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EVALUATION

For this final project, we had the choice to create either a game, animation or an interactive graphic novel. I chose an interactive graphic novel and to work by myself since it would give me enough work and I wouldn’t have to worry or rely on someone else which could backfire if issues such as communication occurred. The theme of this project was “Thrive or Survive”, we had the choice between the two which gave us a lot of creative choices for this project which was good since I could get creative but with so much choice it was intimidating at first. In the end I choose survive, with the idea of good vs evil being the main focus of the story. I finally came up with the story of two witches having a rivalry between them but having to work together in the end to survive an evil monster.

Research: I collected primary and secondary research all throughout my project, to help with the progress of my graphic novel, from the art to the story. I started by collecting primary research to help develop my idea first, I created surveys and used it to help shape my graphic novel such as what the story should be like, if they wanted a long continues story or short stories and if my little idea of animated panels would work. This helped me decided what needed to be added and how it should be presented in my graphic novel. This helped to finalise my idea and give me a set structure to work around. I collected more primary research all through the project such as play tests where I collected useful feedback which told me all the issues people found with my graphic novel, while also telling me what I could add and what was already good, this helped me come up with ideas and develop a working interactive graphic novel.

I then started collecting secondary research by looking at books, animations, graphic novels with similar themes to my graphic novel, this helped me develop the characters in my graphic novel; their looks, their personality and their purpose in the story while making sure it fit my story and art style. I got a lot of creative choices from research such as having all the background being silhouettes to save time and create a creepy atmosphere to fit my story while allowing the reader to imagine what everything would look like.

Research greatly helped me come up with the idea, improve my project and greatly impact the progress by giving me things to add or change or make my graphic novel better and better for my target audience. I could have done more primary research such as focus groups so I could have collected more research directly from my target audience helping me come up with more ideas I could have added to my project.

If I was to do it differently, I would have collected more primary and secondary research and apply more ideas to my graphic novel so there is a lot of things they are interested in and want in the novel.

Target audience: I determined my audience by research and figuring out what I wanted to do and add, as I came up with the idea of the witches I wanted it to be light hearted and funny, not dark and serious so I thought about aiming it for a young audience around 7+ and as I designed the characters I made them look cute and simple to appeal to the younger audiences. However, as I started coming up with the survival element I figured out it would be much easier to age up the audience just a little higher so they are young but can understand some of the mature themes like death (due to the grim reapers and the fight), so I decided on my target audience being 13-16 year old, both genders since I want it to appeal to a large audience but aim slightly more towards females due to the main characters being female and the style being cute.

I made my project appeal to them by making sure that the tone of the graphic novel was light hearted and fun while also having its intense, action moments, it isn’t too graphic or intense where it would be inappropriate or boring to the younger audience. All the interactive elements I added were to appeal to my target audiences and were so they would enjoy and stay interested in the story; I made it so the speech bubbles got larger when you clicked them so it is easier to read and made sure all the text and story was simple and not over complicated so my young target audience can understand the story. I added animated panels, sound effects and music to help them stay immersed and interested since they could become bored with reading, and adding all these interactive elements adds more for them to play around with while still paying attention to the story.

Pre-Production: I started by creating a proposal to help write down my idea and the skills I’ve learned and will need to use for my project, then I created a one sheet explaining all my idea such as the characters, stories, where I finalised my ideas such as how I wanted there to be two main characters and with the help of surveys I decided to do 4 stories instead of 1 long story. I created character profiles to finalise my character designs and their personalities so I know my character inside and out so it is easy to write and draw them. I also created 4 scripts which helped a lot especially when storyboarding since I already knew what the scenes were. I had some issues at first with my pre-production which mostly involved the scripts since it took a while to write them out and when I started storyboarding and drawing my product I discovered that some of my ideas would take too long to design and I discovered I added too much dialogue which would have cluttered and bored the reader so I had to leave out and change most of the dialogue to keep it short and simple to fit my young target audience. There was a lot of stuff that worked out too, such as the character designs since I knew from research what exactly I wanted the characters to look like and how they should behave, and the storyboard’s helped me plan out how the panels should look and what the scene should look like.

I could have improved my pre-production by better planning my scripts, making sure my ideas were realistic in the time limit I had and make sure I don’t add too much dialogue. I could have improved by having only 1 main character so I can have more development and personality to the story since this time with some many characters there was very limited development due to the stories being short, so characters like Coffee and Marshmallow got very little development. Next time I would improve my work by planning out my scripts better so it doesn’t take too long to do and when I start production I don’t have issues that takes more time to fix or work around. I would also plan out the length of my story better so all characters get development or have less characters so everyone gets development.

