2. 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.
3. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
I think my book is relatively similar to what I had originally planned in the flat plan and the digital plan. Of
course, I didn't spend as much time on my plans as I did on the real thing so they won’t look exactly the same.
My flat plan consists of stick figures and roughly drawn objects, whereas my digital flat plan and the real copy
has drawings replicating more realistic figures and objects. The digital version still isn’t as accurate, however,
because I had to scrape through google images to find photographs that resembled what I was going for and a
lot of my selected images were close but didn’t quite reflect what I wanted from the storybook.
I chose to compare page one from my flat plan, digital and the Photoshop version as they are all the most alike
and the colour palette is consistent. I have laid the page out the same way all throughout apart from some
minor differences such as the way the children are facing. There is also a slight difference in focus as some
areas have been cut out, especially in the digital plan which are noticeable when comparing to others.
I was quite short for time when doing the page in Photoshop, which is why there is less detail and some of the
colours look quite blank and plain.
4. There have been other pages come out more successful than planned such as page 4 which I especially liked for
the tools that I utilized. I think I had done very well at adding the extra little details of the bricks in the brick
fence and the bricks of the house as well as the indents of the design in the gate and the door. I am also proud
of the extra detail I added within the highlights and shadows, giving a sunray effect.
Again, there is a massive difference in the detail when comparing the digital to the flat plan and the Photoshop
version but I was having the same issue with looking for the appropriate images. I hadn’t intended to do that
much detail as it just looks too busy and crowded as opposed to calm and relaxing. However, I do think that it is
important that plenty of colour is added in the page as demonstrated in the digital flat plan and the Photoshop
page.
I would have liked to have added maybe slightly more detail to the Photoshop page as I feel like children won’t
appreciate it as much since they like to see things including bright colours and slightly more to look at. If there
was more included into the scene such as maybe a dog walking past or a look into the house, it may have looked
more realistic as there is a running theme of only two characters.
5. How well have you constructed your
images?
When looking at my work again and being honest with myself, there are a few things that I am really proud of
but then there are also things that I will criticise. I think I have made good use of some of the tools, especially
the shapes tool and the transform path as they both helped me to build my characters. I have also used
features such as gradients, shadows and strokes to get a clear and definitive outline. Not forgetting the use of
the dodge and burn tool which has helped me create shadows and also sun rays.
I must criticise my characters for the way they look. Although they are wearing the same clothes all throughout
and have the same hairstyle, I just can’t seem to make them look the same in each one. Usually because one of
them is taller than they were or looks thinner than they were. This inconsistency might not matter to children
but it certainly does look messy and makes the book look like a poor rip off of another one.
I think I could have expanded my colour palette and used brighter colours. I think it would have made a bigger
difference to the way the book looked and how much it appealed to the audience. This may have also changed
the mood of the book and made it more exciting as the darkness brings a subtle but still visible dismal tone.
For some pages, I had to repeat the same process over and over again when creating fir trees for which I would
use the polygon and the warp tool. This was a very time consuming process and in the end, I found that
actually I wasn’t as happy with the outcome as I thought I would be. Although I think I got the shape right, I
also think I could have added a variety of tones which is, again, another problem with the colour palette.
6. I really would have liked to use more textures like we did in the narrative
environment starting task. I think I would have made good use out of textures such as feathers and fur as
they would have worked with the animals and I think they could have been an interesting feature for kids. I
would have also like to use the rotoscoping method on some of the animals as they had the potential to
look better had they been done from photographs of real animals.
I also wished I had used the comic book effect as it is very easy to do and looks very effective. However, that
would have been quite difficult as I would have wanted it to be consistent and I wouldn't be able to make
my character’s without using comic book effect on something already existing and that wasn’t allowed as all
the illustrations had to be original generated ideas.
7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
I think my use of text could have been better as I made my pages without insight of where the text was going to
be positioned, so it does look a bit out of place. However, I think I have done a good job of choosing the
appropriate font and I have made use of the space that I have on each page in order to make the text readable.
words, images and text.
