Graphic

Narrative
Evaluation

Does your final product reflect your original

intentions?
My final product has many of the same themes and ideas as my planning but as I
have developed my ideas it has drifted from the original planning stages. After
scheduling each session in the planning booklet, I then decided to go back to my test
pages and try a few different styles, thus discovering that using a graphics tablet
would be much better suited to the style I was aiming for over the initial shape idea.
First of all, Id like to compare the stages of development from my initial planning
and flat-planning through to test pages and my final product.

My original mood board and flat planning focuses more on traditional oriental art, looking
at a watercolour and ink style on simplistic backgrounds. In my first test page I intended
on sticking with the watercolour style for the environment while adding a more geometric,
origami style for the background and characters. When further developing and first
experimenting with a graphics tablet, I decided to revert back to the inky hand drawn
style, now cutting out the hand painted background features and instead exploring
various brushes and tools available within the paint feature on Photoshop to create a
mystic yet simplistic background. I used a watercolour brush to digitally colour in the
dragons and eventually developed this to a took called the mixer brush which blends
colours and shades giving a smooth painted effect. I also decided to place text at the top

In my original plans I didnt intend on showing the people of the village, instead showing the
village from above when it is introduced and then the Emperor allowing the rains to fall.
However, in production, I found it would make more sense and be more visually appealing to
the audience if I included some of the villagers and showed the impact of the dragons actions
(The crops beginning to grow again, the people being happy). However, this proved to be very
difficult as I needed to maintain the same art style as Id used to draw the dragons and I had no
planning to work from in order to help structure my page.

Another feature of my book that I changed through the planning stages was the actual style of
the dragons and how they are presented. At first, I wanted to have a mixture of western and
eastern style dragons to add variety and cultural context to my work. However, I was restricted
by my drawing ability when making test pages and decided to focus on western style dragons
instead. I also changed the style of the dragons several times throughout the planning and
through to the production stages of the book, first aiming for a bright, simplistic geometric style,
then playing with brush effects to create mystical, watercolour, messy style dragons. Ultimately
I decided to maintain the inky style that Id looked at during the planning stages with books
such as Orange Pear Apple Bear but to fill the colour in with a much cleaner effect instead of
the watercolour seen in that book. I also decided to put the initial cartoon faces back on the
dragons to allow the audience to connect with them further.

I also changed my font styles multiple times since my original planning stages and have
developed the style to be more suited to the target audience. At first I wanted to keep the font
large, bold and simple to make it as easy as possible for children to read, however, as my planning
progressed I decided that the book would look better if I used a font that exaggerated its themes
and was based from the oriental culture that the story came from. With this in mind, I spent a
while on DaFont.Com experimenting with various font styles until I found one I liked. However,
when I put the font onto the planning page I found it was too thin and would become lost on a
coloured background. I found another font which I discovered stood out well on the background
but might be difficult for children to read, especially as there is quite a substantial amount of text
per page. Instead, I used a font that is bold and rounded, similar to that used in The Gruffalo and
personalized it by starting each small paragraph with a letter from the oriental style font. It should
be easy for children to read while also having some links to the culture from which the story came.
For the final font I spent some time experimenting with the leading and tracking of the text in
order to make it clear and easy to read for children while also being efficient in the amount of
space it takes up on the page in comparison to the main image.

How well have you constructed your images?

The Four Dragons is set in three different locations, all of which have a different atmosphere and feel. I
tried to represent this change in environment with a mixture of colour and texture in order to allow the
reader to differentiate between the three places. The first page is set underwater so I used a soft aqua
colour and a water-edged brush to fill the background, going over it with slightly darker shades to create
the discreet effect of water. I created the sea floor with a simple rectangle shape to which I added of a
stock image of sand and used a clipping mask and overlay tool to create a faded effect. I also edited the
hue and saturation of the sand image to give it a much brighter gold colour and then drew over this
layer using the graphics tablet to add a few small pebbles. I feel that this could use a little more detail
and would like to add more to this background such as small bubbles by the dragons and perhaps small
shells in the sand where there is empty space. For the outside by the mountains, I chose a solid blue
background to run throughout with simple misty clouds in each sky. I made the clouds using the mixer
brush and blending a light grey with the blues of the background, although this method wasnt reliable
as it was difficult to make the clouds look the same from page to page. I drew the mountains on three
separate layers and used a Gaussian blur tool to make the back layer seem more distant and add a
sense of depth to the page. For the inside of the Emperors castle I decided on a faded background and
darker shades to emphasise to the reader that the dragon is in another different environment. For the
wallpaper I found a stock image and edited it heavily with various filters, hue and saturation changes
and a lower opacity to give it the soft, muted effect seen in the page. I used the graphics tablet to draw
in the curtain and shading to keep the page in a similar style to the others but upon reflection I feel like
the background is missing something.

