Digital Graphic Narrative

Development

Niamh Darby

Shape Task - Cat

Shape Task – Panda

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?My favourite image from the two shape cartoons I have completed is the panda as it looks more cartoon like, unlike the cat, in my opinion. It was easier to create the panda as I had already attempted the cat before. I like the vibrant colours used for the cat, if I were to use it in my final product, I think that it would attract the attention of young children. I added shadowing to trees to give the appearance of depth to my image.What would you improve if you did it again?I wouldn’t improve anything on my panda cartoon but I would improve the whiskers on my cat. I think they don’t look realistic, so I would use the warp tool to create a curve in them.

Rotoscope – Peggy Carter

Rotoscope – Calum Hood

Rotoscope – Chris Evans

EvaluationWhat did you like about your images?I am happy all three of my rotoscopes look very similar to the original photograph I chose. I enjoyed the rotoscoping tasks more than the shape tasks as you get a more accurate representation of what you are trying to create, even though with the shaping task, there is more freedom to create a shape which is similar to the original whereas with rotoscoping, it is very accurate to the original.What would you improve if you did it again?To improve my Peggy Carter rotoscope I would focus on the highlights in her hair to make it look more realistic. Also I would attempt to recreate my Chris Evans rotoscope as I feel it doesn’t represent the original image.

Narrative Environment – London Underground

EvaluationWhat did you like about your image?I really like this image. I used the Magic Wand Tool (ctrl/cmd + W) to select various parts of the image which were similar colours to create outlines of the windows and buildings and rotoscoped them. I think this has made my finished product look realistic and different to any other image I have created so far, which was my intention.What would you improve if you did it again?To improve my image next time, I would make sure I have the correct and even skin tone for the people in the bottom left of the image. In my finished image, I can see one of the women has a different colour tone on her face compared to her arm so I would solve that problem when I improve my image.

Text Based

EvaluationWhat did you like about your images?I like the various fonts Photoshop offers as it gives me a wide choice to choose from when I make my final product. I enjoyed creating the text with the photo inserted behind it, it really catches my attention the most out of the three examples. I like the different techniques with the Transform tool, it gives the text and font a different edge compared to the standard Serif font.What would you improve if you did it again?If I did improve the examples shown, I would take full advantage of the colours as well as the fonts and the manipulation techniques as well.

Comic Book – Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier (Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier)

Evaluation – Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier

What did you like about your image?I really enjoyed this task of making our own movie quote images. From the three images I have produced, I like this one the most. I edited the original image and put a “cutout” filter on my image which make the image look like it was in a comic book. I also moved the Threshold layer to create an offset look which I think is the best feature in the image. I also added my favourite line from that specific scene “Who the hell is Bucky?” as I felt the image reflected what the scene is about.What would you improve if you did it again?If I did this image again, I would focus on the text more as I feel I could make it stand out more and grab the viewer’s attention along with the main focus point. Also I would make the background layer lighter so it contrasts with the darker threshold layer.

Comic Book – Chris Evans as Captain America (Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier)

Evaluation – Chris Evans as Captain America

What did you like about your image?Again like my previous image, I edited the original image and put a “cutout” filter on my image which make the image look like it was in a comic book, I cropped the image to make it less rectangular. I also created a threshold layer to create a darker edge to my image. This image is my second favourite out of the three I have produced because the quote I have chosen “Before we start…does anybody want to get out?”, again reflects the scene in the movie, also you can see from the image itself, the main character is in a crowded room and knows something will happen if he doesn’t act fast.What would you improve if you did it again?If I did this image again, I would attempt to rotoscope the shield in the centre of the image, so it stands out from the image and when the viewer glances at the image, they will know straight away who the character is. I would also lighten the image as I feel it is a bit dark so the viewer might struggle to see all the important features of the image, such as, the colour of the main character’s hair, I think it should be lighter than his suit.

Comic Book – Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones (Bridget Jones’s Diary)

Evaluation – Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones

What did you like about your image?Again like my previous images, I edited the original image and put a “cutout” filter on my image which make the image look like it was in a comic book. I also created a threshold layer to create a darker edge to my image, like the previous two images I have produced. This is my least favourite image out of the three images, I don’t like how simple I have made the image and the speech.What would you improve if you did it again?If I did this image again, I would make the image less simple and edit the text to make it look more like a comic book.

