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?
I think that my work both does and doesn’t reflect my original intentions,
such as with my mood boards. With my character style mood board I feel
that my final characters don’t match with what my original intentions
were, this is probably due to the fact that I decided to do closer to
realistic characters than overly cartoonish while I was drawing my
characters. I also chose to do a different type of crown than I originally
planned, this is because I wanted to add more significance to the
extravagant crown, I wanted to use the bigger crown to show that she
was a real princess.
However my work does reflect with my original intentions in the flat
plans. As shown by the images on the right the final product looks similar
to the flat plans, I just added more detail and changed where the text was
to fit into the page well. My final work matches with the flat plans
because when I was creating my pages I went off of what the digital and
drawn out flat plans looked like and embellished them to make them how
I wanted the pages to look.

4. My location mood board also doesn’t match with my final settings in the book. For
instance with page 6, shown below, the style of bed doesn’t match to what I had
originally intended. I think its not like how I originally intended it to look like because
my final product is simple and has very little detail, where as the images on the mood
board are all very detailed and show lots of mattresses. Also when I made the mood
board I planned on having a page with an image of the castle from the front, however
I decided not to do that while I was producing the book.

5. How well have you constructed your
images?
With all the characters I made within the book I first drew them
out by hand then rotascoped around them, using the ‘polygonal
lasso’ tool and made a ‘layer via copy’. Using this method to make
the characters made them unique and was an easy to do.
I think I have constructed some of my images well, for instance
with the first picture on the right, the map, I got a pre-existing
image of a map and went around the edge with the ‘polygonal
lasso’ tool and made a ‘layer via copy’, this took a long time but it
made a map of Europe that I personally think looks quite effective.
In the second picture, the dining table, to make this image I used a
range of different tools for different components of the image,
such as to make the table I used shapes and transformed them in
various ways, such as with the table top I used the distort option
within the transformations to make it smaller on the top line to
make it appear to be 3D. I also used shapes to make the fruit bowl,
I then warped some shapes to be the shape of certain fruits which
made it obvious what the bowl is.

6. In the image on the right I also used various different tools, which in my opinion made the
crown look effective and realistic. To create the base shape of the crown I used a pre-
existing image of a crown off of Google, I then used the ‘quick selection’ tool to get the
outline of the crown, then made a ‘layer via copy’. However when I did this it let the cut outs
of the crown still there, so I used the ‘polygonal lasso’ tool to go around the inside parts of
the crown and deleted the part inside the lasso, this then gave me the base shape for my
crown. To create the diamonds I took a image off of Google of a diamond, in both red and
clear, then I used the ‘magic wand’ tool to get the shape I wanted, after I used the ‘cut out’
filter from the filter gallery to create a more simplistic version of the shape. I think that the
diamonds make the crown look more realistic.

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
I think in some of my pages I have used text well to anchor the
image that goes with the text, however there are also some
pages that don’t do as well with it.
For instance the second page, shown on the right, I feel the text
doesn’t anchor my image well. This is because the image
doesn’t have enough detail to show what is supposed to be
happening.
Another image I feel that the text doesn’t anchor to well is the
third page, shown to the right. This is also due to the fact there
isn't very much detail in the image and it only shows part of
what the text says.

8. However, one page that I think the text anchors the image well is page 10, shown
underneath, this is because it is easy to tell what is happening within the image, there
isn't a lot of detail but there is enough to be able to depict what is happening.
Another page I think the text anchors the image well is the 4th page, this is because it
shows almost exactly what the text says is happening. The only thing that hasn’t been
shown is the Queen placing the bone under the mattresses, I chose to not show this
because I wasn’t sure how to show her putting the bone down without over
complicating the image.

9. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
In my development Pro-Foma, in the proposal section I wrote about the target
audience. I decided that it would be aimed towards girls aged around 6-7, this was
because it is a princess story and would usually appeal to girls more than boys, and
the age was that because the images were going to be more detailed and realistic
looking which would be more suitable for older children. I think that my book is still
aimed towards this target audience, this is because it is a princess story which usually
appeals more to girls than boys. However the pages are not overly detailed or realistic
looking, which means that the age range the story was aimed at could be lower.
My target audience now that the book is finished would be children aged between 5-
7, I chose to go lower because the pages are quite simple and the text doesn’t use
works that children at that age shouldn’t know. The gender that it will be aimed
towards is females, this is because the book is a princess story which is typically aimed
towards females, as the book is most likely to appeal to females than males.

10. A book with a similar target audience to mine is ‘The princess and the wizard’, the target
audience for this book is females aged between 6-8. The book is also a princess book,
similarly to mine, which means it’s aimed more towards females than males
The graphics used in the book is also quite simple, like mine, but has used patterns which
add more detail to the characters. Such as the wizard, shown in the first image
underneath, the beard has a pattern that looks like fur, this it look more like a beard. This
makes the book for a age range like 6-8 because it is simple yet has enough added detail
to make it for older children.

11. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
A technique I used and liked a lot while making my final product, is
rotoscoping. I find that it makes the process of creating the final sets
and pages easier, for instance when I created the characters I used
rotoscoping. I did this by drawing how I wanted the characters to look
and then scanned them into the computer, once I did this I went
around each part of the character and coloured it the way I wanted. I
found it easiest to create my characters this way, because it gives me
more control over how I want the shape to look than if I were to use
shapes to create them. Another thing I like about rotoscoping is how
once you have created all the components of the character you can
clearly see which layer is which part.
Another technique I liked using while producing my children's book, is
the filter ‘Cut-out’ I found this filter a quick way to make something
look more simplistic and cartoonish. For instance when I made the
flowers for page 10, I used this filter to make the roses, I think the
filter effectively made the roses look more like cartoons yet still
identifiable as roses.

