Digital Graphic Narrative

Development

Lee Morrell

Shape Task

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? It is very simplistic yet includes a fair amount of detail and was create using a wide range of shape skills.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would add more detail to the image using techniques such as shadowing and possibly adding some 3d elements to make the structure look more realistic.

Shape Task

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I was able to make the image in a cartoon style from a photo image. I was also able to make the image out of shapes completely and create many of the parts out warped and manipulated shapes.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would like to have gone for a more realistic approach rather than a cartoon one and add some depth and detail to the drawing.

Shape Task

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I was able to make the image in a cartoon style from a photo image. I also gave it my own colour scheme as the original image was black and white. I also feel that everything was kept in proportion well.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would like to add more little details such as adding effects to make the bat appear to have fur and shadowing for a 3d effect.

Rotoscope

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? The detail that is on the face makes it recognisable from the original image and the person it is based off of. I also like the almost comic book effect that it creates of the face.What would you improve if you did it again? I would like to try and make a person with hair to see what effects I could create with this technique. I would also like to create a black and white image to see how the contrast of a small amount of colours would affect the look of the image.

Rotoscope

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I like the realism that I was able to maintain with this image as it is recognisable at first glance. I also like the after effects that were added such as the shadowing and outline which add depth to the image and make it stand out more.

What would you improve if you did it again? If I was to try make this image again I would add more effects on the hair to make it look more realistic and make it look more three dimensional.

Text Based

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I like the art style that is reminiscent of the 1920s which works well with the setting of the book from which the quote is taken. It is also bright and colourful to keep a viewers attention on the long quote.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would add more text effects so that the text stands out a bit more and is more inviting to read as it is the central theme of the image.

Comic Book

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I like the tone that is created with this image as it gives off a dark tone. This works well with the character that the image is focused on as he is typically a dark character.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would make the image more cartoon and abstract to see what effects it would create and how it would affect the overall tone of the image.

Comic Book

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? I like the different textures and lighting that the image captured; The image becomes more dramatic due to the lighting overhead.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would make the image darker to add more of a tone to the image as the bright lighting contrasts with the look of the character.

Photography

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? It is able to tell a simple story using only photos and not using text to explain. I feel the story is clear and can be followed easily. I feel that the twist on the last two images makes the story exciting and the suspense created throughout adds to this.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would add some effects to each image to create different tones and add emphasis to certain elements within the story.

Photography

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? It is able to tell a simple story using only photos and not using text to explain. I like the added comic book effect as it adds a lighter tone to the story which contrasts with the ending to add to the surprise.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would like to give the whole story a darker tone and see how the story is affected with this change.

Photography

Evaluation

What did you like about your image? It is able to tell a simple story using only photos and not using text to explain. I like the tone that is created through only using black and white. It creates a darker tone and allows for a creepier feel throughout the story and compliments the ending by doing this.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would make the images clearer so that using this technique would be even more effective for telling the story.

Illustration

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I was able to have a lot of control over the design and made it exactly how I wanted. The hand drawn look of the image goes well with my target audience as it is relaxed.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would ty draw on a digital platform to see how the effect and mood was altered on a digital platform rather than hand drawn.

Initial Ideas

Inspiration mood board and mind map

Mood board of inspiration

Idea Generation

Chosen idea mind map and mood board

Mood board of chosen idea

Here are some examples of the colours that I could use in the story. They are typically brighter colours so they make the mood of the story happier.

Here are some examples of past images from previous renditions of the Johnny cake tale.

In my story I am going to use sans serif fonts to make the text look more relaxed here are some examples of fonts that I may use in the book.

My page layout will be simular to this image with the image above the text and the image being large.

ProposalDimensions

8 Pages, A4

Story OverviewThe story I am going to do is called “Johnny cake” it is about a cake that runs away from the people who made it and its journey escaping from other characters such as a bear, wolf and some workers; these characters all fail to catch and eat the cake. Things are going well for the cake until he runs into a fox who pretends that he cannot hear the cake’s taunts and, because of this, manages to coax him closer and eat him. This tale will appeal to children as it is very light hearted and the story flows well and it is short; this will allow the attention of the children to be kept on the story without losing interest. The story is set will an older time period in the middle of the country on a bright day which will create a happy mood for the story which will suit the target audience.

Export FormatJPEG.

Advantages: A very universal format, file size reduction, can be published on the internet. Disadvantages: May lose quality slightly from the original.

Deadline

Audience

My target audience will be younger children of both genders and all classes. The book will be aimed at this large demographic by using traits found in the children's books that I researched such as bright and happy colours, large images, a small amount of easy to read text, a cartoon art style and a light hearted storyline. An example of how my story would appeal to them is as a bedtime story; this is because it is shorter so would allow it to be read quickly to a child before bed which makes it suitable for that purpose. The story is meant to be read by the parents to the children if they are too young to read it by themselves and I have designed the text to match this.

Production Methods

The characters and settings will be created on Photoshop using a combination of rotoscoping and shape manipulation to make my designs. Any rotoscoping I do will be of royalty free images so I will not be infringing on copyright. The art style that I am taking will be a cartoon style so I will not go into too much detail with each design. This is because it will make the characters less real and therefore add to the fantasy element of the story which will be exciting for the target audience.

