This is my evaluation of my work.

1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
• I think that my final book follows my original intentions of my
storyboard to a certain extent. My flat plans were slightly
different to my final pages, but I think that the changes that I
made were improvements. The start of the book follows my
flat plans, but after page 4 I only include the most relevant
detail from my flat plans in the book. By doing this, I gave
myself time to create better images than the original ones I
had intended on making. One thing that was a big change in
my book was the layout. Originally I had a unique layout,
which generally included a number of different images on
each page, however when making my image, I found it best to
just stick with one image per page.

3. This ended up looking more aesthetically pleasing. The only page in
my book that contains more than one image is my first page, as that
was my test page and I like the idea of introducing Jack and his family
all instantly, so that the children know straight away that he is the
protagonist. On my flat plans I split the last page into two halves, and
included two images on the last page. However, when making my final
pages I created two separate pages for each image, this gave me
chance to add more detail to the text, as there was more space to
write in. For example, on the last page there was much more space
for extra text, so decided to end the book positively, by saying ‘
happily ever after ‘.
In conclusion, I think that I generally followed my flat plans, and the
things that I did change were positively altered and they were all just
improvements on my original intentions.

4. Pages one and
two followed
almost
perfectly to
their original
flat plans.

5. Originally I had planned on
having pages three and four
containing four images.
However I decided to miss out
the image of the key and the
lock, and I gave each of the
three remaining images their
own page in order for them to
each get a lot of text that would
help to tell the story better and
in more detail.

6. How well have you constructed your
images?
I believe that my images are well constructed overall. I think that
they’re aesthetically pleasing as they contain all the necessary
detail that’s needed. Every object/person/location is clear and
looks good. Throughout the book I keep the same style of
illustration, which means that my book looks complete and like a
finished article. I am especially pleased with some of the effects I
used. I like the textures I used when creating things like carpet
and concrete. I’m also pleased with my use of the gradient effect
on things such as eyes of the characters and I also used this
effect when creating the sky. It makes things look more realistic
and life-like.

7. Gradient Effect on
the sky:
Lighter shade
Gradient Effect on the
sky:
Darker shade of sky
Grass has darker
shades in places to
give it a realistic
effect. This was
created by the
threshold effect.
A gravel-like texture used on the
road to give the image a realistic
feel.

8. I’m extremely happy with the way that the sacks of money came out. I
used the warp tool on each sack in order to make them all look
unique.
I’m also pleased with the painting on page six. To achieve this strange
object I just changed the brush setting to create something unique and
interesting. Then I changed the perspective of the image in total to
make it look as if it was actually hanging on that wall.
To improve my images I would spend more time adding specific detail
to each character, such as changing the skin shades and tone. I would
also make sure that each object/character is smooth and that there
are no rough edges. I would spend more time improving things such as
Jack from the side angle, as I’m not completely happy with that. I
would change his arm position to make him look more comfortable,
and I would change his face shape to make him look more like the
original character.

9. Interesting painting that
was created by
changing the settings of
the brush tool.
The perspective was
also adjusted to match
the wall.
Each individual sack of
money looks slightly
different, as this is
realistic. I used the
warp tool to achieve
this.
Jack’s uncomfortable arm
looks like he is waving
rather than walking.

10. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
Throughout my whole book the text goes under my images. The
reason for this is so that it stands out. My images in my book are
fairly busy, and I wanted to include quite a bit of detail in the
text, so I was concerned about spacing. In order to create the
book I had in mind, I had to write the text under the images. The
text manages to still clearly stand out, and the images are just to
the quality that I want them to be. There’s enough space in
between letters for kids to read the book themselves. The book
only has a few slightly more complex words, but hopefully
parents would be able to help there children to improve their
vocabulary by reading my book with their kids.

11. Text is nicely positioned under
the image, therefore it is easy
to read on the plain white
background. Also makes the
image clearer and stops the
child getting confused why
writing would be on the wall
next to the lift in this image.
There’s also the possibility of
there not being enough empty
space on some of my images,
as they will be too busy.

12. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
I believe that my product is suitable for my audience, as I had
planned on the book being aimed at 2 to 6 year olds in my
proposal. The book is interesting and has a lot of excitement in it
towards the end. It’s short, so it will work well with a young
child’s short attention span. Also, for kids aged 2-4, their parents
can read this book to them, but for older kids aged 5 and 6, they
can attempt reading my book themselves, especially the ones
who are good readers. My images were ‘colourful and detailed’
as I stated I would try and do in my proposal. By doing colourful,
detailed images, it will give the children something to look at,
focus on and enjoy.

13. I think that both young boys and young girls can enjoy my book. This
is, because it’s an all round interesting book. Any child who likes an
adventure should enjoy my book. My product also contains a dog,
which might appeal to children who like to read about dogs. Scruff
the dog is a main character in my book, so any animal loving children
might enjoy my book.
My storyline is very basic and easy to follow, so therefore I do think
that my book is suitable for the target audience I originally had in
mind. In fact, now looking back on things, I think that I would extend
the age range of the target audience from 2-6 to 2-8. I think that 7
and 8 year olds might enjoy reading this book as it is exciting and it
can be a book that they can use to help them learn to read, and some
children might take pride if they can read my book fully. This is a
benefit of only making the story short.

14. This image is colourful and
busy, as there is a lot of
detail, so there is a lot of
things for the child to look
at. I plan on adding fencing
to this image to improve it
and make it even more
busy.
A well illustrated dog that
children might like to look
at.
The writing isn’t too complex for
children. Also, once I have
changed my font it should be
easier for a child to read through.

15. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
In my book I am very pleased about many techniques and tools
that I used.
I think that the textures that I used in my book work well on the
carpet and the concrete. It keeps my book feeling realistic and
adds more detail.
I also think that the grass looks good as I used the threshold tool
on an image of some real grass and lowered the opacity so that
it would blend with the bright green background I was already
using. This technique helped to shape the grass and added more
detail to my images.
In order to create the money notes I had to be creative and make
my own design. I was very proud after making them.

16. Realistic looking concrete.
Achieved by using a
concrete-like texture.
The threshold effect used
to make the grass look
much more detailed and
realistic.
The money note looks fairly
realistic, but still cartoon-like,
which fits with my whole
style.

17. Throughout my book I used the technique of rotoscoping. By doing
this I managed to create the characters, locations and backgrounds, I
have mixed opinions on my rotoscoping.
I rotoscoped the buildings and sky and clouds and edited them
slightly to make them look like a cartoon and in order for them to fit
my style, sadly I wasn’t very impressed with my skyscraper building. I
think it looked too flat and not tall enough. Although I was fairly
impressed with the other buildings in my product, although they did
look a bit too 2D, but this doesn’t bother me very much. When
making the characters I used famous celebrities as templates for my
characters and I rotoscoped them and then changed them ever so
slightly to give them their own identity. I also just used an image of a
dog and rotoscoped that for Scruff. I was quite happy with some of
Scruff’s images, especially the side view, I was satisfied with the front
and back views of Jack, however I wasn’t very impressed with Jack’s
side profile as I didn’t think it looked real enough.

18. This doesn’t look tall
enough. Looks almost if
it is falling backward.
To me Scruff’s side
profile is exactly how I
wanted it. Looks fairly
realistic, yet still like a
cartoon. Looks detailed
and aesthetically
pleasing.
Doesn’t look real
enough. Head is at a
strange angle. Parts of
him slightly out of
proportion.

19. I also used the opacity tool to change how see-through things were.
The opacity tool was very useful when creating things such as Sir Alan
Salt’s shadow and I was very pleased with this outcome. It gave an
eerie look to the character, it actually looked somewhat like a
shadow.
During my work I also used an outer glow effect, at the part where
Jack opens the double doors. The outer glow makes it seem as
though inside the doors the room is glowing, which is the effect I
intended on creating, as it gives a positive and welcoming feel to the
building. Due to the fact that this technique worked, I was pleased
with the outcome of the outer glow.
The outer glow effect
gives a positive view to
what is behind the door
as it looks bright and
‘holy’

20. I am very pleased with
this shadow, I think it
looks fairly realistic as
you can still partially see
the carpet underneath.
This was created by
dropping the opacity on a
dark human shaped
figure.

21. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
The main thing that I am pleased about in my final product is
that it all looks like a complete book. I don’t think that any of the
images look out of place. Each image fits the style that I was
going for. To achieve this style, one of the things I did was add a
stroke to each part of the image to give it an outline. This helped
in making my final product look aesthetically pleasing.
I am also fairly happy with how the images and the text are
displayed on each of my pages, however I’m disappointed with
the fact that some images have had to be reduced in size and
stretched in order to fit onto the page with the amount of
writing that is needed.

22. In each image, the
objects/people/locations all have a
stroke around them, even if it’s only
a slight one.
Also these three images are all
different sizes, this is one of the
negative things about my final
product. I wish each image was the

23. At the moment I dislike the font, so therefore I am planning on
changing my font. I like the structure of my book and how it’s only a
short and snappy story, yet I think it’s a really good modernised
version of Jack And The Beanstalk.
Also, right now the book is set in London, yet they use the dollar
sign in the book. To fix this I’m going to change the location to
somewhere in America, possibly New York.
I also plan on adding fencing to the second page as two houses by
themselves on the horizon looks fairly poor and not busy enough.
I included colourful images with quite a lot of detail on some pages
as I think that children like detailed pictures with lots of information
to look at and explore, so I am very pleased with how they’ve
turned out. Some pages however are not as detailed as I’d of liked,
so I am slightly disappointed with them.

24. This serif font comes out
all in capitals and I just
don’t think it’s very nice to
look at. Plus children find
it harder to read capitals.
I believe that I need to add
fencing to this image, as I
think it would add detail to
my image. It would give the
children something more to
look at and also it would give
the image more depth, as
right now it just looks as if the
houses are sitting on the
horizon.

25. Why did you include the content you
used?
In my book I chose my characters wisely. I wanted to pick a
Springer Spaniel as scruff, as they’re scruffy looking dogs, yet
they’re very cute and friendly, so therefore I thought they’d be a
good breed to use in a childrens book, as they will appeal
positively to kids. I feel like if I’d of used a larger breed such as a
Husky or German Shepherd, then this may have been frightening
and masculine rather than cute and scruffy.
Springer Spaniel’s seem like child-friendly dogs to me. I picked an
actor to rotoscope as Jack, so that from different angles Jack
would still look like the same character.
I wanted to include a skyscraper as the main building, as I think
children will think of them as massive, scary buildings, this will
reflect what Alan Salt is. A tall, scary man. I chose sack of money
as I knew that it would be easier to make Jack and Scruff carry
the money if they were in sacks.

26. German Shepherd
• Large dog.
• Not very fluffy.
• May come across as scary to
children, because of it’s large
height and weight.
• Fluffy.
• Friendly looking.
• Floppy ears.
• Small dog that doesn’t weigh very much.
• Colourful.
Springer Spaniel

27. I wasn’t very impressed with my font, so therefore I am wanting to
change it to a different serif font that doesn’t just contain capitals. I am
going to pick a serif font, as I believe that the letters are easier for
children to read as the letters lead on from one to another easily. By
changing the font it is possible that my book could be used to help
children learn to read.
I believe that the effects I used worked well, they all added different
aspects to my product. At the end of my book, I had a kind of rainbow
coloured background that was very bright. I thought that these colours
reflected happiness and a bright time in Jacks life, as he and his family
had just become rich, because of his triumph.
I made sure that the key in my book was bright yellow/golden. This was
to make it stand out and show that it could lead to a bright future.
Because it’s gold it easily stands out on the page.
The money is also green, so that they clearly stand out as being money
and so that the children know how much of it there is. Their eyes will be
immediately drawn to the pile of money, as it clearly stands out on the
dull floor. Also the button that Jack pushes to go to the money room
flashes green, this is supposed to reflect the colour of the money.

28. Bright colours
in the
background
rainbow,
reflect how
Jack feels and
how bright his
future will be,
due to the
money he
now has.
Green money in order to
stand out over other
colours.
(Page 2) The key is golden
both to stand out clearly on
the dull background and also
to indicate that this key leads
to a bright future.

29. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
When making Jack I made him wear a hoodie, as that helps to
give the idea that he is a very common child, who’s main
companion and best friend is his dog. That is how he is
introduced to as, as his human friends are never mentioned in
this book. However, he does wear a backwards cap in order to
stand out from other people.
In my book Jack’s mother is the only parent mentioned, this
gives the impression that he doesn’t live with his father, so his
mum is a single parent. This straight away hints that Jack and his
mum are poor as it’s a stereotype that people with single
parents are lower class. Also the fact that Jack’s dog is named
Scruff gives the initial impression that his family are poor and
scruffy.

30. Common clothes, a hoodie,
brown trousers and some shoes.
This shows that Jack is a
common child who’s clothes
aren’t anything special, however
Jack does wear a cap in order to
stand out from the crowd.
On the first page,
only these three
characters are
mentioned when
talking about
Jack’s family. This
gives us the idea
that he doesn’t
live with his father.

31. The fact that you can see the sky from Alan Salt’s office, gives us the
impression that he has a lot of power and lives in a huge building, so
tall that you can’t even see the floor, it makes the viewer think that
he’s much higher up and better off than Jack.
By Alan Salt only being represented as ‘ evil ‘ and as a shadow, it
makes him come across as dark and scary. The only time we see Alan
Salt is through a large shadow, and you hear what he is saying. Alan
Salt sends out a threat, which also gives us a further impression that
he is mean and brutal.
When opening the double door’s there is a glow, this symbolises that
behind the door could lead to a bright future, which does eventually
happen at the end. I think that my style is fairly detailed, so it gives a
realistic effect, however, most parts of my images have a stroke
around them, this gives them a cartoon effect, which makes sure that
it’s not real.

32. You can only see the sky
and the clouds, this
indicates that this room is
located high up the
skyscraper, which
demonstrates Alan Salts
power.
Alan Salt is only shown as a
dark shadow. This gives us the
thought that he is an eerie
character, as shadows are
dark objects, that don’t show
us what is really there. This
makes shadows mysterious,
which is what Alan Salt is.

33. At the beginning of the book, Jack looks quite moody, however at the
end, Jack has a huge smile on his face when he is surrounded by
money. This helps people to know that Jack was very poor and sad,
but due to his hard work, things paid off and he ended up being
happy at the end of the book.
At the beginning of the book when Scruff finds the key, a question
mark is above his head, and this symbolises confusion, and it makes it
clear that scruff has found something interesting.
Eyebrows and eyes larger than original image, and
also different shaped eyebrows to show happiness.
The smile helps to show happiness, especially how
it’s tilting, it makes it look like a very big smile.
The eyebrows are close to the eyes, not much
emotion is shown due to this. No smile, the
mouth is closed, and you can only see Jack’s lips.

34. 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.
34Creative Media Production 2012

35. 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.
35Creative Media Production 2012

36. 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.
36Creative Media Production 2012

37. 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.
37Creative Media Production 2012

38. What representations can be found in
your work?
In my product, dogs are shown as been incredibly intelligent,
helpful animals that can assist their owners in order to make
their lives better. Scruff first of all finds the key, to begin Jack’s
journey. Then after this Scruff also carries one of the three
money bags that they take back home, so therefore he is helpful
and aids Jack. Therefore dogs are portrayed as very loyal animals
in this book.
In my book rich people are portrayed as being ‘evil’, as Sir Alan
Salt is the only rich man we know and he is described as ‘evil’. He
is tall, which helps to show his power, and he owns a huge
skyscraper, which gives the readers the intention that he towers
above everyone else and is very important.

39. Women are shown as loyal and alone. The only woman in my book is
Jack’s mum, and she is a single parent, who we imagine has always
taken care of Jack and stood by him.
In my product Jack is young and Alan Salt is older, both are male. In
my book Jack steals money, which represents him as being a criminal,
yet he does it to help his poor family become wealthier, and he takes
money from someone who has stolen from the poor, which sort of
makes things better, as I’m sure some of the money he stole
belonged to him anyway.
Alan Salt, is described as ‘evil’ and someone who ‘takes money from
the poor’. This means that both ages are criminals, however Jack is
just taking back the money that Alan Salt has stolen. The older
generation of men are portrayed as being ‘evil’ and the younger
generation bring justice to criminals.
My work doesn’t include any race or religion, so therefore there
shouldn’t be any ethical issues. The reason for this is that you only
see one family, and that’s Jack’s.

