Graphic Narrative Evaluation

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.

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

I tried to refer to my planning when I was designing my story book to ensure that I did not go of on a tangent and start designing different pages to my original plan. To prevent this from happening I looked at my plan at the start of each lesson to make sure I am both on track and will have enough time to finish my book in time. I also looked at my storyboards to ensure that the pages I was designing were relevant to them and looked like them and were still based around my story. My original intentions were to create a book which was based around the original story of jack and the bean stalk but with my own twist to it. This came out how I originally intended for it to and worked well as a story.

Story boards Final Products

I have designed my pages based around my original designed for example the first page is based around my first design how ever I have made slight changes to it. Like taking out the fence and not drawing the sun in there as I thought it looked better without these in it.

How well have you constructed your images?

I think according to my original plans I have constructed my images how I planned out to and used similar ideas for the books I studied before I created them. For example I tried to design my characters based of how the ones look in the book ‘I want a friend’ by Tony Ross. I also based my background graphics from a book called ‘is there room on the bus’ by Helen Piers. I think when looking at my pages in general they look well presented and have a simple layout. I purposely did this to make it easier to look at for a child and read. I feel that I may have benefited in choosing a more suitable writing font as at my targeted audience of 7 to 11 it may be difficult for them to pick out some of the words in there. However I think it gives the story a fairy tale look and works well with the images, this was my original intention when creating the font. I think that each page has its own set of contrasting colours to, for example page 6, 7 and 8 are all in the giants house and when designing and creating this house I wanted to give it a more wooden look Victorian look and for this I used more browns and cream colours which gives it a good effect when looking at it as an image.

Similar Character types

Similar background styles

Contrasting colours

How well have you used text to anchor your images

I feel that I could have chose a more simple text base for my story that would be easier for a child to read and understand as my book was targeted for a more younger age group. When looking at children's books they normally have a basic text written in them for children to read for example the book the ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ by Michael ronsen has big simple font writing which varies In sizes throughout the book which is simple for a child to read on their own. However a book ‘I want a friend’ by Tony Ross has more of a hand writing styled font with different sized letters and slightly slanted too. This may be more difficult for a child to read but can also be a good way for them to practise reading different texts and styles. If I were to change this about my book I would give it a more simple font and have the letters nicely spaced out and in 24pt writing as I feel this is a suitable style for this age group and will help them read what’s on the page more easily.

These are examples of the books which I mentioned. They have a more clear design and are easier to read compared to my pages on the right hand side which have a more complex style of writing which is also outdated making it hard for a child to see each letter and understand each word.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I think the design of my book is suitable for its audience because of the bright colours in it. They help the image stand out to a child and draw them into reading the book so they can look at the pictures. I also kept into account when I was making the boom that I didn’t put too much onto each page so that it becomes overloaded and hard for a child to concentrate on one thing as there are too may things to look at. I tried to add some details into my book to help them look at more in there like the fireplace in the giants house was designed by its own then added in at the end. I also think the story in general is also suitable to use as it is based on the original only with a twist. I also think my twist on the story works well with the rest of the story as it links in.

I tried to use bright and bold colour like the ones on the left to help my book stand out to its younger audience

I tried to keep my images simple and easy to look at so mine compared to the ones on the right are a lot simpler and more easy to look at.

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

Likes: I like the use of the shapes in my images as everything was mostly created by hand. For example the table in jacks room and all of the picture frames that I created were drawn by hand and placed in the picture. I also used the method of roterscoping when creating the window shape to get a more accurate aspect of it which I think worked really well. I also used perspective in my designs in things like the windows to create a better effect and make the drawings have more depth and look more professional by giving them a 3D effect. For example a book like ‘The Pea and the Princess’ by Mini Grey is a 2D based book where all the images are flat and have little depth to them.

Dislikes: I didn’t like the idea of using shapes to make the hills for some of the pages as I think they look rather basic and could use with some more detail like grass or flowers placed on them to give them more detail. I could use the paintbrush tool to create the grass shape and use this to give the hills more detail. I could also use the pencil tool to hand draw the tool giving them less straight lines and more rigid lines so they look more realistic.

My images have more clear perspective to them and are made easier to see this by giving it an outline. Where as the princess and the pea graphics do not have this and have too much detail.

The grass on the left has more clear detail than mine and works better as an image and has a good amount of detail to it and is less flat.

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

I like the look of my final product however I feel that some improvements could be made. I like the general look of my pages as I think they stand out with the colours and designs I have used. I also like the details I have in the interior as well like the rug and picture frames in the giants house. I feel like they add a good amount of detail in the room but don’t over do it too much which still keeps with the simplicity of the design. My style of detail is similar to the things in the book ‘charlottes web’ by E.B.white. In this book there is a lot of detail which goes into the wood and details of the animals which is similar to my book style too which giving the wood a texture to make it look more realistic and better to look at. I tried to go back to some of my pages in my book to add more detail as I didn’t think I had enough at the end of it.

I don’t like the look of skies in the images I think they have too much of a block colour in them and are too basic for the rest of the design. If I were to do this again I would give them more shades of blue and vary the clouds to give it a better effect for the reader as it can seem rather repetitive. For example on the book the gruffalo by Julia Donaldson has a lot more detail in the sky with more realistic clouds and shades of blue which comes together to make a better looking sky. If I were to change this I would use the feathering tool to blend different types of blue to blend as one to make better sky.

On the image to the left of a page of the book the gruffalo you can see a lot more detail and shades in the sky compared to my block coloured sky. It has a lot more detail and is better to look at.

I have added similar detail to thinks like the wood in my book like in the charlottes web story to make it look more presentable and appealing.

