Planning booklet

1. Digital Graphic Narrative Planning
Use this booklet to help structure your planning and collate your planning documents.
Considerations:
There are lots of things to consider in this project. Fill out each section in detail to show you have thought about each one. You
should imagine that this is a live project, so considerations like cost, quantity and codes of practice must be thought about in that
context rather than just as a college project.
Costs:
The costs for this project will be minimal because all of the art work that the book will contain will be created
using a digital platform (Photoshop) and I will also be writing and illustrating the book myself. The resources
needed for the project I already have access to such as a memory stick, computer and the editing software
(Photoshop) therefore the costs for the project will be very small. Although if I were to create this book
professionally the costs would be much higher due to the hiring of a separate author and illustrator of the
book, then the book would then have to be reviewed by a publisher who would need to be paid, before it could
go on sale to the public.
Available resources:
The resources needed for this project are available to me. The most important resource I will need to create
the children’s book would be a computer that has the required and up to date programme that I will be using
to create my pages, which is Photoshop. I may also be using a DSLR camera to take photographs of shapes
and positions of characters that I am wanting to rotoscope as it may be difficult to find the exact position I
need on the internet. The resources that I would need to provide to store my work would be my own memory
stick.

2. Quantity:
The number of pages for my children’s book will be kept to a minimum (10-12 pages) as if my book were to be
published then this would keeping the printing costs lower for my book. If the children’s book were to be
published there would only be a small number of the books released, as it would be sold as a limited edition
comic book that relates to the character Puss in Boots, and if the book sells well and is popular with the target
audience of young kids (aged 5-7) then I would consider releasing editions to follow the first special edition,
similar to how comic books are released now, in series.
Audience and Target Market:
The target audience for my children’s book would be children aged between 5-7 because they will be wanting
to read books independently and without their parents and the comic book style that I hope to create will
hopefully interest this audience because it is similar to real comic books which they may be interested in, but
would find reading teenage style comic books harder because of the positioning of the text against the
pictures. The comic book styled book will be mainly targeted at a male audience because of the style of the
book and the content such as knights, a king and a superhero style main character. Although the book may be
interesting for the female audience as well because of the main character being Puss in Boots and being
based loosely on the DreamWorks character which is popular with both male and female children.
Quality Factors:
The quality of the finished product will depend on a combination of personal effort for the illustrations and
design of my book, alongside the availability of my resources needed. To be able to complete my children’s
book to a satisfactory standard I will have to stick closely to my schedule and make sure that whatever time I
have for the day I use effectively. Although my time keeping may be a little slow at the beginning of the project
due to the fact that I will need to get used to the different tools I will be using on Photoshop but once I have
created the first illustration of my main character then the different positions he needs to be in will be a lot
easier to draw because I will have the features on my first illustration to copy and paste for the other positions.
The resources that are available to me at college are all of the best quality and contain up to date
programmes, although I do not have access to these resources when at home therefore my work may be
affected as I am only able to use the resources provided to me by college, which is why I have created a
schedule to make sure that my quality of my work doesn’t get affected by the time limit we have for the
project.

3. Codes of Practice:
The codes of practice do not apply to me as they are based upon the interaction between the author and the
publisher during the writing of the book and I am not creating a professional book. Although if I were planning
on making a professional book and publishing it to the public there would be a couple of codes and
regulations that I would have to follow such as the financial behind creating and publishing a book. Finance
plays a big part in the creation of a book to mass production of it. These include the publisher pays the author
as they create the book that they are interested in, but in return for these payments from the publisher the
author must produce a high quality book in the time limit given based off the test page that was given to the
publisher. If the code of practice are not followed and the book doesn’t represent the test page that was given
to them then the publisher will likely push for the expenditure on the author back as the book they produced
does not match the quality that they guaranteed and what the publisher was expecting.
Regulation:
Many children’s books fall under the category of toys and games as some books will include aspects such as
textures for the characters or sections that require children to lift the flap or move a slider. Because of this
there are regulations surrounding the production of books, but these regulations will not apply to my book, as
my book does not fall under the category of toys and games due to not having any aspects such as textures
or flaps for the children to interactive with while reading the book. The regulations that do apply to my book,
include The Obscene Publications Act and Equality Act, but because the creation on my book will not violate
these Acts my book being published to the public will not cause any problems.
Copyright:
For my children’s book I will not be allowed to use any modern, copyright owned stories due to the Copyright
Act which protects any original physical or intellectual property of the owner from being copied or used by
others. Although I will be allowed to use an old traditional story such as the fairy tale of Puss in Boots, as it
holds no copyright laws, meaning I can use as much of the story as I want and make profit from it if I were to
publish it professionally. I will be basing my story roughly on the idea of a cat and his owner, and changing the
ending slightly so I will be able to tell the story in under 12 pages.

