2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
My original plan I was going to have 14 pages, I decided against this as I would not have enough
time. I cut and rearranged a few of the scenes to make the book shorter. I also was originally
going to overlay the text over the image, I found that it was too difficult to read so I chose to put
the text on a separate page. I thought about adding some small illustrations to some of the text
pages that had less text to fill the page and keep the child interested.
I planned it use the rotoscope technique for the backgrounds and the shape technique for the
characters. I found that rotoscoping was a much quicker production method and it allowed me to
make the characters more detailed.
I think that the changes I have made will make the book a lot better, its not too long and I was
able to complete all the necessary pages in detail instead of rushing to finish more pages. I had
to rearrange the pages to make sure that the pages still made sense. I think by overlaying the
text I has allowed me more space for the drawings on the page instead of having to worry about
a plain space where the text can go. By using the rotoscoping technique, it has improved he
overall look of the book because both the characters and the background are the same style. I
didn’t make many changes to the flat plans so the digital images look extremely similar to the
original drawings and storyboards. I kept the character design the same and just improved them
slightly. It has also saved me a lot of time because the shape technique is very time consuming.
It is also easier to add detail and create a style for the books illustrations.
3. How well have you constructed your images?
I constructed my images to the highest quality I could. Each character had at least 50
layers each, ensuing that there no white gaps. I added details such as creases to the
clothing, shadows and highlights to objects in the image. I used the opacity tool to create
an patterns on objects that would naturally had patterns, such as the wood door of
Hansel and Gretel's house. I also used the opacity tool to add shadows and small
details.
I used a variation of greens and browns to colour the clothing as the time period that it
was set between 1315-1321, people wore dull coloured clothing. When it came to
colouring the witches house of sweets, I chose to stick to traditional sweet colourations
such as white, red and green. I made sure that the overall look of the book was as bright
and colourful as possible. I did this by making the backgrounds bright, colourful and
interesting for the child. This didn’t apply to a few pages where I couldn’t make the
background bright as it would differ from the other view of the same object in the book.
I used layers to build up the characters, once I had the basics I would use more layers to
add small details such as creases and shadows. I would order the layers ensuring that
what I needed most visible was the top layer, and merge them. Those that I didn’t
merged but were a smaller part of something larger would be linked with other layers so
that if their size were to be changed, everything would be in proportion.
I tried to make the book as colourful and bright as possible to keep the child interested.
As the characters clothes were dull coloured due to the era the story was originally set
in, I decided to give them bright scarf's, a red one for Hansel, and a purple one for
Gretel. I also gave Hansel short blonde hair. These features would also help the child
decipher which character was which when in a difficult view of the characters.
I mostly used the opacity tool to create texture and colour to keep the child interested.
4. How well have you used text to anchor your images
For my story I had to tailor the story and the language towards the age group
that the book is aimed at. I found that due to the quite young age range, it
was more difficult to select the language used so that they could read it and
understand what it meant if they were reading without aid of an adult.
I decided to separate the text and the image and put them on separate pages
as I found that the text was too difficult to read when laid over the image. It
also helped when illustrating as I didn’t have to worry about where the text
would go and if it would be readable if overlaying a busy part of the image.
I used a Helvetica font as it was very clear and readable and would be easy
for a child to read. I also chose the font size as 14pt as it is not too small as
well as clear and readable.
I think that the language is suitable for the older part of my age range (more
towards age 7), I think the younger ages would need assistance for a few
words but not too many. This allows them to learn challenging words but still
be able to read the book on their own.
I set the text so that I was central to the page, spread throughout the page
and separated small chunks of text to make it easier for the child to read it. I
made sure that the separation was enough so that it was easier to read. I
also made all speech in bold so that it was easier for the child to tell when
they were speaking.
I used some wording on page 10 on the illustration to show that the Witch
was screaming. I did this for effect and to make the illustration more intriguing
for the child. I used the warp tool to make it look like it was coming from her
and getting louder by slowly enlarging the text.
5. Is your product suitable for your audience?
I chose the age range between 5 and 7 years old. I think that my product
is suitable to my audience as this age range, the child can read but still
needs a few more challenging words for them to improve their reading
skills. To improve I could make the language simpler but this wouldn’t
help challenge the child and help their reading skills progress.
I chose a simple but less used fairy tail. I thought that the story was short,
simple and suitable for the child to read with parents or on their own. I
think to make the product better suited I think I could have changed the
storyline a bit so that the Witch was locked up instead of being pushed
into the fire. However as I had not planned to change the story, I
presented the scene in a way so that the child could tell what was
happening but the image was not obscene or violent. I made it so that
most of the witch could not be seen and that the oven door covered most
of the inside of the oven where the witch was.
