Work

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
• Yes I think that my final production dose reflect my original intentions I
managed to stick to the story I wanted and did a similar art style based on the
one I looked at. I feel my book follows my storyboard for example I liked the
idea of the monster that had goo oozing from their mouths so I took that idea
for the monster I created in my book I did a similar body shape to the that
looked quite wobbly and gooey. My intentions followed the digital flat plans
correctly I used my flat plan to gather an idea of how I was going to base the
page for example it gave me an idea of what shapes to use to create certain
objects like the cupboard or the can of soup. My book didn’t quite follow my
original ideas though I still used the main concept of the survival in a ruined
city of monsters but I didn’t quite manage to do all the ideas that I intionally
planned out.

4. For example I wanted to do the idea of an ancient item that gave the main protagonist
powers to fend off the monster but gradually turned him crazy the more he used it. I
wanted my story to be based on the idea of how the character sacrificed his life and mental
state to save a little girl. I couldn’t do this idea as it would tend to be quite hard for the
children who read this book to understand. I ended up changing my original idea around to
the main character must go on an adventure to find some chicken soup to help the little girl
feel better. I placed my children's book in an apocalyptic city after a nuclear war this was so
I could give the book the grimy effect I had in mind and also so I could add monsters to the
book.
Here is an Example:
Moodboard Final

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 think that I could of done better when constructing my images I used the shapes
tool to create my objects/ characters and then colour over layed them I feel this
gave my book too much of a cartoon styled effect. I personally felt that the object
and character I had made were quite bad like someone had just drawn them up on
paint and placed them onto a page. I feel like I could of added some texture to the
images for example on one of the pages there is a little girl layed in bed sneezing I
could of gotten a texture of fabric form the internet and as well as colour overlay

6. I could off added the texture to give It more of a realistic effect this way I think that the
images could look more professional. I followed the TV styled effect with cartoons and
added a stroke to the images this is when it adds a black line around the image or character I
added strokes to all the characters I had in my book this is because I wanted to give the book
a similar art style to ones that children will recognize more like on cartoons they see like The
Simpsons and Adventure Time. I tended to use bright colours at the beginning of my book
because it was supposed to represent a happy moment in the book. My book flashes back to
the past around 880 years ago where I’ve tended to use darker images colours to show the
change in environment as I’ve said I wanted my book to be based in an apocalyptic city so I
had to make the pages quite dark and gloomy. This is why I added the style of TV cartoons to
my book so it’s a similar and children will still enjoy it even though it has a darker styled
effect.

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
• You should talk about the combination of
words, images and text.
I believe that the text does anchor my images I have placed the image on one side of
the book but yet the text on the opposite side this is to separate the image from the
text so there is hopefully more to look at. I have used the text font Garamond due to
the fact that this is the basic children's book styled font its easy to read and has quite a
book styled look to it. I have placed the text and the image on separate pages because
my book is for more older kids who may be able to read a little more than younger
ones I have described what is happening on the opposite page. I have made my font
black so it stands out to the reader due to the fact I have placed images behind my
text so it looks as if it merges into the image but still stays on the separate page, for
example on the first page is placed on a peer I have made the background of the text
page sky blue and added clouds in like the background of the imaged page.

8. As you can see I make sure that the page with text always has something relatable to the
image. Like the clouds on the first or another example the feather that appears as if it’s a
loose feather fallen from the pigeon on the opposite page. As I’ve said I did this so the
page with text looks as if its joined to the image.

9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
• Reference your proposal
• Give an audience profile and describe
suitability in reference to content
• I feel that I have made my book suitable for the target audience I wanted to relate
to I aimed the book at older kids as my story had a darker gloomy style to the
colours not only this but I had longer text than most children’s books so it would
be a little harder for younger children to read. My target audience fall under the
demographic of ABC1 this is because people who fall under this demographic tend
to have higher income and I would want my product to appeal to them. I have
made my book for older children due to the idea of the setting being placed in an
apocalyptic city this would seem quite dark to younger kids and would not appeal
as much as the other children’s books do like little red riding hood or other similar
books.

10. Due to the fact that my audience is a little older they will be able to over think the idea of
the gloominess of the setting and focus more on the story. Doing the idea of a darker
children’s book was quite risky as it may not appeal to many kids. I still used a cartoon
styled look even when doing the gloomy parts of the book. This makes it so that the book is
still quite childish and fun for the reader to look at. Like I said on a previous slide I used the
stroke tool to create a black line on most of my characters/ objects like most kids TV
programs this makes it so the child reading sees it as a similar sort of concept.
As you can see my book tends to be a lot darker
like the sky has a darker tint to it and there are a
lot less brighter colours. To the right hand side of
the screen I have zoomed in to show the stroke
affect that tends to be in most children’s
programs

11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
• Reference specific tools you used with images
• I used a fair amount of tools such as the polygonal lasso tool this allowed me to go
around an image or select a certain part of an image to layer via copy or just select
this tool was one of the most helpful tools when creating my images as it allowed
me to select certain shapes and parts of images that I’d need to move or turn into
a separate layer. Another tool that I tended to use a lot was the shape tool this was
an easy way to create a shape or object I tended to use this tool when creating the
cupboard on page 4 and the bed. I would also uses the warp tool on shapes this
allowed me to stretch and bend the shape I had just created around to make it
look a certain way that I wanted it to and example of this is the bed on page 3 I
place one of the main characters in a bed but I wanted to put a blanket over the
top of her, by using the shape tool I created a rectangle and used the warp tool to
bend the sides of the shape around the bed to make it seem as if it were a blanket
.

