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1. Graphic Narrative Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your original
intentions?
My final product is very similar to
my flat plans, i had quite a clear idea
of what i wanted most of my pages
to look like before i started the
production. For a few i knew
everything i wanted and exactly how
it would look, and i feel i stuck to
these very well. Pages 1 and 9 where
the main tow i first thought of ideas
for and these were the only one that
was identical to what i first wanted
it too look like.

3. On the rest of them i had a rough idea of what i
wanted to be in the image due to the text, but
wasn’t too sure on placement or if somethings
would work, for example page 4 with the bed, i first
though it would be side on but then when making it
i thought it would be effective to have the
reindeers feet out the end of the bed for more of a
change in the characters positioning.

4. How well have you constructed your
images?
When making my three reindeers i added a
texture to the body, as i felt this made
them look more realistic and interesting to
look at. Where as if i had left them with
just a plain colour overlay they would have
looked quite flat and not pleasing for the
reader.
To make this reindeer look as if he was sleeping i made the
eyes by using the shape tool, and make a circle. I then
duplicated this so i had 4 circles which were all the same size,
I them turn two black and two a very similar shade of the fur.
By overlapping these two it gives the effect of the eyes being
closed.

5. For the floor and walls i used a texture on both
of these, i did this as i wanted it too look like a
log cabin and using a real log background
looked very effective. To make it look like a
cartoon i then used the cutout filter which gave
a really effective look which fit with the style of
my book.
To create my sleigh i found a basic sleigh and
used the polygon lasso tool to create a
template for me to use, i then looked at my
mood board for the colours of the sleighs,
which i picked the gold from. I coloured this
in with a pain brush. After colouring i then
used the cutout filter to help it fit with my
cartoon style .

6. How well have you used text to anchor your
images
When researching existing products i
looked at how they had linked what has
been written in the text to what is in the
image. What i found was the photo
tended to match what was said in the text,
for example From the book ‘the tiger who
came to tea’ this page has an image of a
little girl and her mum at a table eating,
and the text says the exact same, the text
just helps to add a few more details that
the image cant always show.

7. I tried to do the same with my book so the
images and texts helped each other. This page
is a good example, it firstly says ‘brains sleigh
held the presents’ and in the background you
can clearly see a sleigh full of presents, and it
also says that it made santa happy, and in the
foreground you see a close up of santa smiling.
The font i picked was because i think it was quite simple
and easy to read, using a fancy font i think would make my
pages look to busy and distract from the images. Also the
size i picked for my font was a big enough font to be able
to read easily but not too big it takes up too much of the
page.

8. When looking in to the front covers i looked at the
three little pigs as it was what i based my book off.
There were many different interpretations but i
liked this cover as it didn’t just have the pigs on it,
it also included an image of the wolf this gives the
cover more of an appeal to the reader and also an
idea of what the book will include.
I made a front cover which follows the same idea as
my pages, it clearly shows you what the book is
about, obviously it is called the three little reindeer,
and i have put the the reindeer on the cover as
these are the main characters in my book. But i
have also added the sack of presents as i feel it
makes the cover more interesting but also tells you
a little more about what the story is about.

9. Is your product suitable for your audience?
The audience i originally picked out for my book was
children ages 3-5, after doing more research while
making my book, i have decided that the book should
now be aimed at ages 4-6 due to the amount image in
comparison to the amount of text.

10. For example in the books aged more to 7
year olds some Roald Dahl come up as
recommended, but some of these books
have very few images in at all, so the
highest ages that my book would go up to
is age 6 as i feel any older the book
wouldn't interest them and they would
find it too childish. Also nowadays
children seem to find out that santa
doesn’t exist at a younger age 7/8 for
example, for the book wouldn’t be
relevant to them as this book is very
magical and santa related.

11. This is an example i found of a book
which was rated as an age 5 book, so
this is directly in the middle of my target
audience so this is roughly the type of
thing i was aiming for in terms of text
amount and pictures.
This page is very similar to my book and
the layout i have used. The have a couple
of sentences worth of text, but this is put
on top of a full page image, this showing
that the image is still the main thing in the
book for the child and the text is of lesser
importance.

12. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
One technique i used a lot was putting in a
texture. I did this by picking which texture i
wanted and what object i wanted it to
cover, then by clipping masking it over,
then dragging down the opacity so i had
the right colour below. I really liked this
technique as it was simple and easy to do
but it still gave a realistic effect. The one
reason i didn’t like the texture is because
sometimes it was hard to find one that fit
well the object i was wanting to cover.

13. What do you like/dislike about how your final
product looks?
One thing i like about my book is how i made the
inside of the house look realistic. I did this by
using a texture which gave a nice wooden effect,
this made it really look like a log cabin. I also like
the detail i added to the walls in each room, this
made them look more interesting and gives
more of an idea of the characters, for example
Brian’s room is very Christmas and he has a
photo of him with santa because he is very
enthusiastic about christmas, where as Steve's
rooms isn’t christmasy at all showing his lack of
effort.