Page 2 is a good example of how well I have used the space for text,
however, it is barely readable on this PowerPoint as the image is so
small. I think that that is the only place I could have put the text as it is
less busy but the clouds in the background are a bit of an obstruction
to reading the text. I would have definitely liked to make my text
slightly larger to make it easier to read, but since there is so much of it,
it is much harder to make the text any larger than it already is. I think
that is one of my biggest faults with the text. There is a lot of it and it is
quite small compared to most other children’s storybooks.
This is an example from a book called “The Little Boy Who Lost His
Name’. As you can see, there is plenty of text or what looks like plenty
but that is just because it’s larger and more spaced out, therefore,
more readable. I think if I had taken example from this book before
writing mine, I could have made the text look more interesting and
appealing to beginner readers. The text is also lighter to match the
mood of the page which appears to be quite calming. The colour of my
text could be interpreted in different ways and look slightly
intimidating to readers.
8. Page 5 is a better example of how I have used my text
well, however, there is still need for improvement. I
think the colour of the text goes better with the theme
of the page as the woods behind it are supposed to
look slightly intimidating and I think the text helps too.
However, because the trees have a dark outline and
there are lots of them, there is a bit of confusion
reading the text. Especially since the text overlaps with
the tree line slightly. I also think I could have written
slightly more for this page because there is plenty of
space for text.
This example is much better for text as I feel as though
the author has made good use of the page and they
have still managed to add text into it. I also like the
feature of the blurred background incorporated behind
the text as it makes the text much easier to read rather
than having to read it over a busier background like
mine. This is something I wish I had thought to
consider before including my text because it will have
made the book look slightly more like a children’s book
and also, the book will have looked a lot neater. So,
overall, I don’t think I have ben very successful in trying
to style my book to look like a children’s storybook.
9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
I think my book could easily be identified as a book for 3 to 6 year olds but there are a few things which would
improve the book further. For example, my characters are quite poorly illustrated and I believe that they could
have been better to appeal more to children. When looking back at my proposal, I think that I had the right
idea making each page A4 but had I managed each page more efficiently, and left plenty of room for readable
text, each page would have looked miles better. I also think because my text is so small and the export format
of each page is a JPEG, I had the wrong idea by inserting small text.
One thing I failed to do- which is mentioned in my proposal- is to plan out each page more thoroughly instead
of throwing everything together. I think this is so important as I feel it is one of the features of my book that has
failed me. I had originally planned to do a rough sketch of what will go where and to scale so that I could
ensure everything was done neatly. I feel as though this failed the book for the audience because some may
find it more difficult to read and therefore will be less tempted to purchase it from a professional point of view.
I am, however, very proud of the way that I have illustrated my pages even though a few things didn’t go as
planned. I feel as though I have got shapes right so that the features of each page are easily identifiable as a
tree, for instance. I also think I have added enough colour in order to keep children entertained although I
definitely could have added more colour to make the book more mystical and exciting.
On a larger scale, I have succeeded in making this book eligible for all countries speaking the English language
by inserting English text. It could now be available to potentially more than four countries.
10. When comparing my illustrations to other weird and
wacky designs, it starts to fit in slightly more. If I was
more confident with the illustrations I had made, I think
it would be less noticeable to children that the
characters maybe don’t necessarily resemble real
human beings whether it’s their shape or size. Not
forgetting that the trees and the clouds are less realistic
compared to what they are in real life. But when
comparing some illustrations to real life versions, you
can see a drastic difference. For example, clouds aren’t
perfectly rounded like they look in my page.
This book gives a good example as to what extent you can
go to when making your product and makes me believe
more so that my product is more suitable for the audience.
It’s obvious that this illustration of the children isn’t
realistic but it is definitely something a reader can get
behind without any thought. Just like the concept of
walking and talking animals such as a cat like this one. I
think its important to have something crazy or weird to
look at because without it everything would be plain and
boring.
This is part of the reason for why my story is based around
a bell sound coming from a bird. Because it’s strange but
original.
11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
If I had managed my time better, I think I could have incorporated much better illustrations to each of my pages
as the ones that I did use might have made the pages look a bit shabby. However, in the time that I had, I think I
have done pretty well in making the illustrations look realistic.