12. Another tool that I used similar to the warp tool was the skew tool this tool almost works
in the same way the warp tool does but rather than bending the shape around it allows
you to place the shape in certain angles I used this tool on the boardwalk on page two I
wanted the walk to seem as if it was heading towards the distance so I created another
rectangle using the shape tool and used the skew tool to give it the affect as if it was
heading off into the distance. The warp and skew tools were also very helpful and were
used just as much as the polygonal lasso tool. After I had used the skew tool on my board
walk I used a tool called the clipping mask which allowed me to take the texture of an
image and place it over the shape I had just placed. Finally the paint brush this was the
final tool I used this allowed me to paint on the layer that was selected this was easy for
colouring in places I had missed. These are tools I used when creating my images I wish I
used more for example like the clipping mask I only really used this once where as I believe
if I had done this to more objects in my book then I feel it could of looked more
professional.

13. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
• Personally I feel like my work isn’t as good as I imagined it would be I wanted to do
a cartoon styled book like the kids programme Adventure Tim I wanted the same
art style that this program uses I feel that my work doesn't look professional
enough and that it looks like someone has just drawn it up on Microsoft paint If I
could go back I would like to use the clipping mask tool to add more of an effect
this way my book could still look cartoony but have a realistic art style to it. For
example the wood on the peer I thought that it looked quite interesting and made
that page look good where as if I just had the colour overlay tool on every object it
would just look like a drawing by a kid like most of my other pages. I wish I also
could of gone back to smoothen out the edges of some of the object like my
character for example on some of the pages the edges look quite rough, the fact
that I have added a stroke tool to my image helps the roughness stand out more. I
would like to mainly change these things about my children’s book I feel like I
could stretch my potential and create something better.

14. If I had to give myself credit for my work it would be that I did it all by hand like the
characters and objects. I did use some images from the internet like the outline of the city
ruins in the background of page 1 and 6 other than that I did the rest by dragging and
skewing shapes. I also liked the idea that I had of adding images to the background of the
pages with text like the feather and the soup can I feel this added more to the book
making it look more interesting like a lot was going on. Even though I pointed it out as a
bad thing I do like the stroke effects I used on my characters and objects because by doing
this I was giving it the TV styled look even though it made the edges stand out and point
out the roughness of them I liked the style it brought to the book I feel as if I didn't add
this effect then the book would just look terrible. I used shading on some of the objects to
give it a darker look this is another thing that I like about my book that it is based for older
children so I got to do something different than the usual I enjoyed this because it helped
test my skills even though it was quite difficult with the script and images to make it
suitable for kids I tended to enjoy the fact that it was a challenge and that it was giving me
experience for next time.

15. Why did you include the content you
used?
• Images, fonts, effects, colours
I used a tool called clipping mask this was to
give the peer the realistic wood style effect I
wanted to do this so I could give the book a
little bit of realism rather than it just look like a
child’s drawing
I used the shape tool on
my characters like the
dog. I simply used the
warp tool to change the
body around enough to
give him that body look
that he has
I gave the characters a stroke which adds a
little black line around the object that has
been chosen. This helped to give it the look I
wanted as they use this same technique in
Adventure Time
I used a drop shadow on
the clouds but selected to
put the effect at a radios
this what gave the clouds
that darker look in the
middle section. I tended
to use darker colours to fit
in with my book as it was
a little darker and aimed
at older children
I used a tool called skew
after using the shape tool
this allowed me the shape
the object selected giving it
an angle which is how I
made the peer look as if its
heading off into the
distance

16. I chose the font Garamond as it is quite easy to read and fits in well with most children’s
books. I chose to keep the font black so it stood out when on some of the pages. For the
colours on the text page I wanted it to relate to the image that it was describing for
example I added a feather in the background of the text to fit in with the image on the
opposite side. I created the feather by taking an image from Google and Rota scoping it
this is after I had done that I layer via copied it and colour overlaid it to the same colour as
the pigeons neck on the opposite page so it had relation to the image.

