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1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

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?
• Compare your planning/digital flat plans/
storyboards to your final product
I think that my final product reflects the original intentions I had for my work. The features
of my work that have remained the same are the characters and the techniques I used to
create and develop them. As well as the way that I created my background and the
rotoscoping technique I used to create objects such as trees.

4. This is the story board that I created during my pre-
production. The piece includes all of the characters that
I wanted to be included in my story. The main picture
represents my plans for the scenery of the story to be
in a forest, which the majority of my finished story is
based around.
The setting of my book reflects my storyboard and
the setting I originally intended to use. The trees in
this exemplified page have been rotoscoped directly
from the trees in the above picture. I also used the
colour selector tool to give my animated trees a
similar colour to the real life ones depicted in the
image of my story board.

5. 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 created my images by using stereotypical colours for locations. For example, when I was
creating the forest for my first page, I used a dark green colour for the grass and a light brown
for the trees. On a different page I wanted to create a foggy backdrop behind the forest, I did
this by using the shape tool and creating a rectangle to cover the blank section of the page. I
then used the gradient overlay tool to choose two colours, white and black. The gradient
overlay tool allowed me to mix the colours together to give the impression that there was fog
in the forest. I did this because I felt that it would create a scary atmospheric look and set the
tone for the next part of the narrative.

6. This image exemplifies the use of textures and specific
colours within my work. The textures I used were for
creating things such as the carpet, wallpaper and welcome
mat. For the carpet I added the texture effect which gave
the rectangle shape a rough look, I did the same effect with
the welcome mat, although I turned the opacity of the
colour overlay low enough so that it would stand out from
the other textures I had used.
I also wanted to set the scene for this image. The narrative
implies earlier on that Barky is in her house, I therefore
wanted to make sure that the illustrations I were creating
matched what was happening in the narrative. I made the
setting look more like the inside of a house by creating
things such as the picture hanging from the wall and the
clock. I created the picture with the shape tools and then
duplicated my two protagonists, made them small enough
to fit into the photo frame and then merged all the layers
and scaled the whole thing down to look more to scale with
the rest of the house.
This is another image exemplifying how I have
constructed my images. I think that this image is poorly
constructed as opposed to the previous image. This is
because of the blank space on the floor. I feel that it
gives the impression that something is missing from the
picture. I also don’t like the colour of the text in this
page, however I thought that it would bring
connotations of darkness and evil which I wanted to
bring in, to add to the readers interpretation of the
antagonist.
I also used different shades of colour to highlight specific
features. An example of this is that I used lighter shades
of red around the cape character’s cape. I did this to
increase the depiction of the bright red hood that is
synonymous with the Little Red Riding Hood character.
Instead of creating lots of smoke around the witch for
when she disappears in the narrative, instead I turned
the opacity of the layer to 50% so that it would give the
impression that the character is magically disappearing

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
• You should talk about the combination of
words, images and text.
I think that I have used the combination of words, images and text well. For example, I
created different versions of characters to match the text and the section of the narrative. An
example of this within my work would be that towards the conclusion of my book there is a
scene where the main character is running away. Instead of using existing versions of the
character I had already created, I decided to rotoscope a completely new version which
would match the narrative of the character running away.
I also made sure that I included thorough detail into my text describing exactly what is going
on in each scene. Furthermore, I used close up shots to depict the narrative as close as
possible. An example of this technique within my work is page two where I created a close up
shot of the antagonists hand knocking on the door which is being described in the narrative.

8. This photograph exemplifies the first version of
my character, this version shows the character in
a stationary state. This also suits the context of
the page, because it is the reader’s first
introduction to the character, therefore I wanted
to show lots of facial details. This is because
children are quickly drawn to the faces of
characters. I also chose to have the character
stood side on, the reason for this is that in the
text the characters colours and body size are
referenced. So, the illustration of the character is
exemplifying the text.
This version of my character depicts them
running, which was vital for this scene as I wanted
to make sure that the illustrations I created would
match the text on the page. I created this
character by using the shape tool and warping
eclipse shapes to each individual body part of a
running wolf that I found on Google images. I
then used the colour overlay tool to choose the
same colours as the previous version of the
character, so that the reader would recognize
them as the same character.