One tool that I made pretty good use of was the dodge and burn tool.
However, I don’t feel I used it enough, as some images contain plenty of
detail through dodge and burn but others don’t making the book look
inconsistent and odd. I think that if I had made good use of it within
every page but not made it too obvious and less discreet so it would look
more professional.
I did enjoy using the rotoscope tool when recreating an animated version
of an existing person, however, I avoided it as we had been told not to
base our characters too much on existing characters. I wanted mine to be
as original as possible and so I made them the way I did. I used the shapes
tool and made my characters up of rectangles and circles mostly. I
achieved making the shapes irregular by using the warp tool which allows
you to alter the shape into something else by moving around the corners
and sides.
12. I made very good use of the shapes tool, especially when creating backgrounds. I was able to
accomplish making two different types of trees and being able to pull both of them off as they
are clearly fir trees and the stereotypical oak type trees. I did this the same way as I made the
characters: by using the shapes tools and using the warp tool on top of that to make a variety
of different shapes and then piecing them together by using the merge tool so I could move it
around like one object.
I would have also liked to have made use of the comic book effect as it was easy but also
very effective and showed off skill and knowledge of how to use Photoshop. I could also
alter how obvious the shapes were to represent something else and I could also use a tool
to highlight outlines and place them appropriately over the top. However, once again, I
would have to use something preexisting to work over and I wanted to avoid doing that at
all costs.
You could say my book resembled something like this when discussing the
graphics as this is very simple and lacks masses of detail but there is the use
of the dodge and burn tool as shown on the artwork on the front cover. As
you can see, there isn't any use of anything intricate such as wrinkles in the
t-rex’s skin, for example, which would be more accurate to the real thing.
But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I have mentioned before. Too much
detail and less colour probably wouldn’t appeal to my audience greatly.
There is also a gradient affect used which I have applied to my work. So, I
can use this as an example of a professional book which looks very similar to
mine in terms of graphics.
13. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
I am very critical, about my work, more so than I am confident in it. So when I look at it, I am able to pick out
more faults or things that aren’t consistent rather than analysing the best parts. However, am confident that
my work shows the skill I have developed and my ability to use Photoshop.
One thing I am very critical about is the design of both of my characters. I really dislike how poorly they have
been designed and how hard it was to redesign them in a different position as you had to make sure they were
the right height and right weight as they were in the last page. However, even after trying to even out the
characters and make them look like they did on the last page, I still haven’t been successful.
As you can see, both pairs of characters are very different. The
boy (Charlie) looks very different as in the first pair, he is a bit
fatter than he is in the second pair in which he is skinnier and
lankier. His face looks a lot more oval in the first pair but that
changed as his face is much more round in the second pair. Also,
his facial features look a lot more out of place in the second pair.
The same sort of things apply to the girl (Olivia). Her facial features appear to be very different. Some things
appear to be quite consistent like her weight and shape. However, again, her face is rounder than it was in the
first lot. Her arms are also much thinner than they are in the second pair. These differences have a big effect on
the character. Obviously, you can tell they’re the same characters as they are wearing the same clothes and the
story is centered around them. However, for a young child, it might be more confusing.
14. I do, however, really like my use of the shape tool when designing some particular things such as my
animals. I think they’re also easier to design as I don’t have to redesign them again in a different position
and therefore I don’t have to worry about whether they look flexible enough to move into a different
position.
The owl shows off a lot of use of different shapes and the warp tool as
well as the alterations I have made to the colours. I think the ’wise old
owl’ was one of the most successfully designed things incorporated
into my book as it is well designed and resembled an owl. I think it
shows that I have put in a lot of work as it took a long time to create
and I have put layers on layers to get this outcome.
The illustrator David Kirk drew this image for the book “Oh So Tiny
Bunny’. I like very much how he had managed to incorporate lots of
detail yet still make the illustration appear not too busy. I also
appreciate how well he has illustrated the brick wall and the animals
atop because I expect that that will have been a time consuming
process. The problem with my illustrations is that they weren’t as
planned out and I was on a tight deadline so, therefore, I couldn’t
bring it up to this level. However, even with more time, I still may not
have been able to accomplish this level of detail in illustrating.