Production: For my product I created an interactive elements, I wanted there to be a variety in interactivity to help the reader stay interested and appeal to my young target audience who are very likely to get bored with just reading. So I added a variety of interactivity from clicking the speech bubbles to make them easier to read for the young readers, added sound effects to add immersion to the stories while there not being too many it becomes annoying and there is also free music I added to each story to help add more atmosphere and create the intended tone to the story. The biggest interactivity feature I added throughout the novel was animated panels, panels that change slightly (and create sounds) when clicked, giving the reader the choose to interact with the story if they wanted to.

I faced challenged while creating this project, such as flash crashing a lot so I lost work, flash pixelating my work so some of the images and mostly the speech bubbles became harder to read so I had to work around that (making the larger text more readable) and due to the time limit I wasn’t able to add as much detail to the art so they art is very simple and very little variety since there wasn’t enough time to test out and sketch out different poses and looks which would have just taken too much time and would have resulted in only half of the stories being completed. There was some issues I found with the sound effects and music such as there being no time to create my own sound effects so I had to use free sound effects which was very limiting and sometimes the sounds weren’t as fitting or were too short or long than I wanted which I did try to fix but I couldn’t fix some of them without it sound worse. The music was also long and the stories were short so I added an on and off music button by the music can play over each other and can only be stopped with the off sound music which turns off all sounds including sound effects which can be confusing and annoying.

There was a lot that went well, like the speech bubbles working, the animated panels change how I wanted them to change and have working sound effects. I was also able to add all the pages I wanted to do even the author sections where I explain more of the world. It also ended up being suitable for my target audience with the colourful characters, the story, the variety in panel layout and the interactivity helps keep my target audience interested (discovered though play tests) and resulted in most of them wanting to read it again and again. The final product was very close to my initial ideas, the story worked out how I planned it with some scene changing, the characters were the same and the layout of the whole graphic novel worked out how I wanted it to work, I even added more than I originally planned such having more sound effects and music and I even created a trailer which I created since I discovered how most graphic novel were marketed and I wanted to practise creating a trailer as if I was actually realising an official graphic novel.

I could have improved my graphic novel by changing it to be just one story instead of 4 so I could focus more on the art and story, allowing me to create more variety in the art due to there being more time to focus on it. I originally planned to have fully animated panels but due to there being very little time and there being loads of animated panels so I could only slightly animated them, so if I could do it again I would have improved the animated panels and make them fully animated and more detailed. I would also could have improved by learning how to use flash more since I found so many issues with it, such as discover and fix the issues I had with colour or worked around it such as not use the colour red since that was the colour that had the most issues, I would have also tried to fix the issues I found with the buttons so the music and sound effects don’t overlap each other and cant be spammed since this can ruin the immersion I wanted to create which makes it annoying or confusing for my audience.

So next time I will give myself less work, so I can put full effort on the little work I have, by developing all the characters, giving time to carefully create each panel so they are detail, individual and a variety in images to keep the reader interest and have it clearly explain the story and the work/ characters even without dialogue. Next time I will also create my own sound effects and either buy or ask someone to create the music for me so all the sound effects are fitting and made exactly for my graphic novel, so it is perfect together fixing all the issues I found this time with the music and sound effects. I would also like there to be more of the theme in the graphic novel since there was only little moments of survival in the graphic novel, next time I would plan more around the theme better.

Conclusion: I’ve learned so much from this project such as how to create animated buttons on flash, add music and sound effects and how to overall create an interactive graphic novel on flash. I also learned more drawing skills on Photoshop and how to create/design a graphic novel; from the panel layout, the speak bubbles and the how to plan such as storyboards and scripts for a graphic novel.

My favourite part of this project was designing the individual character, I liked the whole Halloween theme so designing characters under the Halloween theme was fun, from the colours, to the outfits to all the different monster species were fun to think up and design.

The most challenging part of the project was using flash since so many issues came up and I had so many limitation due to limited time and lack of knowledge on how to use to flash, so it was hard to figure out how to create buttons and other features and also having issues with the colour and with the software shutting down. So next time I would save more often so I don’t lose as much work and try to work around the issues and learn more about the software so I know what I can and can’t do.

