Finished evaluation

1. Graphic Narrative
Evaluation

2. Does your final product reflect your
original intentions?
My digital flat plans were rough guides which helped me plan the logistics and the
practical side of creating my children’s book. They helped me imagine in my head how
each page was going to look and decide all of the scenes that I will need and the
movement of all of the characters that was needed.
To a large extent, my final product does reflect my original intentions. However, there
are notable differences between them such as the use of speech bubbles in my plans
that weren’t incorporated into my actual pages. Also, because of the requirements for
the technique and style that I used, I had to change some of the angles and view of
some of the pages as all of the backgrounds are based on photographs/images. A
good example of this is the background that is used for page 3 and page 6 that went
from being a horizontal path across the image to a vertical scene that shows depth
and mystery. Another significant change that I had to make was the positioning of the
characters which from my digital flat plans was hard to adapt to my scenes. An
example of this is on page 7 and page 10 where the devil in the flat plans is in the
bush, which I had to change because I couldn’t find an appropriate image to
rotoscope.

3. Examples of my final products reflecting my original
intentions
Page 3 and page 6 digital flat plans where the
background had to change position.
Final background for
page 3 and page 6.
Page 7 and page 10 digital flat plans where the
devil had to be moved.
Finished page 7 which
shows where the devil
had to be moved to.

4. How well have you constructed your
images?
I am pleased with the quality of how my images have been constructed. I feel that
they accurately represent my capabilities with Photoshop. I am particularly happy with
the outcome of my backgrounds that I made using existing photography and adapting
the light the look of the image by experimenting with styles. I really like the style that
the results have and I think that they fit really nicely with the story “The Poor Devil”.
As for the texture of the style, I felt that I didn’t need to do any further work as there
was already enough detail in the images. I liked the edgy and rough look of the pages
that I created. I didn’t want overcrowd the page and end up ruining the style of my
children’s book.
The colour palette of my pages has remained consistent. I have used much dirtier
colours rather than bright colours: Primarily browns, greens and bluish greys. I think
that this has worked really well with the setting of my book and added to the
uniqueness.

5. Comparison to professional work
When put next to the very famous book The Gruffalo, I like to think that the design is similar.
These both have unique styles that are appealing in their own way.
The illustration for The Gruffalo was
done by Axel Scheffler who is a
professional illustrator and animator.
My backgrounds:
The Gruffalo:

6. How well have you used text to anchor
your images
I feel that the text has been well adapted to suit the style of the images. Within the
text, there are lots of ellipses that create tension and suspense. The images and
characters that I have made reflect this. For example on page 3 “She found a
mysterious path and curiosity got the best of her…” and “He decided to go and get
help from a nearby village…” on page 6 which adds to the ‘what happens next’ factor
and makes children use their imagination to fill in the cliff hanger. I think that this is a
good use of the text to engage with children and make the book seem more
interesting to them.
I also tried to use language that would be appealing to an adolescent, but not so
difficult that they can’t understand it. An example of this is “mysterious” and
“magical” which would seem endearing to a child. Some light alliteration has been
used to help with pronunciation of words such as “The path became marshy and
muddy and she slid into a sticky swamp.” The word choice was a tough decision as all
of the language had to be appropriate for my demographic.

7. Examples of using text to anchor images
On all of the pages, the text tells the story and
keeps the images in context. Without the text being
there, the story wouldn’t exist, it would just be a
set of images.
I like the use of text on this page. It’s
short and subtle yet lets the reader
know what’s going one without
giving too much away.

8. Is your product suitable for your
audience?
In my proposal I stated that the audience for my book will be ages 6-8 of both genders
of any English-speaking background who are quite mature for their age and can grasp
a more serious children’s book.
I would say that the end product is suitable for my targeted audience in regards to the
visual images. They turned out more or less how I would expect them to look and I am
happy with them. I also think that the final script adaptation is appropriate for the
target audience as it’s been carefully edited to be suitable.
Here is the Audience section in my proposal:

9. What do you like/dislike about the
techniques you have used?
In my production methods section of my proposal, I stated that my production
technique would predominantly be rotoscoping existing photography/images and
editing them to suit my needs. Because of its nature, this has required lots of detail
but has had its advantages and disadvantages.
My favorite background images as a
result of my technique:

10. Production Process
First, I found an image
that I thought was
appropriate for the first
page.
I then
rotoscoped
some of the
largest shapes
in the image
to act as a
base.
I then added lots of layers
to create depth and detail
in the image.
Once completed, I added
the “Poster Edge” filter
in the Filter Gallery.

