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:

There will be no costs to this project, as the York College Creative Media department provides
all the equipment that Im using for the book.

Available resources:

Photoshop
Google
Source Images
Scanners
PC/Mac with internet access

Quantity:

The book will only be sold in the UK and Ireland, as the story is only well known in the UK
because of the very popular tourist attraction called The Giants Causeway. The book will be
sold in gift shops around the Causeway, therefore there wont be masses of books printed out
as there will only be sold in a small area, possibly in the 1,000s. On Google I couldnt find a
definitive answer to the question of How many books are produced? So I think the quantity
would be low as its only being sold in gift shops for now.
Audience and Target Market:

The audience will be preferably boys aged from 6-10. The average price of a childrens book
as of 2015 is 5.40, so I would like the book to be priced around the 5 mark to match with the
demographic of the average middle/working class family. I would also prefer that 5-10% of the
profit of this book would go to the facilities that run the Giant Causeway to keep the World
Heritage Site running.
Quality Factors:

Consistency I will be coming into College doing, 3 hours of high quality work on most days
and on Mondays Ill be doing 5 hours of work, I need to make sure that I keep my work
consistent to make sure I dont rush the last few pages.
Back Ups I will also need to bear in mind that the computers Im using are not exactly
perfect, so I will need multiple files of work to make the chances of loosing my work a lot
slimmer, for example using a USB stick and another PC to put my work on just in case
something breaks.
Motivation The time spent on this is 2 weeks and that is just producing the work and not
much else, so when it comes to the near end of the project, I will need to keep my motivation
high to ensure the quality of my work is at its best.

Codes of Practice:

The Code Of Practice on author Contracts 2010 includes regulations that both the publisher
and author will agree on to stop anything wrong and illegal from happening during production.
These are the most important areas of the Code of Practice.
The Contract The contract identifies the work set, the copyright between publisher and
author, what pay the author will get for this book and the authors responsibility to say that this
legal and the time set for the manuscript delivery.
Copyright This ensures that when the book is published, the author is not exploited of the
work he or she did, and has the persons name written off the book
Time This ensures that the author completes production by a certain date, if the date is not
met, the publisher then can cancel the contract
Deformation This makes sure that the work published by the author is not in any way illegal.
Success This makes sure that if the book is a best seller and thousands are sold, then the
author is a allowed a fair balance of profit from the success of the book.

Regulation:

Unlike T.V, Movies, Video Games and Advertising books dont have much regulation. However
books that fall under the definition of a toy, would have to be compliant with the Toy Safety
Directive 2009/48/EC if the book is sold on the European Market. This wont apply to my book,
as its not defined as a toy. But it will have to be compliant with the Equality Act 2010, to make
sure nothing about my book is discrimination in any way, as my book has a Scottish and an
Irish giant and it will be shown to children aged 6-10, I have to make sure the appearance and
the way they talk is not offensive. Also the Obscene Publications Act 1959 explains that I cant
release a childrens book that has offensive or obscene material inside of it. For example a
Pied Piper book was taken down after the ending showed the Pied Piper killing himself in jail.
My book does comply with this regulations act, as there are not offensive scenes in my book.
Copyright:

My book is a myth that has been told for thousands of years dating back to the medieval era,
there was no first author as the story was mainly spoken to the younger generation. Until
recently when gift shops and other book shops in Ireland= [started selling this story as a book.
Therefore because there was no proper original author and the story has been around for
thousands of years then the copyright would have expired, meaning I can write a story without
having to pay someone initially. The font for my book is free to use as its from Adobe
Photoshop but there could be costs for commercial use.
Ethical Issues:

The only ethical issue this book has is that the bad guy is Scottish, because of this I have to
make sure the characters appearance is not offending the Scottish people in any way.

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 to help ensure you are ready to start your project.
If there is a resource you dont 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/PC

Yes (College
and Home)

I have a laptop at home and a Mac is provided to me by College

to complete the childrens book on.

Photoshop

Yes (College)

The college provided me with this program to develop the book.

But I do not own this program at home.

Internet Access

Yes (College
and Home)

The College does have internet access to get to Google and

other sources, my home also provides this.

Source Images

Yes (College
and Home)

I have internet access so getting source images for my book is

easily accessible at home and at college.

Yes (College)

College provides this to me for any sketches or ideas that I write

down, although this will be rarely used by me.

