Digital Graphic Narrative Planning

Use this booklet to help structure your planning and collate your planning documents.

Considerations:

There are lots of things to consider in this project. Fill out each section in detail to show you have thought about each one. You should imagine that this is a live project, so considerations like cost, quantity and codes of practice must be thought about in that context rather than just as a college project.

Costs:The costs I will have to consider are, the price of a Mac, the cost of purchasing adobe Photoshop to create my illustrations and unique font with. Another cost to consider would be the cost of printing the pages for my book.

Available resources:The resources, which are available to me, are a Mac, graphics tablet, camera, adobe Photoshop, the internet and a memory storage device to store my work and also allow me to keep back ups of my work incase I lose one copy.

Quantity:The amount of books I will be producing is a large amount, the reason for this is because my book is not a limited edition book and I want my product to be sold in different stores as well as just book stores, this is so that my product can connect with different social classes.

Audience and Target Market:The audience for my book is 1-10 year olds. The reason I have chosen this age group is because the parents of the child are likely to read the book to their child, therefore the age range can start from 1 years old.

Quality Factors:I will make sure that the quality of my book stays at a high standard from the beginning to the end. The reason behind this is because if a publisher looks at a page of my book and agrees to publish it, however when I produce the rest of my finished work to them, they are not pleased with the quality of it; they have the right to cancel the publishing. This means that the quality of my book needs to remain at a high standard throughout.

Codes of Practice:I will make sure that my book doesn’t breach any copyright infringements. I will do this by creating original illustrations that are not copying anyone else’s creations. I don’t have to worry about my story breaking copyright infringements because the story of little red riding hood has been re-written and adapted so many times that I don’t have to worry about copyright.

Regulation:I will be avoiding any content, which I feel is unsuitable for my target age range. An example of this is ensuring that my book doesn’t contain any toys that the children can harm themselves with.

Copyright:I will ensure that my work does not include any copyright material. I will do this by making sure that my illustrations are created through my own ideas and techniques, although I will take inspiration from other illustrations, I will make sure not to copy their style and breach the copyright regulations.

Ethical Issues:I will also have to be certain not to accidently include content, which will offend people. Examples of this are, racism, discrimination and sexism. As well as keeping the book age appropriate and not including violence or profanity.

Resources:A successful project relies on good planning. Considering all the resources you will need for a project and then assessing which you already have and which you need will help ensure you are ready to start your project.

If there is a resource you don’t currently have, then consider how you are going to get it before you go in to production.

Resource: Do you have it? What do you need to do to get it?

Mac  Yes

 Photoshop  Yes

 Internet  Yes

 Memory storage device  Yes

 Graphics tablet  Yes

 Camera  Yes

 Wi-Fi  Yes

Production Schedule:Delivering your project on time is vital. In order to do this, you need a solid plan of action. This will help you divide up your work in to manageable chunks to be tackled one at a time. It will also allow you to plan which tasks need to be done in which order. It will also allow you to track your progress each day. If you are falling behind, you will need to modify the way you work. If you work faster than expected, you can clearly see what the next steps you need to take are.

Each session is a half day of college.

Session 1:

In this session I need to create the first page of my book and make sure that all of my characters are completed and I know what they are going to look like and how to create them. I also need to develop different versions of the characters for different points in the narrative. For example I will need to create versions of the main character running, this is due to there being a pivotal moment in the narrative where the main character is running.

 This session will also be used to rotoscope backgrounds for my pages, this will include backgrounds such as forests and deserts. I think that rotoscoping these backgrounds will be the best option as it is very time efficient and will allow me to introduce photorealism into my work.

Session 2:In this session I will create different versions of my characters, for example, different views of the character, such as shots from behind, in front and from the side of the character. I will also use this session to focus on the shading of my characters. I will also create different versions of the bricks for the brick wall on my second page. I will create a single row of various coloured bricks and then duplicate this

layer multiple times to create a brick wall. After this I will add the text in front of the brick wall.I will also be using this session to use the shape tool skills I learnt to create pieces of scenery to add to my backgrounds. For example, I will use the shape tool to create an ellipse. I will then use the warp tool to give the shape curves and rounded edges; this will make the shape look like a cloud. I will then colour fill the shape white and duplicate the layer as many times as I feel is necessary until my background has a sky full of clouds.

Session 3:

In this session I will continue to create the environment for my third page. I will also add detail to the environments through the use of shading and other techniques to add a sense of photorealism to my work. I will also need to include the version of my witch character that shows the character from behind. I will also use the gradient colour tool to create a sky, which is a light blue at the bottom, and a vibrant white towards the top.

Furthermore, this session will be used to choose the font for my book. I will try multiple different fonts and see which style works best for my book. I will be choosing a font, which is appropriate for my target age. This means that the font needs to be easy to read, as well as being visually pleasing to the reader.

Session 4:After creating the environment for my page I will add the characters into the environment and decide if I need to make any adjustments before continuing. I will also begin to make a template for my text. The reason for this is so that I can make sure I leave enough space on the page to include my text. I will also use the texture tool to make the grass layer look more rugged and have the appearance of grass.

I will also be using this session to change the width of the gap between the words in my text. By doing this I will be giving my pages more room for the illustrations, whilst maintaining a readable text.