11. Likes and dislikes of my technique
The part I like the most about my technique is the outcome of the pages. I was really
surprised how well my final pages turned out. I like the style and I think that it suits my
story.
The tool I used for most of this work was the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Shortcut=L). It was
very enjoyable and has virtually infinite possibilities, however, one thing I found
frustrating with it was that it was so easy to cancel the selection that I was working on.
Some of the objects that I had to draw around were in detail and could take me up to
15 minutes, so when I accidentally deselected it, it was very annoying.
The biggest dislike about my technique would be how time consuming it was. It took
me a very long time to essentially draw around the photographs in detail and decide
which part I should include or leave out. I definitely think that it’s been worthwhile as
I’m happy with the result.
I feel that at the beginning of the project, I could have experimented with other
techniques more to see if there are any other easier techniques/shortcuts I could have
used to save time.

12. What do you like/dislike about how
your final product looks?
Overall, I am very pleased with how all of my final pages look. However, there are
definitely things that I think can be done to improve them.
This is page 3 and is one of my final pages. It’s
one of my favorites because of the depth of
the image and how mysterious it is. I love the
position of Daisy and how she isn’t facing
forward which adds a bit of variety to the
pages. The spooky shape of the trees and the
mist also complements the story.
One thing that I would change and improve is
the level of detail in the foreground, which
should be much greater than in the
background to give perspective rather than
just a flat image. I might also add more trees,
just so it fits with the style of Page 1 and to
keep it consistent.

13. This is probably one of my least favorite finished pages. I really struggled with the design
of the Devil character and couldn’t get something that I was happy with. I didn’t know
what pose he should be in, what his characteristics should be or what to base him on. In
the end, I made something that I was satisfied with. I still think he looks a bit crooked, but
maybe that’s a good thing considering he’s the Devil.
This is also the background that I was the
least happy with. I don’t know where
that’s because it is too similar to the
page 1 background or that it is the
supposed villain's hideout, but I just
don’t like it as much as the other
backgrounds. I feel that as a scene, it
doesn’t have enough depth or things
going on. This is definitely something
that I could work on.
Something I do like about this
background is the light shining through
the canopy that gives the image a bit
more perspective, and without it, the
image would be flat.

14. Why did you include the content you
used?
Images
Because of the level of detail that I wanted in my style, it was necessary in my
technique to use photographs or images to base my scenes on. I wanted my pages to
be detailed, realistic and unique in the way that they look. Without the use of a
template or something to be based on, this would have been very difficult. It took a lot
of research to find images that would suit their purpose and could be used in my
book, but I’m happy with the ones that I found. The example below shows how I
converted a photograph into my own page.

15. Font
The font that I used in all of my pages was Microsoft Sans Serif. I chose this particular
font because I feel that it’s easy for small children to understand as there are no lower
case letters, just upper case letters and slightly larger upper case letters. This allows
children to easily recognise the letter, while also clearly showing where the beginning
of the sentence is or the names of characters. Here is an example:
Effects
The effects that I used are key to the style of my book. The main two are effects that I
used are colour overlay and the poster edges effect. The colour overlay was necessary
as a part of actually making the shapes that creates my pages. It re-colours the area
that I have selected which can be changed to any colour. It can be found in Photoshop
Blending Options > Colour Overlay.
Poster edges was used to add the black outline around all of the shapes on my pages. I
included this in my work because I felt that it made the pages look finished and
polished. I used a smaller edge thickness on the characters than on the backgrounds.
Poster edges can be found in Photoshop Filter > Filter Gallery > Poster Edges.

16. Colours
All of my pages used the same colours with certain exceptions. I created them like this
to give them the same theme and keep consistency in my work.
All of these pages use the same browns, greens
and blues. It makes them feel like they belong
together: a part of a set.
This background is an exception
as the mood of the story as
changed slightly, and I thought
this should be portrayed in the
colours of the image. This page
uses lighter browns, oranges
and yellows. Although it uses
different colours, it still looks
and feels similar the other
pages.

17. What signs, symbols or codes have
your used in your work?
To an extent, the colours that I’ve used in my book represent the solemn feel of the
story. The pages use lots of darker colours like browns and pale green which make the
story seem more serious than your stock children’s book.
The Devil is an interesting character. Because the whole plot of the story revolves
around having pity and sympathy for the Devil, it was hard to show him in a way that
wasn’t evil or malevolent. The colour red is commonly associated with anger or rage
which made it difficult to create him and show who he is.
A more subtle symbol in my work is the warning sign on
page 3, a sign that is widely known as a danger. It hints
to the reader that something is going to go wrong.