Why did you include the content you used?

Most of my images that are in my book are original and were hand drawn to prevent any copyright issues in my book as if I roterscoped a lot of things then other authors may see this and confront me about it. Whereas most of my work is original I wont have a problem with this.

My font was taken from the website ‘da fonts’ to use in my book as my basic writing. I then changed the spacing and slant of this font to ensure I make it easier for a child to read. As I mentioned earlier I would probably change my font to a more easier style so a child can understand and read it easily.

I used effects like feathering to blend things like the background in with the foreground to make it look more real and look better as an image. I also used things like opacity on certain objects to make them look better for example on the image of jacks mum throwing the beans out of the window I used a black box over the window and changed the opacity to a lower number so some of the interior of the house could be seen too.

I tried to keep all of my colours in my story contrasting and match each other in each image for example the interior of jacks house is all darkened wood and then lightened in some areas to make it look more like a old worn out house but still match the other colours of the house.

I based my giants house around this picture I found on Google images however I didn't copy it I just used it as a guideline to what my giants house would look like.

I designed both my interior and exterior of my houses to contrast and match each other with the colours that were used.

What signs, symbols or codes have your used in your work?

I have tried to use more bright and bold colours in my images to make them look look like a good place to be but when things got bad with jack and his mum where she threw the beans out of the window, I changed my images to more darker colours and made the weather change to a more dark and stormy night to resemble anger and frustration.

I have also used less sharp edges on jacks house to show that his house is a safe place to be and live whereas at the giants house I used more sharp edges like on the chandelier to symbolise that this is the house of the bad guys house and to show that it is not a safe place to be at all. I have also used darker colours like burgundies and blacks to use in his house to emphasise on this point.

The location of my story is in the country side with big hills and sunny weather which is where most children's stories are based as things like hills can relate to fun and playing which is all children do. And sunny weather can also relate to fun and play for them too.

I have designed my character jack to look friendly and coloured his clothes green to resemble a good person as we see the colour green as being this. I have coloured the giant in raged clothes and white which I was trying to get the point that he has no colour yet as it is undecided if he wants to be good or evil.

I have used brighter colours on my images to show the feeling of good and everything being okay and then made them darker when things aren't good.

I have set my story in the country side to resemble fun and playing to make a child happy when reading it.

What representations can be found in your work?

I have included both male and female characters in my book therefore I would not think it is sexist however I have 3 male characters to 1 female however at the times where my book was set the men were seen as the ones that go out to work and the women tended to do work at home. If I added more characters into my book I may add another female into it as I feel it may need a more fair

My book also includes both women and children in it so it has a good mix of ages in it. I have also clearly shown this by making my characters look older and more aged compared to others. For example jack is smaller than the rest of the characters as he is a boy of the age 12ish so this needs to be shown in the book. Then his mother is taller and has more detail to her face showing she is a lot older and is around her 30s.

All of my characters are white in my book which could cause some offence to people of a different race that read it. However I have designed my book to be based around the Victorian times so I think the majority of people in a town there would be white. However if I were to make more characters I would maybe add a black character to it so no offence would be caused.

I tried to avoid as much discrimination in my book as I could so I offended as least people as I could and still make it a decent book to read.

What style have you employed in your products?

Discuss influences/ existing productsI looked at different books and stories before I created my own to get an idea

of what children like and expect from a book. I found that big and bold images worked well as a way to draw them into the book and I saw this in the story of goldilocks and the three bears by Roald Dahl as this features big images on each page which is good when children are reading it.

What visual style does your work have and why did you choose it?I have included a similar style in each page of having everything having an

outline to it to make it stand out more. I have done this on all the characters and objects in the story. I chose this to help this appear more to the children and make them more visible. This is quite similar to the book ‘Maisy goes to nursery’ by Lucy Cousins. In this book the characters have a clear outline which helps bring them away from the background and stand out more and I think this works really well in the story.

I have used bigger images in my book to help the child see things and enjoy the story more as they can look at the pictures more. Like in the book goldilocks and the three bears.

I have used bold black outlines in things like my characters to help them stand out like in the book Maisy goes to nursery.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-production and planning

How did the planning and research help?When I planned what by book was going to look like before I designed it this made it

easier as I could look back at my original plans to ensure I have designed each page how I needed to and I haven't gone off track too much. It was also good that I researched other jack and the beanstalk stories and other children's books before I started creating my own as I could use it for reference when creating things like the characters and thinking about the style of my book to. I also researched the time at which the story was set and from this designed my house based on the ones I found with the cream colour and darkened wood supports on them.

How well did you manage your time?I think I managed my time well as I finished onetime and everything was completed

before I started designing the book so I could just focus on the pages I was creating. I used the time that I was not in lessons in the college library to do extra work so I could be in track with everything and designed a few pieces of work in there as well as in class.

Historical and cultural context

I researched the times at when the original story of jack and the beanstalk was made and then made my own interpretation of this and based my story around this time to. Many different fairy tales have existed in this time period to like ‘the boy who cried wolf’ and ‘little red riding hood.’ both of these books were set in a similar era and have similar building structures and character clothing in them as I do. I also designed interior in my houses the same as what they would have in this time period too for example chandeliers and wooden tables which still exist today. If I were to change anything about my book I would change the picture frame in the giants house as it looks to modern compared to the rest of the story.

I have designed my house similar to beam houses which existed in the Victorian times and based jacks house around this

I have researched the interior of Victorian houses and placed some of these things in my giants to this.

Peer Feedback

• Summarise peer feedback and discuss– Responses you agree with– Responses you disagree with