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?

• Compared to my planning, flat plans and storyboards I feel like I have followed what I set out to do from all my planning quite well as they all look the same apart from the final product is more detailed. For instance with page 2. On the left is my original intention for what I wanted the page to look like and the one on the left is my digital final image.

• Something that I have changed from my planning though, for instance on the digital flat plans I have stated how I want to have the text on the same pages as my images.

But as you can see from all my pages I decided against this as I feel like the words didn’t really fit on the page and that the pages looked better without the words on. So what I have done is make it so that you have a page of text before each corresponding page. As you can see on the image on the left it includes some text, but I think it doesn’t look as good as the image on the right, where I have produced it so that the text is on a page on its own before the image page. I feel this works as the image page is not crammed full and the page which I have included the text on isn't either.

• I feel like I have followed the rest of my planning quite well too, as the text which I satetd I was going to use I have used and it looks quite good and fitting in my book I think, as it has quite a classic feel. Something else that I feel I have followed quite well and represented in my work is what I have said on my mind map as I have followed this the best I could and tried to develop on it in my work. I feel that the mood boards were represented too in the character of my loaf of bread as all of my inspiration is on there.• Thinking with a professional context I feel that this method would work quite well as it is often used in story books, have all the words on a page before the illustrations, such as Hairy Maclary and Zarchary Quack, a childrens book by Lynley Dodd.

How well have you constructed your images?

• In my work I feel like I have constructed my images quite well as I have stuck with quite a simplistic style and they fit in quite well in amongst their surroundings.

• What I have used most to create my characters is roto-scoping from inspiration of things that I found on the internet, when constructing my characters I did not copy exactly off the internet, I made changes which made the characters my own, and the loaf of bread is completely original. I feel like my loaf of bread character was one of my best created. On the left is a piece of inspiration for my character and on the right is my actual character.

• In my work I trued to use the shape task a but more, I tried to use it at first for my loaf of bread man and then again for the duck. I found this didn’t really work for creating my loaf of bread man but worked quite well when creating my duck, but I also used a bit of rotoscoping to add more detail to the duck such as its tail feathers. I feel like the shapes worked best for creating the greenery on the trees. I feel like when I created images using the shape task before in my first power point it worked quite well and was good for creating simplistic animals. On the left is an example of when I used the shape task to create a little mole.

And as you can see on the right the rotoscoping task which I did worked much better than the shape task and created a much more detailed in depth picture. I proffered this technique when creating my characters as when using rotoscoping it means that you are not stuck to certain shapes and having to warp them, rotoscoping means that you can create the shapes you want straight off and make it as detailed as you want.

When referring to a professional context I feel like my work I created for my story could fit in in an actual children's book a it is quite simple and colorful and I feel would quite appeal to children. If you think about cartoons called the Simpsons also the images in that are very simple and usually all block colour, much like the colours in my work, this shows that simple can often be quite effective.

How well have you used text to anchor your images

• In my book I have used text to anchor my images into the story. As I have stated before my original intentions have changed from the beginning, But it did not look good. So what I have done instead is put a page of text before the page it is in relation to. My reasoning for doing this is because then that way you are not just looking at a page full of illustration with no context. The way have have made it is now it tells you what I going on in the page before you see it, so it paints a picture of what you are about to see before you see it and gives the images a context.

• In my text pages I do not believe that there is too much text on the pages for the children to manage, as it is quite a repetitive story and once you have managed the first longer bit of text you should be able to manage the rest of the pages.

• In my text I have tried not to use language which is too advanced for children and make it as east to read as possible while still developing their vocabulary. The words which I have used in my text pages really help to demonstrate what is happening on the illustration pages, they help you figure out what the animals may sound like when they talk as it says “tweeted the bird” or “barked the dog”.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

• When I was planning my story book in my proposal I stated that I had a target audience of 3-5, I think I have represented this audience quite well, as I have included some bright colours and produced an easy to read book, with fonts that aid with the reading of words, as it is a serif font, this helps whoever is reading read it better as the flicks act as leading lines to the next letter. I have made it so the story is quite simple and not put too big words in out of the children's vocabulary. Below are examples of the bright colours on the page and the serif fonts.

• Something else which I have done to cater to my audience is make all of the characters very smiley and look quite nice, this makes it so that the characters (even the bad ones) do not scare the audience.

• I also feel like this book works well to teach a story, it shows how yes you should explore the world around you but it is always good to be sheltered and have the security of a home. This is shown by the fact that the loaf of bread gets sad and wants to go home.

• My product is also aimed at English speaking countries, I have catered to this by producing my book in English so that people can actually read it.

• In respect to professional contexts I think that my book would be suitable for the same audiences as the same children's books such as What the Ladybird Heard, as I feel like people that liked that book would like my book as I feel that they are both on the same sort of level.