I think if I had stuck to my original plan of designing all the characters before having started all the pages, I
could have made them look more consistent throughout the book. However, I was in a rush so much so
that I didn’t even have time to completely finish my book.
15. Why did you include the content you
used?
I didn’t end up using any images to complete my book as I wanted it to be as original as possible. However, I did
look at images to compare some of my illustrations and see how realistic they were, for example, the trees and
animals.
As for my chosen font, I used this simply because it was easy to read and it was also quite a classic story book
font which I think would appeal especially to my audience. There are problems with my chosen font as it is
sometimes quite hard to read (generally because of the background it is sat on). I think I could have made it a
different colour, like white, so that it was easier to read.
I used very little effects as I didn’t want my book to look as sickly as a PowerPoint filled with transitions. The
most commonly used effects were the stroke tool, the dodge and burn tool and the gradient tool. The stroke
tool was very useful for defining different characters/objects etc. as it differentiated one thing from another. It
also helped to make the book look like a proper story book as there is minimal detail and black outlines are
generally used for everything. The dodge and burn tool helped to make the book look less minimalist and lazy.
When I added shadows and highlights, the book looked even more like it had been illustrated well. However, on
some pages I had failed to incorporate this feature. The gradient tool was barely used but it was used well. I
think using the gradient tool sparingly was the best choice. I just used it to blend colours together and show
one colour going from light to dark which worked pretty well.
As for the colours that I included into my work, I think they were very varied as I had to go from light colours to
make the book appear as exciting but I also had to include dark and mysterious colours. But I think my colour
palette could be associated with adventure.
16. What signs, symbols or codes have you
used in your work?
I have used a lot of dark colours in my work in order to create a sense of mystery and wonder. Although this is a
children’s book, I think a little bit of tension for what is to come next can be good to include to keep the book
interesting. The mystery leads to a nice little discovery proving that the children’s journey to finding the bell
was worth it.
There are also other symbols in my book including the talking animals leading up to the end (especially the
owl). Because animals have the ability to communicate with humans within this book, I think that ultimately
shows that there will be more use of animals, and even fantasy creatures in this case, with special abilities. The
owl foreshadows the ending which involves a big bird perched on a piece of wood (just like the owl on the
branch) which closes the entire book.
The book starts and ends with a sunset and the ringing of the bell which could also be symbolic as it is
foreshadowing the future. It is nice to include some kind of foreshadowing as readers can look at the book
again and see that there was a link and it is more obvious now that the start was trying to represent what is to
come.
I think that I could have included a lot more symbolic meaning into my work as there isn’t a lot and the
audience haven’t got a lot to question. Although they are children, it is still nice to be greeted with a surprise
which they can learn from as it is a something that will get them thinking and be quite exciting.
17. What representations can be found in
your work?
My work lacks quite a lot of variety, purely by chance. I didn’t really think about including a variety of people
just because it never crossed my mind. Plus, most books I read when I was younger were average books with an
English style setting and generally consisted of white British people. However, I’m sure this wasn’t intended to
upset or discriminate against anyone the same way that I have no intentions to with my storybook. Also, where
as it could potentially be more offensive in some things such as films (which are open to wider audiences), a
children’s book shouldn’t matter as much because children aren’t as affected by discrimination, since they’re
children.
I included only two people of which were both children of both genders and decided to disregard the fact that
there could be more genders (as there are in todays society). This is simply because they are children and the
audience are children who may struggle to understand the concept of more than one gender, due to their
upbringing and also the recent changes in society. I do think I made the right decision by including both a boy
and girl in my story, otherwise, the book might have only appealed to one audience and I would rather the
book was enjoyed by everyone.
In a way, my book could be representative of the English culture or lifestyle as some of the illustrations show a
what you may class as a typical English house. There are also plants and nature which you may find when
exploring through a wood in England. It is all representative of what I have seen and I am most used to which is
why I chose to apply my work to that setting, as opposed to say a jungle which it was originally meant to be.