40. Scruff’s intelligence, loyalty
and companionship is shown
here as he’s carrying one of the
money sacks for Jack in order
to help him escape with as
much money as possible.

41. What style have you employed in your
products?
I was influenced by the ‘Little Princess’ books by Tony Ross. I was
very impressed by the layout of these books, so therefore I used
a similar layout in mine. By using this layout I think both the
images and the text stand out. The text is nicely placed at the
bottom of the page on a white background, so that no colours
clash and it’s easy to read. And the image has a slight stroke over
the top to make it stand out clearly.
I also really liked the detail of the images in the Gruffalo books.
Therefore I decided to keep my images fairly detailed to a certain
extent.
I liked the font of the text in the Gruffalo books, and when I
change my font, I will be looking for one similar to the one they
use in that, as it’s a good serif font that is easy to read.
I chose my specific type of visual style as I think images have to
be detailed in children’s books, as kids like to look at colourful,
busy images. I believe that part of the success of the Gruffalo
book is down to it’s fantastic imagery.

42. Strokes around
the characters in
order to give
them a nice
effect that proves
they’re not real.
Incredibly detailed images with
aesthetically pleasing, busy
images.
Nice Layout, the images
are clear.
Strokes around the
characters and objects.
A border goes around the
image to help it stand out.
The text is easy to read
as it’s on a white
background and does
not clash.

43. What were the strengths and
weaknesses of the pre-production and
planning
I believe that both my planning and research went well. They
both contributed massively to making my work what it is like
now. The planning helped me to stick to a time schedule and
keep on track with my work, so I didn’t fall behind. The research
helped me on what types of images I should create. I liked the
detail of the images in books such as the Hairy Maclary books. I
think that these books are great for children and I wanted to
replicate something similar to their images, as they were
extremely detailed and busy. The research also helped me to
decide how to lay out my pages. Books such as ‘The Little
Princess’ series gave me ideas on how to lay out my whole book.

44. Especially busy and detailed images in the Hairy
Maclary books. The animals and objects have a
stroke around them.
Also, the image is full of detail, there is barely any
empty space.

45. I managed my time very well whilst creating my book, as I stuck to
the schedule, so therefore I didn’t fall behind, I made sure I always
focused and did the work to the best of my ability. My schedule was
detailed and realistic and I also included the session to be a session
that I could go back and improve any work, and that session could
also be used to complete unfinished work. So even if I had of fallen
behind, I would’ve used that session to catch back up. However I
only used this session to improve my work that I had already done.
The weaknesses of my planning was that there wasn’t many full
body shots of the actor I used when rotoscoping Jack, so I had to
improvise a lot when creating his body. Now I think that I should’ve
used a different celebrity.
I also wish that I had looked more into how books are written when
planning my book, as I find it hard to actually write a book that
sounds good to children.
Another thing that I would do differently when planning, would be
to add more pages and more characters into my book when creating
my flat plans and script. Maybe someone of a different race who
Jack could meet early in the book to teach children equality.

46. Historical and cultural context
My book is a modern remake of the classic children’s book ‘Jack and
the Beanstalk’. Instead of having a huge beanstalk growing in a
garden, I made Jack find a key to a huge skyscraper. I believe that this
worked better as a skyscraper is a modern building.
Another change I made to my book was changing the ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’
part. In the original version, the giant threatens to grind Jack’s bones
to make his bread, however in my adaptation, Alan Salt says that he
will sell Scruff’s bones to pay for his bread.
Jack and the Beanstalk is still a well known fairy tale, and that’s why I
think my book is good, because it is more relatable for the kids of
nowadays.
Similar to the original, Jack and his mum live together and she is a
single mother.
Also, instead of Jack having, and selling a cow in order to get the
magic beans, Jack owns a dog, Scruff, who ends up sniffing and
finding a key that leads Jack to where he can get money. I believe that
my version shows loyalty to an animal and it also shows good
companionship, which is a good example to kids. Jack’s dog also aids
Jack in escaping with the money, by carrying a sack of money for him.

47. English Man-
original
English Dog-
My adaptation
Jack lives alone
with his mum. Jack
leaves to sell his
cow.
Jack and his mum live
alone (same). He leaves to
walk his dog (different).

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