I will use all the knowledge and skills I have developed in this project for the future, like my new knowledge of how to use flash like how to create buttons, add music and sound effects and how to use the layers correctly. I can use my new research method and what I collected like CELTX for writing out scripts, and I know how to create and design a graphic novel from the layout to the complete final graphic novel. I also know a little of how to create a trailer and promote a graphic novel so I can try to do this again for the next project of use the knowledge I have and develop it more to learn how to promote our projects/products.

Overall I am proud of my graphic novel and I am proud of how I managed to complete it, and I am happy to know what I could improve for next time and what my weaknesses and strengths were.

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Chapter Title Covers -PRODUCTION DIARY

I wanted to show where the stories separated into chapters, so i added mini title covers in between to show the new chapters.

Research

An example I researched was the manga Fairy Tail (Mashima. H, 2012) that has covers for every chapter, which usually shows one of the main characters posing in some way, sometimes it will be relevant to the chapter such as having the main character of the chapter or just a fun and silly picture. I like to do a silly title cover to appeal more to my young target audience and make it look fun and cute for them to enjoy.

PRODUCTION DIARY

I started with the same purple background and orange boarder to fit in with the theme and look of the graphic novels. I though that since they are 4 chapters and there are 4 characters I could show off each character in a chapter title, and way I could do that was making it look like a picture.

So I created a Polaroid picture held up by tape to add the chapter number and character image will go, keeping it simple but cute. I wanted it too look like the characters are actually posing for a pictures and how they would pose, so i made Taffy pull a funny face to show her goofy side, made Liquorice hold her hair showing her cute and shy side, marshmallow wearing a funny mustache to show his joking, mysterious side and Coffee blushing to also show his cute and embarrassed side; showing what the characters truly like inside.

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Final Play test

I’ve managed to complete my project in time and have asked 8 people that apply to my target audience, 4 boys and 4 girls to play test my interactive graphic novel. I asked for 4 boys and girls because I want a fair feedback for both genders since my story should hopefully appeal to both (mostly females).

I used survey monkey (2017) to create my survey this time.

The questionnaire:

I asked some of the same questions from the previous feedback and some new questions since this is the final play test:

The results:

Question 1:

This is the same question I've asked in the previous play tests and i am so happy to see that my target audience still likes the art, especially the finished art. They enjoy the simple and cute stuff which is what i wanted an i am so happy it still appeals to my target audience.

Question 2:

All the answers i got were positive and gave reasons for why they liked it like i asked which helps a lot to know what and why the layout was good and if it was effect. I am happy to see that my target audience liked the layout, with the variety of sizes which is what i discovered they wanted from the previous play tests and that it was a good amount, not cluttered or confusing which i fear would happen. I am happy to see that this worked out and appeals to my target audience.

Question 3:

This is another question I’ve used in the previous play tests and I am happy to see that my target audience are happy with the final interactive elements, they are enjoyable and some of them (enlarging text bubbles) benefits the reader by making it easier to read, enjoy the novel and keeps them interested.

Question 4&5:

These questions are related, I got 6 no’s and 2 yes, but only one of the yes’s gave me an answer to what glitch they found. The other yes talks about the music looping over each other, this i a problem i  tried to fix but when i did the code it would make it so no music plays, and i couldn't figure out how to fix it. So instead i added an off music button and it is the first button at the stop of each panels so you can stop the previous music and start the new music, which I hopes kind solves the issue.

Question 6:

I got positive feedback with 6 people saying yes and 2 saying maybe which I added since for some people it all depends on their mood, interests at the time, prices and stuff like that, but the chance they could read it is still positive (since they could have just said no). I am happy most said yes since it shows the readers like it and we’re interested i reading or even owning it, if it was ever officially release which is good for work i could do in the future.

Question 7:

I got some good positive feedback with people saying that they liked how it was and the constructive feedback i got was helpful, but sadly i wont be able to fix them due to the limited time, such as recreate and animate the speech bubbles with the mistakes and there was no way of stopping the looping scream since it is activated by clicking, which means it is the reader choice if they want to spam the sounds. I can take these issue and make sure i don’t do the same thing in projects i do in the future.

Question 8:

I realized after looking at the results that I should have just made this question a yes or no questions. It is good to see that the story was easy to follow by everyone and one person even gave me a reason why they found it easy to follow which is helpful and shows that the enlargeable bubbles are helpful to readers.

Question 9:

I asked this to see what i could add or improve on for my next project, I got great positive feedback i can learn from for next time. This is stuff i’ll consider or try to achieve for next time such as a single main character and start trying to create fluid animation which i did consider during this project but due to time limits i couldn't create.