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

• A technique to create the characters and some of the surroundings that I liked is rotoscoping, the reason that I like this is because you can produce the exact shape that you want and don’t have to merge to shapes together or something like that. I feel that rotoscoping, using the colour range tool and then the shape task worked really well for creating trees, as the shapes looked really good as the top of the tree. Below is an example.

Another task that I liked using for the backgrounds was the cut out filter, and once I had the cut out done I would go over it with the polygonal lasso tool. This made it so that my backgrounds were not just copied on the internet with next to no effort in, it made them original.

• In reflection to a professional context I feel like using the polygonal lasso tool to rotoscope images creates images in a more professional standard with more detail for example in the book What The Lady Bird Heard. See next slide for an explanation.

• As you can see in my work they look quite similar to some of the characters in this book, as in this book a lot of the characters are made of block colours with quite hard lines, which you can create if you wish to work in that style using rotoscoping. On the left is an example from What The Lady Bird Heard on on the right is an exaple of a character from my book which was created using the polygonal lasso tool. As you can see it gives it a very cartoony style which I feel represents the art that you would see in a lot of story books.

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

• Something that I like about the way my final product looks is the fact that all the way through I feel I have kept in in the same style with the same sort of colour scheme with a lot of greens and natural colours which you would see in the outside world.

• Something else I like about the colours in the book is the fact that even though I have kept it quite natural I think I have made the colours quite bright, which would appeal to children in the age range of 3-5 which I have stated in my proposal as children of this age are drawn to bright colours. For instance as you can see below it all looks like quite a natural environment with a bright blue sky and some nice bright greens in the tree. Although some aspects of it are not too bright a lot of it is.

• Something else that I like about my finial product is the characters that I have included, they all look very happy and nice, even the characters that want to eat the bread and come off as a little bit bad. I like this as it should appeal to the children and not scare them and make it so that all of the characters are likable. Here are some examples of my characters below. As you can see they all look very happy and nice, this may work towards calming a child.

•Thinking about this in a professional context I feel like this reflects the conventions of already existing story books such as The Bad Tempered Lady Bird, as in this book all the characters look really nice and happy and are quite colorful, as you can see below.

• Something that I dislike about the way my final product looks is possibly so aspects of it could have a bit more going on in the page such as page 6 where the loaf of bread man is stood on his own looking unhappy there isn't really too much going on in the page. As you can see below. I think a way that I could combat this is possibly having some birds flying about and in reference to the rest of the book a way that I could make it look as if more was going on in the page and to make it more colorful could be to add things such as small flowers dotted about.

• Something else I dislike about my book is the level of simplicity in it. I feel if I had more time I would be able to add a lot more detail and make it look a lot more professional.

Why did you include the content you used?

• A reason that I used the content which I did was because I wanted to create something that was a little bit different from the story books that were out there and I did not want to just copy a story exactly. The reasoning for my bread character is because it was based on the story the ginger bread man, so I took inspiration from the bread bit in the name of the story.

• Another reasoning behind some of content which I included on my book is things such as the bread maker where the bread emerges from. I wanted to give the gingerbread man more of a modern twist, by including aspects of modern technology such as a bread maker and an electric kettle, which would not have been featured in the original story. As you can see below from the kitchen counter.

• A reason for the characters which I included such as the bad characters (duck and bird) is because these animals have connotations to liking to eat bread, so I though that these should be portrayed as the people that want to eat him.

• A reason that I used the text that I did is because I feel that it represents aspects of professional work, as usually in storybooks you will see fonts that are quite simple in serif with little flicks on the end of the words, this is one reason I have done this. Another reason I have included this font is because it makes it easier for children to read as the little flicks on the end of the letters work as little leading lines to the next letter. For instance if you look below are some examples, the example on the left is from my book and the examples on the right are examples from already existing story books. One example is from The Family Disciple and the other is from The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

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

• In my work I believe that I have used a few signs, symbols or codes. For instance there are a few signs and symbols in the kitchen which could suggest a lot of things.

• For instance in this kitchen you can see that A lot of the items in it are modern, such as the bread maker and the kettle. This could suggest that the time the book is set is present day.

• The fact that whoever is making the bread is having to do it in the bread maker could also show that the may live quite a busy life and have to go to work, so they have left the bread being made at home. This gives you some insight into the characters which you don’t even properly see.

• Some more signs and symbols that are in my book is that I have given my loaf of bread character quite muscley arms, this on its own has connotations to it being a man and men are seen as the gender which tend to have more muscle and are stronger. • Another sign which hints towards my character being a male is the fact that the bread character has blue shoes on, and the colour blue is typically linked to males, such as the colour pink is typically linked to females, if I had given my loaf of bread character pink shoes this may have hinted towards it being a female. As you can see below my loaf of bread character.

What representations can be found in your work?

• In my book the only character I have really assigned a gender to is the loaf of bread character. A way that I have represented the male gender in my book, as the only distinct male character in my book is a the loaf of bread. I have represented him in quite a stereotypical way by giving him quite muscley arms and a pair of blue shoes, this is something that you could associate with the male gender.