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

A strength of the proposal are that it is detailed and the story is set out clearly. Also the design methods that are going to be used are clear an understandable.

Something that could be improved in the proposal is the way that the audience is described, there could be more detail about the demographic for the audience and why it would appeal to them.

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

A strength of the idea generation is that it shows all the different parts that are needed to create a children's book. Also the annotations help to make it more understandable. As well as this there are lots of different types of illustrations within the mood board showing that many styles have been considered.

Something that could be improved with the further development would be a mind map of ideas.

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

Good amount of detail and good explanation of the story and plot and how you are going to reach your intended target audience .

Perhaps go into more detail on how you would use your production elements within the story as well perhaps say how JPEGS disadvantages could affect your work as on overall product.

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

Good look into character design and scenery as well as looking at old tails for ideas. It gives us a clear idea of the ideas that you had for your book and what created the inspiration.

I would add in a mind map of you coming up with these ideas to show how you ended up with the results of your final chosen story.

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

The proposal is strong because when they described the storyline, they also commented on why it would appeal to the target audience, this shows they were considering that from very early on. They also have chosen an appropriate amount of workload as anymore than 8 images would have been too much to do in the time we have. They also considered infringing copyright which is important and something that most people forget about.

Relate the advantages and disadvantages of using a JPEG to their specific work.

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

They show that they have thought about existing fairytales and how they can build on them to make their own.

Include a mind map of their initial ideas including stories they considered before they chose this one, aswell as maybe creating another mood board with sample photos of what their product is going to look like to ensure they are sure of what they want it to look like in the end.

Feedback SummarySum up your feedback.My feedback was mainly focused on my initial ideas as many thought that my thought process when coming to my idea was unclear. Apart from that the general response was positive and that my work was clear to understand and went into good detail.

Which parts of your feedback do you agree with and why?I agree that my initial ideas were not as clear as they could be. To improve on this I have separated my mood board and mind map into two separate stages ; I have made a set for my initial ideas and a set for the specific idea that I am working on. I have also acted upon my feedback by annotating part of the mood boards so that areas of it are clearly separated and the different aspects can be seen well.

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

I disagree that my mind map is not present on the presentation as was mentioned a few times. I also disagree that the file format advantages/ disadvantages should relate to the product as it is not explained in the question and I have proposed advantages and disadvantages that have clear impacts on all products left in my chosen format.

Original Script- http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/English_folktale_28.html

Once upon a time there was an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy. One morning the old woman made a Johnny-cake, and put it in the oven to bake. "You watch the Johnny-cake while your father and I go out to work in the garden." So the old man and the old woman went out and began to hoe potatoes, and left the little boy to tend the oven. But he didn't watch it all the time, and all of a sudden he heard a noise, and he looked up and the oven door popped open, and out of the oven jumped Johnny-cake, and went rolling along end over end, towards the open door of the house. The little boy ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too quick for him and rolled through the door, down the steps, and out into the road long before the little boy could catch him. The little boy ran after him as fast as he could clip it, crying out to his father and mother, who heard the uproar, and threw down their hoes and gave chase too. But Johnny-cake outran all three a long way, and was soon out of sight, while they had to sit down, all out of breath, on a bank to rest.On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-by he came to two well-diggers who looked up from their work and called out: "Where ye going, Johnny- cake?"He said: "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and I can outrun you too-o-o!""Ye can, can ye? we'll see about that?" said they; and they threw down their picks and ran after him, but couldn't catch up with him, and soon they had to sit down by the roadside to rest.On ran Johnny-cake, and by-and-by he came to two ditch-diggers who were digging a ditch. "Where ye going, Johnny-cake?" said they. He said: "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and I can outrun you too-o-o!""Ye can, can ye? we'll see about that!" said they; and they threw down their spades, and ran after him too. But Johnny-cake soon outstripped them also, and seeing they could never catch him, they gave up the chase and sat down to rest.On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-by he came to a bear. The bear said:"Where are ye going, Johnny-cake?"

He said: "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers, and I can outrun you too- o-o!""Ye can, can ye?" growled the bear, "we'll see about that!" and trotted as fast as his legs could carry him after Johnny-cake, who never stopped to look behind him. Before long the bear was left so far behind that he saw he might as well give up the hunt first as last, so he stretched himself out by the roadside to rest.On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-by he came to a wolf. The wolf said:— "Where ye going, Johnny-cake?" He said: "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch- diggers and a bear, and I can outrun you too-o-o!""Ye can, can ye?" snarled the wolf, "we'll see about that!" And he set into a gallop after Johnny-cake, who went on and on so fast that the wolf too saw there was no hope of overtaking him, and he too lay down to rest.On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-by he came to a fox that lay quietly in a corner of the fence. The fox called out in a sharp voice, but without getting up: "Where ye going Johnny-cake?"He said: "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers, a bear, and a wolf, and I can outrun you too-o-o!"The fox said: "I can't quite hear you, Johnny-cake, won't you come a little closer?" turning his head a little to one side.Johnny-cake stopped his race for the first time, and went a little closer, and called out in a very loud voice "I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers, and a bear, and a wolf, and I can outrun you too-o- o.""Can't quite hear you; won't you come a little closer?" said the fox in a feeble voice, as he stretched out his neck towards Johnny-cake, and put one paw behind his ear.Johnny-cake came up close, and leaning towards the fox screamed out:I'VE OUTRUN AN OLD MAN, AND AN OLD WOMAN, AND A LITTLE BOY, AND TWOWELL-DIGGERS, AND TWO DITCH-DIGGERS, AND A BEAR, AND A WOLF, AND I CANOUTRUN YOU TOO-O-O!"