Overall this was great feedback, it showed that my finished project does appeal to my target audience, what i could improve on for next time and what i works. These play tests and feed back has greatly helped with the development of my project, telling me what worked, what needed to be fixed or added and how to appeal to my target audience which I’ve all tried to provide, tried or worked around so that the final project is effective and appeals to my target audience.

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Story 3 + 4 - PRODUCTION DIARY

These are the last two stories in my graphic novel and the story chapters and completely continue off each other, since chapter 4 comes straight after chapter 3. In chapter 3 Taffy and Liquorice gives an evil spirit power making it grow into a monsters, and in chapter 4 they must defeat it.

I created these two exactly like the first two stories, by using the storyboard as reference and drawing it properly on Photoshop and then colour it, using the character sheets for the colour reference. 

After I created all the speech bubbles on a separate PNG file, creating a small version which stays on the page and a bigger version that pops up when clicked; making it easier to read. This also includes any animated panels such as the monster and magic in the chapters.

After that I added them onto the graphic novel on flash, which is nearly finished now that all the chapters are finished. I added the pages (no bubbles) first, placing them in the proper order and then added all the animated speech bubbles(last page has a long speech by Taffy to end the story) and animated panels which i converted as buttons so they enlarge or animate. Added the potion icon to show what panels are animated and the to be continues and the end text at the end of the chapter.

I then added a music icons (both on and off ones) and converted them to buttons so that the off button turns off all music and the on button plays music, both chapters has different music to fit the tone of the chapter. I also added some sound effects to a few of the panels, mostly the animated panels to add more immersion, interactivity and humor/intensity to the chapters.

And with that, all the chapters are done, with animated panels and have speech bubbles that get bigger, providing the reader with many select-able interactive elements if they choose to use them.

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Author Section- PRODUCTION DIARY

I opened up Photoshop and colored the background and added the orange outline that is on almost all pages (except story pages) which helps show that it is part of the story but coloured the background in a different colours to still help it stand out and easier on the eyes to read.

I then added all the text that fits the information needed from that chapter (explain in research), using a different font from the rest to give it a hand written look slightly like the ‘author’ has written it and to help it stand out while it being easy to read since you can’t resize this text.

I added some drawings to some of the sections such as a image of me (in the same style as the rest of the graphic novel) and some of the characters as i explain their species such as Coffee (Grim Reaper) and Marshmallow (Spirit).

It is mostly text since it is mostly explaining stuff, but I’ve made it so it doesn't have information you MUST know in order to understand the story, so if you don’t want to read the author sections you don’t have to and still understand the story.

After creating the page I added it to the rest of the novel, after the story and making it feel more full and complete.

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Author Sections - RESEARCH

MY PROJECT

I decided to create an author section, where I talk and thank the readers (as the author), while also explaining more about the story, setting and the overall world the story is set in.

I will have these after every chapter and explain a little more about what happened in the chapter. After chapter 1 I explain the world and all the monsters that exist, in chapter 2 I explain the school for witches, chapter 3 I explain the differences about pure spirits, created spirits and ghosts and in chapter 4 I explain more about witches (and Taffy & Liquorice) and thank the readers for reading the novel.

I think this would add more connection to the reader and me as the author, I can thank them 'personally' and add extra details they wont know which would help people imagine and immerse themselves in the world of the story.

Many graphic novel artists that post online have little sections where they talk to the reader, sometimes to thank them for reading/following them, extra character segments and Q&A'S, this is what inspired me to do my own author sections.

For example, the web graphic novel called 'The Lonely Moon' by Lira Kraunik (2014) has an author section where she thanks her readers. I want something like this, especially in the last author section.

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Little Big Planet

Little Big Planet (Media Molecule, 2014) is a series of games that involve the player playing as a little sack person and traveling across the world, climbing over obstacles and solving puzzles while collecting outfits stickers and objects to create your own levels. It is a game that thrives off creativity and imagination, from its story, visuals and gameplay; it is a fun game for kids and helps them keep a creative mind.

My Project

I can take great inspiration from this game due to both this game and my graphic novel being for young children, and although my audience is a little older than the games (3-9+) intended age range, I know that child in my age range also play and enjoy this game too, so I can see if there is something from this game I could take inspiration from for my graphic novel.

A big selling point for Little Big Planet is its adorable visuals, that attract people’s attention, therefore I’m happy I chose the cute look for my graphic novel too and will try to keep the visuals cute and maybe add more cute moments in the story.

