Digital Graphic Narrative

Development

Lauren Pyne

Shape Task

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?

I liked the gradient that I used to create detail and blend the colours of the foxes coat instead of having multiple shapes and block colourings whereas the fox had a blended coat. I also like that it actually resembled a fennec fox. I experimented with the texture and found that it added detail that I couldn't achieve with shapes.

I also like that on the tiger, that was unfinished, I was able to use the opacity to make some parts of the tiger less prominent. I also like that I was able to use the gradient tool to create an effect on parts of the tiger.

This technique is ideal for a children’s book as it is very cartoony and doesn’t have to be accurate. It also allows you to create unrealistic characters for the book.

What would you improve if you did it again?

I would try to add more detail to the background of the fox. I would also try and create more detail with shapes.

I would finish the tiger and after rasterising the layers, use the rubber to clean up the edges of the tigers stripes.

Rotoscope

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I like how the parrot turned out, it looked cartoon like and rigid. I like how some of the gradients helped define areas and create a shadow like effect.

I think this would be ideal for a children’s book because of its cartoon element, it would be great to make cartoon unrealistic characters that couldn’t be achieved properly through illustration or photography.

What would you improve if you did it again?I would finish the background, I could try using more gradients to create a more realistic effect, I could also experiment with texture and shadows. I would also add a background relative to the images, for example, add branches etc.

Text Based

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I liked the clipping mast image because its a new technique I didnt know how to create it. I tried several transforming methods but I found that warp had the easiest to use.

I think that using transforming effects on the texts could help with speech or helping create and affect on the way the words are said, for instance, if a character is shouting, the start of the text from his mouth and get thicker it looks like he is shouting.

What would you improve if you did it again?

I would try a larger range of techniques and effects. I could also try using more than one effect on a piece of text.

Comic Book

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I liked that the images had different variations of the comic book affect, the outcomes of each image changed depending on the amount of layers etc chosen.

I think this would be ideal for a children’s book as it would make it easier to make, for instance, you could photograph each page, and then edit it to look comic book like in Photoshop.

What would you improve if you did it again?If I were to re do this task I would try a more abstract approach and experiment more with different filters and colourations. I could try having a lot of layers and use the threshold to keep the outline of the people, this gives it an abstract comic effect.

Photography

Lonely Sad

Excited Happy

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I liked that the images clearly showed the emotion that I wanted to present, I also liked that the colourations of the image can help show emotion.

I think this would be ideal for a children’s book as you could photograph each page depending on what is needed, these images can then be edited in Photoshop.

What would you improve if you did it again?If I did his task again I would try to take the images in a non isolated enviroment like these images were, as these images taken look staged and not natural. I could also try more emotions or different objects.

Illustration

Evaluation

What did you like about your image?I liked that I was able to create shading and darker areas on the drawing to create shadows and a 3d affect. I also liked that it was done fully in ink.

I liked the cartoon worm because it had a different effect than the flower, it would be useful in a children's book because of the cartoon nature of the image. It could also be digitised and edited in Photoshop, colourised and could give an outline if you wanted to use shapes to make a digital drawing.

What would you improve if you did it again? I would try different colourations of the cartoons and I could try using different coloured ball point pens for the flower.

Initial Ideas

Idea Generation

I could look at old art styles and renditions of the story to see how different people portray different characters

House like this, more sweet decoration, but rotoscoped when its in the background

I could try drawing the characters before making them with shapes, this can help me create a look for the characters and help placing the shapes and warping them.

Background will be in this style but will hopefully be more detailed

Could use an old rendition of a character in a new illustration style.

ProposalDimensions

12 pages (not including text pages), 15x 20 cm

Story Overview

Hansel and Gretel. The family has no money and no food. The stepmother persuades their father to leave the children deep in the forest to save food or they’ll all starve. Hansel overhears them, fills his pockets with pebbles and leaves a trail behind him when they leave for the forest and they return the next day. They once again get taken into the woods but he leaves crumbs because the door was locked so he couldn’t fill his pockets with pebbles. But the birds ate the crumbs as he left them. So they couldn’t get out of the forest. They found a house of candy. They were invited in by a witch, given food, and a bed. She then locked up Hansel and tried to get him fat. After a month he was still skinny, so she decided to eat him anyway. The witch planned to make Gretel get in the oven to ‘test how hot it was’ close the door and cook her up and eat her too, but she saw what she was doing and tricked he witch saying she didn’t know how, as the witch demonstrated, Gretel shoved the witch into the oven and released Hansel, they found masses of jewels and gems in the witches house and stuffed their pockets with them. they found their way home and their stepmother was dead, and there father was relieved they returned.