Photo Story

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I like the simplicity of the story, it is easy to follow and isn’t too complicated. The narrative is shown in short sentences as I wanted to focus more on the images featured. I enjoyed adding filters and elements to the images to make them more appealing.What would you improve if you did it again?Again, I would make sure to put all the features and tools to full use as I only used a select few that I was familiar with for this photo story.

Illustration

Evaluation

What did you like about your images?I liked being able to have control over specific features in my illustrations but it took longer than using a computer and I don’t think this technique is ideal when we have a time limit as it can be very time consuming. My favourite illustration is the outline of my hand as I tried to put as much detail as I could onto my knuckles and nails as well.What would you improve if you did it again?I would take less time doing the basic outline and focus more on detail.

Image Quote - Deliverance

Image Quote – Stand By Me

Evaluation

What did you like about your images?I liked the quotes I was given as I found it easy to find images to link to the quotes and I was able to edit the images to fit in with the quotes as well. Out of the two examples, I like the Stand By Me quote the most as I was torn between two ideas, whereas with my first quote I felt restricted. What would you improve if you did it again?I would analyse the quote to find a different meaning than the obvious one and find images to match the meaning.

Initial Ideas

Children’s Book:All Possible Ideas

Characters• Animals

• Cat• Dog

• People• Main female role• Main male role

Layout• Image on one page, text

on the other.• Image filling the entire

double page with text embedded into the image, such as speech.

Scenery• Rooms• Houses• Woodland (Forests)• Castles• Meadows• Mountains

Font• Serif• San serif• Easy to read• Quite large for younger

children• Black throughout the

book, unless necessary to change

Structure• Chronological order

• Clocks on top of the pages like The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle

• One or two sentences of text per page so it doesn’t overwhelm younger children

Colours• Primary colours used• Not too many colours on

one page• Simple colour choice for

younger children

Background• Image filling the whole

space• The background being

the scenery of the book• Primary colours such as

blue, white and red

Children’s Book:Jack and the Beanstalk

Characters• Jack• Mother• Giant• Giant’s Wife• Cow

Layout• Images on one page, text

on the other.• Multiple images set out

as a storyboard which are synced with the text.

• One or two sentences for each page of text.

Scenery• House• Village Market• Castle• Beanstalk

Font• Serif• Easy to read• Quite large for younger

children• Black throughout the

book, unless necessary to change the colour of the text.

Structure• Chronological order• One or two sentences of

text per page so it doesn’t overwhelm younger children

• Colourful, comic book like storyboards on the image side when a lot is going on during pages.

Colours• Primary colours used• Not too many colours on

one page• Simple colour choice for

younger children

Background• Primary colours such as

blue, white and red will be used

Giant’s Castle

Jack

Beanstalk

Giant’s Wife

Five Magic Beans

Giant

Jack’s Mother

Character AnalysisJackI would like Jack’s character look like the pantomime version of the character. I feel like it is a realistic interpretation of the character’s clothes and personality. Also, I like the way this interpretation makes the character look innocent, when in fact in the story, we are told that Jack steals various things from the Giant and ends up ending the Giant’s life.Jack’s MotherEven though Jack’s mother is a minor character in the story, I would like to make her character’s presence known even if she isn’t featured in the images. I would do this by adding little details to Jack’s clothes to show his mother has had input into his outfit choices, just to show how much “motherly love” she is giving Jack and also to show, she is still mourning from her husband’s death, as it is mentioned that she is a widow, I will feature pictures of a unnamed and unmentioned man, which will be the husband she lost, in the kitchen images featured in my book. GiantI think my Giant character will be the stereotypical, bulky and boisterous man who shouts for no reason about anything. The Giant is the second main character in this story and in some versions of this story the Giant is intended to scare the children reading. In my book, I will intend for the Giant to overpower Jack at some points but not enough to scare my audience.Giant’s WifeI would like to make the Giant’s Wife and Jack’s mother characters similar as I feel the Giant’s wife has an identical personality to his mother and I think she is somewhat trapped in the castle with the Giant, but has to live there with him until someone comes and rescues her, Jack is that person when he chops down the beanstalk and kills the Giant, meaning the Giant’s now widow can be free.

ProposalDimensions10 pages (21cm x 21.5cm)

Story OverviewThere is a boy named Jack who lives with his poor, widowed mother. Jack’s mother tells him to sell their cow at the village market. Jack sells the cow to a man who gives him five magic beans. Jack’s mother is not impressed with him and throws the beans out of the window. A beanstalk grows overnight. Jack climbs up the beanstalk and meets a giant’s wife, who gives him some bread and milk. The giant roars the famous words; “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!”. Jack takes a sack of the giant’s gold coins and gives them to his mother, who is very happy. Jack visits the giant’s wife again but this time he gets caught by the giant as he steals his golden egg laying hen. He races down the beanstalk with the giant hot on his tracks and manages to save the giant’s wife and chops down the beanstalk, killing the giant in the process…and they all lived happily ever after!

