2. THE CHOICE TO WORK TOGETHER
• Last year we were encouraged to explore our strengths and career interests
within the cartoon and comic industry. Through this, we found that our skills
worked well together and we had the mutual idea to create comics!
• We felt that the best way to create a really successful and marketable product
would be to combine our varied skillsets to fill in any gaps we may individually.
• We also felt this would be an invaluable experience, as the comic industry
involves a lot of group work (especially when creating mainstream, long-running
comic series).
3. OUR ROLES
Gee –
- Initial ideas.
- Basic plot development.
- Finding and contacting external clients.
- Target audience research,
- Current market research.
- Research for accuracy.
- Full plot development.
- Script (with basic layouts).
- Lettering.
- Web design.
- App development.
- Promotional work.
- Assisting graphic design.
- Social media.
- Sales preparation and accounting.
Katy –
- Initial ideas.
- Basic plot development.
- Concept art.
- Character designs.
- Art style research.
- Assisting full plot development.
- Layouts.
- Pencils.
- Inks.
- Colours.
- Lettering.
- Animation.
- Promotional work.
- Graphic design.
- Social media.
4. THE CHOICE TO ANIMATE
• Soon after discussing our initial ideas, the conversation of what we'd like to get out
of this project and how we'd like to align it with our future careers came up. From
this, we found that it would be a brilliant opportunity to produce an animated comic.
This would give Katy an opportunity to build her animation portfolio, whilst allowing
Gee to learn more computing techniques and marketing ideas to find the best way
to host the animation.
• The animation work will be produced through MotionArtist, as this will allow us to
utilize our skills from first year.
• The animated elements will be hosted online, preferably accessed through QR
codes and an app to read them.
5. IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE
• Animation.
• Educational.
• Target audience-appropriate art style.
• Research informed historical and scientific accuracy.
• Fairly light-hearted, to make the book as accessible as possible.
6. IDEA 1: GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
• A retelling!
• George is a female stable-hand, tending to the horses of some of the noblemen
and knights of the town. There are stories in the town of a beautiful princess, held
captive by a fearsome dragon, and knight after knight returns to the town, defeated
by said dragon… But George notices some little mistakes in their stories so sets
off (accompanied by one of her father’s dairy cows) to find out that everything isn’t
exactly as scary as it seems…
• Target audience: Accessible for all age ranges. Considering a younger audience,
but entertaining for older readers too.
• External contact: Folklore Society (looking to compile a ‘roadmap’ of British stories,
and have a monthly newsletter that accepts submissions).
8. IDEA 2: DINOSAURS!
• A mini-encyclopaedia!
• A-Z of dinosaur facts, featuring accompanying comic strips to make it more
engaging and exciting for a younger audience.
• Target market: Younger children, aged 12 and below.
• External contact: Possibly look to sell through Kindle Direct Publishing for
accessibility.
10. IDEA 3: BEAUTY AND THE FREAKS
• A gothic horror twist on the story of Beauty and the Beast.
• Mina’s Father is a estate agent who has to set off to help sell a castle for two Counts and a
Countess. Mina is troubled when she learns of a plague sweeping through the country and fears for
her father’s life on his journey, especially when he doesn’t return on the date he is supposed to. She
makes the decision to head to the castle herself to see if she can find him, so that together they can
seek refuge. Upon her arrival to the castle, she learns that the Counts and Countess are being held
under a terrible curse which has turned them into a vampire, a werewolf and a reanimated
monster…
• A-Z Target market: Young adult.
• External contact: Deadstar Publishing- Fantasy, modern fantasy, historical fantasy, and
horror indie publishers.
12. IDEA 4: SALEM WITCH TRIALS
• A new perspective on the real-world event!
• The accusations have been made. The ‘witches’ have been branded. The accused
have found each other and are on the move. But it won’t take too long before their
‘crimes’ and their prosecutors catch up to them…
• Target market: Young adult.
• External contact: Deadstar Publishing – horror, fantasy, etc.
14. IDEA 5: DEARG DUE
(DAREG DOO-ER – “RED BLOOD SUCKER”)
• An Irish folktale told in a stained glass art style. Story may have been the foundation for
Bram Stoker’s Dracula as he was brought up on Irish folklore.
• A young woman falls in love with a peasant which angers her father. She is married off to
an evil man in order to secure fortune and suffers abuse daily. Her husband particularly
enjoyed bleeding her. She was locked away and saw no escape, therefore took her own
life.
Many months of abuse corrupted her spirit and she renounced God and vowed
vengeance. She rises from the grave to murder her father and husband and wanders the
Earth punishing people by drawing blood from them in the same way she was punished.
• Target market: Young adult.
• External contact: Dublin City Comics or Sub City Comics – independent Irish comic shops.
15. IDEA 5: DEARG DUE
(DAREG DOO-ER – “RED BLOOD SUCKER”)
16. IDEA 6: TIME TRAVELING CATS
• A journey through the styles of art history and film!
• A lil kitty wakes up in a strange and scary place, but is rescued by a spooky,
moustached cat who promises to take him on a wild journey to get him home.
• Target market: Teens.
• External contact: The Phoenix Comic – as an example of work to build
connections.
