Evaluation

1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
For the majority of the visuals in my story I chose to stick to the plan. I
originally did this for my flat and digital plans as I thought the layout of the
images worked well and correlated well with the text I chose for each page.
However, for a few of my pages such as the one below (page 1). I decided to
change the positioning of the text and the fish, so that the page had more of
a flow to it. I also decided to remove some of the additional sea creature as I
felt with them on the page it looked over crowded and needed to be
simplified. Furthermore, after looking at my flat plans I realised that the
majority of the pages were all from the same angle (medium long shots) so I
decided to put in the stone border in order to make the scene look like it was
shot from a further back angle. I feel this improved my book as it gave it more
variety and has more things too look at rather than just what's actually going
on in the scene.

3. Also in my flat plans I chose to do different shaped coral as I thought this would give the
book more variety and make it look more interesting however, after making the coral I
realized that it would be a lot easier to make one coral and warp it and change the color.
Personally in my plan I didn’t like the simplicity of some of the pages such as page 3, as I
felt it didn’t match the rest of the book as the majority of it had a lot of background and
things going on. For this reason I decided to adapt the scene so that it matched the rest
of the book and had more going on, on the page. I feel this improved the astatic of the
book.
Here you can see the
evolution of Page 3. for
the end result I added a
lots of background things
such as the fishing boat
and the rock in the
bottom right corner.

4. To improve my book I need to invest more time into planning out the single pages
that come together to make my double pages, as I believe that pages 8 and 9 don’t
go together as smoothly as they could of done. As the scenes are next to each other
it would have been better if they had almost been joined rather than them be
separate or even have them as double pages so that they don’t conflict each other.

5. How well have you constructed your
images?
To create my shark I attempted a variety of method before I
decided on rotoscoping. The first method I tested was to
create it using shapes. This involved me warping and skewing
them in order to get the correct shape however I found that
this did not work as I could never get the perfect shape. I then
got a image of a shark and used the paint brush to paint over
the image (as seen in the top image) however I found that the
edges weren't neat enough and didn't’t look polished enough
to use in my book.
Finally, I decided to get a picture of a shark and rotascope it
using the polygonal lasso tool. I found this to be much easier
and I managed to get the sharp edges I wanted. However I
then found that the shark still didn't’t look complete so I put a
black stroke around the edges I wanted to be defined. This
made it look more realistic and made all the features stand
out. I think the image could still be further improved if I had
done the fins separate to the body, so that it could change
positions when it is swimming.

6. Another tool I enjoyed working with was the filter
gallery as I feel it gave more of a cartoon feel to the
book. I decided to use the clipping tool on the coral
and got a image of glitter from the internet however it
was very obviously a photograph so I deiced to change
it using the filter gallery. This made the coral look like
light was catching different parts of it rather than it
being different colors. I also used it on the stone
border to make the stones look more like cartoons
rather than actual stones. This made it fit into the
scene better. To further improve I could adjust the
setting in the filter gallery to make the image more or
less simple. This will further intensify the animated
cartoon feel of the book.
I used texture on the rocks to make it look
more realistic rather than just a grey circle
on the page. When I originally did this it
didn’t blend into the page and it was no
obvious what it was however, when I
added texture the object become more
distinctive.

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
I believe that in my book the imagery clearly
reflects what the text is saying and they both
compliment each other rather than deflect from
each other. As seen below from pages 2 and 3
the text clearly states what is going on in the
image and doesn’t begin to describe anything
else other than what is actually a happening.
Although there are other background things
going on in the page I ensured that the main part
was put onto a third and was a lot larger than the
rest of the image so that the eye is naturally
drawn to it.
As seen in the image below other books that are
available also ensure that there images
correspond with the text clearly and although
there are other things going on in the image the
main focus which links to the text is set in a third.

8. To further link my text to the story I
decided to make it a dark blue color to
match the sea however, I made it a
midnight blue to ensure that it could
still be readable. I then warped it and
changed the style so that it was on
‘flag’ and I then reduced the bend so
that it was more clear to read. This
relates to the book as it looks like it is
floating under the sea.
After doing research
online a lot of books
warp there texts to fit in
with what's happening on
the page. As seen in the
book on the right the title
of the book is bent
around the spiders web
to make it look like it is
part of it.

9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
In my original proposal I said that my audience is ‘children aged between 3-5’, which
at the time I felt was a accurate guess as to who would be reading my book. However,
now that I have written it out and created the script I feel it is more aimed towards
children aged between 4-6. I think this because I have used a lot of text, that for a
younger audience would be too much to read. With the new age range the older
children will easily be able to read the text and understand what it is saying, without
getting bored.
Original audience proposal

10. As seen to the left books designed for children aged 3 have a lot less text
than my book and the wording that is used is a lot more simple. Where
as the book on the right is designed for children aged 5/6 and has a lot
more text (like my book) and goes into a little bit more detail.