Export FormatJPEG

Advantages: JPEGs are adaptable, they have a low resolution for a small file so they are downloaded quickly when on websites and computers.

Disadvantages: JPEGs can lose quality if edited multiple times, due to the compression and recompression of the file.

Deadline

Friday 15th January 2015 – need a finished set of pages for this date

Audience

My age target group is 6 to 8 year olds as there will be a few sentences on each text page and I think a younger audience will struggle to read and understand the story, but this age range was my initial target audience. Even though the story I have chosen has two leading character who are male, I will not be gender specifying my book as any gender can enjoy reading stories. The geodemographic of my audience will mainly be English speaking countries, which can be expanded to North America and Australia. Also, my book can translated into various languages.

Production Methods

I will be using Photoshop to create my final product. I will be using the shape tools to create rooms and little features in my book. As well as the shape tool, I will be rotoscoping my characters to create a realistic and natural feel to my book. For the text in my book, I will be using the Free Transform tool to make my text big and small in the speech bubbles featured in my images.

What are the strengths of the proposal? What areas of the proposal need further work?

I think your proposal is very strong and has barely any weaknesses. Examples of the strengths would be your mind maps as you have got a lot of information and ideas of what you could do, and then in your second mind map you have narrowed it down to specific things you are going to include. The main strength to your proposal is the Character Analysis as you have written a lot about each character and how you want them.

Throughout your proposal there are no mistakes or mishaps.

What are the strengths of the idea generation? What areas of idea generation could have been further developed?

What are the strengths of the proposal? What areas of the proposal need further work?

I think the proposal is good, it has lots of detail to each part and gives out lots of information for the creation of a good story. The strengths of the proposal are that it includes the techniques used to create the detail in the book.

What are the strengths of the idea generation? What areas of idea generation could have been further developed?

The strengths of the idea generation is that it has lots of information regarding the scene and characters. It also has a list of all possible text fonts and layout of the book.

What are the strengths of the proposal? What areas of the proposal need further work?

There is a plenty of detail given meaning that you are able to get a clear grasp as to what is going to happen in and with the book.

Perhaps give slightly more information on why you chose to use a jpeg as the export format.

What are the strengths of the idea generation? What areas of idea generation could have been further developed?

Additional written information has been given for each of the character which is useful to gain a better understanding of what you are planning to do.

A few more pictures could be added such as of the setting/ background and the font to help give a better idea of what you plan to for these.

Feedback SummarySum up your feedback.From my feedback, the main thing standing out for me is the praise I have got for my character analysis slide. Also, the fact I have plenty of detail has been mentioned too. The improvements include a mood board for the setting or background and the font of my story which I will include when I improve my proposal.

Which parts of your feedback do you agree with and why?I agree with the feedback of adding a slide of setting, background and font mood board as it will give me a better idea of how I want my story to look, just like my characters, I could add an analysis slide like I have done for my characters.

Which parts of your feedback do you disagree with and why?

I would disagree with adding more information to my JPEG format section. I feel I have explained it in enough detail for people to understand why I have chosen this format.

Original ScriptUnknown. (2015). Jack and the Beanstalk | Short Story. Available: http://shortstoriesshort.com/story/jack-and-the-beanstalk/. Last accessed 9th – 10th December 2015.

Simplified Version of the Story

Jack is told to sell his cow.Goes to the market and meets a man.Man gives him five magic beans.Jack’s mother is not happy, and throws the magic beans out of the window.Beanstalk grows overnight.Jack climbs up the beanstalk and meets the giant’s wife.Jack steals one of the giant’s sacks of gold.Jack and his Mother live well for a while.He visits the giant’s castle again.He steals the giant’s golden egg laying hen.Chops down beanstalk and saves the giant’s wife.Live Happily ever after.