9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
• Reference your proposal
• Give an audience profile and describe
suitability in reference to content
I think that I have created my book for the target audience I set to aim the product towards. The target
audience I chose was 1-10 year olds. I chose such a low age because the book can be read to the child by
their parents until they learn how to read and are able to read the book themselves. My book is not
aimed t a particular gender, I made sure that my book did not come across as trying to appeal to one
gender more than another. I did this by including colours which are associated with both girls and boys,
such as blues and pinks. Because my target audience age is so low, I made sure to keep the text simplistic
and not use too many big words. After researching during my proposal, I found that families who buy
children's books are most likely to be working and middle class. The reason behind this is that upper class
families tend to purchase audio books to read to their child. Furthermore, I tried to make the book as
suitable for my audience as possible. An example of one way I made the book more suitable, was by
toning down the darkness of the story. At the climax of the story it is revealed that Little Red Riding
Hood’s fate is that he is never seen again, however my original intentions for the climax was that he was
killed by the witch. Instead, I chose to make the end more suitable for my audience and have Little Brown
Wolf fall into a trap and disappearing.

10. This is the page of my story that I decided to re-write in
order to make the book more suitable for my target
audience. Instead of the witch killing the wolf, instead I
developed a scenario where the witch sets a trap for the
wolf and the reader is told that the wolf was never seen
again. This makes the book much more child friendly
and allows the child to have hope that the wolf might,
one day, be found. The text throughout this page also
exemplifies my consideration for the age of my
audience. I made sure not to use words that were too
long and complex for a child to be able to understand.
These two images are examples of how I made sure not to make my
book look as though I was aiming at a particular gender. The top page
is my first page, which has a light blue sky and then bottom page is my
last page, which has a light pink, which is meant to represent a sunset,
which I felt was fitting because as well as it being the end of the day in
this scene, it is also the end of the story.
The problem I found with this page is that due to me duplicating the
setting from a previous page which had the forest, the sun is up in the
sky, when it should be down towards the right, to represent the sun
setting. However, by using both of the stereotypical colours for both
genders, my book doesn’t come across as aiming at one gender in
particular.

11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
• Reference specific tools you used with images
I enjoyed using the rotoscope technique as it allowed me to create detailed characters
based off of real life pictures of trees and other scenery. The technique is done through
the use of the polygonal lasso tool. By using this technique I was able to add a sense of
photorealism to my work. Another technique which I used was the shape tool technique.
This technique includes finding real life images which will fit into my work and using the
shape tool to warp shapes around the images and create characters. I liked the simplistic
look of the shape tool technique as opposed to the photorealism of the objects. I
combined these two techniques together because I liked the idea of having cartoon
looking characters in front of a setting filled with photorealism.
The trees and tree stumps in this image were all
rotoscoped from real life images.
The characters in the image were all created using
the shape tool technique.

12. I created this character by tracing an image of a real wolf cub using
the shape tool. I used lots of different ellipses to create different
sections of the wolf’s body. The part I liked about this technique is
that the finished product looks like a cartoon, however the details of
the face and the shading of the body, give the character a sense of
photorealism. In order to create the difficult eye markings, I used the
rotoscoping technique, which is done by using the polygon lasso tool
on the original image, selecting the section you want and then layer
copying it onto your piece of work and adding your desired colour
overlay. I think the mix of the two techniques worked well together
because the character looks detailed despite its simplistic design.
For the creation of this character, I decided I wanted to create my
own design and produce a unique character. I used the shape tool to
create all of the character. Another reason why I like the shape tool is
because of the technique which can be paired with it. Through the
usage of the warp tool, I was able to turn the eyes of my character
into the shape that eyes should be. The warp tool also allowed me to
warp the largest ellipse into the shape of the hood, which is the most
important feature of Little Red Riding Hood. The thing that I dislike
about the warp tool is that its very difficult to create complex shapes,
for example when I was creating the hood, I had difficulty getting the
bottom of the shape to be wide and the very top to come to a point.

13. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
The thing I like the most about my final product is how it is a simplistic design. I like this because
sometimes I feel that if a product is too detailed it can look over the top and not be as effective as
a product which has used simplistic techniques such as using the shape tool to create their pages.
The thing that I dislike most about my final product is the textures of the grass. I firstly tried using
the texture tool, however this gave the layer a bold appearance and looked too cartoonish. I then
added a pattern overlay whilst keeping my existing colour overlay, although I turned the opacity
of the colour overlay down to 90%. This allowed the pattern overlay to be slightly depicted and
give the grass a slightly rougher texture.
This image exemplifies the simplicity of my work.
The bricks I used to create the house were
created by using the shape tool to make
rectangles and then giving them different tones of
colour. I created the clouds by using the eclipse
shape and warping the shape to look like a cloud.
The features of this piece I don’t like is the empty
space. This is a recurring problem my book has.
After completion I noticed that certain pages had
a vast amount of empty space, making the page
look empty and unfinished.

