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?
For the most part my final product does reflect my original intentions for this project. The telling of the
story has changed slightly however the art style has, for the most part stayed the same. I chose an
Aesop's fable by the names of ‘The Fox and The Grapes’. Originally I intended to leave the story in its
vanilla form and not alter the characters structure or elements. I however found that the story was
lacking a element of conflict and so inserted a human gardener as the antagonist. Following attempting
to produce test assets for characters I found that human characters were difficult and very time-
consuming to create. So instead of using a human character as the antagonist I instead used a guard
dog allowing me to continue with the theme of anthropomorphism.
When I started work planning the process and style of my book I had intended to use a block colour,
cell stylised technique similar to that found in the popular animated television show ‘Dexter’s
laboratory’ or ‘Regular Show’ (as seen on Cartoon Network). However while producing a test page I
discovered a game called ‘Tearaway’ – a recently released video game for the PlayStation that is set in a
world made up of cardboard and paper. I decidedly implemented this style into my work by creating a
clipping mask using a paper texture (see slide 6).
The result was an attractive and unique style that easily draws the readers attention to the page and
could allow the inclusion of a tactile, interactive element to the book for younger readers.
While these changes were not originally intended when I began, I feel that they have
only improved my work and made it more appropriate and suitable for younger readers.
4. How well have you constructed your
images?
When creating the pages for my children’s book I worked
chronologically allowing me to spend as much time as needed to
ensure that every one was as high a quality as possible. Because of
this and pre-planning I found it easier to create aesthetically
pleasing and interesting pages.
I think that my use of colour and texture is bright and varied which
draws the attention of the reader and helps them to focus on each
page.
I purposefully used colour to help direct the reader to points of
interest on each page. As shown by the colour wheel (right), green
is opposite orange and red. This means that when next to one
another the colours compliment each other and ‘pop’ making
them look bright and vibrant.
In the example (right) both the use of colour and the positioning of
the fox in the centre of the page help the reader to focus their
attention on the fox.
I also attempted to make use of texture to possibly add a tactile
element to the story. This physical interaction can be very useful,
especially with very young children and children with varying
learning difficulties as it gives them a way to explore the book and
story physically. It can also simply act to hold the attention of the
reader while they progress through the story.
5. When creating the digital and visual element of the ‘Paper’ texture for my pages I
used a simple and easily re-creatable technique. I used a royalty free stock photos
of textured and crumpled paper and created a clipping mask using this over the
character assets I made. I then used a colour burn filter on the mask in order to
allow the details of the assets to be seen. Finally I adjusted the colour balance, light
balance and saturation of the texture completing the changes.
This process, being both simple and easily re-creatable means that each page can
be made as similar to one another as possible building a consistency throughout
the story visually.
Without this technique being easily re-creatable each page would have small
inconsistencies in the overall style and details of the backgrounds and characters.
6. How well have you used text to anchor
your images?
When deciding on whether I would change the format of
the story I chose not to alter it’s original form as simply
adding the visual element to the story was enough to
faithfully tell the story.
I had two ways in which I could incorporate the text into
the book: to include it with the illustrations on each page
or to write all the text out on separate pages as it’s own
part of the novel. I chose the former as the latter Is better
when there is much more text and a more descriptive
story included along side illustrations.
I used text vey sparingly and made it easily distinguishable
from the background and characters on each page. Some
pages I didn’t use text at all and relied completely on the
image to tell the story.
Choosing a font surprisingly difficult. Finding a style that
both stood out from the page and was easy to read and
clear was challenging. I eventually decided to use the font
‘Baskerville’ as it is clearly readable and recognisable by
young readers and stands out from the cartoon style of
the characters and background of each page that it is
included on.
However if given the chance to recreate this project I
would spend a lot more time on the text to ensure that it
is the best possible choice for the story.
“…text… on separate pages...”
“…incorporate text along side illustrations…”
7. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
My target audience are aged between 2 and 6 as my product is a simple story with
inoffensive themes and no challenging messages or moral. Because of this it is
incredibly simple and would only serve as basic entertainment for very young children.
My book is based upon a simple children’s story (Aesop’s Fable) that contains no
conflict or offensive or potentially scary content. Because of this I only had to worry
about how the visual content would be received. To ensure that my product was
appropriate I only used simplistic characters and colourful natural imagery and did not
explore themes of violence, death, fear or other offensive themes.
The theme of the story could be argued to revolve around family and exploration and
so does not intend or teach a message that involves violence or other undesirable
themes for young readers. The colourful, bright and friendly imagery will appeal to
younger children and allow them to become more engaged with the story.
8. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
I liked the clipping mask because as I learnt to use it and other similar tools I found
them to be a quick and easy way to produce high quality work in a relatively short
period of time. I used the clipping mask tool specifically to create a paper texture on
all of my assets, characters and set designs. This helped me to create the unique style
shown in my product.
As I explained previously I purposefully used the colour orange and green because
they are opposite one another on the colour wheel. This means that the colours when
against each other contrast and ‘pop’ drawing the readers attention to specific details
on each page.
When implementing the colour and clipping mask textures I also used the saturation
tool and light balance tools to adjust and optimise the colours to make each page as
bright as possible. I also made use f these tools to define the shaded areas of the
paper texture in order to make it look as realistic to actual crumpled paper as possible.
Colour was also, later on a very useful tool as it allowed me to make sure each
individual page was all the same or a very similar, consistent colour or shade.
One technique that I used that I feel was particularly successful in my creation process
was my use of shapes to create my characters without source images. While this was a
complicated technique it allowed me to create very natural looking characters.
9. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
I like how my product almost ‘pops’ off the page because of my
use of colour in contrast with the background and other
features. My use of colour was careful and thought out
meaning that I am happy and satisfied with the result.
However I felt that it took far to long to create each page
because of the time constraints upon me. If I had spent as
much time as I wanted to on my work I would have probably at
least doubled the amount of time I spent creating the pages of
my book. This will have also allowed me more time to refine
the style of my product as I noticed while working through the
pages that my style very slightly changed between pages one
and 6.
Specifically I do not like how the some of the characters
physically look. This is because I did not have enough time to
perfect the positioning and angle of their bodies to make sure
that they looked natural and realistic in stance.
For example, in the image to the right I had to reuse and
therefore, reshape the character model from a previous page
as creating an entirely new model would have taken far too
much time. Because of this I feel that the character looks
somewhat ‘wooden’ and lifeless, unlike that of the first panel of
the second page which is very natural in appearance; however
that model took a very long time to create and perfect.
However I feel that the overall paper style was well
implemented as the clipping mask tool technique
allowed me to easily create the paper texture using little
time and little effort. This meant I only had to create the
shape and small details before adding on the texture
later on. Because of this I could also consistently create
very similar looking assets meaning that the style was
recognisable as belonging to this product. Because of
this my product is unique and can easily be recognised as
such.
10. Why did you include the content you
used?
I used colour carefully to contrast with the surround features and background in order
to draw the readers attention to specific areas of each page. I used his to best effect
when the fox was on the page as the bright orange is in direct contrast with the colour
green which is heavily used in the background and features of each page. This is
because orange is almost directly opposite green on the colour wheel.
Additionally I used a crumpled paper texture throughout the story to stylise the image
and make it look unique and stand out. This cold also be used as a tactile element for
very young children that may rely more on physical and visual elements than literary
techniques in order to tell a story. This would also serve to retain the attention of this
age group.
I used the effect of a shadow on all the layers in order to create the impression that
the ‘paper’ was layered and sat on top of each other with a light source directly
above. This helped to lend towards the hand made aesthetic that I liked. To do this I
simply used a gaussian blur on a copy of each asset and placed below the original
version. This gave the asset a drop shadow around the entre image instead of a
directional one found in the drop shadow effect tool.
11. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
In page one we can see the fox and her cubs
laid in a clearing next to a small body of water.
The fox has her tail wrapped around the cubs.
This could be showing the protection and
parental position that the fox holds for the
cubs. In many cultures (especially those in the
Western Hemisphere) the fox as a character is
almost always a trickster or thief; even in
children’s media. This is shown in the original
story of the fox and the grapes and my own
work as the fox does attempt to steal/steals the
grapes from a garden.
My over use of the colour green arguably is
meant to show that the story is set in the
natural world and has basically no interaction
with human characters or the human world at
all.
‘The Swiper’ – ‘Dora
the Explorer’
‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’
– Fantastic Mr. Fox,
by Roald Dahl, as
drawn by Quentin
Blake
12. The colour of the fox and how it contrasts with
the green background is a fantastic coincidence
as orange is opposite to green on the colour
wheel meaning that it stands out drawing the
attention. However I chose to use a very bright
and vibrant orange because it gives the
impression of life and exciting colour. Because of
this the fox will be automatically related to
positively by the reader. On the other hand the
black dog, a dark character will be seen
negatively because it is gloomy and can
represent fear. The image of a black dog is also
synonymous with depression as coined by
Winston Churchill in letters to his wife regarding
his manic depression.