Final ScriptFirst DraftPage 1Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Jack, who lived with his poor widowed mother. One day, Jack’s mother told him to go to the village market and sell their cow.Page 2Jack went to the village market, like his mother had asked, along with his cow. Jack met a man who wanted to buy his cow. “What will you give me to buy my cow?” Jack asked. “I will give you FIVE MAGIC BEANS!” The man replied, and Jack gladly accepted the man’s offer and walked home with the magic beans.Page 3When Jack returned home, he told his mother he had sold the cow for five magic beans. Jack’s mother was furious. “Jack, you are a fool! You gave away our cow for five magic beans!” She shouted, as she threw the magic beans out of the window. That night, Jack went to bed without any dinner.Page 4The next day, Jack woke up and ran outside to find a GIANT beanstalk in front of his house! Jack climbed up the beanstalk until he reached a magic kingdom, where a giant and his wife lived. Jack heard noises coming from the kitchen, and walked into find the Giant’s Wife cooking. Jack politely asked the kind lady for some food and drink, because he was really hungry. The very kind woman gave him some bread and milk.Page 5Jack heard the giant’s footsteps and jumped up in fear, hiding underneath a table. “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!” The giant roared. “You must be wrong! There is no Englishman here!” His wife replied.

Final ScriptFirst DraftPage 6The giant sat down and ate his meal and counted his sacks of gold coins. The Giant then went to sleep. During the night, while the Giant was sleeping, Jack stole one of the gold coin sacks and climbed back down the beanstalk.Page 7When Jack arrived home, he gave his mother the sack of gold coins. His mother was delighted. Jack and his mother lived well for a long time. On one of Jack’s daily trips to visit the Giant’s Wife, he heard the Giant roar, “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!”. “Don’t be silly! There is no one else in here!” The Giant’s Wife cried.Page 8While Jack and the Giant’s Wife were running out of the Giant’s castle, he noticed a hen, which laid golden eggs. Jack scooped up the hen and ran down the beanstalk; not knowing the Giant was right behind them!Page 9Jack noticed the Giant climbing down after him along with the Giant’s Wife. Jack ran into his house and grabbed an axe. He helped the Giant’s Wife down the beanstalk before chopping it down. The Giant landed with a THUD. “He’s gone! You are now free!” Jack exclaimed to the Giant’s Widow.Page 10Finally Jack was free from the beanstalk and most importantly the Giant! Jack, his mother and the Giant’s Widow all lived happily ever after.

Final ScriptSecond Draft – only selected pages have changedPage 3When Jack returned home, Jack’s mother was furious. “Jack, you are a fool! You gave away our cow for five magic beans!” She shouted, as she threw the magic beans out of the window. That night, Jack went to bed without any dinner.Page 4The next day, Jack woke up and ran outside to find a GIANT beanstalk in front of his house! Jack climbed up the beanstalk until he reached a magic kingdom, where a giant and his wife lived. Jack politely asked the kind lady in the kitchen for some food and drink, because he was really hungry. The very kind wife gave him some bread and milk.Page 7When Jack arrived home, he gave his mother the sack of gold coins. His mother was delighted. Jack and his mother lived well for a long time.

On one of Jack’s daily trips to visit the Giant’s Wife, he heard the Giant roar, “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!”. “Don’t be silly! There is no one else in here!” The Giant’s Wife cried.

Image Descriptions

Page 1: Jack and his mother in their kitchen.Page 2: Jack with his cow in the village market, with a speech bubble from the right side of the space saying, “I will give you FIVE MAGIC BEANS!” Page 3: Jack and his mother in the kitchen again, with a speech bubble coming from Jack’s mother saying, “Jack, you are a fool!” Page 4: Three separate images: a window with a beanstalk outside, Jack climbing up the beanstalk and the wife in the kitchen.Page 5: The Giant’s foot next to the table Jack is under, with a speech bubble from the middle top of the space saying, “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!” Page 6: The sacks of gold coins sitting on the table and Jack’s hand reaching for one. Page 7: Two images showing Jack’s mother’s delight and the giant’s foot again, with a speech bubble saying, “Fee-fifo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!” Page 8: Two images showing The Giant’s hen with some golden eggs and the Giant’s hand reaching up the beanstalk. Page 9: The Giant’s outline showing “THUD!” in a spikey bubble.Page 10: Jack, his mother and the Giant’s widow all happy.

Digital Flat Plans

Page 8 will have this image layout. The text will appear here in this font style and colour.

Pages 1, 6 and 10 will have this image layout. The text will appear here in this font style and colour.

Pages 2, 3, 5 and 7 will have this image layout.The text will appear here in this font style and colour.

I will give

you FIVE

MAGIC

BEANS!

Page 4 will have this image layout. The text will appear here in this font style and colour.

Page 9 will have this image layout. The text will appear here in this font style and colour.

THUD!