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1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
• The final product does reflect my original intentions because the flat plans and
storyboards are relatively similar to the finished book in terms of visual style
and text placement. However there have been some minor changes, for
example I had to change some of the script to make sure that all of the text
actually fit onto the page, (I didn’t want to change the text size as it needed to
be a consistent size throughout) so phrases like “he was so happy”, which
were present in the storyboards/flat plans, have been removed for the final
product. This doesn’t majorly affect the story narrative, and all of the key
elements of the story from the original plans are still there in the finished
book. Something that did change quite massively, however, were the
characters and settings. Because the storyboards/flat plans were made up of
sketches and pre-existing images, this only allowed for a rough idea of what it
would eventually look like, meaning I didn’t use it as a definitive guide. As well
as this, the flat plan characters and backgrounds had very inconsistent art
styles, due to the fact that the pre-existing images were very limited, so in the
final book a lot of the characters do not look the same as they do in the plans,
mainly because I wanted to avoid using copyrighted images, and also so I
could have a consistent character style which is a key genre convention of
children’s books.

3. Flat plan Final page
This was a very rough idea for
the composition where the
characters don’t match the
background in terms of visual
style. Also the farmer is not
performing the action the text
states.
Here the background and characters
follow the same style. The
composition is more or less the
same as the flat plan so it is faithful
in that regard. Also you can now see
the farmer attacking the duckling as
said in the text. This wasn’t shown
in the flat plan.

4. How well have you constructed your
images?
• I think that I constructed my images well using the rotoscoping method, despite the fact
that it became extremely tedious, especially for objects such as trees which are very
textured. The overall style is quite a simplistic one, yet it still maintains a level of
realism, whilst at the same time being slightly cartoony, however none of the characters
are oddly proportioned and are consistent throughout. Overall I like the style and visual
appearance of the images, as I think there is a lot of rich colours which allow the pages
to stand out. For example, in this story water is shown as being bright blue. However in
the reference pictures I used, the water was more of a murky brown colour which
wouldn’t have been suitable for the context (children’s book) so the colours needed to
be vibrant and follow a more conventional style in relation to the context, as in most
children’s books, such as The Gruffalo there are a lot of rich, vivid colours which are far
more appealing to the demographic than dark greys and browns. In terms of texture, I
didn’t add any gradients or pre-existing textures to the images, and instead first made a
rough outline of the shape and gradually built it up with darker colours to create the
shading and texture. This made the images more original as it allowed me to change the
colours and textures of the original image. For example, one of the source images used
for the ugly duckling character was just a yellow duckling, however when I rotoscoped it
into the final character, I changed the colours from yellow to grey. I also added a lot
more texture to it to give it a more scruffy appearance.

5. In this image, the water
is shown as being dark,
unclean and full of
weeds, meaning it is not
very appealing.
However here, the water is
blue and looks clean, meaning
it looks far nicer. The sky is
also a bright blue and all of
the trees are different shades
of light green.

6. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
• In the flat plans I could not properly anchor the text to the images due to the
fact that image availability was limited, however I think that in the final
images, the text is very well anchored to the images. For example, on the page
where the duckling is attacked by the farmer, I have altered the character’s
facial expression to show his anger, as the text states he shouts at the duckling
whilst attacking him with a pitchfork. This is also shown as the duckling is
being flung into the air by the farmer who is wielding a pitchfork. Another
example of this in the book is when the duckling flees the peasant’s house
because he is “terrified” of the kids. I could’ve just used one image of the
duckling throughout the story, but if I did that then I wouldn’t be able to
capture his emotions and the book would look dull and unprofessional, so for
this page, I made a different image of a duck which is sprinting whilst looking
scared. Another example of this is when he becomes a swan at the end of the
book. The text on the second to last page says that he “bowed his head in
sadness” to look at his reflection, so I made an image of a swan doing that.
Also, to show his happiness in the final page, he is shown to be flapping his
wings. The text also alternates position depending on the page, so every other
page the text is positioned at the bottom of the page. I think this gives the
book a bit more life and motion.