18. What representations can be found in
your work?
Representations are something that I could’ve put more thought into. The implications
of genders, ages, races and religion is vital in any form of media, but more so in a
children’s book, since they are so easily influenced. There is a distinct lack of ethnic
variety in the characters and settings in my book. It revolves around the setting of a
European farmland/countryside which is a narrow portrayal of the world’s cultures.
However, it might seem disproportional or not representative of reality if I had lots of
diverse characters in a small place.
Gender-wise, my story is about a farmer (male), the Devil (typically male) and a cow
(female). In a certain context, the cow being rescued by the Devil could be considered
a classic “damsel in distress” situation like in many fairytales. The female character
gets themselves into a trap and needs to be rescued by the typical masculine male
character. Maybe in an improvement of my book, I could introduce a female character
that perhaps breaks the stereotypes as it’s important that there are both male and
female heroes/heroines.

19. What style have you employed in your
products?
The visual style of my book came about when I was
experimenting in Photoshop for my test page when I had the
idea to rotoscope a landscape photograph in a rough
manner and see what happened. I liked the result. It looked
abstract and individual in a good way. I would describe the
visual style that my work takes as edgy and stylised. I wanted
something that looked individual in it’s own right and like
nothing that already exists. However, the finished pages
could be compared to children’s books like The Snowman by
Raymond Briggs in that the art style is unique and enticing.
I actually think that The Poor Devil has more in common
in the style of a graphic novel than a stereotypical
children’s book. In the example to the right, it is similar
in that they are both detailed, use the same type of
darker/pale colours and are consistent with the scene
setting.

20. Similar Styled Products:
Dissimilar Styled Products:
This is a comic
that has a employs
a similar style to
my children’s
book. It is subtle
and suggestive
with its detail,
especially in the
background art.
This image is from a magazine called
Gamut in the late 70s. I think that
visually, it’s unique and relies a lot on
the little details that have been put in,
particularly in the characters.
These are some children’s books
that are quite different to The
Poor Devil. They are much
simpler in terms of style, and on
an intellectual level. Although
they are children’s book, I would
expect that these are targeted at
an earlier age to my book.

21. What were the strengths and weaknesses
of the pre-production and planning
Strengths
There were numerous strengths of the preparation before making my children’s book.
The planning document in particular helped me organise my time effectively and kept
me on schedule for the work deadline. It showed me what progress I should be
making and what I should be working on throughout the project. This was useful to
me as I needed to keep on track of my work to complete my project as efficiently as
possible.
The proposal section of the development pro forma was another tool that was useful
to me. It reminded me the aims of my book at points where I had to make key
decisions about the logistics of my project.
The mind map and mood board section of the development pro forma were also
advantageous when I was first deciding what I wanted my children’s book to be like. It
was useful to get all of my initial ideas out of my head and into a format that could be
evaluated.

22. Weaknesses
Equally, there were also disadvantages of pre-production and planning.
One of the primary weaknesses of planning my children’s book was I didn’t know how
everything was going to turn out when put into practise in Photoshop. The digital flat
plans for example, were difficult to create as I didn’t know what problems I would
encounter with choosing specific actions. Obviously, the finished pages don’t have to
be like the plans and this is part of the production process.
Another issue I had was falling behind on the schedule of the planning document. It
was very ambitious to allocate one page per hour session of Photoshop and somewhat
unrealistic. This meant that when I did inevitably fall behind, it was difficult to use the
schedule to my advantage and at times I felt overwhelmed by the amount I had left to
do.

23. Historical and cultural context
In modern culture, some of the most famous titles in children’s books include “The
Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, “The Cat In The Hat” by Dr Seuss and “Peter
Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter. These books have set the standard in the modern children
books with their unique and fascinating ideas.

24. Comparison
To “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”:
This book is one of the all time classics and
everyone knows the story of Peter and Mr.
McGregor. Visually, it includes a style that is
artistic and rather endearing. My book tries
to imitate this charm using a detailed style
and lovable characters.
To “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is simple and
easy to understand. It uses basic counting
techniques to appeal to and entertain young
children. My book follows this simplicity in
that the storyline is straight forward and easy
to understand.
To “The Cat in the Hat”:
The Cat in the Hat is unique in its character.
The format and how the text integrates with
the images is something to be admired.