There are a few levels and costumes with spooky Halloween themes throughout the games, either in the main game, DLC's or fan made levels. I like how they created a creepy atmosphere while sticking to its cute theme, so I can also apply it to my own characters and designs such as the bright cold colours that stop the levels from being too dark while still having a cold, spooky atmosphere which would work very well in my graphic novel. The characters also have very expressive faces which adds for more funny moments and cute faces, I could do this in my graphic novel, making it more obvious what the characters are feeling, allowing me to make moments more funny or dramatic if needed.

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Trailer- PRODUCTION DIARY

So after researching I know knew what I wanted to add to my trailer, so I selected specific panels in my graphic novel that I wanted to include in my trailer; the panes mostly had no txt and were used to show the theme, the characters and the tone of the story. I then downloaded all the music from the same website as the music in my graphic novel (explained in another blog).

I wanted calm, Halloween music for the beginning when I explain the plot and introduce the characters, then I wanted intense creepy music for the hints of survival and conflict in the story and then I wanted fun Halloween music for the ending, showing the cover and saying to read it.

PRODUCTION DIARY

I opened up movie maker, I decided to use this since it was what I on me at the time and it is very simple and easy to do, perfect for a simple trailer.

I uploaded all the images in the order I wanted them to do, starting with the set, characters and the text explaining the plot, than the action, survival scenes showing the magical dangers in the graphic novel with a text warning to add suspense and than the text and cover to show it is a graphic novel and say why they should read it. I added little animation motions to the images so they move slightly, similar to how the graphic novels I research did, to add more motion and life to the trailer and graphic novel pages, stopping it for getting boring and add immersion.

I then added music to my graphic novel, the music is from ‘theholidayspot.com/halloween/music’; the songs were: -Trick of Treat -War and Terror -Epic Journey to Hell  (by Jon Wright)

I added the calm Halloween music first and ended it just after the magical warning, then added the creepy intense music which ends after the image of the evil spirit and then happy Halloween music to show off the cover. And with that the trailer is done, I've added visuals and music similar to the graphic novels I researched.

With all the visuals and music done, the trailer is complete. I have made a trailer for my graphic novel which will help people discover my graphic novel and read it, if I was to publish my graphic novel, since this is one way to market a graphic novels.By creating a trailer and publishing it on all social media so more people will see it and want to read the graphic novel.

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Trailer- RESEARCH

While researching graphic novels, I discovered that some of them had trailers (mostly on YouTube) which helps people discover the story and make them want to read the graphic novel themselves.

The two I discovered first and believe were used effectively were the trailers for ‘ BECOMING’ (Brooke Burgess, 2012) and ‘Coraline’ (Becca Lokos, 2017), which I discovered on YouTube. The reason I like these trailers because they use sound and visuals so effectively that it makes me want to read the graphic novel, the few visuals of some of the graphic novel pages make me want to see more by reading the whole thing, and the music add tone and atmosphere that gets you more immersed. This is what a trailer is supposed to do, advertise the product so people will buy/read the product, and these trailer managed to successfully do this.

MY PROJECT

So I looked at what made these work and planned on how I could do something similar for my graphic novel. One thing I liked was the way the visuals moved, giving the graphic novel a feeling of motion and add more immersion, I wouldn't be able to do this as effectively since I've never done something like that and there isn't enough time to mess and practise around, so I'll do something similar and easier.

I liked how they use text to give quick little text briefs to reveal little bits of the stories plot, I want to do this to show the fun side and the survival side of my graphic novel, so I'll use text scenes to explain the characters rivalry, the tones of the graphic novel and to help pump the readers enough to make them want to read my graphic novel.

I was thinking maybe to show some interactive elements but decided it would be better not to, so it doesn't look too confusing be mistaken as a game, so I will leave it as a ‘surprise’ for when they read the graphic novel. The final thing I liked was the music which shows the graphic novel atmosphere, tone and adds immersion, so ill add different music to show the Halloween theme and the intense survival tone. So I’ll use similar music to the music I am using in my graphic novel.

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The Second Play Test

Since i’m now done with half of my graphic novel, with only small features not finished and added yet, I decided to do another play test. The reason I decided to do this now was because there is enough done for the play testers to fairly judge what the graphic novel will look like when finished and there is enough time and work for me improve and fix all the issue they might find.

The questionnaire:

I’ve decided to use the same questions to see if I’ve changed the issues that were mentioned before and they are still relevant questions that I need to know in order to properly improve my graphic novel.

The results:

I wanted to know how the art and the all the other features in my graphic novel are seen and if they work and come across how they are meant to be.