Underwater

Mountains

Emperors Castle

Mountains

Another point of interest is the way that my images developed throughout production. I
became more comfortable with the graphics tablet as my project progressed and there is
a visual change in the quality of my artwork and characters from the first pages in
comparison to the last ones I did. I found it easier to create smoother, neater lines and
add a more detailed texture to the dragons yet found it difficult to maintain the
continuity of style in each drawing of the characters. I based each drawing off of a similar
one of the same character so that they resembled one another and could be identified as
that particular character. However, this meant that the yellow dragon, which I drew first,
remained at a lower standard over the long dragon which was the last one I drew. If I
were to publish this work and had more time, I would like to go back and redraw the
yellow dragon as I feel it doesnt match the texture and style of the other dragons.

I used a variety of colour, pattern and various brush tools to give texture to the dragons and
make them seem more realistic. I used the scatter brush initially to give the effect of scales and
pattern to the dragons and later discovered that using the scatter tool with the mixer brush
created a much more subtle effect and allowed the light and dark shades underneath the
pattern to come through and give further sense of realism. This is most noticeable when
comparing the pearl dragon with the black dragon as the pearl dragon has the scatter tool
without use of the mixer brush whereas the colour on the black dragon is much softer and more
blended into the black. Another effect that I used to shade and highlight the dragons is simply
the mixer brush on a lower hardness setting. This enables the lighter or darker colour to blend
with the base colour with a softer effect, making the merge between the colours less
noticeable.

Scattering without mixer

tool

Scattering with mixer

tool

When drawing people in the book, I used smaller

brushes and used a harder setting on the mixer tool
brush than with the dragons in order to create the
effect of light and shadow on the fabric. I wanted to
maintain the simplistic style that Id used when
drawing the dragons so chose to add small amounts
of detail into the clothes through shading and
highlighting rather than excessive use of the black
ink tool. In the image on the far right, David Hockney
uses colour to give the effect of creases and light
areas on the mans clothes. I chose to look at
Hockney as the majority of his work is done using a
graphics tablet and find it an interesting comparison
to my own digital art work. However, this style would

Mixer tool hard

brush

Mixer tool soft brush +

blending

How well have you used text to anchor your images

I decided to place text at the top and bottom of the page which should lead the children reading the book
through the story and see how the picture reflects that for example, most of the text at the top of a page
depicts what the character is going to do / what is going to happen and the text at the bottom of the page
reflects how it happened and the outcome of that, with the image in-between showing the event happening. This
is similar to how Dr Seuss books present text as it is incorporated into the background of the page and directs
the reader through the story. The text in the published childrens book stands out from the page a lot more than
mine does, further anchoring it to the images and giving the text equal importance to the images on the page. It
is important to present text this way as the story is the most important aspect of the childrens book; no matter
how detailed the images are, they are open to interpretation and may not tell the story properly without the
addition of the text.

I tried to make it so the image represents the most relevant and interesting part of the text as it
is important for it to be relevant when put alongside the text. I feel as though I did this fairly
well, for example the center image above shows the long dragon talking to the Emperor which
is an important part of the story as the Emperor refuses her request and causes the enigma of
what the dragons could do. However, I felt restricted by my ability to create scenarios that
matched the text in the way I wanted to and spent a lot of time working out different ways to
visually represent the story.

Is your product suitable for your audience?

