The document serves as a template for evaluating a graphic narrative project, prompting the creator to analyze both strengths and weaknesses through written and visual examples. It emphasizes the importance of ensuring the final product reflects the original intentions while making necessary adjustments for the target audience, which in this case, is children aged 5-8. The author details their creative process, including image construction, text anchoring, and audience suitability, along with reflections on pre-production planning and historical context related to the 'Goldilocks' story.

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?
My final product did reflect on how I originally
wanted my product to be like. It was finished with the
same idea I had created during my planning, but I had
to add minor adjustments to make the story more
suitable for my target audience, as well as make the
story work too.
On my original storyboards I had created a minor
version of my story on strip-generator, which allowed
me to see how my story would look if I had created it. I
looked into the techniques I used to create it and
looked for things which may need to be changed. As of
this I managed to find the minor adjustments I needed
to make but also I managed to keep the product and
storyline to my original intentions.

4. One piece of work from
my strip – generator
creation. As you can see I
have the 3 hammocks
separated on to 2
different pages. I made a
minor adjustment so in
my project they are all
bunched together in the
garden on one page.
These adjustments were
made to make a better
effect in the story and to
create a much better
visual image.

5. How well have you constructed your
images?
I have used many different techniques to create my images in
Photoshop. I have used a range of techniques during this time, but I
main aspect I used was rotoscoping. Rotoscoping allowed me to
take a picture, draw over the top of different parts of them and
change them. This creates a cartoon-like effect for my objects used,
but keeps the realistic look on them.
Some of my images were better constructed than others, for
instance, my main character Goldilocks; I had to change her as I had
one source image to work from which I could not make major
changes to it to create her look for the next scenes. As a result of
this, I managed to find multiple source images of a Goldilocks
replacement, and she had different animation in each image. This
allowed me to create a much more effective image to help when
building up the visualisation of my scenes.

6. As you can see on the left, these are the images I used for goldilocks in my
different scenes. They are constructed very well and work with the visuals in
the scenes. As on the right, this was a single source image, which would take to
much time and also create major difficulties when trying to edit her and make
her be in different poses for the different scenes.

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
I have used a sustainable method to anchor my images and entangle them
with text which suits and fits around the scene. On my digital flat plans I came up
with 2 different methods of adding text to my pages, which would compliment the
images.
My first idea was an original classic design where the image is in between
the top and middle of the page, and the text then follows at the bottom of the
page. I thought that this idea is too original, and sometimes can be plain & boring.
I decided to check a new method which I thought you could space the text evenly
out around the image. The image would stay in the middle of the page and the
text would surround the image from the top and the bottom.
As of this design, it changed how you would look at the scene. I undertook
this decision and it turned out for the best. It compliments my images very well
and anchors them down, allowing readers to have a visual perspective of what is
happening as well as reading what it happening. I could improve by chopping
down some of the text as in some of my pages the text is in a block paragraph. As
of this, it may cause difficulty for younger readers to read all of the text by
themselves if they are reading the book alone.

8. As you can see on the left, some of my pages have a lot of text around the image which can
create some sort of difficulties for younger children. A prime example of comparison would
be the Gruffalo written by Julia Donaldson as she wraps her text around the image, which is
different. Although she he some big chunks of text, they work with the image as it is
entangled within the image.

9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
In my proposal, I wanted to create my book for a target
audience of children between the ages of 5-8. This was the fact that
the book is quite long, and with a plot twist, some of the content in
the book could be found a little bit scary. I also was targeting a
multi-gender audience, so both male and female. I have changed
the 3 bears to wolves, so it would drag the book to appeal more to
the male side of things, but as my Goldilocks character has been
changed and in different poses for the scenes, this will balance the
differences out as it will appeal to more females.
I would say that my product is suitable for my target audience
as I have tried to keep it close to the original storyline, but I have
also tried to make the characters help create an appeal to the
audience which will cause more sales with both sides of gender, but
will also allow for my target age group to obtain the book.

10. Audience
I am targeting an audience of both children & adults. I need my
book to appeal to both groups to generate more popularity for
my book. The ages I will focus on are between ages 5-8, so
children can read the book with an adult or with help from the
adult. The location my book will be aimed at is around the
world, as the original story is a popular fairy tale in the English
language. I will also focus on trying to create a rhythm for the
book, to keep it at a nice pace.
As shown, this chunk of text is from proposal stating what I wanted to
achieve when targeting my audience. I have managed to achieve most
objectives set in my audience, but although I may not be able to say, I
may have not achieved some of the objects such as having the book as a
world wide selling book.