I think that I could have improved the book by increasing the page size,
this would allow more room for illustrations or larger images with more
detail. When researching different children's books already on the market,
I found that often the books were larger than 20cm by 20cm, my book
was 20cm x 15cmso was smaller than the average book on the market for
a child. I also found that most books had from 25 to 30+ pages to tell the
story in. My book included 24 pages including the text pages, however I
had to change the story considerably to fit the story within the amount of
pages I chose to illustrate due to the time period set for the task.
I chose a quite simple art style to use throughout the book that was also
detailed for the older children in the the group that the product was aimed
at.
6. What do you like/dislike
about the techniques you
have used?
I liked how accurate you could be with the rotoscope technique. It
was also much quicker than the other techniques I had tried.
However it was still very time consuming when adding layers for
more detail, such as the creases in the clothing, shadows and
textures. It gave a slightly ridged look to the image and it made it
easier to create your own style to run throughout the book. It was
easy to make the image abstract, realistic or cartoon like. The
rotoscope technique allowed me to add the small details much
easier than I could have added with the other techniques.
I disliked that if you wanted to add detail, such as the creases in
clothing or the shadows, was very time consuming and this caused
me to run over my schedule and run behind on the production of the
book. I also disliked that often I had to undo the magnetic lasso as
the shape didn’t look right, this meant I had to redo the shape again.
I also found that when selecting a small area, it was very easy to
accidentally double click, causing the lasso to join up when the
shape was not fully selected. I often had to re select the detailed
areas when adding small details.
7. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
Page 9 Page 7Page 2 Page 4 Page 3
I liked the style that I was able to develop for the book, I found it different to the other book on the market.
I also liked the amount of detail I was able to put in with the creases and shadows by using opacity.
However I found that there were inconsistencies with the quality of the characters. On some pages they
looked fine, and fitted in with the style but others they looked lesser in quality. This was mostly due to he
angle that they were at, for instance, I struggled to illustrate Gretel facing forwards, so I tried to avoid
using Gretel facing forwards. If I were to do this project again I would redo Gretel on page 4 and 7, the
stepmother and father on page 3 and the Witch on page 8.
I also noticed after I had finished the book that on page 1 and 2, where Hansel is breaking up the bread,
on his coat he has a pocket. On page 9, he does not have the pocket. If I had more time for production I
would add the pocket to as this is a continuity error.
I am happy with the overall look of the book however there are a few things I would change or add to if I
had time, to improve the look of the book.
8. Why did you include the content you
used?
I included the content that I did as I decided to keep the story as close
to the original as possible, and as the the original was set between
1315-1321, a time when it was more common for parents to leave
their children in the woods when they had no money. As it was set in
this time period, I also tried to choose clothing that looked old with dull
colourations to match the time period it was set in. I also tried to make
the house that Hansel and Gretel lived in look old and as houses
would in older times. Made of wood and lit with candles. As I wanted
the book to be set in the time period that the original story was set in, I
tried to make their clothing look old, by using dull colours and minimal
details or patterns on the clothing. This would also help to show that
they were poor and help aid the story that their stepmother and father
could not afford to feed the full family.
I used the Helvetica font as it was simple and easy to read. I originally
planned to use a serif font but the serif fonts available I found were
more difficult to read than the font I have chosen for my children's
book.
Most of the effects I used on my book were achieved by using the
opacity tool to create shadows, creases in the clothing, and effects
such as patterns on wood to make the object more realistic. The
effects of the opacity tool helped add smaller, subtle details and made
the image look more detailed overall.
Hansel and Gretel's clothing is dull coloured
as dye, rich fabrics or embellishments would
have cost a considerable amount and only
higher class citizens would be able to afford
it.
9. What signs, symbols or codes have your
used in your work?
I tried to hint that the Witch was evil by dressing her in
black, with an old witches hat, a big nose with a wart
on the end. A parent would be able to identify that the
old lady was a witch and was evil, but the child may
need help understanding this.
The witch is a classic fairytail villain and is often
displayed in this sort of manner, a long pointy hat, dark
clothing, large nose with a wart on the end and usually
old. displaying the witch in this way will help a child
recognise that she is evil as most villains are displayed
this way in folk tales.
I gave the stepmother a green scarf that could
symbolise jealousy, possibly towards the children as
they get more attention from their father than she does.
In the witches house, there were baskets filled with
rupees, a currency used in olden times, and they were
shown as gems. the gems would have also been used
as a currency in olden times, as well as being used in
children's games such as the Legend of Zelda, where
they are used to buy items. in many modern games set
in different times, older currencys such as gems and
rupees are used.
shows the witch dressed in
black on page 8
shows the rupees on page 11
10. What representations can be found
in your work?