Export Format

PDF

Advantages: can be edited, and saves layers

Disadvantages: need to have Photoshop to open a PSD, Large file size, not universal.

Deadline

AudienceMy target audience is between the ages of five to seven years old. This is because these books are designed to increase the child’s reading abilities, and allow for small paragraphs of text and a different array of illustrations, I am aiming more towards the five year olds because they will be able to read the small paragraphs but also still rely on images and illustrations to help tell the story. I am also trying to aim this book at both boys and girls but I think that the content of the story will appeal more towards girls.

Production Methods

The text will be layered over the image, I will ensure that it is in a visible font to make it easy to read, I am doing this as it gives me more room for illustrations. I have also found that in some other popular children’s books, the writing is overlaying the illustration. Rotoscope- I think I will use the rotoscope technique for the background and scenes of the children’s book. I will do this because it is a way of creating a quick scene for the largest part of the project. The backgrounds will take the longest and rotoscoping is quick, while you can still create a detailed image.Shapes- I will use the shapes technique for the characters, it takes longer but there are less characters in this story, this allows me to make more detailed characters

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

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?

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?

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

Feedback Summary

Sum up your feedback.

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

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

Original storyboard

Original script

A poor woodcutter and his wife had two children named Hansel and Gretel. Their mother died when they were young. Hansel and Gretel were very sad. Soon their father remarried but their stepmother was very cruel. They had no money and no food. One day, she took the children deep into the forest and left them there. But Hansel overheard them and put pebbles in his pocket, they were able to get home. He overheard them a second time but the door was locked so he couldn’t get the pebbles to put in his pocket, so Hansel had some breadcrumbs in his pocket and had dropped them on the way so that they could find their way back home. But the birds ate all the crumbs and they couldn’t find the path that led back home.Hansel and Gretel went deeper and deeper into the forest. They were hungry and tired. Finally, after walking for a long time, they saw a cottage made of chocolate, candies, and cake. “Look, Hansel! A chocolate brick!” shouted Gretel in delight and they both ate it hungrily.A wicked witch lived there. When she saw Hansel and Gretel, she wanted to eat them. She coaxed the children in pretending to be friendly, but the next morning she grabbed Hansel and locked him in a cage. The witch decided to make a soup out of him and eat him first. She made Gretel boil a huge pot of water for the soup. The witch tried to trick Gretel into getting into the oven but she saw what she was doing and asked her to demonstrate. She gave the wicked witch a a shove and the witch fell into the oven. She howled in pain and died. Hansel and Gretel found treasure lying around the cottage. They carried it home with them. Their stepmother had died and their father welcomed them back with tears of joy. They never went hungry again!

Originally taken from http://shortstoriesshort.com/story/hansel-and-gretel/ and edited to add in details.

Final Script

Page 1- Hansel and Gretel couldn’t sleep because they were so hungry, and they overheard their stepmother talking to their father one night. “we must take them into the woods and leave them there or all four of us will starve” “were done for” cried Gretel. Hansel went outside to fill his pockets with pebbles that were nearby. But they were all gone. “this is just dirt, what happened to all the pebbles?”

Page 2- “what are you doing” asked Gretel. “there were no pebbles for me to leave a trail behind us, so im going to use bread crumbs instead”

Page 3- every so often Hansel would drop a handful of bread crumbs, and checked behind him. There were an awful lot of birds.

Page 4- deep in the woods a fire was made by their father. “were going to get fire wood, we will be back later.” they sat by the fire until it was dark, but nobody came back. “when can we go home Hansel?” whimpered Gretel. “when the moon rises, it will make it easier to see the breadcrumbs”

Page 5- they tried to follow the breadcrumbs, but they couldn’t see them. “where are they? I-I know I left a trail of them!” said Hansel. “we’ll never get home!” cried Gretel. “the birds must have eaten them, and we will get us home, don’t worry, ill get us home”

Page 6- they stumbled upon a house made of sweets, the roof was made of cake and the walls were made of gingerbread. The windows were sugar and the door was a huge biscuit. “Eat! Gretel, we wont go hungry! eat the window pane, its made of sugar, it will be sweet. Ill eat the roof, its made of cake!” Hansel cheered.

Page 7- as they were eating away at the house, they heard a quiet strange voice… “nibble nibble little mouse, who is nibbling at my house?” they kept quiet and carried on eating.

Final Script

Page 8- the door started to creak open, and a small old woman appeared from the house. “oh dear children, come in, eat, sleep, and I promise, no harm will come to you” the witch said, little did Hansel and Gretel know, that she was indeed lying.

