Evaluation

Comics, can have enormous educational value not only in perception, but also in the process of creating it. This form of educational activity is so effective that it is associated with entertainment and famous heroes, perhaps a great support not only in learning to read and write, but also provide knowledge of nature, mathematical and historical. This combination of education with an element of popular culture, which is a comic book, helps shape the critical reception of the media. The very creation of comic books by the students develop their creativity in several areas; writing, drawing and composition, and in addition they may face the challenge of creating storyboards.

Contrary to appearances, work on the comic book transition requires many steps on the road from idea to finished picture stories. When conceived its subject, create a distinctive character, which can easily be distinguished from the others. Writing a script and is another very important element; it decides what text appears in a "bubble" on the picture. Then ready illustrations must be accompanied by narration. Create a comic book is also an interesting form of learning to work in groups, where I could share of responsibilities and jointly decide on the content I wanted to pass in my work.

The complexity and richness of species, which is the comic that makes it an extremely flexible means of communication, could use for a number of areas, aimed at different groups of target audience. This form, although primarily associated with entertainment, may be an interesting carrier of knowledge. Currently, we meet not only with ever faster evolution of the comic and its forms, but with ever more innovative ideas for its use for example online.

My task was to fulfil the requirements of graphic narrative unit which is all about creating my own comic. In order to gain a full mark I was meant to research, plan and produce my comic. At the end I was demanded to evaluate, reflect on my work and explore improvements needed, what could be done better next time if I would face similar project.

At the beginning of this unit I started my research by dividing comics into two genres western and eastern. This task helped me to separate my research and made it more organized. Firstly I watched film based on western comic style ’’Watchmen’’, to gain an idea of what characteristics are defining and highlighting this style of graphic narrative. Later on I looked at the comic itself and I compared film and comic together I gathered information about features of this particular style and I repeated exercise for eastern comic by watching and comparing manga ’’Fruits Basket’’. To expand my knowledge about comics I also have research the history of manga and eastern comics and I putted the presentation together of what I have found about the subject matter.

Once I could easily define and distinguish both of styles together I could carry on with other investigation. I have researched about characterization of the character within the literature which also appeal to graphic narratives. Next I moved into more depth researching. To prepare myself for creating my own comic and finding some ideas, I chosen a comic ’’Iron Man’’ and I analysed all the aspects of it; narrative structure, components, image construction and significations. Afterward I did the practice task which purpose was to educate me in planning my own comic. The task was quite straight forward, based on comic I researched in this case ’’Iron Man’’ I was demanded to create the twist story, new idea that will be opposite to the one published already in the comic. I did managed this brief quite well, I drawn some sketches and I looked at character profiles as well as generating ideas about the story line itself. I think this task was really helpful to me as I get a taste of planning my own comic, therefore when it came to do it I knew exactly what I was doing. I have also looked at mythical, symbolical and social features f few of chosen comics and I analysed them really carefully trying to include as much information as I possibly could.

Subsequently I was ready to create my own ideas. I did come up with three different stories ideas; first is a western comic about girl Amy who is transferred into her dream, second is again western comic during Second World War about Edward a young boy with spited personality, and third a last one is manga narrative about Nukka ghost who lives in the word of living being invisible for normal humans. In my opinion all three ideas were really strong and could be improved well. I only had to do one comic, so I came to a decision to produce a questionnaire and do primary research of audiences. Before it I drawn sketches of each character for audiences to be able to see the visual side of each story and get familiar with characters. The results of my questionnaires were divided, but majority of people voted on the third idea giving me useful hints of how I could progress my story.

Before continuing with my chosen idea I undertook other research into ways of publishing my work along with comparing my idea to similar products and how they created the image to pass on the story to the audience effectively. The manga that I looked at to get wider image later on reflecting on my work are; The Soul Chaser by Studio Kawaii, Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet by Nozmo, I Want To Give You Your Smile by Krazeh Kai. At the end I have decided that my comic’s will aim at the young adults or teenage girls and will be published alongside with the girly magazine. My comic and magazine will be separated however the comic will be released episode by episode, the role of the comic will be just like an extra gift to a magazine just like for example free lip-gloss or hairbands.

When I figured out how I want to publish my comic and who my target audience are, I could continue with planning and designing the actual product. Therefore I started to draw the main outlines for my comic so that later they could be transferred into Photoshop software where I have edited them carefully, with attention to every detail. It was really time consuming, but I am satisfied with the result I gain at the end.    

If I could improve my comic I would probably change the script to less complex, I should kept it shorter; straight to the point rather than explaining every single point of the story. Also I would make more space for ’’bubbles’’ (speech and narrative marks) as I think at the moment they haven’t got enough space in the result some images may look a bit chaotic. Although the actual edited drawings are looking funky and entertaining, fulfilling its role well as they have this mystery theme and message behind them.

To summarise I think this was a very good unit, I have improved my designing skills a lot and I gather a lot of information about the discipline I have never worked on before. I found it very interesting and I hope I could do similar project in the future taking into my account the mistake I did this time and trying to improve them if I would have a chance.