Digital graphics evaluation pro forma

Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

• Compare your planning/digital flat plans/ storyboards to your final product• I feel that my final product reflects my original intentions for the layout and content of the story

for the most part. I was able to keep a cartoon style to the images throughout the story which made it more suitable for the target audience. I was also able to make the script very simple and easy to understand. I was also able to space out the text and make a clear box for it to be placed in below the images on each page which meant that both the images and the text on each page were in good proportion on each page. I was also able to fit my story onto 9 pages as originally planned so that it does not drag on for too long as kids don’t typically have a long attention span. I was able to keep a bright colour scheme throughout the book which made it have a much more cheery mood which is more applicable to my target audience. The story itself is in a format that is very universal as was my original intention too which means that it can be distributed easily and will be available on the vast majority of electronic based platforms. This is useful as the children I am aiming at may not have the high end equipment that is required to run more specialised formats and functions. If I was to compare my original intentions to an existing product I would compare it to the book the gingerbread man. I wanted it to have a similar look and feel to the boo with a cartoon style and short length. This is because the story is very famous and is recognisable and creating links to my story would make my story have a familiar feel to it and allow it to be recognised within the fairy tale genre well whilst retaining its individuality.

If I was to compare my original intentions to an existing product I would compare it to the book the gingerbread man. I wanted it to have a similar look and feel to the book with a cartoon style and short length. This is because the story is very famous and is recognisable and creating links to my story would make my story have a familiar feel to it and allow it to be recognised within the fairy tale genre well whilst retaining its individuality.

Here is an example of how my work has evolved from the flat plans that I made to the final page. As you can see the designs have been followed from the plans in the final document and I have managed to keep the product to my original intentions in terms of layout. The final image does have some changes though, I have added some more scenery to make the scene more exciting such as adding the sun and a sign in the background to have less blank space in the scene. The text has also been spaced out better.

Flat PlanFinal image

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.

• I think my images are very well constructed and they are suitable for use in the book. I have created my images using a range of skills on Photoshop such as shape manipulation, rotoscoping and use of filters and gradients. My images are also saved as jpegs so they are a very universal format which can be accessed on the majority of hardware. My images are in a cartoon style that makes the images seem more fantastical and fun rather than realistic which is also to suit my target audience of younger children. The images take up an a4 sized page which means that they are large and clear on a full page so they can be seen easily and the text can be read clearly which is helpful if the reader may struggle if the page would be too small. The images also contain bright and happy colours which make the images lighter and easier to see but also create a happy tone which suits a target audience who would prefer a more light-hearted stories at this stage in their life.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

• You should talk about the combination of words, images and text.

• In my story I have used a small amount of text to accompany the images in the story. I have used this amount of text for may reasons such as the fact that it is easier to read and that it speeds up the story but it is also because I want the pictures to be the main focus of the story as children typically prefer looking at pictures to reading. I feel that I have pulled this off well as the text usually relays the speech and extra information whilst the images give a clear representation of what is going on in the scene. This makes the text and images compliment each other well.

Alternatively I could have used a text style similar to an existing book such as the gingerbread man. The gingerbread uses a very small amount of text but it uses it above the images with no border a white space. This has the advantage of looking less out of place on the page and making the book quicker by using less words. However I feel that my design is more clear as it stands out more on the page and the white background contrasts well with the black text and makes the text easier to read than the other design.

From the picture it is obvious that the cake has been eaten without having to read the text. This makes it so the text is there to compliment the images which take up a lot more of the page.

There is a small amount of text and it contains mainly speech as I have not used any speech bubbles in my images.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

• Reference your proposal• Give an audience profile and describe suitability in reference to

content• My target audience for this project is younger children and their

parents. I have tried to suit my book towards my target audience in several ways. I have used a cartoon style with bright colours to create a happy tone for my target audience as they typically prefer more light hearted and chilled stories. I have also used a minimal amount of text as the target audience may struggle to read so it will be helpful. I have also used simplistic language with high frequency words used so that the reader will be comfortable reading without having to tackle complex language.