Scanners

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. I have a full day on Monday so that will count as two sessions.

Session 1: Monday 31st October (The Last Page Illustration)

Get Source image for the last page of the book. Start Illustration over
that for the Last Page.
Continue illustration of the Causeway and add in colours to give the
image a comical look.
Hopefully core Illustration will be finished, and I can add filters and
add shadows and gradients. (I have a Orthodontist appointment at
2:45 therefore Im possibly missing 30 minutes of work, I have to
make sure Im ahead)
Fully finish the illustration of the last page by adding any last things.
(If already finished by this point, do some Celtic Artwork for the text
pages)

Session 2: Tuesday 1st November (The First Image Page)

Start work on the first page of the book, using the test page as a
guidance, Finish background and environment by the end of this
hour.
Continue work on the first page adding the characters in and
developing the page further. Using the test page character as a
template
Add any last details and then potentially fully finish the page.

Session 3: Thursday 3rd November (The Text Pages)

Start work on the text pages 3-4 and 5-6, as this is the next easiest step for
my book. There is a template I made in the Photoshop folders as a head start.
Copy and paste text and make the colours look Celtic (Greens).
Start work on the text pages 5-6 and 7-8, using the same template make the
text look similar to the previous pages.
Start working on pages 9-10 and 11-12 and if I can do the last text page 1314.
Any spare time accumulated from finishing the text pages quickly can be used
to deign some Celtic Artwork for each text page. 5 different deigns are
needed.

Session 4: Friday 4th November (The Second Image Page)

If I havent finished the last text page, then do that, if I have then start work on
the 2nd image page by developing the environment around a different angle.
Keep adding detail to the environment, then start adding basic character
details and morphing the body parts round and giving them clothing.
Finish off the final details of the characters and any last touches then fully
finish the 2nd page.

Session 5: Monday 7th November (The Third Image Page)

Start developing new environment of Finns wooden house, by using
a source image to base it off.
Keep adding details to the environment and add in basic characters.
Develop the characters more by adding more detail to make them
look human, Finn will be easier as I have already made two models of
him on the previous pages while Mary will be a little difficult.
Finish off characters and add in more last details and possibly fully
finish this page.
Session 6: Tuesday 8th November (The Fourth Image Page)

Start production of the fourth image page by Rotoscoping the bridge,

this could be easy as all the hexagonal pieces are the same.
Finish off bridge design and move on to the rest of the environment
and adding a basic model of Ben to fit with the image.
Keep on designing Ben this could be difficult as Ben is a character
that I have no other copies of. Then potentially finish off this page.

Session 7: Thursday 10th November (The Fifth Image Page)

Start work on the 5th image page adding the outside of the wooden house and a
front garden.
Finish environment and add basic templates of the 2 characters on this page
also add basic details of the cot.
Finish details of Ben and Mary and the cot, and add in any last touches to then
potentially finish this page.

Session 8: Friday 11th November (The Sixth Image Page)

Start work on the environment; use the 4th image page as a template as thats
where this image is set. Then add in a template of Ben to work with.
Finish environment and fully focus on Ben, to continue the design of this
character.
Finish Ben details and add any last touches of this page, and then fully finish
the page.

Session 9: Monday 14th November (Review Other Pages)

Start a review on the first 3 image pages, adding in any details that I may off missed out
on.
Review the last 4 image pages, adding in details or anything I may of missed out on,
during previous sessions.
This is a perfect time to add any illustrations you couldnt fit in on the Text Page Session.
Or add in more details I missed out on
Do a last minute look at each page, make sure I like it otherwise somethings wrong.

Session 10: Tuesday 15th November (The Last Day)

Continue reviewing the pages, adding in anything I missed out on the last time I did this.
Last minute flick through the pages and text pages I have designed.

Finished

Health and safety:

Your health and safety and that of those around you are very important. Just like in industry, an accident could prevent you from
working. Whilst we dont 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?

Eyesight being affected by sitting by a computer for too

long.

Take a 10-minute break every 1 hour and 10 minutes to

relax the eyes from starring at a computer screen (display
Screen Equipment Regulations 1992).

Aches and pains in back and legs from sitting at a

computer wrong.

Get told how to sit at a computer right and provide the

people with adjustable chairs so that everyone can adjust
it to what they prefer.

Too many plugs in the electrical sockets could cause a fire

during production

Have limits on plugs and dont have multi socket plugs

just use the standard duo socket