Peers praised the graphics for being bright, visually appealing illustrations that resembled published children's books, with well-done character designs and shading. Some felt backgrounds like lines on walls could be thicker or more realistic. One peer said only thing that could be changed is personal font preference, as detail was continuous throughout.

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?
• Compare your planning/digital flat plans/
storyboards to your final product
Storyboard Test page
Final productDigital flat plan

4. There are notable similarities. The flow of the story works very much the same as the
original. I also incorporated hand-drawing into my illustrations, as I intended to do at the
start of the main project so as to look similar to classic hand-drawn illustrations present
in most classic-style children’s book illustrations. Examples of the style include the works
of Axel Scheffler, which are most prominent in Julia Donaldson books.
However, there are differences. I have updated the language to a more modern
aesthetic to appeal to younger audiences. There are differences in the story itself.
Instead of meeting his wife, Rodilard meets up with all the cat in the street for some
caterwauling. The setting is also generic so it is open to interpretation where and when
the story is set. Also, my illustration style for the final project is slightly different, as the
hand-drawing is only used as a tracing template and serves no other purpose.

5. How well have you constructed your
images?
• How well have you constructed your images?
You could talk about the overall visual
appearance and well as the use of texture and
colour.

6. My selected illustration style involved tracing over hand-drawn images into a digital
format. These would then be filled into colour and the opacity would be slightly reduced
to give an aesthetic that would appeal to most individuals. The final result is illustrations
that look like stills from animated movies, but with qualities commonly associated with
illustrations.
The style I had chosen appears to have worked very well. By tracing over a hand-drawn
images, I got the quality of digital graphics combined with the rawness of hand-drawing.
I also had convenience with digital graphics, so I could make adjustments wherever they
were necessary. I effectively created texture with my designs, particularly with wood
textures and with Rodilard’s fur. My colour selections were also well received.
However, there are some rough edges in the images. These range from out-of-place light
patches on the picture to areas of white resulting from overlapping lines. Some parts of
the images can be difficult to make out what they are depicting and some lines that
should be straight are bent and curvy.
A scene from one of my
illustrations

7. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
• You should talk about the combination of words, images and text.
• By separating my story into different sections, I could easily focus
on one part of the story at a time, so the illustrations were accurate
depictions of what the story was describing. It also made it easier
for me to decide how many pages I needed in my story. It also
helped with the storyboard design.
• However, some of my organisation needed improvement. For
example, I needed some assistance to arrange the text to make it
more comprehensible against the complex illustrations. I also feel
some of the transitions from 17th Century English to modern English
could have been a bit neater.

8. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
• Reference your proposal
• Give an audience profile and describe
suitability in reference to content

9. My proposal for this module was to create a storybook, aimed at
young children of 3-6 years of age. I could choose whatever story I
fancied, but I had to produce all my illustrations myself. Because I was
doing a children’s story, I had a lot of limitations, in that I could not use
any adult themes or profanity. Having obviously read children’s books
when I was younger, I could easily develop ideas that would appeal to
children.
In many ways, I feel I have achieved in this module. I have managed to
successfully tell a story without having to resort to profanity or strong
content. I also feel the illustrations and the easy-to-read nature of the
story will appeal to my young audience (aged 3-6). The illustrations will
also give readers some familiar ground to read from, as the
illustrations are similar to that of classic-style illustrations present in
most books. The illustrations can even be compared to animated
cartoons of the 1970s to 1990s, particularly those by Disney and Don
Bluth.
However, there are some aspects that I feel could be problematic. The
story does not have a happy ending, which might not appeal well to
my young audience. The idea of a moral may only work with audiences
slightly older than my target audience. The story is also rather slow
paced, so it may be difficult for my audience to be engaged.
A still from Don Bluth’s first
short film, 1979’s “Banjo the
Woodpile Cat.” Bluth had
previously worked with Disney
up to this point.
A portion of the illustration on
page one

10. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
• Reference specific tools you used with images

11. The illustration technique I used was an attempt to fuse hand-drawn animation with
digital graphics. I started each page by hand drawing the illustrations on A4 based on a
drawing technique I had taught myself from animation and manga books I had read. This
involved lightly stroking the pencil to form the basic form of the pictures and then using
solid lines to define the actual picture.
Then I scanned the pictures and received the digitalised formats in email. I then traced
over the image in Photoshop with the pencil tool, which allowed me to make
improvements to the image wherever necessary. I then filled the images in with colour
and reduced the opacity of the image to give a gentler appearance. I also used a shadow
effect by reducing the opacity of a black paint and eraser to get the shaping as accurate
as possible.
There were several advantages with my illustration style. The final result was high quality
and the colour scheme was appealing and nice to look at. The shaping was also high
quality. It also helps that the main characters are cute, which will help the book to
appeal to children.
However, there were some issues. The process took so long that I overran slightly and I
did not have enough time at the end to improve the images, leaving behind some rough
edges.