I asked 8 people this time, four girls and four boys all in my target audience age range (13-16 year old), the reason I did girls and boys is because though girls are my main audience, I also want to make it so that boys can enjoy the graphic novel too so I wanted to know if boys like it or is it too feminine.

Question 1-

I asked, ‘What do you think of the art style and why?

I was wonderful to know that everyone liked the art style, almost all of them found it; cute, effective, adorable, brightly coloured, simple, fun and perfectly fitted the story and target audience. This is wonderful because I know know the art does appeal to my target audience and it fitting so it doesn't look odd and that people love the art since that is a huge part of a graphic novel.

Question 2-

I asked, ‘What do you think about how the graphic novel is laid out and why?’

This was also very positive, they found the layout good because it wasn't too crowded/cluttered, easy to read/follow, interesting, perfect and professional looking. This is wonderful since I didn’t want it to look amateur looking and unappealing by it being crowded, since this can make it hard to read and that could result in people become confused or frustrated and hating the graphic novel to completely missing the story. Some told me how I could improve it which was experiment more by adding more variety in the shape of the panels, which I think is a very good idea, adding variety and stopping it for getting boring and repetitive, so I’ll try to do this in the next chapter, especially in the fourth one since that chapter has an action scene which i want to be very interesting.

Question 3-

I asked, ‘What do you think of the interactive elements?’.

I got great feedback for this question since not only did people try to tell me how they felt about it but also how I can improve it. Most people said how they are fun to use, interesting, funny and brilliant (such as the enlargeable speech bubbles). Other told me about how sometimes it is hard to read (this is mostly about the colour red which I currently trying to figure out since its too late now to redo all the speech bubbles) and the page numbers which is mostly because I've not properly added them yet but its great to know that people want them to be added.

Question 4-

I asked, ‘How could I improve this graphic novel?’.

Some of the answers are similar to the answers about such as the quality of speech bubbles and the page numbers and one person said how I should developed/add more characters which I’ll try to do with Marshmallow in the next chapters. Most people said about how they liked how it was and they want me to continue with how it already is, so I now know what I’m doing is good and there are only a few things I need to add or try to fix.

Question 5-

I asked, ‘Did you find any glitches or problems and if so what were they?’.

It’s great to know that once again no one found any glitches in my graphic novel but there is always the last play test to finalized if my graphic novel is truly glitch free.

7 people said yes saying that they would because they loved the art, the characters personality, it’s enjoyable, entertaining and the story is fascinating while having great quality. This is amazing to know since it shows my work still appeals to my target audience. 1 person said maybe, it depend on the final product which is understandable since it still isn't completed yet. 

OVERALL

I received fantastic feedback which will greatly help me since I know understand what is good, what they enjoy, what more i could add, how i could improve and know that my graphic novel  still appeals to my target audience. I will be apply all my research to my graphic novel with the rest of the stories such as trying to add all the ideas they said i could improve on such as the page numbers, possibly the speech bubbles and the panel shapes in order to keep my audience interested for when it is finally completed.

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Story 2- PRODUCTION DIARY

I completed the second story of my graphic novel, which contains 3 pages, 3=2 animated panels and all the speech bubbles are animated and panels have sound effects..

PRODUCTION DIARY

I’ve already created a production diary for how created the first story of my graphic novel, so I won’t go into detail for each individual page and most of the process.

First thing I did was draw out all the panel art for each page using Photoshop, using my story board as reference once again like how I did with the first story

After that drew out all the speech bubbles and animated objects (like spells) on a different PNG file; so I can animate them separately on flash and add sound effects when needed.  I made two different versions of the speech bubbles, a small one which goes on the panel and a larger one which is the one you see when you click the panel since that is part of my interactivity. 

After that I opened the flash file with the rest of my graphic novel and added all the pages to the rest of the story like how I did with the first story. I then converted all the speech bubbles that i also added to flash as buttons and animated them so they got bigger and some have sound that happens when you click it; by adding all the free sound effects I've downloaded (making sure they aren’t too long or loud) and then added the music speaker buttons with a different song to fit the tone of chapter 2 better.

Finally I added the potion icon onto the animated panels to show what panels are animated, and the to be continued text, finishing the second story story.

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Scary Godmother

Scary Godmother is a series of graphic novel created for children and books created by artist Jill Thompson and published by Sirius Entertainment in 1997.

MY PROJECT

I've used this graphic novel as research before, but that was for my title cover, so this time I will look at the graphic novels (not the books) as a whole, and see how they can help me with the look, characters and overall project.