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.
• I tended to use quite dark colours for my book by using these colours I will make
the audience feel like the book is almost scary in a way. I wanted to give the
impression like the city was destroyed so on one of the pages I added in a broken
window. Normally when the audience sees a window smashed or broken they
think of the idea that someone or something is trying to brake in this is why I
added this in my image so I could give off the feel that at some point in my book
something like this had happened. I also added a destroyed outline of a city to
show that something has happened combining these two ideas together will
normally make the audience think that something could of happened like a riot,
war or apocalypse has happened which is exactly what I want my book to do.

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

22. 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?
• My book only tends to show different ages as I have different characters at
different age points. For example in my book it leads to a flash back of a story been
told in my first two pages I have an older version of the character yet in the
flashback he looks younger this is to show that a lot of time has past since the
flashback as I wanted my story to be about a friendship that happened long ago

23. I also got a younger kid around the age of 12 – 13 and a older woman around the same age
as the older character. I have not really involved races in my book as one of the character is
a vampire which isn’t a race and another character is a dog. I am not basing my character
to be in any religion or social group due to the fact my book is based in a ruined city the
group varies of different people and different ages. I would not say that any of my
character create their own representation of their own as I have used them in a different
context. For example people would normally associate a vampire to be enemy's with a
human where as I have made my character who is a vampire be friends with humans
rather than enemy’s. Another example is the character that is a dog I have made it so that
my character can stand on two feet and actually talk obviously when someone imagines a
dog they pitcher it drooling and panting. This shows that my characters have not
represented their usual state.

24. 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?
• My main influence was Adventure Time I really liked there art style I wanted to
create my characters and surrounding like they do in there programme I felt that
the idea of there art style would be best because I was basing my book mainly
around a darker environment by using this art style I could still aim it at kids I know
that this style tends to work because of the programme I looked into it a saw that
the programme had some darker moments but still work due to keeping the story
quite childish and silly this is what I wanted to do. I looked at some art work that
the Adventure Time artists did so I could gather an idea on how to draw my story.

25. After I had gotten an idea how to draw my page out I started to use the shape tool to create
my objects I couldn’t Rota scope the ideas I had in mind due to the fact they were already in
cartoon form so I had to create my objects by scratch. This is where I feel my work went
wrong rather than creating the art style I wanted my book to be based on I ended up just
making a book that looked like a child’s drawing. I tended to add the stroke tool to most of
my objects this was to give it the cartoon like effect that they do on movies as I had sadly
done most of my work by hand I feel some of the edges on my objects are quite rough and
tend to look unprofessional. This tool also came in handy due to the fact that my children’s
book was quite dark using the effect that most children's books use it would still appeal to
them even though some of the colours aren’t quite as bright.
I have got an example to help show what I mean as
you can see on the image above they tend to use a
very thin stroke on most of the character on the
image this is what I influenced my work on another
example that I took form the original work is the
nose on my character and the Ice King because I
wanted my character to look quite nerdy I took the
idea of giving him a pointer nose which in a way
would almost make it seem as if the character was
quite nasally

26. 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
• I think that the planning research really help me out it gave me the chance to look
at existing products and gather an idea of how to base out my book. By looking at
original children’s books it helped my get an idea on how to spread out my book
like what colours to uses what style of font the way the objects/ characters look I
feel that without the research it would of taken me more days to think up how I
was going to layout my book I believe that research is a big part of production.
Another good thing about research is that if I ever got stuck then I could simply go
on an existing image an see how the drew out their characters and objects like
having an arm in a certain position or viewing the setting from a certain angle.

27. I feel that I managed my time well I managed to complete all pages on the final day of
production. I wish I worked a little faster than I did so I could go back and improve to try and
get a higher mark. Personally though I feel that I used my time well I managed to gather a lot
of information during the research stage.
Here is a specific example of research the top
image is of an original drawing on the actual
program I looked at this and got the idea for
the mutant that I drew in my book. Ask you can
see I have taken the whole idea of having the
mutant like a darker green than the goo oozing
from the holes of the mutant/monster. I felt
that by using the colour of green it would make
the monster seem more like a monster if I
chose the colour blue then it would seem more
friendly and less gross or gooey looking.
Another example is of the actual goo itself I
took this idea for myself used it as goo coming
out of the monsters mouth this was to make
him seem more menacing and disgusting.

28. 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 book wasn’t based children’s book but a children’s cartoon so I couldn’t look at
similar products or past existing representations of those characters. Instead I
looked at how certain characters have been portrayed over time for example one
of my characters is a vampire as I stated on a previous slide I tended to look at
original images of vampires and gather what people seem to feature with that
certain idea so for example people tend to have the idea of fangs and pale skin.

29. I not only looked at the way vampires are portrayed but also my environments as I’ve said
due to the fact that my book wasn’t based on a children’s book it made it quite hard to look
at past existing image of the same general content. What I had to do was look at destroyed
city’s and try and imagine them in a cartoon like state. I could only really look at the art style
that I was basing my book on Adventure Time so I looked at how they set out there art when
drawing the city and tired to take in an idea on how I could of done my drawing.

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