7. Here the text is anchored to the image
because the text says that he was “terrified of
the peasant’s loud children”, so the duck is
shown to be running away whilst looking
scared.
The text here states that the farmer “shouted”,
so to show this in the image I made him look
angry. Also the action of him attacking the
duckling is also depicted.

8. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
• Early on in the proposal I identified that the audience would be English
speaking children, ages 3-9 and of both genders due to the fact that the story
is already well known for being a children’s story. However I also included the
parents of the children in the demographic, as they would be the people
buying the book, and they would need a motive for doing so. To make sure
parents bought the book, I said in the proposal that I would deliberately use a
large serif font which would be easy for children to read, so the book would
have educational value.
• I think that the final book is suitable for the target audience because it uses a
large serif font (big caslon size 32) therefore it is far easier to read than a sans
serif font. Serif fonts are typically found in most children’s books. As well as
this, it is written in very basic English so it is easy for young children to
understand and it can also help with learning to read and will therefore
encourage parents to buy it.
• In terms of content I think that it is suitable for the demographic, as it doesn’t
discriminate against anyone (in fact the moral of the story is to do the
opposite) and there is nothing obscene or inappropriate and it follows the
typical genre conventions of a fairytale. For example, there is a happy ending.

9. The original proposal
Large serif font and
basic English which is
very easy to read.
Whilst they do not
have the same visual
style, my book also
uses bright vibrant
colours like The
Gruffalo. The brighter
colours may be more
appealing to a younger
audience.
Similarly in the very
hungry caterpillar, a
serif font is used.

10. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
• For this project the only technique I used was rotoscoping because it gave a
unique art style that I have not seen in a children’s book before. I did this by
getting an image from another source (a copyright free image, and if it was
copyright then I would edit it so it was unrecognisable) and using the polygonal
lasso tool in photoshop to draw round an area of the image. Then made a layer via
copy and did a colour overlay. I kept doing this and then the final image was
gradually built up. Whilst this method produced an interesting and unique visual
style, it was incredibly tedious and became repetitive. It also took quite a while to
create certain detailed assets and characters due to the fact that there were so
many layers. For the characters, once I had merged every layer they were made up
of together, I added a stroke so they would stand out better on the page. I think
that this worked well, because without the stroke they are less easy to see. One
thing I do like, is on the page where the duckling is leaving the old woman’s house,
there is smoke coming from the chimney. The smoke is not completely solid and is
slightly transparent so you can see the trees through it, which adds some realism
to the image and makes it feel less blocky and two dimensional.

11. Polygonal lasso tool
This is the rotoscoping technique.

12. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
• I think that the final product looks good in general. The rotoscoping creates a very
interesting and unique style that is suitable for a children’s book as there are a lot
of bright and vibrant colours. Overall the style is quite simplistic and cartoony, like
most children’s books, however it still manages to maintain a degree of realism.
For example the characters in The Gruffalo have very over exaggerated body parts,
and don’t always look like what they are supposed to be, however the animals in
my book are realistic depictions of the animals. Another thing that I like about the
finished book is the text and how it blends into the image by feathering the edge
between text/image, making the separation look less harsh. Also I like the font
itself because it is easy for the target audience to read, since it is a serif font. The
text also alternates position every page, so on page 1, it is at the top of the page
and on page 2 it is on the bottom of the page etc…This makes the book look more
interesting, as well as more dynamic and adds a bit of movement to the book. It
also reflects the genre conventions of children’s books, because most children’s
books on the market do not have text positioned in the same place on every page.

13. Page 1 Page 2
The text alternates position
depending on the page.
Page 3 has text on the top,
page 4 on the bottom and
so on…
The text also changes
position from page to page
in the very hungry
caterpillar.