• A way that this gender has then been represented is with the urn for adventure and quite athletic, being able to run away from anything. Another way that the male gender has been represented is it is shown in my book to be quite confident in what they do, as they go out wanting to explore and state to everyone that that they know that as fast as they run they wont be able to catch him.

• There are no other specific genders in my work, but if you were to assume that the hand pushing a button on the bread maker was a woman, which is what I intended but it is not clearly shown in my book. So if the person making the bread is a female then they are being stereotypically portrayed as the person in the house which makes the food for everyone else, which reflects old connotations of a house wife who stays at home and makes all the food for the rest of the family while the male is out making money. But as this person is making a bread maker it shows they may be busy during they day as they do not have the time to hand make it, this shows they may be out at work, but it could also suggest that they may be in cleaning the house which represents the stereotypical view of a house wife.

• In my story I believe the animal species that is the bird is represented in quite a stereotypical way, as these seem to be the only characters that want to eat the bread. This reflects real life as when you may be out by a pond stereotypically you would feed birds and ducks bread.• I think the dog is represented in a really good way and in the same way that they are represented in the real world as “mans best friend”. As the dog is there when the male character needs it most to get home.• Something else in my book that is represented is the typical English country side, the house seems to be out on its own in amongst a lot of greenery and hills and ponds, which I feel stereotypically reinforces the representation of the English countryside as this is what it always appears to be in TV and Film and in some books.• I think my book reflects certain representations that are in already existing story books that are out now, for instance in my book there are a lot of genders which are not made distinctly made clear which is the same for a children's story book by Lynley Dodd called Hairy Maclary. This book is about a group of dogs which are all represented to have a gender in the way that they look but it is not specifically made clear what gender they are.

What style have you employed in your products?

• I think that my book employs quite a simplistic style, my reasoning for this is because I feel that if you make something simplistic and keep it very simplistic all the way through then it can have quite a good effect as not everything needs to be massively detailed, especially in a children's book as they are not usually looking for detail it is more colour and the characters. As you can see below a few examples show that my book follows the simplistic style all the way through with a lot of block colours and not a vast amount of realistic detail.

• Something which I feel has influenced my book is other existing professional products which posses quite a simplistic style, such as cartoons that exist like The Simpsons and Family Guy. As in these cartoons there are a lot of block colours and they posses an element of simplicity, obviously in these products it is not over simplified as they are very professional but they do have that aspect of simplicity to them. Fro instance the dog character in my book was heavily based on Santa's Little Helper, the dog from The Simpsons. As you can see below I have included some pictures from The Simpsons and Family guy which represents its art style. As you can see there is very minimal shading and everything in these cartoons which is quite similar to mine.

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

• I feel like planning and research in the pre-production of my book helped me a lot by helping me to create a picture of what I wanted my book to look like in my head. I feel like a big strength of my pre-production was the mood boards as they really aided me in the style that I wanted to go for and pointed me in the right direction of what I wanted my book to look like, they helped me to work out the sort of colours that I wanted in my book. I feel like I followed these mood boards quite well.

• Something else that I feel like was a big strength in my planning was my mind maps, as they helped me to find out existing conventions of children's story books such as the text layout and the way that they look and what they included. Something else I feel helped with this was my children's story book research as it was an in depth look at the professional children's story books and it helped me to understand what I needed to include for it to be successful, I found that it should include a lot of bright colours and interesting happy characters.

• I think a strength of my pre- production was when we were experimenting with the shape tasks and rotoscoping as it gave me a feel for what would be good and what would be bad in my book. I feel like a big strength of mine was the rotoscoping as I really enjoyed it and the finished products were quite good. It showed me that rotoscoping would be a good way of illustrating my book. Below are some examples of my rotoscope work.

• I feel that a weakness of my pre-production was my digital flat plans and I feel they could have included a lot more detail, but I still feel like they did help me as it gave me an idea of the lay out of my book. I later found that the layout on the flat plans what not what I wanted to do as the text didn’t really look right on the same page as all of the illustrations. Below is an example of my flat plans. I feel like I could possibly have included colour to see what worked well on the page and what didn’t.

Historical and cultural context

• My work is heavily based on the book The Ginger Bread Man, it is pretty much the same story with very few minor adjustments, such as changing it so that it is a loaf of bread instead of a ginger bread man. In the fact it is the same story and set in the same sort of area it strongly compares to the original ginger bread man story which was an old folk tale which was first printed in America in 1875. • Culturally it has a context of being out in the countryside, places where there are rivers and things as in the original tale he had to cross a river on a fox’s nose. As it was printed in America I do not know what the countryside is like out there but I have tried to produce something that looks like the English countryside as to fit in the same context of the story.•The book of the Ginger Bread Man has not explicitly been made into a film but has made appearances in things such as Shrek. This shows just how big this folk tale has become as it is something that pretty much everybody knows as the story has been passed down through the generations.

Peer Feedback

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