Existing product comparison

This is another example of an existing children's book called ‘the gruffalo’. My book shares several techniques with this book to be appropriate for the target audience of children. For example they both use large images as they are more interesting for children and can keep their attention. Another thing they both use is by using a cartoon style to make the book look more happy and fantastical which makes it more exciting for children. They both also use anthropomorphic characters within the book to personify animals to make them more friendly and relatable to the audience. This is another technique which makes the book more fantastical and makes it more fun for the children to read about.

Anthropomorphic character

What do you like/dislike about the techniques you have used?

• Reference specific tools you used with images• I used rotoscoping, shape manipulation and filters to create

my images. The benefits to using these techniques was that I was able to create a cartoon style that was simple but showed a decent amount of depth to it. I was also able to use these techniques in decent time and was able to make my story in good quality in time for my deadline by using these techniques. The techniques. With the techniques I have used I dislike the fact that they are not too complex in their design and other techniques may have allowed me to go into a lot more detail than I did using these techniques.

What do you like/dislike about how your final product looks?

• Seeing the final project I can see the parts that I have completed well and those that I haven't. The length of my story had upsides and downsides. I liked the short length because it made the speed of the story a lot quicker and stopped the story dragging on too much. It did restrict the amount of detail I could go into as I could only fit so much on the select amount of pages that I used. In regards to the amount of text that is used on each page I feel that I am satisfied that it is long enough to tell the story to a good degree whilst still allowing the images to relay the scene clearly on its own and simply add extra information and speech to each page. However I feel that I could have shortened the text even more and this would have allowed me to target an even younger audience as they may struggle with sentences longer than about five or six words. In regards to the images I feel that they have a good and consistent art style throughout the book. The art style is a cartoon style that is appropriate for children so it works as an aesthetic in the book. The book also has bright colours within the images which work well to create a happy mood throughout the book. However the art style does restrict the amount of detail that I am able to go into as it is a cartoon. This means that they are not as detailed as I could have made them; however with this being a book aimed at children I do not feel that this is a significant problem.

An example of a product that has some things that I wanted in my story

If I was to pick an existing product that I would have preferred to look like it would be the book spot the dog. This book uses the right amount of text that I would have liked as it is very simple and allow you to target an even younger audience. It also uses a nice and friendly cartoon style like my book which makes it appealing to children. It also has clear and stand out text by using white spaces to place the back text as it is a good contrast which makes it clearer.

Why did you include the content you used?

• Images, fonts, effects, colours• In my story I used a sans serif text because it looks more relaxed and

informal. This was chosen to suit my target audience as it would suit them being less formal as children tend to prefer more light-hearted things at a young age so it suits them well. I used black text so that it was clear on the white background so that it can be easily read as children may be new to reading so I felt it was important to make it as clear as possible for them. I used bright colours in my story to create a happy tone throughout the book as it would suit my target audience to have a more happy tone to the book. I used shadows in the book as it added some depth to the characters and scenery as they were very basic cartoon characters and I felt that it would make each page more complex. I chose the images that I did because they relay the scene on each page very clearly so that children who cannot read properly can still appreciate and follow the story to a good degree.

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.

• In my work I used the following techniques to convey symbolism. I used bright skies and scenery to symbolise the happiness that the cake feels as it has the freedom to run away. This creates a giddy atmosphere and it make the reader share in the happiness of the cake throughout his escape. I have also used the colour red subtly next to several of the characters chasing the Johnny cake to convey the danger that they pose to it. Examples of this include the red t-shirt that the boy wears, the red toolbox that is laid by the side of the two workers and the red eyes on the sign next to the wolf. I have also used symbolism on the characters to help create association with their occupation and role within the story. This is show through the workers having a toolbox with tools in beside them this helps to show that they are workers who are doing some sort of building. One of the workers also wears overalls which are stereotypical to people doing work where the may damage or stain clothes. I have also given the wolf, bear and fox sharp teeth to show that they pose danger to the Johnny cake and that it should therefore be careful around them. This allows them to be more clear as the villains in the story to the protagonist.