12. I started by hand-drawing my pages. I used
light strokes to create the basic shape and
solid strokes to complete the picture.
Then I scanned the images into a digital
format for me to work with.
I inserted the digital format into Adobe
Photoshop.
I used the pencil tool to trace over the
pencil sketching. The sketch was used
as a guide.
With the image finished, I could hide
the sketch and work the image
depending on the imperfection.
Next, I filled the image in colour. I used
the eyedropper tool to select colours
from previous pages.
Next, I applied a shadow with a low
opacity. Finally, I applied the text and
positioned it in the most ideal position.

13. I made effective use of the pencil
tool while tracing over the pencil
sketches
Variable opacities allowed me to use solid colours and later
reduce the opacity. It also allow for effective shadow effects.
Using varying sizes of paintbrush
and the eraser tool allowed for
accurate shaping of shadows and
some colours.
The eyedropper tool was used to
ensure colours were consistent in
the artwork designs

14. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
• There are several advantages to the appearance of my
storybook. The designs of the pages are fairly high
quality and it is easy to make out different features of
the scenes, especially the characters, which are very
well designed. The images also match their respective
texts, which will help the young audiences follow the
story more effectively.
• However, there are also a few issues. At times, the
features of the characters are hard to define, like on
page 2, where one rat’s arms are hard to find. Also,
some edges in the designs are quite rough and
imperfect.

15. Why did you include the content you
used?
• Images, fonts, effects, colours
• My illustrations reflect on classic-style illustrations
commonly found in children’s book. It uses faded colours
that are gentle to the eye, but the digital format allows for
easy adjustments. The main characters have cute
appearances, which would appeal to younger audiences
more effectively. The environments also feel lifelike.
• For the font, I used Times New Roman. Most books,
including children’s books, use this font, so this allows the
text to be easily recognisable by most people. It is in black,
so it stands out against most backgrounds, though I needed
to be careful where I positioned it, as the dark font needs a
lighter background for it to be clearly comprehend.

16. • The only real effect present in the illustrations is the
shadowing. This is achieved by tracing over the illustrations
in a separate layer in black and with a low opacity. This
shadowing effect provides life to an otherwise flat drawing.
The shadowing reminds me of the shadow effects used in
anime movies, such as those by Hayao Miazaki.
• My colour scheme incorporates faded colours to give a
more subtle appearance. However, there are small
differences between the settings and the characters:
settings are slightly more faded in colour than the
characters, which helps the characters stand out more
effectively. This technique is often used in animated films
and has been since the mid-1930s when colour cartoons
became a mainstay.
A scene from one of my
illustrations
A still from Miazaki’s “My
Neighbor Totoro”

17. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
• Choices of colour, style, locations, character design and tone all give
additional meaning to your work.
• To create the ideal colours of the images I created a mood board to
consider inspiration. I decided to have a mix of brown and black rats
to offer diversity among the main protagonists, which would also
carry a good message besides the moral. I also decided that
Rodilard the cat would be a tabby, an appearance that is commonly
associated with cats in general.
• My settings were also somewhat generic. This is so that if the story
catches the attentions of international audiences, which can allow
the time and the location to be open to interpretation for different
people.
• For character designs, I based them on the methods used by
animators, which involves creating complex figures out of simple
shapes, which speeds up the pace of production.

18. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
Media texts require us to have a certain level of cultural understanding to
be able to interpret them.
At a basic level, this could mean being able to read the language that a
magazine is written in.
At a deeper level, it means being able to interpret signs and symbols that
we use a visual shorthand to communicate ideas.
We recognise these signs in our own culture but find it harder to
understand when looking at others.
We create and attach meaning to signs and symbols in many different
forms.
18Creative Media Production 2012

19. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
What is this?
This is a Norwegian Pine tree, covered in
snow and with a red ribbon on.
Our cultural understanding allows us to
interpret its meaning.
To us, in British society, it means
Christmas, presents and family.
This is because we share a cultural
knowledge.
19Creative Media Production 2012

20. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
There are many other signs and symbols
that we attach meaning to.
A leather jacket can imply rebellion.
A sports car can imply wealth and power.
A cross can represent religion.
20Creative Media Production 2012

21. Audience Responses
Cultural competence:
Visual representations of everyday objects are often the same the world
over. A car appears as a car, no matter what country it appears in.
What that car means however, can be very different depending on your
cultural background.
21Creative Media Production 2012

22. What representations can be found in
your work?
• How are men, women or children shown in your work?
Does your work feature different ages, races, social groups
or religions? Does a lack of any variety of character types
create its own representation?
• I have not clearly shown age among my characters.
However, I have shown subtle distinction of gender by
giving female visible eyelashes. I also distinct the dean by
giving him a necklace made out of a shoelace to give him a
sense of leadership. I also gave him a different shade of
brown fur to him. Incidentally, I may put off some readers
by making the dean male, but the fact that the rats in the
crowd are not brave might end up offending some readers
by somehow depicting people below leaders as cowardly.

23. 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?
• My style of illustration in this story involves tracing over my
own hand-drawings in Adobe Photoshop. This creates
images with the quality of digital graphics and the rawness
of hand-drawing. For hand-drawing, I based my designs on
the animation tutorial books I have been reading recently.
The technique I learnt involved starting with basic shapes
and adding details to these shapes into characters. This is
an effective method for creating detailed characters in as
little time as possible, ideal for animation. This technique
was used by early Disney animators of the 1930s-1960s and
later for Don Bluth from 1970s-1990s.

24. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
• How did the planning and research help
• How well did you manage your time
• Reference specific examples
• I started by finding stories that were in the public domain. I chose
the La Fontaine fable ‘The Council Held by the Rats’, which was a
short story, which could easily be separated into the recommended
(8-12 pages). I then created storyboards based on these sections
and created some character concept art for the cat and the rats.
• I feel the pre-production and planning went well in most ways. By
separating the story into sections, I found it easier to work with. By
drawing a storyboard I could work with designs to apply to the final
pages. Also, by working with concept art I could work with designs I
had set myself and could also apply them to my final pages.
• However, there were some issues. I mistimed my development
timetable, as it took me longer than I had predicted for me to
develop the final pages (though this may be because I kept
distracting myself while working.)

25. Historical and cultural context
• How does your work compare to what has
come before? What other similar products have
existed in the past? What current products
exist?
My illustrations started off as simple pencil
drawings. This reflects on several illustrations of
children’s books, which are usually hand-drawn.
Examples of works to compare to (in terms of
writing and illustration) include the works of author
Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Schleffler (“The
Gruffalo”, “The Snail and the Whale”, etc.), which
often include rhyme and hand-drawn illustration.
Though my illustrations use digital paint instead of
pencil crayons, clear comparisons can be made.
It is also very commonplace for old stories to be
reworked into modern dialect for younger
audiences. A comparison with one of my
illustrations with the cover of Julia
Donaldson’s “The Snail and the Whale”.
The illustrations in this book use pencil
crayons, creating a more complex
appearance than my illustrations.

26. Peer Feedback 1
• What do you like about the graphics?
The graphics is very well done, I love all the
drawings of the rats and the cat. I also like how the
room is very detail. The shading is well done. I like
page 8 where can see the town from the window
and the many rats walking.
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
Might need to develop some of the backgrounds
such as the lines on the wall could be bit thicker.

27. Peer Feedback 2
• What do you like about the graphics?
The graphics are very close to resembling something
that would be realised in books stores. Its really
bright and visually appealing and I love the style of
the characters.
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
– Small details on the backgrounds could have been
improved such as the lines on the walls could have
looked a little more realistic.

28. Peer Feedback 3
• What do you like about the graphics?
I really like the style you chose to go for as I can tell
by just looking at it that it was scanned onto the
computer and then further edited. I also like the
thought bubbles used to show another scene. The
detail was also continuous from start to finish.
• What would you do to develop the graphics?
The only thing I think could be changed is the font
style but that is more of a personal opinion on what
font you like.

29. Peer Feedback
• Summarise peer feedback and discuss
– Responses you agree with
• I agree with all the comments I have received. I can see that
my pages need some improvement, especially ones that
show wall edges in the hallway. I am also enlightened to
hear that my character designs have been so well received.
– Responses you disagree with
• Personally, I don’t really disagree with any responses.
However, I personally feel it is better for designers to be
pessimistic about their creations. This way they can be
relieved of disappointment if it is not well received and be
pleasantly surprised if it is.