14. Why did you include the content you
used?
• The book uses a large serif font for its text. This was done because serif fonts are easier
on the eye than sans serif fonts, which are more difficult to read. I needed to use a font
which is easily read because the book is aimed at younger children who are learning to
read. I also used very basic English which again will help the audience learn to read. In
terms of colours I used very bright and saturated colours to reflect the style of other
children’s books such as the gruffalo, which is also set mainly in a forest and uses a lot
of bright colours to convey a certain tone. The trees in that book are very bright green
and water is shown as being blue, even though it is not necessarily that colour in real
life. The same applies to my book, as even though the story is quite sad in some parts, it
still has bright colours to signify a fairytale tone.
• However unlike quite a lot of children’s stories, my book goes for a more realistic look
for its illustrations which is achieved via the rotoscope method. There are no effects
applied to the images apart from a stroke on all of the characters, which helps them
stand out more on the page and contrast with the background. It also makes them look
a little bit more cartoony which will enable it to possibly appeal more to the child
audience.
• Overall the tone of the story is the way it is so it is appropriate for the audience. For
example in the original story, the duckling is almost killed by the winter, and the farmer
attack is more brutal. Both of these aspects of the story have been toned down to make
it more age appropriate.

15. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
• For this book I have used traditional colours that you may find in children’s books,
which are bright and vibrant and used to influence the audience’s emotions, and
the cartoony style is there to make it appeal more to children. For example, the
parts in the story where the duckling is sad, there are a lot of blues and greys on
the page and, similarly, when the duckling is happy, the colours are very saturated
and rich. Also there are typical locations that you may find in children’s books and
the original story (the farm/forest/duck pond etc) which makes the story look
traditional so it is easily identifiable as a children’s story and fairytale. As well as
this there are things that would stereotypically find in a children’s tale such as a
cottage that the old woman lives in, and a farm.
• The overall message of the story is that you should not discriminate against others
on grounds of appearance and also that it is good to be different. This is another
typical genre convention of children’s books, as traditional stories like Hansel and
Gretel also carry a message that you should not trust strangers, and Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory carries a message that you should not be a spoilt child.

16. An old woman living in a forest in a
small house. This is a typical scene that
you would expect to find in a children’s
book, and it appears in several children’s
books such as Hansel and Gretel.
As well as this, the colours used are
bright and warm to reflect the fact that
the old woman is kind.
The old woman’s house in Hansel and
Gretel.

17. What representations can be found in
your work?
• Overall the story has a very wide range of character types including animals and humans. Despite
this, there is not a lot of range in terms of ethnicity for the human characters, this is unintentional
as I wasn’t focused on creating representations when making it, but it does make the story appear
more traditional as some ethnicities are rarely shown in traditional English fairytales, for example
all of the characters in most tellings of Little Red Riding Hood are shown as being white. The story
doesn’t feature any religions because it isn’t necessary to the context. There are, however,
stereotypical representations of certain characters, for example the old woman lives alone in the
forest with her pet cat. This is something you often find in traditional children’s books and it is often
stereotyped in the real world too. She is the only female human character in the story, and is shown
as being kind and caring for taking the duckling in, but she isn’t shown to have much power, and is
hunched over, suggesting she is physically weak. There are two male human characters in the book;
the peasant and the farmer. The latter wears blue dungarees, a colour which is typically associated
with men, and attacks the duckling, forcing him off the farm. This means that the farmer has a lot
of power and is hard working since he doesn’t have a name and is referred to only by his vocation,
so the story sticks with the traditional gender roles as the old woman is seemingly unemployed.
The peasant however does not attack the duckling and instead helps him like the old woman, but is
still shown as being hard working, so you sympathise with him for being poor. Children are
represented as being loud and annoying, as they are shown to be jumping and screaming. Their
actions eventually force the duckling away from the peasant’s house so you immediately dislike
them as characters. This is a subversion of expectations and not a typical representation, as in most
fairytales, children are usually presented as being sweet and innocent and usually the victims, for
example Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.

18. The human characters in the story are not very diverse. This was done unintentionally and subconsciously,
since the race of the characters was not something I was focusing on. It does however reflect genre
conventions of old Western/European fairytales, as typically only white characters were depicted.
These are the children characters in the story. They are not
represented in the way you would expect, since generally
children are shown as viewpoint characters. In this story
however, they are supposed to be characters that you don’t
like since they are a threat towards the central character.