14. Two books i looked at where ‘Dear Zoo’ and
‘The very hungry caterpillar’ both of these
books are for ages 3-5 so they are relevant to
what my book should be like, in terms of
conventions. These books both use a small
amount of text which is written in a simple
easy to read font, this is what i did with my
book, i like the text in my book alot as it is
very clear and simple to read and
understand, i think this fits well for the target
audience i am aiming my book at.

15. One thing i do slightly dislike about my book is it is very
simple, there isn’t a lot going on and the pictures are not
very detailed, for example page 9 is just the reindeer and
an arm, the background is quite plain. But i did it like this
because my target audience is quite young and i feel if
the pictures are overly detailed, and the pages are too
full they will become distracted or confused, keeping it
quite simple and easy to understand was my aim so
although i don’t like how simple it is i feel my audiences
will.

16. Why did you include the content you used?
• Images, effects,
The text i used was Shree Devanagari 714, i picked this text
as it was plain, simple and very easy to read. This worked
well with my book as the text wouldn’t distract from the
images, but would be good for a child learning to read.
Another option i saw was Savoye LET this one was very
pretty and looked quite wintery, but i didn’t feel it fit very
well with one the style of my book being quite simple and
child friendly and also the size i t has to be would mean it
would be quite hard to read.

17. The colours i picked are all to do with
christmas, i used reds and whites. The White is
often associated with purity and peacefulness
in western cultures, the snow is also very white.
Red is often used a christmas, as it is to do with
santa and his clothing, also thing like the sleigh,
present sack, tinsel and the baubles are often
red.
When making quite a lot of my things i used the
comic book effect, i sed this as i thought it
helped make some parts of my book like more
cartoony, as it didn’t all match to begin with.
But by using this effect i feel it pulls my book
together and makes it all fit well.

18. What signs, symbols or codes have your
used in your work?
The use of a christmas tree in my book
helps to shows the children that my story
is themed around christmas, just having a
normal tree in the book wouldn’t imply
anything to them, but by adding a start
and baubles to it our culture instantly
knows its a christmas tree.
Stockings and the tinsel also indicate
christmas, these are both commonly
associated with christmas in our
culture.

19. Reindeers are known for being related to
christmas, just seeing one in a filed wouldn’t
really indicate it, but seen as my location was in
the snow this will help make people think more
about christmas. Mainly this image with the
reindeer getting his red nose would be a major
indication of christmas as santa, as rudolf the red
nosed reindeer is what would be though of
instantly.
The use of facial expressions in my book helps
to show the children how my characters are
feeling. As my target audience is young I've
gone for very simple but obvious facial
expressions to show crealy how my characters
are feeling.

20. What representations can be found in your
work?
In my book I made all the reindeers boys because the roll
they had to play was more of a masculine part. They all
had to build sleighs which is seen to stereotypically be a
males roll as it involves more strength. I also made santa
with a beard because in most traditional tales about santa
although genders are rarely specified it is common to see
him with a beard, resulting in him being male.The book is
based around christmas which is a christian tradition based
around the birth of Jesus. This means that some religions
and cultures will not want to read/understand the story
behind santa as they follow a different religion.

21. What style have you employed in your
products?
In my book I decided I wanted it too look
animated and cartoon like so i made it in
photoshop using the tools available. By doing
this i could make it look 3D or 2D depending on
what i felt looked better and change characters
faces/expressions easily. i didn’t hand draw it
because i don't like how it looks as i think it is
messy and sometimes can look unfinished.

22. What were the strengths and weaknesses of
the pre-production and planning
Mood Boards-lots of detail helped show what
you want
developing ideas- came up with lots of ideas
for book
gave myself enough things to do each
sessions so i have plenty to do
flat plans- not enough detail so dont know
what else to include on page during
production
didn’t give enough time for certain thing e.g
production of santa and reindeer= not
enough time the end being rushed

23. Historical and cultural context
My story is based off the three little pigs which is a
traditional folk tale, this means that the story has
been passed down from generations. Originally the
story is very graphic as two pigs die and the wolf
gets eaten. This is to teach the children the dangers
of going into the woods. As living styles changed
and people moved into other homes the story
didn’t need to teach children anything so it became
less graphic resulting in the story we have today.

24. My story is similar to a few stories
such as “The three little pigs’ and
‘The three little sheep’(another
adaptation of the three little
pigs.) It is also similar to the story
how the reindeer got its red nose
as in my story one of the
characters is rewarded with a red
nose.
My story copies the same moral
to these different stories, which is
about how hard work pays off.