14. A feature of my work that I do like is the close ups. I
have used close ups twice throughout my book. These
are effective because the reader is directly drawn to
the illustration which is depicting exactly what is being
said in the text. Furthermore, this page also acts as a
teaser introduction of the witch. This is because it is
not yet revealed that the character is a witch, however
the green skin tone of the hand gives the reader a clue
of who the character is. This technique also creates
tension as the reader will want to continue the story
and find out who this mysterious character is.
This is another page that exemplifies my use of close
ups. However, this page has a more interesting backdrop
behind the main depiction. The main depiction of this
page is the hands, I chose to add these to the image as it
gives the impression of a point of view shot being used
in order to give the reader an idea of what the character
is seeing and their emotions at the time. I think my work
could have been improved with better knowledge and
skills of Photoshop, for example I would have liked to
create some close up shots in 3D, as I feel this would
make my work look more professional and be more
intriguing for the reader, this is because traditional book
tend to stay in 3D, therefore my book would be unique
and would be more visually intriguing for a child.

15. Why did you include the content you
used?
• Images, fonts, effects, colours
The main effect I used repeatedly through my work, was the gradient
overlay. I used this effect to create the sky for my images. The reason I
used this effect is because it allowed me to choose multiple colours,
and then let me position them and choose how much I wanted of
each colour. I chose to do the bricks of the house in a stereotypical
orange colour, to add realism to the image I found an image of a brick
wall on Google images and used the colour selector tool to choose the
different shades of orange, to give the house some photorealism.
The font I used was Hobo Std. I chose this font because I liked the
simplicity of it. I didn’t want to choose a font that was crazy and
unreadable, as the point of my book is that it can be read by parents and
their children. The main problem I had with the text was keeping it the
same colour throughout the book, this is because different backgrounds
would allow white font, as the background was already very light, or vice
versa with black font. This meant that I had to switch between white and
black font so that the text was visible. I dislike this about my work as I
feel that because of this, the book lacks consistency.

17. 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 location I have chosen for my book reflects the overall tone of the narrative. This is
because setting my story in a woods brings lots of connotations, such as emptiness. This
means that before the narrative begins, the reader is already associating the location of the
book with danger and vulnerability. The tone of the book later goes on to match the chosen
location, with the tone turning dark and then narrative taking a twist.
The style of my

18. Audience Responses
Cultural 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.
18Creative Media Production 2012

19. Audience Responses
Cultural 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.
19Creative Media Production 2012

20. Audience Responses
Cultural 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.
20Creative Media Production 2012

21. Audience Responses
Cultural 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.
21Creative Media Production 2012

23. 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?

24. The one character in my book which is a child is Little Red Riding Hood. To
make the character appear as a child I used the scaling technique. This means
that I placed the character next to bigger characters such as the witch,
allowing the reader to get an understanding of the stature of the character
and their age. Furthermore, I used the shape tool to create an ellipse whilst
holding shift, this allowed me to create a perfect circle and give the character
the impression of having an undeveloped facial structure.
For the male character in my book, I chose to give the character a more square
face, which further increases the readers awareness of Little Red Riding Hoods
rounded face. Another feature I gave to this character was facial hair. I added facial
hair to the character as this is a distinctive difference between males and females,
making it more obvious to the reader that this character is a man.
The choice of colours was also very important when creating both characters. For
the female I chose brighter colours, such as whites and reds, and for the male I
chose dark colours such as blacks and greys. I chose to do this because dark
colours are often associated with men, and bright, vibrant, outgoing colours and
associated with women.

25. 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?
The style I have used in my work is simplistic. I tried to keep the key visuals of the characters
truthful to previous representations of them in past versions of the Little Red Riding Hood
stories.
An existing product that influenced my work was ‘Gorilla’ by Anthony Browne. This
influenced my work because I liked the way that Browne had designed the appearance of
the Gorilla. He toned down the aggressive look of the gorilla so that his book would be more
suitable for small children. I took influence from this and used the same approach with the
witch character in my story. Instead of giving the character an angry facial expression, which
may be disturbing for a small child; instead I gave the character a

27. 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 was not as efficient as it could have been. This is because I gave myself too
much to do in each session, instead of spacing the work out across two weeks, I was aiming
to complete the work by the first week and use the second week to make improvements
and any changes that I felt were appropriate. This meant that I was rushing through the
work, which made the work feel repetitive and boring. However, I managed to finish the
work in the first week to a decent standard, which left my week two to focus on areas which
needed improvement such as the text and layout of each page.
During my pre-production I also created a number of characters using the shape tool
technique. This allowed me to get a head start on the two week production and simply drop
the characters into the backdrops and scenery I was creating. This was the most efficient use
of my time during the pre-production.

29. 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 truthful to the previous Little Red Riding Hood stories. This is because the
character still possesses the apparel that has become iconic to the protagonist.

31. Peer Feedback
• Summarise peer feedback and discuss
– Responses you agree with
– Responses you disagree with