graphic narrative pro forma

Graphic Narrative Evaluation

How my final product reflects my original intentions?

• My planning is slightly different to my final project, I experimented with several different styles to get what I wanted for my character and changed the appearance of my main character 2 times, to best reflect the “laziness” I am happy with my final result of bringing the drawings into Photoshop and shading accordingly, I originally intended for the father to play a bigger role in the story, but I removed him for ease and the fact a child might understand the story more

How well have you constructed your images?

• The visual appearance of my images is close to what I planned to create, A few minor details aside such as the the odd slides where I adapted a different style due to the situation. This was part of my plan to show originality. I believe my decision of drawing my scenes and characters out first, before then bringing into Photoshop to shade and colour, This was the better option due to having a lot more control over my drawing and how it is coloured in my style, I also have a wider range of colour rather than being restricted to what own i.e. pens

How well have you used text to anchor your images

• I have used the text to directly reflect the images, This combination creates a sense of involvement for the child reading the book, this is important with this type of story because the child will enjoy it and understand the morels whilst reading it and get a slightly deeper meaning, The text alone does not full show the story

Is your product suitable for your audience?

• I believe my content I have created is suitable for the original intended audiences or 3-7 years there is no violent or troubling parts to my story and the images support this. Yet as I wrote in my proposal this is also mildly entertaining to the parents as well as being suitable for a young child, I believe I have achieved what I originally set out to create for my audience and are reasonably happy with the outcome

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

• I like the techniques I have used due to the simplicity to what I have drawn, making the book very easy for a child to comprehend and focus more on what the story is teaching, If I was to create my book again I would use a different style to give it a better look although I am happy with my final product I strongly believe that it could be improved

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

• I like my final product because it appears simple and is uncluttered and get the moral across to a child reading it. The image and text combination makes sense and looks appropriate for the age range. Again if I was to do this again I would use a different style although I like the way it currently looks I believe I could have improved it by using a different drawing style or technique

Why did you include the content you used?

• I drew all the images in my book with source images that I gathered inspiration from I used a serif font in my book for ease of reading. After I had drawn all my drawings out I colour them in Photoshop and add blur to make the shading look more natural. When I added colours to my image I chose them depending on what the character stood for i.e.… bright and colourful for the main character and darker for the people he work for due to his negative attitude against them nearer the end of the story it looks up and the other characters are more brightly dressed and the wedding at the end of the story is bright and colourful because the story has reached a happy conclusion

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.

• My book shows that jack is lazy because he doesn't have a job, The fact of this shows the family is poor. The good characters in the story wear bright colours and look happy i.e. jack and his mother and the princess. The bad characters are people jack works for these are in darker colours due to him not wanting to work and showing this emotion to the reader, The fact they live in a small cottage also tells the reader that they're poor. When they pass the princess in a big castle you can instantly tell she is rich or is from a family with a lot of money

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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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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.


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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.


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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.


What representations can be found in your work?

• My story does not have any direct representations. No references are made to race, social groups or religion. The only representation in my story I could possibly referenced is the fact that the boy jack in the sty is a lazy teenager but at no point did I mention his age, but a reader could easily build there own representation of the character as being a boy who got lucky

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?• With my work I planned to draw my characters and environments before scanning them in

and merging them together adding colour in Photoshop, I believed was the best way to do it so I can use a completely original idea this book has only been illustrated once by one author so any drawing I do can be purely original due to their being little source material

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• My planning and research helped me understand what I had to do and how long I had to do

it, I followed my story exactly as I planned and my flat plans almost directly reflect my final piece. The only difference between my planning and my final piece is the fact I wanted to add a separate page for text rather than overlaying it over my image, I did this because I believed that it broke the page up and felt less cluttered

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 fairy-tale was originally from Yorkshire, and was collected originally by a Shakespearian scholar James orchard halliwell Phillips. This tale appears in the book English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, Currently there are 3- 4 books, The most popular being by tony ross this is a simple re-telling of the story with only 32 pages that roughly covers everything there is to know, This book was illustrated by the author and

graphic narrative pro forma

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