11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
I like the techniques I used with my images such as rotoscoping.
While rotoscoping, you have to cut around a part of the original image,
and then you can change that area with different ways such as; Colour
Overlay, Stroke and Gradient Overlay. There are many more, but I used
Colour Overlay and Stroke on every image I rotoscoped over.
As I used rotoscoping, I managed overtime to use different tools
which helped with the process. I would usually of used the polygonal lasso
tool, which allows me to cut around the image, but then I started to use
the magic wand tool, which you can just click an area, and it cuts around
the image as best it can, speeding up my rotoscoping process. I also used
another tool called the clone stamp for when I had to add an extra back
leg to a wolf. This allowed me to copy certain areas from the original wolf
and apply them in a different location.
Something I disliked about the rotoscoping technique I used was the
fact that when I was using the polygonal lasso tool, it would take a long
time to rotoscope around an image. Once I learned to use the magic wand
tool it was not so bad, but I managed to lose a lot of time when I was
creating my characters.

12. This is the wolf I had to use the
clone stamp on to create the
back legs. I also had to add the
tail, but as you can tell, I cloned
the legs as they have no details
for the fur like the head and
front of the wolf does. This
creates contrast and doesn’t
really get noticed when the
wolf is in a smaller image, but
up close you can tell it has been
changed.

13. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
I like about my final product that each page works
together, images all link and there is a nice contrast with
colours. I also like how my book has a suitable text and
image amounts for young children who are going to read
the book.
Something I dislike about my final product are small
things, so I dislike how my final product is longer than I had
hoped. Originally it was supposed to have around 10 pages,
but instead, now it has 15, which could make the reader get
bored from reading as it could start to get repetitive. I also
dislike how in my final product as whole, the images can be
quite bright and involve vibrant colours which can make a
massive impact on the audience reading it in case this
problem affects their eyes.

14. Why did you include the content you
used?
I included a lot of different content throughout my product. I added
different images, colours and used different effects in my project. The
images I used were mainly rotoscoped over but some of them like skyline
were used with a certain coloured shape and then it was used with an
effect called overlay where the 2 images merge, creating a nice skyline
effect.
I used colours which reflected most real life colours for that item,
such as the trees, trunk is brown, leaves are green. When Goldilocks
acquired her outfit I decided to make it have colours which a girl may
use/like, so that is why purple was the main colour based for her.
I also used different fonts at first to try find the one which suited my
project first, and I came across as nice font which was actually a serif font,
so I used it. This would help for young readers be able to lead from one
letter to another with ease.
All of the content I used was to create details, add special effects
which could bring the reader into the book and think it was them actually
being there as well as the thought of helping them when they are trying to
read it.

15. This image is my first page of my
childrens book. As you can see, I
have decided to use specific colours
to create a forest, the leaves, grass. I
have also used different textures to
create the skylight and the grass
effect. And with Goldilocks, I have
tried to replicate colours which may
be favoured by girls as Goldilocks is
a girl.

16. What signs, symbols or codes have your used in your work?
I have many different signs, symbols and codes in my work.
One which is shown throughout the whole book is Goldilocks. She has
blonde hair, which obviously is shown by her name. Blonde hair
represents youth, beauty and innocence. These are some of the
symbols which are shown through her hair, and they continue
throughout. The time of day also shows different signs, for instance,
Goldilocks finds a hut in a forest when it is starting to get late. Being
alone in a forest when its dark is dangerous and scary, so these are
the signs emitted from this scenario.
I also have included some images when in the house, there is
a toy car in the living room, and there is a trampoline in the garden.
This shows signs of a child present and living in the household which
can create tension. There is also kitchen cupboards in the kitchen
which show that the household is a middle class home. When
zooming in on Goldilocks in the house scenes, it symbolises the fact
the we are focusing on the important parts of the story.
The last thing is the wolves. When we first see them,
they are standing tall and buff, with their young one in
between the parents. This symbolises the parents are
protective, they are proud to be wolves and they are
like a normal wolf family. At the end the wolves are
split up, but the baby and the mother wolf stay
together, which shows signs of motherhood and
caring for their own. The father disperses to chase
Goldilocks away which again, is showing protection
within the family.