12. However a technique I did not like using, was shapes, this is because when I was creating
detailed parts of the scenery it would be difficult to get the shape to look right. Also when
using the ‘warp’ tool, with smaller shapes, through ‘transform path’ I found it difficult to use
see the small shape underneath the grid. Also I don’t like how when using shapes you don’t
get full control of how the shape is going to look, whereas with rotoscoping you can fully
control the look of the shape. For instance in the image on the right, the shapes overlap and
don’t look like they should be attached.

13. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
One of the things I like about how my final product looks is
that is that is quite simple looking, there is hardly any detail
which makes it easy to tell what is happening within the pages.
Such as with page 4, shown on the right, the page has very
little detail, but still shows what is happening. One of the
things I dislike about this image is how and where the text is
placed, it would have looked better if it was horizontal,
however I couldn’t have done this because it would be difficult
to read.
Another thing I dislike about my book, is on some pages the
text is white and on others it is black, I would have preferred if
the text stayed consistent throughout the book, however I had
to use white because the black wouldn't have been readable
with the background. Such as with page 6, the black text was
unreadable on the dark floor, so it had to be white. Also with
page 4, the white text wouldn’t have worked because the
colour I was trying to put it on was too light.

14. Something I really like throughout my book is the look of the
characters, I like how I used a mixture of hand drawing and
rotoscoping to create them, I think that it made them look
unique and they match the graphics for the background well.
However, something I don’t like about the characters is that on
some backgrounds the stroke added to the characters to
outline them, the opacity is set too high which makes the
outline too dark. An example of this is on page 7, the prince
and Queens outlines are too dark which makes them stand out
too much.
Another thing I like about my final product is how when the set
is inside the castle I have kept the floor and wallpaper
consistent, this helps to show that the setting of the page is in
a certain place. As shown in the image on the right, when the
setting for the page was inside of the castle the wallpaper was
this cracked greyish looking paper, and the floors were wooden
boards in alternating colours.
However, something I don’t like about the background is that
on some pages the colour of it can be a greyish colour and on
others it is a purple colour, as shown by page 5 and 8 on the
right.

15. Why did you include the content you
used?
I chose the font because it is easy to read and clear, I chose
it to be like this because children may not have the best
reading abilities so the font needed to be clear enough for
them to be able to read.
When I made the scenery inside the castle I chose the
wallpaper to be cracked and broken, because it made the
castle look old. I also used wooden floorboards to show the
page was set inside of the castle, I chose this because it is
typically used in houses.
I chose for the colours to be greys with parts that are
coloured, this is because I wanted it to look quite dull and
to be brighter on the last page when the prince and
princess get married. Also having the colours of the
background be dull it makes the characters stand out more
against the background.

16. When I made the flowers for the wedding arch on page 10, I used the filter ‘cut-out’ this
made the flowers look more simple and cartoonish. This made it a lot easier for me to
create the wedding arch. I used this filter as well to create the diamonds for the crown
on page 4, this meant I created the crown a lot quicker than if I hadn't used the filter.
Also I think that it effectively makes the flowers and diamonds look like cartoons.

17. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
In my book I has the characters wearing crowns, this shows they
are royalty. I have used different crowns on each of the
characters, this is because some are of a lower ranks than others.
For instance the princess and prince have smaller crowns with less
jewels, this shows that they are below the Queen, whose crown is
extravagant.
I also made the princess a white fox, I chose to do this because it
shows that the prince and Queen think that she is different from
them, they think she is not a real princess.
On page 10, the wedding page. The page has brighter colours
which makes the page look happier and more joyful, where as the
rest of the book is in dull colours which shows how unhappy the
prince was.

18. What representations can be found in
your work?
My work has little to no variety with its representations, this is because it is both
about foxes and royalty. This means that my story has no references to social groups,
different races or religions. However my work does show some differences between
age, such as with the crowns, the Queen has a more extravagant than the prince and
princess’s, this is because she is at a higher rank than them. The way the males and
females are shown is the same, I chose to do this because there is hardly any physical
differences between male and female foxes and I wanted to keep the characters in a
more realistic style.

19. What style have you employed in your
products?
I wanted the visual style of my book to be simple and
minimalistic I chose this style because I wanted my book to
not be over detailed as it would be easier for a child to
interpret what was happening in each scene.
When I was creating my book I looked at other versions of
the book, I tried to change my book so the images would
not be similar to any pre existing ones. Such as with the
version to the right the graphics look hand drawn, where as
mine looks more like it has been produced on a computer
which is the style I wanted, mine also looks more simplistic
compared with the more detailed version drawings in the
other version.

20. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
I think that my planning did not help very much, this is
because I found it easier to work on the pages in a
different order to how I originally planned. I decided to
start with the easiest pages to make and create the
hardest last, I chose to do them that way because it
meant that I created the easier pages quickly and had
lots of time spare to create the harder ones.

21. Historical and cultural context
There are many versions of ‘The princess and the pea’,
many that I found are the same as the original story but
what varies is the graphics used for the books.
An example of this is ‘The princess and the pea’ by
Rachel Isadora, the book uses almost the same words as
the original story. But the story is set in Africa, this
change means that the scenery is more styled after
african culture, such as they feature black characters and
show traditional african culture.
Another version I found is ‘The princess and the pea’ by
Lauren Child. What diffrenciates this book from the
origional is the mixture of drawings and photos which
create the scenery in the book. This is the first version of
‘The princess and the pea which is this style.