Session 5:

In this session I will create the background, which will be used for the next few pages.In order to make the scene look slightly different every time I will change the positioning of the sun. I will do this to depict the change in time between each page, in order to show how the story is progressing. I will also use the opacity tool to give the reader the impression that the wolf character is disappearing from the page.

I will also slightly change the size of the antagonist on one page. The reason for this is that the bigger the character looks in comparison to the protagonist, the more powerful and in control they will look in comparison to the much smaller character who is being depicted as weak and scared.

Session 6:This session will be used to introduce the different versions of my characters to scenes. Such as the characters being flipped horizontally if they are moving away from the other character. I will also use this session to create a pair of hands, which I need in order for the illustrations of the page to link with the text. I will create this illustration by choosing an image from Google images and rotoscoping the hands; this includes features such as the lines across the hands.

Another task I have to do during this session is create a speech bubble for my character. This will allow me to have certain pieces of dialogue illustrated as coming from the mouth of the character. This will also create a connection between the book and the reader, this is due to the character talking directly to the reader and telling them their thoughts.

Session 7:

I will create another environment with a more simplistic design, this will reduce the amount of time it will take to create, as well as being easier and allowing me more time to focus on adding more detail to my characters, which will be the focal point of the book. After this I will create a more complex environment for my characters to be placed in. I will also add high amounts of detail, such as the windows showing

the forests outside of the house. Another feature I will add to the page is a scaled down version of the main character walking through the forest, this is a hint to the reader that Little Brown Wolf is likely to be in the next page.This session is also going to be used to create a motion blur scene. During a pivotal point in the narrative, the main character runs away. In order to illustrate this, I created multiple versions of the character and placed them in a line, going from the bottom of the hill, to the top of the hill. To give the impression that the wolf is running away, I gradually raised the opacity from the 30% onwards until the final version of the wolf at the top of the hill was on full opacity, depicting how he has reached the top of the hill by running.

Session 8: During this session I will work on adding items into my pages in order to make them look less mundane and simple. Examples of some of the objects I am going to make are, photo frames that are depicting the main protagonists. I think this will be a nice touch as it makes it clear to the reader who owns the house and also strengthens the readers understanding of the relationship between the protagonists. This session will also be used to create a side-on version of the little red riding hood character. I will create this using the original character as a template for the size and colours.Session 8 will also be used to ensure that the colour of the text on each page doesn’t clash with the colour of the background. This would mean that the text is less visible and hard for the reader to understand. I will therefore correct any mistakes by either changing the colour of the text, or changing the colour of the background.

Session 9:

In the last few sessions of production I will focus on the colour of the text and make sure that the text is clearly depicted on each page and is visible for the reader. I will also check over each page to ensure that the font type stays consistent throughout the book. I will also use this session to create different object for my environment, such as a cabinet that can be placed into my environment to make the page look less mundane. Furthermore, this session will be used to add extra text to my page, such as a “HELP” coming from the trap the main character ends up in. This adds to the visual interaction the audience has with the page, this is because of the text preventing the page from looking too empty.I will also be using session 9 to finalize my work and make sure that my work has as much detail as possible. For example, this means ensuring that objects such as trees have faint lines along them in a lighter shade of the tree’s colour. This creates an impression of realism as the tree look as though it has the same details that are visible on an image of a real tree. These small details add to the overall photorealism of my work.

Session 10:In the last session I will focus on ensuring that the quality of my work stays consistent throughout the book. This includes things such as making sure that the characters are wearing the same clothes on each page and that there are no dramatic changes between pages. This includes making sure there are no changes to the environments that are in more than one page.

In the last session I will also ensure that the text on every page has no spelling or grammar mistakes.

The reason for this is that the book is supposed to educate children and further their reading skills. However, if the book they are learning from is filled with spelling and grammar mistakes, then they will pick up bad habits and their education will suffer.

Health and safety:Your health and safety and that of those around you is very important. Just like in industry, an accident could prevent you from working. Whilst we don’t work in a highly dangerous environment, there are still risks. Some are short term, such as trips and spillages whilst others, such as long term damage to eyesight or back problems, may affect you much later in life.

Consider the risks based on the activities you will be undertaking during the project. Explain how you could prevent them from happening.

Ensure you reference appropriate pieces of legislation, design to protect people at work.

Health and Safety Issue How can you prevent it?Loose wires that could cause people to trip over. You could prevent this by moving any wires, which are

causing an obstruction and are a likely hazard.

 Chairs and tables in the middle of the room/chair left out from under the table.

 The chairs could be pushed under the table to prevent people from tripping over.

 Long periods of time staring at the computer screen causing eyesight damage and headaches.

Taking 5-10 minute breaks every hour in order to give your eyes a rest from the computer screen could prevent this.

 The health and safety at work act 1974 states that you must look out for your own safety as well as the safety of others around you.

 This means that you must check all equipment to ensure that it is safe for use. This also means that all accidents and injuries should be recorded to keep track of the quality of the health and safety.

Neck, shoulder, back & arm pain, fatigue and eyestrain.

The Screen regulations act 1992 means that people who work with DSE (display screen equipment) are protected by the screens regulation act.