Here are two examples of symbolism within the story. On the left the bear has sharp teeth to convey the danger that he poses to the Johnny cake and that he should be weary of him. The page on the right shows the red toolbox where the red colour symbolises the danger that the workers pose to the Johnny cake.

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?

• In my work I have used a boy as a rival to the protagonist. The boy has a rather plain design and is a representation of an average boy as his clothes are casual and his build and height are average. I have also used two male workers in the story. They are also average looking for the most part but one is wearing overalls to represent that he is a worker this is mainly done for symbolic purposes. The two characters are middle aged and work as average adult figures. The main protagonist of the book is genderless and the reader can decide what gender they are. This character is represented as a silly and cheery character. The other characters in the book are animals that can talk they are represented as if they were regular adults in personality terms but they aesthetically look like slightly personified animals by using the same eyes in most cases, standing on two legs in some pages and the same art style to link them to human characters within the book. The variety of ages and species make each character seem individual and stops the characters being too repetitive and ending up looking like clones of each other.

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?• Some of the designs within the story are heavily influenced by outside sources.

For example the design of the Johnny cake character is based on previous renditions of the tale in other books. This was done simply because I was unfamiliar with this tale and wanted to make sure that the character I was creating would be somewhat similar to what it was supposed to be. The visual style that I went for was a cartoon style that had outlines around each character and object. I chose this style as it is very relaxed and would be familiar to my target audience as many children's books also run a cartoon style. It also meant that the characters would not take too long to create so I would be able to finish within my schedule and meet my deadlines effectively. By using this style I would also be able to create a more fantastical look to the book and allow it to appeal to the target audience more as it would be more exciting to them if it had this mood to it.

Comparison to other techniques in media

This is another example of a technique to create the book. This example (curious George) is made using a hand drawn style. This makes the book look more relaxed and informal which can make it appropriate for children. I, however, went with a cartoon style as it allows me to make the book look less formal whilst also allowing me to go into a lot of detail and make the book look more polished than by using a hand drawn style.

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• The planning and pre production helped me gain some influence and examples of

previous products relating to this story. This was important as I had not come across it before and I needed to see how others had written and drawn to see if I could use any of these ideas in my own work. It also allowed me to have a look at the different aspects that I would have to take into account when doing this project such as a colour scheme, font styles and art style rather than deciding them all on the go which may have caused some inconsistencies throughout my work. This is mainly prevalent on my mood boards and spider diagrams. The planning also allowed me to make a schedule so that I was able to manage my time effectively when I was completing my project and keep me on track to meeting deadlines and being able to know clearly what my task was for each lesson. However the planning did take a lot of time to set up and it could be argued that this time would be better spent working on the production of the project instead as it is the most important part of the project.

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?

• Product that relate to this story are rather uncommon but the ones that do exist are similar in the general theme of the story and the basic timeline stays the same in both my story and in previous renditions. The amount of text in my book is dramatically less that in other renditions and this is because I wanted the pictures in my book to have a larger impact and the text to compliment them rather than being the primary method of telling the story. The previous products also have a lot more complex and archaic language within them as they generally seem to be set in an early English time period. This differs from my book as I have tried to modernise it and make the language less complex and more modern to appeal to my target audience. The previous renditions also tent to have old fashioned scenery such as thatched houses in their images which I have altered in my book so that the houses are more modern so that the reader will relate to them more as they will probably not be used to seeing thatched houses and the sorts of uniforms that the characters wear in the artwork of the previous work. It may also be important to note that all the previous versions of this story are hard copies and with mine being a digital copy it is broadening the amount of people that will view the story as more people tent to read things digitally nowadays.

Here are some examples of other renditions of Johnny cake compared to mine. As you can see my design is vaguely based off of the other renditions but I have made my own touches to the designs in terms of colour and facial design to make the character look more friendly and cheerful to suit my target audience.