17. What representations can be found in
your work?
Men, women and children alike are not exactly shown in my
product. They are referenced in the book into animals as well as
Goldilocks being a child who is a female. There is no representation
for any of my characters which are in the book.
There is a massive lack of variety for my characters that any
representations which are shown are made by the audience, as
they can see the different things each characters shows. For
example, Father wolf shows pride of the wolf pack as he is the
strong one and alpha male. Mother wolf shows love and protection
towards her kin. And baby wolf shows properties of a child, like
being vulnerable and throws tantrums when his things are broken.
This creates a diverse viewpoint throughout my whole work as
everyone has different viewpoints so they might agree and disagree
with other people’s representation ideas.

18. In my last page you can see the
difference between each
character. Father wolf is the
dominant one of the pack/family
as he is chasing off Goldilocks, and
he is standing proudly as he does.
Mother wolf is staying with baby
wolf as he is vulnerable and she is
showing protection towards her
kin.

19. 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?
For my product, I have gone with different styles to most books. I have
anchored my images in the middle of the page, with text complimenting the
images at top and bottom of the page. An example of my image placement would
be from the book ‘The Tickle Book’ by Ian Whybrow & Axel Scheffler. In Whybrow’s
book, his images have mass detail on what items are placed in the scene, like the
fence. It contains details of a wood texture in the fence panels, while the house
has a single block colour, so it doesn’t steal the effect from other objects. I have
done the same effect style for my images, keeping them busy and plenty to look at
for my audience.
When coming to the text, I have placed the text above and below my image.
This helps the reader be able to read a little about what is going on, then see what
is actually happening, and then is carried on. I had got my design from Julia
Donaldson, as she does the same style in her books, text at the top left and
bottom right of the pages, with images in the middle. This is a good technique
which helps young people learn to read from left to right but also allows them to
get some visual idea of what is happening in the story/scene as well as reading
about it.

20. The top left image shows my image
decisions as I have copied the style of
adding certain textures to create a
better scene, as well as keeping some
images plain to create a contrast within
the images and scene.
The bottom left image shows how I
have got inspiration for my text based
ideas, this has allowed me to continue
this effect into my book and create a
style where the children read about
the scene first, then see what is
happening, then read what else
happens or the consequences of what
is happening.

21. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
When I was in pre-production for my product, I had to create some
research to help with my book, which the planning and a lot of research
helped me. I managed to develop a small file which contained children’s
book research, which contained information about some children books,
the amount of pages they used, size of pages, what kind of images they
used (illustrations, drawings, Photoshop). This research allowed me to get
an idea of what I wanted to use to create my product with, and it allowed
me to have more of an understanding when in production of my product.
I also had to manage my time very well as I was creating a children’s
book to a professional standard in only 2 weeks. I created a timescale plan
to stick to, in order to manage my time well and allow me to complete my
product within the time specified. An example would be that after my first
session I wanted to have started my 2nd page before the next day, and
then me 2nd and 3rd session, I wanted to have completed just over 3 pages.
I managed to stick to this timescale and complete my product earlier than
expected. This allowed for more time to make adjustments and polish it
off to a better standard.

22. In this example, it shows my time
management scale on what I wanted
to have done by my 1st, 2nd & 3rd
session. As stated, you can see I was
using my time wisely to not only
complete my pages for my product,
but to also go back, check them and
make sure they work together nicely,
and calculate my actual time used to
change and create these pages.

23. Historical and cultural context
My work is different to what other variations of Goldilocks &
the Three Bears that were created in the past. Some of them will
have been simple and just cartoon versions. Some versions will be
like mine and have had a plot twist of some sort. An example I have
is one variation is a cartoon version which is drawn by S. Harris. In
this version goldilocks is comparing air conditioning to cool herself
down.
This is similar to my product as it has a slight change within the
original storyline, and as it involves different objects for Goldilocks
to test/use/break. This product is currently out for public use, and
there are many more which are out there too. There will be current
products which have been released which can be in the same
context of mine, but will be different depending on what items they
change and use.

24. This is the example I have referred
to in my answer. As seen, in this
variation, Goldilocks is testing
different air conditioning units to
find which one is ‘just right’. This is
similar to my variation as she is
using something which is not in the
original story, but it is a slight
change. Also, this product was
released before mine, so it is
currently a past product compared
to mine.