digital graphics evaluation

1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
On a whole, I think my final product does reflect my original
intentions because it reflects my flan plan fairly well. For
example, most of my pages are the same as what was planned,
with a few exceptions to show I could use different page layouts.
In the case of my third page, the original plan was to show the
chief on one side looking very happy, which I didn’t change, but
also have a close up of Honaw’s hand with a piece of bread in it.
Due to my simplistic style, when I constructed this you couldn’t
tell what it was at all, therefore I changed it to a wider shot of
Honaw’s whole body with a piece of bread in his hand to make it
more clear what it was.
Originally I had a page with just text, this particular page explained what had
happened in the image previously. Whilst constructing the image I realised there
was more than enough room on the image for me to put the text on rather than
having a separate page – therefore eliminating the need for the extra page.

3. Another example is my first drawings of what my characters were going to look like
look pretty similar to my final product. I rotoscoped over them and fine tuned them
to make them look more professional without losing my original simple style. As you
can see when they were first drawn, the characters looked more out of proportion
and larger than what would be expected of a Native American of that time. I also
added in facial features as it would be quite alien to a child if all the characters in the
book were faceless and could possibly scare them.
In my original flat plan I had one page with just text explaining what was
happening in the image on the next page, which is shown on the left. I
realized that there was too much text on that page compared to the rest
of them which did not show continuity or fit the style of my work.
Consequently, I added in another page and split the text between the
new page and found space on the original image page to put the rest.
This breaks up the text more which makes it less intimidating for
children to read and also fits the style of my book.

4. How well have you constructed your
images?
This image could do with some improvement as the simple style
doesn’t really work for the way the cage has been constructed. It
is clear what is happening in the photo but is not as aesthetically
pleasing as I had hoped it would turn out. I could consider making
the whole page the scene instead of just having a close up and
therefore that would give the cage some context of where it is in
the room.
Using simple shape manipulation and rotoscoping, I created
this particular image that I’m especially proud of. I used the
colour yellow as it has happy connotations which fitted the
context of the chief being happy to see the children return
and modified the shape of his eyes to make him look jolly.
The design is simple and effective whilst also being
aesthetically pleasing. The bright colours will appeal to
children and lets them infer that this is a positive point in the
book.

5. I used dark colours whilst constructing the forest through shape
manipulation to show that the forest is an unsafe environment for
the characters. The shading for the bushes and trees is swapped
around (things closer to you tend to look darker rather than the
other way round), this is done so that the children reading this can
infer that the deeper you get into the forest, the darker and
scarier it gets which adds an underlying tone to a lighthearted
children’s book. Obviously other than mine and a professional
version (shown below) are from different cultural backgrounds,
the major differences between my work and the professional
piece is as follows:
• The colours they have used are lighter, they are obviously
meant to connote snow which is also given away by the way
they’re dressed.
• The forest that is featured on the second image is also a lot less
intimidating, the trees are thin and sparse and they include
cute little birds which don’t imply danger at all.
• The illustrator also embedded her text into the image and put a
border around it that is effective for the forest theme, however
I have just chosen to put it in a blank space on my page – if I
was to redo my work this would be something I would
consider.
• They have also used shading on the ground to create a sense of
where the trees are thickest and where the clearing is, I have
stuck to block colours for all the background.

6. How well have you used text to anchor
your images?
In this case, I split the text up so each relevant part was with the
image it was talking about and made it look aesthetically pleasing
by putting it into a step down format. This is effective because
we read left to right so you see the top text first, then the
relevant photo of the chief, followed by more text, and then
another image followed by the relevant text for that image. It is
an interesting and unusual way of splitting it up whilst still
making the page make sense.
The text on this page is ineffective, as most of what is
written is not depicted in the image and therefore is bad
anchorage; you can tell this by looking at the page and
there being a lot of text. This means that you need to read
the text to get any idea of what happened between the
page before and the current one. A way in which I could
improve is adding another page in and splitting the text
between two pages to help it stay relevant to the image.

7. One example of good text anchorage is in the page in which the birds have eaten
the breadcrumbs; I have split the text up by putting a link to the previous page at
the top, then adding the image, and then finally the text at the bottom explaining
the image – almost like a caption. This lets the reader know exactly where the story
is at and where it will go. In contrast to that I have added an example where I had to
add another page in to break up the text and anchor it to an image to help give the
story context aswell as making it easier for children to enjoy. The above text page
had too much text compared to the rest and therefore there was a massive jump
from the previous page of Honaw getting put in a cage to the wendigo being burned
to death. I resolved this by adding another page and splitting the text up to make it
less intimidating to read. This example from the Gruffalo is very good in
terms of text anchorage as the text is describing
exactly what is shown in each little close up
image. This is effective because as well as giving
it a quirky layout, it makes it obvious to children
what is being shown and gives the images
context.

8. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
In my proposal I said my product will be made for the target audience of children aged
between 6-9, which I think is still suitable. I also said that they would typically be
middle to upper class, which I still stand by because they would have enough
disposable income to buy the book and the franchise that would follow it. The book is
a modern and educational outlook on the classic fairytale which children from these
classes would appreciate more.

9. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
I like the rotoscope technique I used the create the teepees as I
managed to still keep a simple style whilst it looking like a teepee. It
allowed me to choose which points of the original photo to pick out
which led to a simplistic style. If I had found a photo of a teepee and put
a filter over it to fit with the texture, it would have looked too
complicated for my style. If I had used shape manipulation, which is my
favored technique, it would not have come out looking like a teepee and
wouldn’t have had the 3 dimensional look that the current ones do.
Shape manipulation was my favourite technique because it
allowed me to create pages like this one. The spirit was
created by changing the transparency and making the
character black and white, and then warping her. I like this
technique because it allows me to achieve a distorted version
of the character I had already created with fit with the
abstract theme.

10. I also like the shape manipulation technique because it let me create simple
designs (for example, the birds on the left). The straight edges of the shapes
add a professional look to the image, which is something that was more
difficult to achieve using rotoscope. It also added an abstract look to my piece
as I used unusual shapes to make my birds; using rounded rectangles, instead
of just copying the shape a bird would usually be, is stylised.
In this case, shape manipulation didn’t work as effectively as I had
hoped it would. Despite me warping and changing the shapes, the
characters on this page have come out quite square still, and look a
little odd compared to their front-facing versions. It also took many
attempts to try to get the chief’s beard to look right and still fit in with
my style.

11. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
One thing that I like about my product is that
there is a clear style throughout that is
stylised but yet would still appeal to
children. There isn’t any point where the
style completely changes and all the pages
work well together.
One aspect that I disliked about my final product
was the facial features that I added in toward the
end. The reason I dislike them is because I don’t
think they fit with the style but it was hard to find a
way of showing simple features without them
looking too over complicated. Children would find it
hard to relate to the faceless characters and as I was
creating this piece for my target audience, not
myself, they were essential.

12. Another thing that I disliked about my final product is the
strip of bushes that I put into this page. The purpose was to
add context to where they were in relation to the scene in
the close up. However I don’t think it worked as well as I
intended. I had tried this technique in other pages which was
effective, but on this page it doesn’t look as aesthetically
pleasing as the others. If I was to improve, I would make the
bushes thicker and maybe add another layer for shading.
One thing that I liked about the way my final product looks is
my last page; specifically the fire. I achieved this by
rotoscoping over an existing image of a fire and then copying
that shape multiple times. Each time changing the colour and
shape to make the fire look like it had depth to it. This is
effective because it is a simple and aesthetically pleasing way
of showing the fire. For the smoke I warped a shape and put a
gradient overlay over it to make it fade from black to red to
transparent, this is effective because it is a very aesthetically
pleasing way of anchoring the text. I also later added a
warped, semi-transparent version of the wendigo character to
show the spirit moving on. This is effective because it adds a
paranormal-type angle to the story and helps the children that
this book is aimed at to know which character it was that died.

13. Why did you include the content you
used?
I have included the same font for every page to show continuity and also imply it is the same
narrator all the way through, as sometimes if you change font it implies a change of voice too. It
is a simple font because that makes it easy for children to read as they are still learning. I included
human characters instead of personified animals because it is easier for children to relate to
humans than animals, and also the original fairytale has human characters. I used purple to
represent the inside of the gingerbread teepee as it is a bright colour that stands out from the
colours in the foreground but also because it is an abstract idea, the inside of a teepee would not
be painted purple in reality but this lets the reader know that we are in a made up setting where
there are no set rules on those things. I did this also with the other backgrounds apart from the
one that sets the scene, that is the only page with realistic colours for the background.

14. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
The overall style of my work is quite simple and two dimensional, this is a reflection of the culture. As in the
modern day because our basic needs are met with ease; we all have a place to stay, food and generally feel
safe, we then look to fulfil higher needs such as self-actualization and esteem. In the time where this book is
set, their physiological needs are not being met consequently making their lives simpler therefore I picked a
simple style to reflect that. The choices of colour for the forest are quite dark, I chose this to show that forests
are scary places to be – especially this one. It gives the audience a sense of foreboding so there’s an underlying
clue that something bad is going to happen. I used a mountainous background to set the scene because it
implies it is in a far away place. As this would be unfamiliar for the children, it helps to take them completely
out of reality and immerse them in the story. The human characters are designed fairly normal with facial
features so children can relate to them and put themselves in their position. They are dressed in cream
coloured clothes to show that they are wearing traditional clothing for the Native American culture, as it
wouldn’t fit with the style if they were dressed in modern day clothing. The feather head dresses are a
stereotypical code of the native American culture and give a big clue as to where in the world the story is set.
They also give a clue to the hierarchy of the tribe, as the chief has a more elaborate head dress than Honaw,
and the women of the tribe don’t have any. I used the colour green for the wendigo’s head band because the
colour green connotes fear. I have used teepees in my work instead of houses in this book as another cultural
stereotype to give a big clue as the where the story is set, as well as calling characters “chief” and finding native
American names to replace with the traditional “Hansel and Gretel”.