18. When considering other children’s stories, there are a lot that are similar to mine. For
example, Little Red Riding Hood. There are many different versions of this story,
however, most generally consist of white characters and the book is usually set in a
typically British woods with a mystical twist to it.
As you can see in the illustration, the woods is very basic, filled with tall tree trunks just
like one you might see in the countryside. The plants might look slightly different but
everything else pretty much the same.
The other characters, including grandma and the woodcutter, are usually British. This may just be because
the book that I have read was made for a British audience but, to my knowledge, the story originated from
Britain with all white British characters. Again, I’m sure this wasn’t done in spite or to discriminate against
people of other ethnicities or backgrounds.
19. What style have you employed in your
products?
I didn’t really base my work off an existing product, as I did it all without really looking at other illustrations. I
used basic styles when designing my characters. For example, the girl wears a simple dress made from a
triangle shape (like one you would draw on a stick man).
My characters sort of remind me of the children
from the film Cat in the Hat. However, I realised this
after I had designed them and the fact that they are
wearing similar colour clothes is by chance. I also
did not intend to make their hairstyles the same but
that happened too. So I suppose you could say this
is inspiration as I have seen the film before and I
could have based my characters on the children
from Cat in the Hat without realizing.
When having a look at the nature incorporated into my story, and trying to figure out where my inspiration
came from, I found that I had probably designed most of it from animated images that I had seen in storybooks
or clipart. But I couldn’t name a particular book as nothing comes to mind. All I know is that fir trees are
designed with triangles, which is something learnt from drawing Christmas cards.
I suppose you could also base the animals off cartoons that I used to watch when I was younger, as a lot of
children’s shows/films are based around animals.
20. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I think my planning didn’t really work as well as I wanted it to. I planned out each session with the intentions of
finishing everything within about 8 sessions and having time to improve my work. However, I haven’t been able
to finish off the pages of my book as I haven’t had enough time. I think that this is because I needed to include
a lot more detail to make each page look good and even then, I still hadn’t finished each page as more detail
was needed. This means that my time wasn’t managed very well, even with the extra lessons.
The rest of my planning went well and I do think it was quite useful. Especially, the flat plans and the digital flat
plans as they helped me lay out each page and figure out where text was going to go. Along with that, I
thought the mind maps were key to my planning as without them, I wouldn’t have explored all the best
possibilities and therefore, I wouldn't have found the best and most suitable version of the story for my book.
Some things, such as the flat plans, didn’t go all the way to plan however. This is because I had roughly drawn
where the text was going to go, not bearing in mind how much of it there was. I had also forgotten to include
the text into the digital flat plans. So the pages are a bit messier than how I expected them to be.
I do think I could have done more research, as if I had, I would have been able to create much better looking
and more realistic characters. The background might have been a lot neater as well, had I thought to do some
research to see how other people had designed theirs. I think the biggest problem, which I must criticize, is the
fact that I had planned to design my characters before starting my pages but because I didn’t, they look
completely different on each page. I will, however, credit myself for being original and designing the characters
off the top of my head.
21. Historical and cultural context
come before? Wh
other similar
products have
existed in the past
What current
products exist?
The book ’The Grufallo’ by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is very similar
to my storybook in terms of the illustration as a lot of the background
appears to be the same. However, the illustration for the gruffalo is much
nicer and has been completed with a lot more detail. This is a very current
book which is still very popular amongst young children. I think this is
because of how mysterious the story is, which is helped especially with the
setting. Which is why I believe my story could give the same exciting
mystery.
The problem with my story is that it wasn’t as planned out as the Gruffalo
might have been and so the storyline will go into more detail than mine and
will probably be more of an interesting read for a younger audience. The
writer probably did a lot more research as well as the book will have been
written with more insight into how children’s stories are constructed.
The storybook ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ by Beatrix Potter was written and
published in 1902 and is probably more on my level in terms of illustration but
that’s really only because technology wasn’t as good, at the time, and it was
much harder to illustrate and colour books. This book is very alike with the
Gruffalo in the sense that the animals walk and talk but this one involves
humanizing animals.
The difference between this book and mine is that, again, mine wasn’t as planned
out thoroughly.
