Unit
19 Digital Graphics for Interactive Media: Task 2
In this word document, I will be writing about the pre-production, and
how I generate ideas for digital graphics/an interactive media product.
Stimulus
Client brief, own brief, from market research
The client brief is…
A graphic novels publisher has invited visual artists to submit
proposals and sample work for a graphic narrative.
I started to think of what kind of graphic narratives the public would
be interested in. I thought of my interests, and what I like reading, then I
searched the market.
One of my inspirations was the
comic/graphic novel ‘Scott Pilgrim’. I enjoyed how simplistic, yet recognisable
the character designs are. It made me want to implement this into my own
graphic novel. I wanted to make something with interesting looking characters
and a joyful story - something simple to get into and enjoy.
Ideas
Brainstorming
I thought of what I could do, who the characters would be, and what
would happen. I put these into 3 different ideas,
Idea #1
A school of wizards, set in medieval times. The story follows different
characters as they spent their daily life studying, making friends, and
learning to adapt to their new school life, while they have to fight dragons,
skeletons and Demons.
Idea #2
Set in the underworld, a Demon is bored of living there and wants to
live as a human. She escapes and tries to blend in with humans, however it
turns out to be a lot more difficult then she thought, and ends up helped by a
friendly human, who helps her disguise as a human.
Idea #3
An old Wizard lives in solitude in a cottage behind a forest. One day a
Demon crashes into his home and Wizard’s life is changed forever. The Demon has
lost its memory, so the Wizard decides to help it, and during their time
together, they get into different situations and eventually form a strong
friendship despite their differences.
I have decided to expand upon idea #3
-elaborate on setting, where it is, time e.g. middle earth, future,
-who are the characters, healer wizard
-where did the Demon come from
Characters
Wizard –Tall, glasses, wizard, human, male
Demon – Small, long hair, Demon/Imp, female
Short plan:
Wizard reading in his home
(shooting star falls outside in the background)
Wizard goes outside to check
(sees Demon)
(ends on a mysterious note – who is this person? Where did they come
from? Etc.)
Mood-boards
I created moodboards, so I could understand the vibe of my comic.
Character moodboard:
Background/setting moodboard:
Thumbnail sketching
I sketched out a few,
ideas/characters …
Legal and ethical
considerations
Copyright, Intellectual property rights
Copyright is the concept of taking an already established work, or
intellectual property, and using their characters, settings, or ideas. If you
are caught using someone else’s work, it could get you into legal trouble, and
possibly fined. An existing property may be intellectual property; thus, it is
liable to fall under copyright.
I am not worried about copyright, because, although my characters or
settings may be similar to some existing properties, everything is clearly my
own original characters and concept.
Ethical issues
Ethics are the moral decisions a company has to make. It’s a company’s
responsibility to make the right choices that are ethically correct.
e.g. confidentiality, representation (race, gender, religion, sexuality)
Decency
I consider my graphic novel available for all ages to read, of course,
different people have different views on decency. I have been told some designs
of my characters may not be appropriate, however this is a matter of opinion.
Since this graphic novel is available for all ages to access, I will try to
keep it as decent as possible.
Libel
Libel refers to a when someone publishes false statement that is
damaging to a person's reputation. I need to consider what is actual fair
criticism, or defamation that is punishable by law.
Interactive media graphics
In my graphic novel, there are a multitude of different way to involve
interactive media. Here I will list a few;
Rollover buttons – where moving your mouse over a button triggers a
response. This could be used in my graphic novel. It is a nice add on, that
rewards the reader for being perspective. However, I am also open to not using
these if the client prefers not to.
Navigation bars/menus – rolling your mouse over an option bar, showing
sub categories. I could create specific icons for this, for example when you
scroll over chapter 1, it will show pages from the first page to the last. This
helps with communication part of the design.
Animated graphics – Animation can be really interesting, and it is a
nice change of pace when you’re reading a webcomic, and you can watch a video
or animation instead. Many webcomics integrate animations on the web. Because
of the program we are using to create the interactive narrative (Adobe XD),
creating a gif would not be possible, however, we would still be able to create
moving graphics.
Web banners, a banner is a large graphic, usually advertising
something or containing a logo. Below is an example – their social links are at
the top, and the in the banner image too:
I would like to create this with my
own artwork.
Logo graphics, I would like to create my own logo for the comic.
This can help with navigation, site recognition, and it can look more
professional. An example
(Logo for
MSPA)
Backgrounds, are large images used to fill the wallpaper of a
website. They can give us an idea of what a website is about, or give us a
comforting atmosphere or communicate a certain aesthetic.
Texture graphics, these are normally seen in games, to add a
texture to an object. This is a graphic, usually .png or .jpg file. Which is
then added onto an already existing model.
Comic
books can also have also have a texture applied to them:
Graphics specification
Client needs, optimisation, & technical considerations:
For the client, I should make sure that the file size isn’t too large,
so that they would be able to display the comic. I wanted to keep my files as
PNG format, however this came with some downsides. I knew this would increase
the memory it would take to hold them, and it would load slower – but it was
worth it to keep the quality of the pictures. So, that they wouldn’t take up
too much space, I made sure the canvas size wasn’t too large, so I made all the
pages 1326 x 940 Pixels (big enough for detail, but not enough to be difficult
to transfer).
Audience:
My target market for this concept would include people from any age.
This would suit my audience because it has elements of intrigue and the person
watching/reading this would want to find out what happens next. It can be
appealing to young and old people alike.
Comic titles now have a consistent rating system; I should take into
account what rating this one will be prescribed. Because this comic features no
violence, or scenes that viewers may find inappropriate, I believe it would get
an ‘All Ages’ rating.
Visual style, composition & typography:
Visually, I wanted the style to be cartoony and enjoyable for kids, but
also be appealing for adults too.
The two main characters represent the colours yellow & purple. I
chose these two colours because they are complementary on the colour wheel, as
well as that, purple and yellow colour schemes are not used very much – I
wanted my two main characters to stand out.
Composition-wise, I started off the comic with long drawn out
pictures/pages to slowly settle people into the comic, then I started to add more
panels and text as the comic went on.
Typography – although there is nothing special about the way I arranged
text throughout my comic, I used my own font/handwriting for the speech:
I did this, because I wanted to give the comic a very relaxed and
informal vibe. I want readers to feel as though they are reading something
that’s been carefully crafted by hand, not mass-produced or robotic, as some
comic books can appear.
And I drew the logo:
This concludes my documentation of the pre-production for my graphic
narrative.
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