I think that my completed product is still suited towards the target audience described in my
project proposal document as the adaption of the story I have made is simplistic and easy to follow
and the images are very bright and friendly for the children to look at. I wanted the story to be
engaging for children as young as toddlers but also interesting for older children who have a more
developed reading skill. I made an effort to make the text larger and bolder in order to make it
easier to read but it occasionally blends in with the background a little so parents/guardians may
have to help younger children to read it. My final product is still gender neutral and I think this
book is suitable for any child as it has a good moral encouraging children to help others. Despite
the oriental origins of the story, I decided to make The Four Dragons aimed towards English
speaking readers as it would be marketed and sold in the UK and I think it would be good for
children to read and learn stories from other cultures and parts of the world. Childrens books have
two target audiences as the carer of the child will be reading aloud or helping the child read the
book and it is important for adults to see the book as something they want their children to read.
Although children were the main focus when creating the product, it would be the adults that
purchase the book in order for children to read it. In my proposal I stated that my product would be
suitable for all social classes but regarding price range I wouldTarget
like it toAudience
be affordable
for classes
(child)
C2, D and E.

Age: 3-6
Gender: Any
Social Class: C2 D & E

Average Reader (parent)

based from YouGov
Profile research of
childrens books)
Age: 25 39
Gender: Female

I tried to make the content of my childrens book engaging and aesthetically pleasing for the
target audience, using a variety of textures and colours to keep young children interested. I
changed the design plans for the dragons to make them appear more friendly and cute to
allow young readers to connect with the characters. I think the colours within a page are
important as different tones attract different audiences and its commonly known that bright
colours appeal more to children over more subdued tones. I didnt want to present the
Emperor as a villain style character as younger readers are impressionable and may be
scared of this character, I also decided to make him good at the end of my adaptation of the
story, opposing the original folktale in which he punishes the dragons to an eternity trapped
under some mountains as I felt this to be inappropriate for small children. Moreover,
although the original version of the story had a happy ending with the dragons becoming
rivers and providing the people with water forever, I resolved to shortening the story and
giving it a lighter ending with perhaps a slightly different meaning The people showed their
appreciation for what the dragons did and the dragons were able to go back into the sunset
in traditional childrens book fashion.

A simple change in colour

scheme made the
Emperor more suitable
for young children.

I added very simplistic features

to my dragons (just eyes and
nostrils) which intended on
making the dragons more
friendly and cute to children.
This is similar to the character
of Miffy who has extremely
simplistic facial features and is
considered lovable because of

What do you like/dislike about the techniques you

have used?
Reference specific tools you used with images

I used a variety of techniques and tools to make my childrens book including

use of a graphics tablet with various brush tools, shape, filters and effects.
Using a wide range of techniques allowed me to create texture and depth to
each page and also enabled me to create detail in various different ways.
Brush setting used for
detail

Brush setting used for

outlines

These are the two main brush setting I used for

drawing the dragons and people in production of my
childrens book, one for the basic outline of the
character and one for the smaller details within
each drawing. The outline brush is slightly thicker
than the other brush I used and had a slightly
angled tip which made outlines stand out more. I
used a larger version of this brush to fill the outlines
with colour. The detail brush is smaller and more
rounded, allowing me to do slightly more intricate
areas of drawing. This brush was also useful when
adding small amounts of detail on the colour layer,
for example on the close up of the red dragon I drew
small ridges into its horn. With both of these
brushes I also incorporated use of the wet edges
feature that gives the pen a watercolour effect and
allows you to layer colour from translucent to a solid
colour. I found this to be useful for developing my
drawings by playing with texture (amount of water
on the brush, load of brush, ect) . when I used this
alongside the graphics tablet which I enjoyed using
as it allowed me to add detail to my work and
improve my digital art skills as the project

What do you like/dislike about how your final

product looks?

I really like the way that the characters and the backgrounds complement one another as this
was an area of my planning that I was struggling with when creating test pages. I feel that the
bold, black outline of the characters makes them stand out from the background while the
colours are subdued enough for them to look natural against the various backgrounds. Im proud
that I managed to closely maintain a specific character style between the four dragons and
continue a similar style when drawing human characters.

I disliked how the drawings often looked messy and if I were to edit the book now I would
add more shading and detail into my work. I also disliked the human characters as they
look unprofessional and rushed in comparison to the drawings of the dragons. I would
also prefer all of the text to be lined up exactly and is the same throughout all pages of
the book as in my final product the text seems slightly sporadic as I forced it to fit within
the backgrounds and many pages dont quite match.

Why did you include the content you used?