11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
The first technique I used was rotoscoping using the polygonal lasso tool. I used this many
times in my book including using it to create the coral and the shark. I enjoyed using this
tool as it allowed me to create a accurate representation of the real image without it
looking copied. It also allowed me to create different version of the original image as I could
choose what I wanted to rotoscope and what I didn’t. However, I feel that the this
technique is very time consuming and may take a few attempts for you to get the final
piece looking how you want it.
Another technique I used was using the filter gallery to change the way my
image looked or to make a pre-existing image look less like a photograph
and more cartoon. I enjoyed using this tool as I feel it changed some of my
creations completely and made them fit into the book better. I also liked
this tool as there are a wide range of filters to pick from that can also be
adjusted so I was not limited as to what I could use and my work could be
personalised to how I want it too look.

12. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
The shape tool was good when creating the Puffa fish as it
allowed me to create clear edges and distinctive features
such as the spikes and the eyes. As there was a range of
shapes provided I could create anything I needed and
could easily change it in the settings by warping it. I
disliked the tool and didn’t use it often as I found it hard
to create the exact shape I wanted and it often didn’t look
how I intended it too.
The texture tool came in useful when creating something
plain like the rocks as it added more dimension to the object
and made it look realistic. It also makes it blend more as the
rest of the page is vibrant and has texture so it wouldn’t look
right if it was a block color. Although you can get a few
textures and you can adapt them, there are a limited amount
so there might not always be one that meets your
requirements.

13. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
Another technique I enjoyed using on Photoshop was
the clipping mask, which I used to create the coral and
the sea and sand background. It came in very useful
because when I tried to use the texture tool on a shape
I couldn’t find one that clearly resembled what I was
wanting. By taking an image off the internet and
layering it on the shape I could then get the perfect
look I was wanting, but then further adapt it by using
the filter gallery, changing the opacity and then further
changing it by adding a colour overlay and reducing the
opacity. I feel that by going through these steps the
once photograph that I used is turned into something
more animated and creative. Although the process is
very useful it can sometimes be difficult to change the
filter on it without it looking too fake however, I still
didn’t want it too look like a photograph so it took
some time in order too finally get the look I was
wanting.

14. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
In my book I like the way I have created the text so that it look likes it is floating in the water
rather than it just being in a straight line. I feel this gives the book more detail and makes it
look more interesting rather than it just being normal text that has been put on a page.
Furthermore, by changing the colour to blue it fits well with the theme under the sea. I found
that a lot of books changed the colour and style of font to fit there theme such as The
Gruffalo. For this book the writing looks like it has been made out of sticks because it is set in
a woodland area.
On all my pages I made the visuals relate to the text and tried no to over complicate what
was happening in the background. I found that a lot of the books that were aimed at
younger children just had an image of what was being told in the text with no/limited
background visuals. This stops the book becoming overly complicated and helps the
children reading it remain focused.

15. In page 1 and 10 I created a border to go around the page so that it looks like you are further
back from the scene and looking at the wider picture. This helps the reader understand from
the very beginning what the book is about and where it is set as they can see everything that
is going on. It also makes the page look more inviting and appealing because there is the
illusion that there is a lot going on so they want to know what is happening.
Finally, on the page where the shark is introduced he is seen swimming onto the page with the
other animals swimming away. This is done by staggering them across the page and putting them
on a side angle so that they look like they are moving rather than is a stationary position. This is
also seen in ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ to show them moving from one area to another and to
show the audience that they are moving rather than being stood stationary.

16. I disliked my book in some places because I feel there was
more room for improvement. I found the backgrounds
hard to make different and unique because under the sea
there isn’t much going on unlike in house where I could of
created smaller details in the background. I feel this made
my book look repetitive and boring.
I also feel like the fish that are shown facing forwards
aren’t as good as ones from the side. I think that there
features could be improved as they don’t look exactly like
the original fish facing the side. I found that in all books
characters that change position still look similar no matter
how they are positioned and although mine are
recognizable they aren’t as accurate as other ones I have
seen.
In The Guffalo although the owls
positions changes it is clearly the
same character where as my fish
could be different fish as they don’t
look similar.

17. Why did you include the content you
used?
The text I used was Cooper Black as this was easy to read when in
the ‘flag’ style. It needed to be simple and look clear because young
children must be able to read it. Although Curlz MZ looks nice it
wasn’t easy to read and when I put it in the flag effect it look overly
complicated. The curls on the end of the lettering may also of caused
problems for younger children that struggle to recognise letters.
I made sure that all my animals on the page were brightly coloured
and had distinctive features so that they stood out from the blur
background. This ensured that they could easily be seen and that
children could recognise them from page to page without getting
confused.
In the pages with the rock border I used the shape tool to go over the rocks, made it blue
and then reduced the opacity so that there was a blue hue to the image. This helped it look
more under the sea rather than just random rocks. This is clearly shown below with the one
on the right without the box and the one on the left with the box.

18. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
In my work I used different symbols to represents different things for example in all of the
scenes where the shark is all the other characters look scared/sad while all the scenes that
the shark isn’t the characters look happy and are smiling.
By doing this it instantly shows the fear in the sea of the shark
without the children having to even read the text. This is also
done in other popular books such as ‘We are going on a bear
hunt’ when they find the bear. This is because facial expressions
are one of the the first things a child learns and come to recognise
so for them to be clearly shown in the illustrations makes it easier
for the child to understand what is happening in the book.
When creating the shark I made sure that the teeth were big and
pointy as this connotes to children that they are dangerous and
that all the other fish will be scared. By making the shark bigger
than the rest of the animals it makes it look more intimidating but
Also makes all the other fish look more innocent as it makes them look younger.

19. When creating the page where the shark get injured from
the coral it was important to include some blood on his
nose to symbolise him getting hurt. All children fall and
graze there knee/hands so it when they see the blood on
the shark they will instantly know that he is hurt.
The bright colours on the pages instantly attract children
and draw there eye towards the book so this will make it
more popular to them compared to a book that look like a
realistic sea life.
In my book I included a treasure chest as this connotes a
mystical under the sea feel to the book. A treasure chest
instantly makes the book feel like it is magical as they are
often associated with pirates and mermaids which appeal
to both boys and girls.

20. What representations can be found in
your work?
Within my book I do not include anything to do with religion, politics or
ethnicity because I wanted everybody to read it and enjoy the story
however, I did include gender to give the characters more of a personality. I
made the orange and green coloured fish male as I felt these colour best fit
the characters I was making. Green is stereotypically a colour you associate
with boys and orange is thought to be angry, bold colour which again
stereotypically is thought to be linked with males personality. The female
fish is pink as this is a colour associated with girls as it is a delicate feminine
colour. Although we try not to stereotype, younger children will instantly
link these colours to genders as it is how they are brought up. I also wanted
to makes sure I had a mixed group of genders (both boys and girls) to
emphasis that both boys and girls can be friends and can all have fun
together. Sometimes children are brought up to think that you should only
be friends with people of the same gender and in this book I wanted to
show that this is not true.

21. What style have you employed in your
products?
When creating my book I wanted the style to be simple and clean
which meant that didn’t want to it too look hand drawn (like
Charlottes web) because I feel that it looks too messy and not
digitally created, which is what I wanted. When looking online I
found the book ‘The happy little hunter’ which I wanted my book to
visually too look like. I liked how the cover was clearly made from
shapes that had just been warped and the colour was just blocks
with no shading. I wanted my book to look this as I feel it is simple
for children to understand but still looks astatically pleasing.

22. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I also felt that when I was picking my story the planning I
went into was successful as I made sure I knew the storyline
for each one and then decide what I would need to create
each scene such as the background and the characters. This
helped me decided which I felt would be easiest to make in
the time period I had.
I felt that my pre-production of my book was successful in many
ways one being that when I created my mood boards I managed
to get a good visual representation of what I wanted my animals
to look like. This then helped me come to the decision of deciding
what colours/textures I should use without wasting time during
the production period.

23. I felt my flat plans and digital plans were good as they
showed a the basic style I wanted for my book. They
showed a general idea as to what shape everything was
going to be and where about I wanted them on the page
however I feel that more thought should of gone into
them. When I finished the book I felt a lot of the pages
looked plain and didn’t have enough going on (like page
1). I also found that I didn’t put enough thought into
what the pages would look like when they were all
together so some of them had to be changed as they
didn’t look right.
For my planning schedule I arranged it so that I finished on the 10th session with no
time to spare . I found that originally I did stick to it however over time I didn’t end up
looking at it. This is because I gave priority to the wrong things and didn’t give enough
time for certain things e.g. creating the fish from different angles and creating the coral.
To create one fish from different angles took a full session compared to the ½ session
that I gave myself. I also found that if I stuck to my schedule I wouldn’t of had enough
time to adapt the pages I didn’t like and improve them, this would of meant that I
would of felt my book looked incomplete and not as good as it possibly could.

24. Historical and cultural context
The story I based the three little fish of was ‘The Three little Pigs’ which has had many adaptation
written based off the original story. In the first version the wolf kills the first two pigs however, he
is then killed by the final pig and eaten by him for revenge. As time progressed the story adapted
to non of the pigs dying and only the wolf being eaten. The current version of the story has been
changed so that children do not get upset, all the characters survive in the modern version as
appose to them all dyeing which makes the story more light hearted.
Over time the visual graphics of the story have also changed. In the original books all of the
images were hand drawn and had a lot of detail in order to keep the book exciting and
stimulating. As time has progressed the books become less detailed on more animated. The
colours are a lot brighter and the characters are made more simply. Disney's adaptation of the
book was the first time the book had been seen animated on a global scale.
Disney
Version
Since the original version was made, adaptation have been created by different authors from
around the world. Most of them follow the same story line however the characters change and
so does the setting. An few examples would ‘Three little sheep”, ‘Three little kittens’ and ‘The
Three Billy Goats Gruff’