"You can, can you?" yelped the fox, and he snapped up the Johnny-cake in his sharp teeth in the twinkling of an eye.

• Johnny cake script • Initial steps• Escapes from oven• Taunts boy, runs away• Taunts workers, runs away • Taunts wolf, runs away• Taunts bear, runs away• Taunts fox, fox pretends not to hear• Cake goes closer and shouts• Fox eats cake• • Building on these steps as a base I will then decide on the text for each page.

Alterations to my script have been left in to show how the script was developed and which parts I decided to cut out.

Script first draft

Page 1: Once upon a time a boy’s mother had baked a Johnny cake and had asked her son to look after it while she went out but as soon as the boy turned his back the cake ran out the door.

Page 2: the boy ran after it and the cake laughed as he ran away as he was too fast for the boy to catch him.

Page 3: the Johnny cake stumbled upon two workers building a house. He laughed at the workers and shouted “I bet you can’t catch me”. The workers chased the cake but he was just too fast and sprinted off into the distance.

Page 4: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a wolf walking in a field. “I have outrun a boy and two workers, I could easily beat you too” said the cake. “You think so?” replied the wolf sprinting after him. Johnny cake whizzed off

leaving him behind.

Page 5: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a bear sat in the sun. “I have outrun two workers, a wolf and a boy, I bet I can outrun you too”. The bear was angry with this replied “is that so?” and gave chase but was easily outrun.

Page 6: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a fox just laid by the side of the path. Johnny cake snickered and said, “I have outrun two workers, a boy, a wolf and a bear and I could easily outrun you too”. The fox simply placed his

paw behind his ear and said, “Sorry I couldn’t hear you, come closer”.

Page 7: This made Johnny cake angry and he walked up close to the fox and then shouted as loud as he could “I HAVE OUTRUN TWO WORKERS, A BOY, A WOLF AND A BEAR, I COULD EASILY OUTRUN YOU TOO!”

Page 8: The fox smiled and replied “you can, can you?” and snapped the cake up.

First draft feedback• I could add some suspense to the end of the story by adding

another slide to give more of a build up to the climax of the story. This could be achieved by adding another page at the end which could include the fox asking another time for the cake to come closer as this would add build up to the point where he is finally eaten.

• I will also need to modernize some of the language from the tale. This is due to the tale being an old piece of literature so there is a great deal of archaic language contained in the tale. This would make it a little more difficult to understand nowadays so I will add some higher frequency lexis to the text so it is more understandable.

Final script

• Page 1: Once upon a time a boy’s mother had baked a Johnny cake and had asked her son to look after it while she went out but as soon as the boy turned his back the cake ran out the door.

• • Page 2: The boy ran after it and the cake laughed as it ran away as it was too fast for the boy to catch it.• • Page 3: The Johnny cake stumbled upon two workers building a house. It laughed at the workers and shouted, “I bet you can’t catch me”. The

workers chased the cake but it was just too fast.• • Page 4: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a wolf walking in a field. “I have outrun a boy and two workers, I could easily beat you too” said the cake.

“You think so?” replied the wolf sprinting after it. Johnny cake whizzed off leaving him behind.• • Page 5: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a bear sat in the sun. “I have outrun two workers, a wolf and a boy, I bet I can outrun you too”. The bear

replied “is that so?” and gave chase but was easily outrun.• • Page 6: Johnny cake then stumbled upon a fox just laid by the side of the path. Johnny cake giggled and said, “I have outrun two workers, a boy, a

wolf and a bear and I could easily outrun you too”. The fox simply placed his paw behind his ear and said, “Sorry I couldn’t hear you, come closer”. • • Page 7: the Johnny cake moved a little closer and spoke a little louder this time “I have outrun a boy, two workers, a wolf and a bear and I can

outrun you too”. The fox repeated, “I can’t hear you, you will have to come a little closer”. • • Page 8: This made Johnny cake angry and it marched up close to the fox and then shouted as loud as it could “I HAVE OUTRUN TWO WORKERS, A

BOY, A WOLF AND A BEAR, I COULD EASILY OUTRUN YOU TOO!”• • Page 9: The fox smiled and replied “you can, can you?” and snapped the cake up.

Final Script analysis

This is my final version of my script. I have acted upon my feedback by using more high frequency language to make the story more easy to understand. I have also made it so the gender of the main character is never specified so that the reader can decide which could relate them more to the story. I have also shortened the text slightly so that it does not drag on as much. An extra page has also been added to add more build-up to the climax of the story.

Digital Flat PlansPage 1

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Test page