The first thing that caught my eye about this graphic novel was just how much this graphic novel series just screams Halloween, from the colours, to the characters, the plot and setting. It is all very Halloween which is perfect for my graphic novel which has a very similar look (though mine is more cute themed too), I could take inspiration from this graphic novel when creating the outfits, settings and tone of the graphic novel.

I also took inspiration for how Taffy looks (while creating the cover and character profiles) from the main character in the series; 'Scary Godmother'. I adored her orange hair that helped make her eye catching, the stripped tights that makes her look childish and fun and the witchy outfits and hat she wears which made me want to dress Taffy in a similar outfit (but in a different art style), I even liked the rosy cheeks that make her look very kind and cute; which is how I wanted Taffy to look since looking young is an important part of her character.

Another thing that attracted me was how amazing the story and art, even though it is a children's series, it can greatly appeal to an older audience with its amazing art, fun plot and entertaining characters. This is great inspiration for my target audience since my main target is young children (around 13 years old) with the fun comedy and colourful characters that greatly appeal to children, while also having important morals and lessons for them to learn. WHILE also appealing to older audiences who can enjoy the art, story and characters and can even learn from it. This is what I want to add to my graphic novels, so I can look at how the characters talk to see how they are so appealing, the art which I can take inspiration from and the story and morals that keep it so interesting, taking many inspirations for my own story. This graphic novel also meant for both genders by mostly females (as seen as from most the main characters being females, like my graphic novel) but still having stuff in it to appeal to males, it isn't over girly and there is so much depth to the characters that all people of all genders and age can enjoy it.

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Story 1- PRODUCTION DIARY

I completed the first story of my graphic novel, which contains 3 pages, 3 animated panels and all the speech bubbles are animated.

PRODUCTION DIARY

I’ve already created a production diary for how created the first page of my graphic novel, so I won’t go into detail for each individual page.

First thing I did was draw out all the panel art for each page using Photoshop, using my story board as reference.

I then drew out all the speech bubbles on a different PNG file; so I can animate them separately on flash and also drew out the animated feature on a separate PNG too. I made sure to save two different versions of the speech bubbles, a small one which goes on the panel and a larger one which is the one you see when you click the panel; it is much clearer and easier to read than the smaller one.

I then opened flash and added all my pages, speech bubbles and animated features. I converted all the speech bubbles into buttons so that when you click the speech bubble it gets bigger and easier to read. I also converted the animated panels into buttons so the image changes when clicked.

I then downloaded some sound effects and music (explained in another blog post), imported them into flash and added them onto the animated panels and the music onto a speaker icon so the reader can choose if they want to listen to the music or not. I made sure the sound effects are quick and not too loud, so they don’t annoy the reader for too long and helps them feel more immersed in the story and panels.

Finally I added the potion icon onto the animated panels to show what panels are animated, and the page numbers and to be continued, finishing the first story.

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Sound Effects and Music -PRODUCTION DIARY

From research I’ve discovered that music and sound effects helps readers get more immersed and interested in the story, creating atmosphere when needed and helps the reader feel more involved in the story. 

Unfortunately due to there being limited time I wont be able to create my own sound effects or music, so I looked online for free sound effects and music I can use in my graphic novel.

PRODUCTION DIARY

I discovered that I can use ‘freesound.org’ for sound effects, and ‘The Holiday Spot’ for music.

I downloaded the music and sound effects, and then opened them up in adobe audition so I can fix the sounds such as changing the volume, making it longer or short and changing some of the sounds so it sounds exactly how i want it to be.

I added all the sound effects and music I need for my first story (and a page turning sound for changing page) to flash. I added the sound effects to the animate panels; I don’t want to add sound effects to every panels because it become too messy and cluttered, and could stop the immersion that i want to create. 

After that I downloaded a got a PNG transparent pumpkin and added it to my graphic novel, this will be the button to turn the music on. Each story will have different music since all chapters are different and have different tones, therefore will need different music to fit the tone of the chapter.

But I needed to find a way of giving the reader the option to stop the music and I didn’t want to use the pumpkin as the music since I want it to be obvious what controls the music, so I made a generic speaker icon (an ON and OFF one) and add them to flash, replacing the pumpkin. I then converted them so that the ON speaker turns the music on and the OFF speaker turns all music and sound off (even sound effects). This gives the reader full control over the music.

I will add all of these to the rest of the chapters, which adds another interactive element to my graphic novel.