In the second page (bottom right) we can see
that the fox is again acting protective and loving
towards the bubs. This time however she
appears to take a more defiant stance as if on
look out for danger. In the second panel of this
page the fox is leaving the cubs to look for food,
but she doesn’t appear concerned, hesitant or
scared; she seems confident. This gives the
impression that she is not worried about herself
as she ventures out in search for food, for her
cubs.
13. 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.
13Creative Media Production 2012
14. 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.
14Creative Media Production 2012
15. 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.
15Creative Media Production 2012
16. 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.
16Creative Media Production 2012
17. What representations can be found in
your work?
My product only makes use of two specific characters, and both are animals
(anthropomorphic). Also while the fox is expressive and explores the dog does not
actually interact with the audience change position or take a leading role within the
story and instead only represents a potential danger/threat towards the fox.
Because of this there are no racial, gender or cultural biases shown in the novel
leaving it politically neutral and inoffensive.
The dog represents danger and fear, however because of difficulties I did not make
this character an immediate danger to the main character.
18. What style have you employed in your
products?
My main influence when producing my
product was the video game collection
‘Tearaway’, a series of interactive video
games that are based in a world entirely
made of paper and cardboard.
I enjoyed the stop motion style animation
and how it made the world and characters
look handmade. Following this I attempted
to find other ‘paper’ style animations and
children’s books in order to draw inspiration
from. However I could not find any
appropriately stylized children’s books.
Instead I managed to find a short animation
titled simply ‘Paper’ that used the paper
texture upon a character made of paper. By
using the clipping mask tool I managed to
produce a similar result, however I preferred
the crumpled paper texture from ‘Tearaway’
rather than the flat texture of ‘Paper’.
Paper, By
Mathieu
AUBRY
19. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I feel that my research was very useful when deciding on where I wanted to take my product in style, story and
production methods. I began by creating a mind map (as shown on the next slide) about the children’s story ‘The Fox
and the Grapes’ to help in deciding on what kind of story I wanted to create.
Even though I planned out my work in detail and attempted to create a timed schedule, I had unrealistic expectations
on how much time it would take me to create each page and all the assets included. Because of this I quickly got
behind my intended schedule and so had to remove some unneeded details and pages that I would have otherwise
liked to include. The most time consuming part of production was my creation of my character assets as they contained
the most amount of detail. This became evident to me during my test page work, however I felt that this was simply
because I had only just began work on creating the characters. I assumed that with each character I would gradually get
better and faster at creating them. What I soon learnt was that it depended highly upon each individual character
model and it’s positioning in the page as each one required a different level of specificity.
However, on the other hand I feel that the test page was a particularly successful part of the pre-production as it
helped me to establish the style that I used in the final product. It also assisted me in deciding on how to stylise the
shape and positioning of characters (specifically the fox). I felt that the test page was so successful that I decided to use
it as my first page in the book.
20. Hold ctrl and press +
to zoom. Use the
arrow keys to scroll.
21. Historical and cultural context
‘The Fox and the Grapes’ is one of
the Aesop's fables. The narration in the
original text is concise and subsequent
retellings have often been equally terse.
The story is about an
anthropomorphic fox that tries to steal
some grapes to eat from a vine but
cannot reach them. Rather than admit
defeat, it denies they are what he
expected saying ‘they are sour anyway.’
It seems that most of the retellings before
2000 were quite true to the original tale.
However more recent retellings have
taken a more artistic and abstract way. For
example; the story ‘Lousy Rotten Stinkin’
Grapes’ adds several more characters and
an interesting plot line that is very
different to the originally intended tale.
22. Peer Feedback
From my peer feedback I feel confident that my proposal was in depth enough that
someone could complete the task to a similar effect that I have. I included the page
style, format and story overview to enough detail to allow them to recreate my
product. While the story portion has been changed through the creation process as I
suggested in the proposal, this detail can be easily added if needed. I also also
mentioned the possibility of using an anthropomorphic character that would allow
readers to relate to the main character despite the lack of any human interaction.
When the peer feedback was completed I had not decided on the exact dimensions
that I wished to create the book in. This was one of the main criticisms of my planning,
I had not planned far ahead enough before beginning production. In fact I did not
decide on my final product size until I started production drawing direct inspiration
from the comic book ASDF: Art is Dead by Thomas Ridgewell. I finally decided on 8
inches wide by 4 inches tall.
Most specifically I was suggested to include annotations on my mood boards which I
soon added.