Page 9- the next morning the witch watched as Hansel and Gretel lay fast asleep in a nice warm bed. She grabbed Hansel and locked him up. “GRETEL” she bellowed. “get up and make some soup. I want Hansel to get fat so that I can eat him” she tried to get Hansel fat for over a month, and for over a month Hansel gained no weight. “fine! Fat or thin tomorrow im eating him!”

Page 10- the next day Gretel was awoken early by the witch. “boil a pot of water and then get to the oven, I have a job for you” Gretel boiled the water and went to the oven. “is it hot enough” snapped the witch. “h-how do I tell?” Gretel stuttered. She knew that the witch planned to lock her in and eat her too. “you fool, get inside and see, look I can fit my head in” Gretel shoved the witch into the oven and locked the door. “AAAAAAAHHHHH” screamed the witch.

Page 11- ”the witch is gone, were free!” Gretel chanted as she let Hansel out of the cage. In the house were many baskets filled with gems and jewels. “LOOK!” they filled their pockets, hoods, hands, and headed home.

Page12- they found there way home. Their father was delighted that they returned, he had not had one happy moment since they left, and he had no company as his wife had died. “look what we found” said Hansel as he stretched out his hand filled with different jewels. His father gasped “oh my, we will never go hungry again!” he cheered. And they lived happily ever after.

Page 7- as they were eating away at the house, they heard a quiet strange voice… “nibble nibble little mouse, who is nibbling at my house?” they kept quiet and carried on eating.

Page 1- Hansel and Gretel couldn’t sleep because they were so hungry, and they overheard their stepmother talking to their father one night. “we must take them into the woods and leave them there or all four of us will starve” “were done for” cried Gretel. Hansel went outside to fill his pockets with pebbles that were nearby. But they were all gone. “this is just dirt, what happened to all the pebbles?”

Page 2- “what are you doing” asked Gretel. “there were no pebbles for me to leave a trail behind us, so im going to use bread crumbs instead”

Page 3- every so often Hansel would drop a handful of bread crumbs, and checked behind him. There were an awful lot of birds.

Page 4- deep in the woods a fire was made by their father. “were going to get fire wood, we will be back later.” they sat by the fire until it was dark, but nobody came back. “when can we go home Hansel?” whimpered Gretel. “when the moon rises, it will make it easier to see the breadcrumbs”

Page 5- they tried to follow the breadcrumbs, but they couldn’t see them. “where are they? I-I know I left a trail of them!” said Hansel. “we’ll never get home!” cried Gretel. “the birds must have eaten them, and we will get us home, don’t worry, ill get us home”

Page 6- they stumbled upon a house made of sweets, the roof was made of cake and the walls were made of gingerbread. The windows were sugar and the door was a huge biscuit. “Eat! Gretel, we wont go hungry! eat the window pane, its made of sugar, it will be sweet. Ill eat the roof, its made of cake!” Hansel cheered.

Page 8- the door started to creak open, and a small old woman appeared from the house. “oh dear children, come in, eat, sleep, and I promise, no harm will come to you” the witch said, little did Hansel and Gretel know, that she was indeed lying.

Digital flat plans, text on a separate page (image on the right page, text on the left) text positioning varies

Page 9- the next morning the witch watched as Hansel and Gretel lay fast asleep in a nice warm bed. She grabbed Hansel and locked him up. “GRETEL” she bellowed. “get up and make some soup. I want Hansel to get fat so that I can eat him” she tried to get Hansel fat for over a month, and for over a month Hansel gained no weight. “fine! Fat or thin tomorrow im eating him!”

Page 10- the next day Gretel was awoken early by the witch. “boil a pot of water and then get to the oven, I have a job for you” Gretel boiled the water and went to the oven. “is it hot enough” snapped the witch. “h-how do I tell?” Gretel stuttered. She knew that the witch planned to lock her in and eat her too. “you fool, get inside and see, look I can fit my head in” Gretel shoved the witch into the oven and locked the door. “AAAAAAAHHHHH” screamed the witch.

Page 11- ”the witch is gone, were free!” Gretel chanted as she let Hansel out of the cage. In the house were many baskets filled with gems and jewels. “LOOK!” they filled their pockets, hoods, hands, and headed home.

Page12- they found there way home. Their father was delighted that they returned, he had not had one happy moment since they left, and he had no company as his wife had died. “look what we found” said Hansel as he stretched out his hand filled with different jewels. His father gasped “oh my, we will never go hungry again!” he cheered. And they lived happily ever after.