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"Tell Me Your Secrets" - An Interactive Graphic Novel (Research)

My friend showed me this interactive graphic novel that was posted on BBC iWonder. It is a story based on true-events from World War Two, where you can select elements and discover part of the war you may have never known before. (BBC iWonder, 2017)

This graphic novel is completely interactive, you have to click to change the panels, the panels are animated slight with the pictures moving, sound effects and speech bubbles, and there are places where you click to choose a topic you want to discover. The motion to the panels adds so much immersion, makes it look so professional and beautiful to read; the art is fantastic which is important and helps the reader stay interested and understand the story.

There are other interactive elements such as an inventory where you see what the people had at the time and how it was used (atom bomb) and it is a fun and not an in your face way of learning. 

There is also more things to help immerse you into the story such as sound, there is music that fits perfectly with the scene, subject and time period, and there are even sound effects. It all helps you get absorbed and fascinated in what you are reading. It gives you setting such as control over the sound, the movement and even tells you how far into the story you are.

One of the best parts of this graphic novel is that all of the interactive elements get you so absorbed and interested in the story that you don’t even realize its for educational purposing (learning the history of WW2), which is a perfect way for people who struggle with learning or just hate studying; giving people a fun alternative to learning.

My project

Unfortunately i’m already a quarter into my production so there isn't many features I can add to my graphic novel, such as the motion to each panels which would have been an amazing idea, though seeing how beautiful their art is and how it keeps the reader immersed, I will make sure that my art is fitting and interesting enough to keep my target audience interested, while also conveying perfectly what is happening in the story.

There are some story ideas I could possibly add such as how they get people more interested with the story though sound. Sadly with my limited time i wont be able to create my own sound effect but i might be able to buy the license to use some fitting (Halloween? Battle? Magic?) music and add it to my graphic novel. 

This could greatly add to the survival element of my story since adding battle music could make the fight more fascinating to read and keep the reader immersed in the battle and tension, building up on the survival element.

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Chapter 1 Title Cover PRODUCTION DIARY

I need to create 4 sub-title covers to separate the chapters but I wanted to keep it simple so it isn't too clustered and wont take too long to do it.

So I came up with an idea that it will have a Polaroid picture of the characters; such as Taffy in chapter 1, Liquorice in chapter 2 and Marshmallow (and maybe coffee) in chapter 3 and either Liquorice and Taffy or Coffee in chapter 4.

PRODUCTION DIARY

The first thing I did was create a background that fits with the rest of the graphic novel so I used the same background as the front cover and instructions cover (purple background and orange boarder).

I then added a white square to create into a Polaroid picture later and added some tape to the corners to add the look of the picture being taped onto it like a scrap book.

I added a green square (keeping to the the colour scheme) and left a gap at the bottom so it looks like a Polaroid ad this is where i can he chapter title.

I drew out Taffy in her witch outfit but I wanted to be in a different pose, that makes it really look like it is actually a picture someone took of her, so I made it look like she is pulling her mouth to create a silly face.

I then added the chapter 1 to the bottom of the white bit to finalize it as a chapter title cover. I was gonna add a title name but i felt like it wasn't need since there are only a few stories and they are all short so it wouldn't be hard to find the chapter you want.

And with that, the title cover is DONE!

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Survival in my Graphic Novel

The two project themes that we had to choose between for our project was ‘Thrive or Survive’, and I decided to choose survive. The reason I chose survive was because I knew I could add dramatic and an interesting plot with survival since it would be easy to use the good vs evil plot and build characters and plot around it to make it unique and interesting. I tried to think of something to do with thrive but all the idea i tried to think up was weak and didn't have enough substance to research and a product about, so I stuck with survive.

I kept to the idea of good vs evil and the idea of Halloween and witches came up (explain in other blogs), so I fought of how I could combine them and make it work. I came up with witches using their magic to fight an evil creature but I also wanted to make it more fun and comedic to suit a young target audience and keep it fun for the reader and not just intense or dramatic since can get boring and repetitive while making it hard to develop characters because your trying ti develop the plot.

I also wanted to add more survival elements and more dramatic plot points so I added the rivalry which would allow me to add more drama and comedy. The survival of the rivalry, of their daily life with magic (since they use magic against each other) and the survival against the evil shadow spirit at the end; a spirit which was created by the hatred between the characters.

My graphic novel has 4 short stories with an overarching plot, each story has a form of survival, the first story the survival of their daily lives, story 2 survival of school and each other, the 3 & 4 story the survival against each other and the evil shadow creature.