text is used to link to the image is on page 7 when the father is “explaining to their children the rules of the fruit tree” and how it’s important to follow them. To represent this I made the tortoises face have a stern look by making the eyes smaller and flattening out the mouth. Also I had a finger pointing towards his son and a thought bubble above his head. However the text isn’t used as well as it could’ve been to anchor to my images. In the image it looks like the young tortoise is being told off, however in the text it says he is just having something explained to him. I could improve this by changing the words (possibly to lectured) or changing the facial expression.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

• Reference your proposal• Give an audience profile and describe

suitability in reference to content

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

• Reference specific tools you used with images

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

Why did you include the content you used?

• Images, fonts, effects, colours

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.

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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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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

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.

Creative Media Production 2012

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

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.

Creative Media Production 2012

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Audience ResponsesCultural competence:

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.

Creative Media Production 2012

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?

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?

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

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?

Peer Feedback

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