19. What style have you employed in your
products?
• There were no influences from previous products for the visual style and I think
that the style is unique for a children’s book, however some of the colours have
been influenced by previous works such as The Gruffalo, and in fact every other
children’s book on the market, since they all typically seem to use bright and
vibrant colours for their illustrations in order to convey certain feelings. I decided
to use the rotoscope style because of the unique look it produced. It was also a
relatively easy method to use despite the fact it became very tedious especially
towards the end. I considered using shapes for some of the assets, but I felt that
they produced something which looked too simplistic.
• Overall the style is quite cartoony due to the simplicity of it, yet it still manages to
maintain a level of realism because the illustrations have been rotoscoped using
real images. This means that none of the characters are disproportioned and
actually look like what they are supposed to look like. Again, this is something you
don’t typically see in children’s books, because they tend to employ more
cartoony/unrealistic visual styles.

20. In this book, the ducks are
shown unrealistically with
oversized heads, eyes and
beaks, making them
appear more kid friendly
and almost caricatured.
This is found in most
children’s books.
Here however we see that
the ducks maintain a very
simplistic style yet they
look realistic. For example
all of their body parts are
in proportion. You do not
find this very often in
children’s books.

21. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
• The planning and research helped a lot because it allowed for a greater understanding
of what is included in children’s books since I haven’t read them in over 10 years. It was
also useful to have a planning document where I planned what I was going to do on
certain days even though I didn’t stick to it completely, but it did at least give a rough
idea so I was able to manage time effectively and get all necessary resources together.
Looking at various fonts was also helpful because it is something that could be
overlooked when it is actually quite an important part of the book, as some fonts are
easier to read than others, for example sans serif fonts are harder to read than serif
fonts, so would therefore be unsuitable for the demographic as the audience need to
be able to read the text. Another thing the planning helped with was identifying how
many pages the book needed and how many words were on each page. This was
achieved by looking over various children’s books such as Oliver’s Vegetables, The
Gruffalo and noticing that they had less than 30 pages, and had around 30 words per
page.
• Something that I found very useful in the pre-production stage was creating digital flat
plans. This was useful because it allowed me to create rough versions of each page that
were to scale so I could think about composition and text placement in advance and not
waste time on it during the production stage. Copyright regulations and codes of
practice such as the Practice on Author Contracts were also useful. Despite the fact that
it was hypothetical, it did help me manage time quicker since authors may not get paid
if they do not meet the publishing deadline. The copyright regulations were useful
because it made the book more original in terms of content.

23. Historical and cultural context
• In terms of what has come before, this book features a very original visual style that I have not seen
before in a children’s book. However, it does follow the visual conventions of European fairytales
(since it is a Danish fairytale) by including quintessential things like talking animals, forest settings,
guardians (old woman/peasant) etc, that are prominent in other European children’s stories such as
The Gruffalo and Little Red Riding Hood. So despite the fact that the art style is slightly different, it
is still immediately identifiable as a fairytale set in the western world through its settings and
character types. This is also reinforced by the fact that all of the characters are caucasian. As well as
this, the story is similar to every other fairytale that exists, because there is a moral lesson at the
end of it which is that you should not discriminate against others and also that it is good to be
different. Other stories that include moral messages are Little Red Riding Hood, which says that you
should be careful whom you trust, and Rapunzel, which encourages children to think outside the
box. Moral lessons are not exclusive to western fairytales and can be found in ones set in places like
Asia as well.
• This book is more similar to older children’s books as opposed to newer ones. Newer children’s
books tend to be set in the present or on different planets and tend to stay away from the ‘fairytale’
theme, whereas the older traditional stories are set in the past and on Earth. Nowadays children’s
books are also interactive and can include pop up features or colouring. For example The Very
Hungry Caterpillar has also been printed as a pop up book.

24. Comparing an illustration of Little Red Riding Hood
with a section of the final book, you can see that the
settings are very similar and the characters are dressed
in very similar clothes. Also the colours are very similar
as a lot of greens and browns are featured.
This is an illustration from a Japanese fairytale and it is
very different from the art style you would find in
European fairytales. The colours are far less saturated
and the setting is completely different as it is set by the
sea instead of in a forest.

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