I experimented with several styles before deciding on one that I felt looked best. I chose to do
hand-drawn images as I felt they would help children to connect with the characters and give the
book a softer overall appearance. I enjoyed creating the images and felt they were appropriate
for the story as it is a folktale the hand drawn style could represent the original storyteller and
how the tale was passed down through everyday people. I chose bright colours to attract the
attention of young children and to highlight the positive aspects of the story, for example, the
colours inside the Emperors castle are more subdued then the colours used in the ocean to
represent the negativity of the Emperor. Similarly, the dragon is bright and stands out where the
Emperor is wearing more subtle colours. With the black dragon it was slightly harder to stick with
this theme as the colour of the dragon had to match the name yet the colour black is often
associated with negativity. I got around this by adding bright purple horns and skin detailing to
the dragon which linked it back to the colourful, positive symbolism that goes with the bright
colours of the other dragons. I decided to make the pearl dragon a mixture of purples as pearls
are often known to be a very pale purple or blue colour and this is a bright, attractive colour.

I used an assortment of textures and effects throughout my project to give my pages depth and
a slight element of realism. I used it most on the final page to create the dragon statue as I
wanted to give the impression of stone and give the podium a 3D nature. I used a simple shape
tool to create the podium itself and then added an inner shadow to give the impression of light
on the shape. I used a simple metal texture for the plaque and added a gold hue/saturation
change to give it an ornate appearance. I had to warp the shape and the text to make the
plaque appear to be attached to the rounded podium. This was the most texture I used in one
page as it made the statue seem more realistic.

I decided to use a mixture of two fonts to make the text easy to read for the younger
audience while also matching the Asian origins of the story. I chose LAO MN as it is a
rounded, bold font that makes it easier for learner readers to understand. This is because
the slightly rounded edges of the font make it easier to follow as it flows better. However,
the first letter of each small paragraph is a font called Zenzai Itachi which is a traditionally
Chinese style font and looked nice when in context with the story.

What signs, symbols or codes have your used in

your work?

Choices of colour, style, locations, character design and tone all give additional meaning to your work.

The majority of the story is set in

a mountain range which makes
mountains a key feature of the
story. Throughout many cultures,
a mountain is a symbol of
constancy and firmness and is
often described as the point of
contact between heaven and
earth. This relates to my story as
the dragons on the mountain tops
are between the sky palace of the
Emperor and the valley where the
villagers live.
The sea is the home of the
four dragons and the source of
the water that saves the
village. The sea is a symbol of
life itself and represents the
soul, dreams and subconsciousness. This could be
reflected in the sea being a
place of peace for the dragons
and how the water from the
sea caused the plants to grow
again .

The dragon is a symbol of good fortune in Chinese mythology. Each character in my story is
a different colour and these colours also have underlying meanings which may reflect the
personality of each dragon and change the way it is seen by the audience.

The Long Dragon The main body of this

dragon is red which is a colour that
symbolises strength, determination,
passion and courage. These features can
be seen by the Long dragon as she goes to
speak to the Emperor and still wants to
help the people even after that has failed.
The long dragon also has features that are
blue which is a colour that symbolises
The Pearl Dragon A light purple dragon,
loyalty and faith.
colours mostly associated with ambition,
magic, creativity and wisdom.

The Black Dragon As indicated in the

name, this dragon is mostly coloured
black which is regarded as a prestigious
colour and symbolises power and
mystery. The other colour seen on the
black dragon is purple. The black dragon
first heard the voices from the village
and took the others to investigate.

The Yellow Dragon Yellow is colour

that represents intellect, honour and
joy. The Yellow dragon comes up with
the idea of using sea water to water
the crops in the village and suggests
how it could be done.

What representations can be found in your

work?
My story has few actual human characters as the protagonists of the story are the four
dragons. I based my designs of the Emperor on traditional drawings of the mythical Jade
Emperor found in multiple Chinese folk tales. He is mostly shown with a very thin, long
moustache and is wearing traditional robes and a hat. He is represented as a figure of
authority but abuses his power. The Emperor owns a castle suggesting he is of a higher
social standing (He is a god..) than the people of the village who I depicted wearing
simple clothing and tending to fields of crops. I was careful to draw all of the characters
without a distinct ethnicity as I do not mean for my work to be offensive towards any
groups of people, however, as the story is based on a Chinese folktale, one can presume
the characters would be Chinese. All of my characters have the same complexion and
hair colour.
The Emperor is
The simplistic
wearing royal
style and muted
style robes and
colour of the
headwear that are
womans clothing
a brighter, richer
indicates that she
colour than those
is in a lower social
worn by the
class than the
villagers,
Emperor. I added a
indicating that he
simplistic belt to
is of a higher
her dress that
social standing.
could be
His stance also
interpreted as a
infers that he is in
strip of leather or
a position of
rope wrapped
authority.
around her waist.