4. Ethical Issues:
Ethical issues for the creation of a children’s book would include issues with people’s beliefs and opinions
about the typical stereotypes of the strong man saving the vulnerable women from harm, or whether they
believe that the animals or enemies within the story and any harm that is placed on these characters. There
are ethical issues surrounding almost everything due to everyone having their own opinion on the matter and
their own beliefs. There could be ethical issues related to my story such as the harm that comes to the
animals that Puss in Boots catches to take to the king, although it doesn’t show or describe what happens to
the animals there could be some people who find this offensive to their beliefs or religion. To try to avoid this
problem of people being offended I will only briefly cover that the animals have died and will not show any
detail in the illustrations, as this is an important part of my story and I don’t want adults to be offended by the
content for their children.
Resources:
A successful project relies on good planning. Considering all the resources you will need for a project and then assessing which
you already have and which you need will help ensure you are ready to start your project.
If there is a resource you don’t currently have, then consider how you are going to get it before you go in to production.
Resource:
Do you have
it? What do you need to do to get it?
Photoshop programme Yes

5. Internet Access Yes
Computer Yes
Memory Stick Yes
DSLR Camera Yes
Production Schedule:
Delivering your project on time is vital. In order to do this, you need a solid plan of action. This will help you divide up your work in
to manageable chunks to be tackled one at a time. It will also allow you to plan which tasks need to be done in which order. It will
also allow you to track your progress each day. If you are falling behind, you will need to modify the way you work. If you work
faster than expected, you can clearly see what the next steps you need to take are.
Each session is a half day of college.
Session 1:

6. Create my main character Puss in Boots and begin creating the different positions for the character.
Finish my main character in the 2-3 main positions they will appear in the book.
Begin creating the secondary characters featured in my book (the three sons and the father) and create
close up illustrations for my main character for when they’re talking.
Finish rotoscoping the close ups of the main character and carry on with rotoscoping the secondary
characters.
Session 2:
Finish the main and secondary characters with the different positions needed.
Begin creating the other characters present such as the donkey, the king and the two knights.
Create the three birds and three rabbits that Puss in Boots kills.
Session 3:

7. Finish creating some environments for the story.
Create the different woods environments, as the character walks deeper into it the scenery will change.
Finish the characters.
Start constructing pages 1 and 2. Layering the characters on top of the environments.
Session 4:
Finish constructing pages 1 and 2. Layering the characters on top of the environments. Adding in the
text boxes and text.
Start construction on pages 3 and 4. Layering the characters and objects on top of the environments.
Finishing construction on pages 3 and 4, adding in the appropriate text and speech.
Session 5:

8. Start construction on pages 5 and 6
Finish pages 5 and 6.
Place the text above the illustrations and position the pictures on the page.
Session 6:
Add the comic book effect to pages 5 and 6.
Start construction on pages 7 and 8.
Finish construction of pages 7 and 8 including text boxes.
Add the comic book effect to pages 7 and 8.
Session 7:

9. Start construction on page 9
Finish construction of page 9 including text boxes and comic book effect.
Start construction on page 10.
Session 8:
Finish construction of page 10, including text boxes and comic book effect.
Start construction on page 11.
Finish construction of page 11, including comic book effect and text boxes.
Make final arrangements to the layout of the pages.
Session 9:

10. Make final arrangements to the layout of the pages.
Check all text and illustrations match and make sense.
Peer review the images.
Session 10:

11. Health and safety:
Your health and safety and that of those around you is very important. Just like in industry, an accident could prevent you from
working. Whilst we don’t work in a highly dangerous environment, there are still risks. Some are short term, such as trips and
spillages whilst others, such as long term damage to eyesight or back problems, may affect you much later in life.
Consider the risks based on the activities you will be undertaking during the project. Explain how you could prevent them from
happening.
Ensure you reference appropriate pieces of legislation, design to protect people at work.

12. Health and Safety Issue How can you prevent it?
I could encounter eye sight problems as I will be staring
at the computer for long periods of time.
I could prevent eye sight problems from occurring by
taking regular breaks to let my eyes rest and by not sitting
too close to the screen. The Health and Safety (Display
Screen equipment) Regulations 1992 would protect me
from any injury that could occur while sat on the computer
creating my illustrations.
I could trip over mine or other student’s bags or
headphone wires.
Make sure that any bags are tucked away under the desk
and any loose headphone wires are placed on top of the
desk and not dangling over the edge when not in use. The
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 could protect me
from any injury that could occur within the work area at
college.
Could trip over laptop or computer cables.
To prevent this if I am using a laptop I will ensure I am sat
next to the nearest plug socket and not trailing the
charging cable across the classroom where it could
potentially cause harm to myself or other classmates.