My work does not include religion or certain social groups however it does display the lower class in
that time period. It showed that the poor often left their children so that they could survive as there
wasn't enough money or food to feed and sustain the full family, their only option was to leave the
children or they would all starve. it showed the difficulties that families, especially large ones, went
through to keep fed and sheltered.
The book also showed that Hansel and Gretel's father remarried to their stepmother, as children were
rarely born out of wedlock in those times, and she is referred to as the stepmother in the stories, we
can presume he remarried possibly after the death of Hansel and Gretel's real mother, probably from
starvation or disease. Remarriage would have been common in those times to earn enough income to
keep their house and still eat.
The only variety of characters is in age and gender. Hansel and Gretel are a lot younger than the other
characters, I tried to make them seem naive and oblivious to the outside world as most children are
whilst still not making them too childish.
I tried to make the stepmother look angry and mean to make her a false villain, but she is really the
dispatcher in the story. In fairytales the stepmothers are often shown as evil or cruel women such as
cinderellas stepmother, she would not let her go to the ball, just as Hansel and Gretel's stepmother
wants to leave them in the forest so they herself and her husband wont starve. Stepmothers are often
shown as greedy as they want something that will benefit them or someone else, just as in Cinderella,
she wanted the prince to marry one of her daughters not her stepmother. In Hansel and Gretel, she
wants to get rid of the children so that she can live.
11. What style have you employed in your
products?
I had several different influences, for instance my characters were influenced from my own drawings, as
I have drawn cartoons like that for a while and know how they would look from many different angles.
The art style was influenced by some modern children's books that included Hansel and Gretel and The
Gruffalo.
Some of the illustrations were influenced by several existing images and products, for instance the
witches candy house had elements of at least 10 different sweet houses on google images. I took
elements that I liked from each house and blended them to make the house in that scene.
Hansel and Gretels home was influenced by both old, and very basic homes made from mostly wood.
I also looked at the Hansel and Gretel film for ideas on the characters and the candy house but I found
that it was more difficult to try create the characters to look like those in the film.
My work has a specific style but some of the same components often changed how they looked or how
they were detailed, for instance the trees, none look the same and they were made in about five different
ways. I tried to make everything in the same style and I believe that I achieved that. I chose it because it
was an easy technique and style but you could still add as much or as little detailas you wanted.
12. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I think that the planning went quite well and I managed to plan everything and follow most of my
original plans for the book. The planning helped me manage my time and understand what I needed
done and when it had to be finished by. It also controlled how much detail I had time to put into my
work.
The research helped me get ideas for the look of the book and the style, along with how I would
present it. My research also helped me decide the easiest and quickest way to make my book.
I had planned to use my time well and limit the amount of time I spent on each page, however some
pages needed more detail than others and required a lot more time. These more detailed pages
caused me to overrun my original planned time slot for the page. To finish my book on time I often had
to work out of class to keep up with my planned time slots. Although I didn't manage to keep to my
planned times, by managing my time I got my book finished quicker and I knew what page had to be
done next every time. At the end I still had just over a page to do, and I needed to complete the text
pages. I didn't plan time for the text pages and this caused me to run over the time limit I had set
myself. I also underestimated how long each page took to make. If I were to redo this task I would plan
my time more carefully and start working in my free time as soon as production started.
The pre production and planning allowed me to decide how to present each of the characters, the
scenes and the book itself.
13. Historical and cultural context
I find that my work didn't look like most of the other Hansel and Gretel books. This
was because there were a limited selection of these books and most of them were
published at least ten years ago.
Of the ones that I found, I saw that most of them were either hand drawn, pained,
usually with watercolours or what looked like oils, and very few were done digitally.
I only managed to find one digitally drawn Hansel and Gretel book. In comparison,
the book was much neater and the characters more detailed.
I found two books that seemed the most recent, one being digital art and the other
was what looked like a hand illustrated book. The illustrations in this book seemed
to be dark and gloomy. I decided not to take any ideas or concepts from this book
as the other childrens books I had looked at were all bright and colourful to keep
the child interested. This book also had smaller illustrations and small text,
presumably or the seven to ten year age group.
Other Hansel and Gretel products include a film, however the film has been
adapted to be more modern and both Hansel and Gretel and adult witch hunters.
This film has pulled away from the original storyline and was not relevant to the
product I made.
From the few books I could find, none of the styles were the same, most of them
were old fashioned drawings from old traditional story books.
My work does not look as traditional as most of the existing stories do, I think it
stands out due to the lack of digitally drawn versions of this fairytale.