What style have you employed in your products?

I was influenced by a variety of styles and existing products, including a book from my research called
If I had a dragon which was hand drawn and incorporated bright colours which stood out against the
black outline of the characters. I used a similar style in my final product, using a bold outline for my
shapes and a bright colour fill. However, the colours in the existing product have a watercolour effect
whereas mine are smooth and blended with various forms of shading. I took inspiration from various
images online and developed the designs of my dragons based on a range of drawing references.

I think my work has a relaxed, sketchy style which was developed from the illustration task
of my planning. I started by illustrating my characters on paper and then digitalized my
work using a graphics tablet. I developed this by drawing over my hand drawn work which
Id scanned into the computer until I felt comfortable drawing the dragons without copying a
hand illustrated version. The digital work looked better as it is brighter and stands out more
against the backgrounds Id created and I could get more pigmented colours. I also
discovered that, with a bit of practice, digital drawing is tidier and smoother looking as
opposed to hand drawn and coloured work.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the preproduction and planning

I found that my main weakness with pre production and planning was time keeping, I found it difficult
to remain organised with my ideas and present them in a clear fashion as I kept changing my mind and
redoing bits of work which was time consuming. I also felt that I couldve developed my test pages
further and incorporated my discoveries from those into my pre production pro forma. It took me too
long to develop my initial ideas for the story which prevented me from going further in my research
before I got to the test page page of pre production. As you can see from the images below, my initial
ideas are differ significantly from my final work, which, although not a bad thing, did use up a lot of
time in pre production and in future Id try to develop a singular idea and improve it rather than
switching between several throughout my planning.

Linking with the weaknesses mentioned above, I also found it difficult to keep the
compositions of my book pages closely matching with the flat plans I made previously.
Some pages completely differ from the original flat plan page and others have the same
content but are laid out differently. Despite this, I found it extremely useful to have the flat
plans as a guide during production.

The strongest part of my pre production and planning stage was the initial planning pages
as I felt that my work was organised and clearly laid out which allowed me to refer back to it
later in the project. I was careful to pay attention to small details that would help me as the
project progressed and developed. I also created further mood boards and planning as my
ideas changed so that it would be evident why my work differed from my first ideas. I felt
that my proposal was detailed and informative and I made changes to it based on peer
feedback.

The research I did throughout the project gave me inspiration, especially the existing story
book research that I did towards the end of the pre-production stages I found that simple
ink drawings in the childrens books I researched suited my style and this influenced the
ultimate style of my work. Although it ultimately became time consuming, I think that
exploring many different styles and ideas within the planning stages of the project helped
me to develop my work and find a production method that worked best for me. It also
enabled me to learn about a variety of styles and methods which will be useful in future
work.

Historical and cultural context

-How does your work compare to what has come before? What other similar products have existed in the past? What
current products exist?

When doing research for my product I

found several other versions of the story
portrayed in the form of a book. I noticed
that the depiction of the dragons in both
of these books are based from eastern
style dragons which opposes my version
in which the dragons are more the
western version. A similarity between the
currently existing books and my own is
the use of bright colours, especially
those on the cover of The Jade Emperor
and the Four Dragons as they are more
blended, slightly softer gem shades.
My book is also more similar to this book
in art style as it appears to be drawn
rather than digitally constructed and has
a variety of detail, texture and colour in a
small space.

The Chinese Mythology book appears to be more educating for young children rather than a
fictional storybook and is aiming to teach children about other cultures and their histories and
mythology. I wanted to subtly implement this into my own work as I feel it is important for children
to learn about other cultures, however my product is more for entertainment rather than being
informative.
The original folktale of the four dragons is the story of how the four main rivers in china were
formed. Each dragon represents one of the rivers: the Heilongjian (Black Dragon), the Huanghe
(Yellow River), the Changjiang (Yangtze, or Long River) and the Zhujiang (Pearl).
In Chinese tradition, the dragon is a symbol of good fortune and this is reflected in the story
without the dragons helping the people may have starved and the arrival of the good doing
dragons meant they were saved. The shape of a traditional eastern dragon is similar to the shape