15. What representations can be found in
your work?
In my work, the native American culture is represented to be quite spiritual as well as hard going.
They are struggling to feed the tribe, which happens in winter when all the natural plants and
fruit that supply them die out. The spiritualism comes from the wendigo character – a wendigo is
a Native American spirit which allegedly takes human form and preys on young victims. This
legend has come from in the winter months when some people had to turn to cannibalism to
survive, they were then said to be possessed by this evil spirit. This is the native American
equivalent of a witch. Apart from this there are no other variants of characters in my story as it is
a very cultural-specific storyline. It would seem odd to have any other race or social group
featured. The men are represented as giving out orders and taking them aswell, one example of
this is the chief. Appropriately named (as chief literally means leader), he is the one with the best
head dress – which is a clue that he is a very important person. Honaw is represented as the
leader as he is the one that takes charge of ensuring his sister’s and his survival by leaving a trail
of rocks, and then later breadcrumbs which turns out to be a silly mistake, he is also the one that
is captured by the wendigo and put in a cage. The women are represented to be just as smart as
the men in this story. For example, it is the chiefs wife that suggests to send the children away
and it is Genesee that pushes the wendigo into the fire. The children are represented as being
the best in this story, as it is about them concurring an evil spirit after being sent away by their
tribe.

16. What style have you employed in your
products?
One influence for my children’s book was a book I studied as part of my research
called “The Song of Trees” by Lily Moon, I liked the way that they designed the
animals and people. They are designed more simply without facial features and
with distorted proportions and this is where I got my inspiration for my character
designs.
Another influence I used for my children’s book was
the Gruffalo, I liked the way the pages were
arranged. There was a varying style of how they
were laid out, sometimes the images filled up the
whole page but sometimes there were close up
images in the middle of the page with writing
around it. I liked this style as it wasn’t the same
every time and therefore used it in my own story.

17. The style of my book is simple and 2 dimensional to reflect the simple life of the
Native American culture, I used shape manipulation and rotoscoping to achieve
this. The birds I designed are a good example of my simple design as they were
created by putting together shapes and adding minimal shading to create the idea
of shadows. A professional example of this is 64 Zoo Lane, the children’s
animation. The shapes are 2D and flat and there is minimal background.

18. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I finished quite early whilst producing my book, which is both a positive and a negative. It is a positive because
it meant I had plenty of time to fine tune, perfect my work and also iron out any issues I had with continuity or
text. It was a negative because it implied I hadn’t done enough, my work wasn’t complicated enough to earn
me a higher grade and also that I had rushed to get finished, so the quality could have been compromised. I
finished early because I established and planned a strong style that I knew I was capable of doing throughout
my book. I tried this out with my test page, which was very successful and later on went into my book with a
few improvements. By trying out all the different techniques such as rotoscoping, photography and the comic
book effect I knew what I was best at and what I could use best to create a children’s book. My research
helped a lot because it gave me inspiration as it had been a long time since I had read a children’s book, it also
helped me understand what my target audience like and also what the codes and conventions of a children’s
book are, which I could then transfer into my own work. Such as keeping text to a minimal, having lots of
images and censoring some content to make it suitable for children.

19. Historical and cultural context
The cultural context of my book is that it reflects the native American culture and beliefs and
therefore I had to be careful to be politically correct in what was represented. For example, I had
to research what desserts and sweets they ate because I couldn’t have a gingerbread teepee
decorated with the traditional candy as that would not have existed in that time. I found that they
still had gingerbread but tend to have eaten berries and fruit as a sweet treats, aswell as maple
syrup. I also found out about native American folktales – especially one about the native
American version of witches (called wendigos) who ate pregnant women and children. This came
in particularly handy when adapting the story.
Historically, Hansel and Gretel is a very popular eastern European fairytale which has been
adapted in lots of different ways, including films and TV specials and even being updated to
1950’s America in a ballet performance. One example is of the Looney Tunes adaptation called
“Bewitched Bunny”, where Bugs saves the german children from Witch Hazel’s grasp.