My Graphic Narratives

'Picture Yourself on a Boat on a River'

Hierarchy of Information? 

The main thing I wanted to achieve with this image is the flow of hierarchy of information and where your eyes are first drawn into. In particular, I wanted the attention to be on the camera as this is the element with the most detail and specific aspects to it - and also the piece that took the most time to finish. The viewers eyes would then follow the wording around to fully take in the picture. To achieve this, I made the camera quite bold so although black and white like the writing, I added in definite black lines and small eye catching and intriguing detail to draw in the viewer immediately. I made the camera bigger than more than half the writing so that it was so noticeable, it almost makes the viewers eyes draw into the lens of on the camera which I think is quite effective in making the piece compelling.  I finally wanted to add in the colour polaroid stripes, once again to add attention to the finer details and make your eyes catch on to the bright and vivid colours which are bolder than the background. 

The writing was a bit different as I needed to take into consideration the layout of the picture and not just the where your eyes are drawn into first. The top line 'picture yourself' and bottom line 'boat on a river' look bright and stand out against the vivd background therefore make a good prominent piece. I think most people would look at the camera and follow to the top line anyway as this is where the writing begins and obviously where the lyrics start of. Then, quite evidently the 'In A' is the following lyrics, there also in the middle of the piece therefore the middle lyrics. And although the boldest colour in terms of the writing all together, I don't think it draws any attention away from the rest of the narrative. 

Overall, I think that the information works well, looks bright and also attractive on the whole of the piece. I do think there is room for improvement, as now after completing the piece I notice that the 'In A' is quite prominent compared to the rest of the lyrics however at the time this was not something I noticed as I was focused on the layout and making all the lyrics stand out against the fluorescent like background.

'With Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies'

Use of Colour?

My use of colour was especially important in this piece as I feel I had to be quite specific and limited in choosing the mix of colours to use and the way to make them work together. As the lyrics present an idea of the colour for me i.e marmalade being yellow & light oranges and tangerine, being deep oranges & slight reds it was just a sense of how to put them together and and make them work without making the piece look too rooted in one colour.

As all the main images throughout the narratives are black and white with a single element of colour this was not something I had to think about to much therefore It was easy for me to pick the tangerine colours. I chose these bright oranges, yellows and light reds as I knew it would stand out against the blacks, whites and greys and would look bold and attractive. The background on the other hand took more consideration, as you can tell, I used the same picture for each background but just messed around with the Levels on Photoshop until I got the chosen effect. I liked that the background for this piece is not too yellow, or too orange but mixes in elements and similar colours i.e the greens, dark reds, bright yellows and oranges which all in all add such a good base to the picture and makes it look that much more fascinating.

The text colour again was quite simple, I wanted to keep this the same throughout the whole of the narrative so the black on top of white and vice versa. I think it's the easiest option for a piece like mine as they are so colourful, it would be adding in to much colour to have a vibrant font. I also think these to colours just stand out in general and go with any kind of colour.

Overall, I think all the colours are bold, vivid and daring, not just on this piece but throughout the whole narrative. It makes the whole graphic narrative interesting and extremely eye-catching whilst not looking to excessive with colour. I didn't have a limited colour palette as such, but I tried to stick with a theme for each separate narrative i.e. blue, orange, purple and pink, but this didn't mean I was restricted as there is more than one shade of each of these colours and therefore i could involve almost any of these shades together. All over, I think that the colour range is completely successful, so although each graphic narrative is a opposite colour to the next it flows really well and looks so interesting.

'Somebody Calls You, You Answer Quite Slowly'

Use of Text?

The typeface I used throughout the whole graphic narrative was called 'Riesling' which I found on dafont.com. Its an elegant and simple but works really well with the song I've chosen as it has a classic 60s vibe. I went through many fonts from hippy flower ones to patterned detail fonts but they didn't seem to fit not matter how much I adjusted them around - I believe this was because it just added to much detail. Once I found the font 'Riesling' it was just a matter of sizing it up and putting it on the page so it stood out amongst the bright colour and sharp detail images. I also needed to leave room for the images.

The scale of the fonts vary throughout each images, which goes with the theme of the song and the rest of the layout. Not only does it look interesting but it makes each piece look enticing and captivating. To adjust the font I used Photoshops 'Characters' tools, where I could adjust the height, width, spacing, sizing and placement of each individual word or letter. This made it really easy for me to move around fonts and make them fit into places so used up as much of the valuable space I could.

The colour, like previously said, was again quite simple to choose. Black and white were the most simple colours to pick as they add boldness in an eye-catching and readable way, rather than a colourful and striking way. I decided to switch round the black on top of white or white on top of black to again make the piece more interesting and compelling  and also easier to read. It also makes the characters have a 3 Dimensional effect.

I feel the font overall does reflect the theme really well with its elegant, mythical and old school vibe but the way i've styled it to suite the narrative gives it the slight modern twist it needs to attract people today. It flows really well with each drawing to as they represent quite a hippy and free vibe.

'A Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes'

Use of Imagery?

The use of imagery is something that I could grasp in this particular image really well. The lyrics alone have a vivid visual representation that could be quite easily transferred into an actual image. And it was also quite simple to do, I created the eyes by drawing them by hand so I could add as much detail as possible then I used the scanner to get them onto the computer to begin editing. I adjusted the contrast, brightness and sharpness only, using Adobe Photoshop so that I could make the colour more bold without losing important detail. I then found two different images of kaleidoscope, once again adjusted contrasts and colour and transferred them to the picture of the eyes using various different Adobe tools. After that, I fitted them on the page along with the lyrics and matching the background.

I think this use of imagery reflects the theme really well, it follows the hippy, colourful and 70s vibe that is a continual theme throughout the whole of the piece. The abstract image especially, is eye-catching in a way that it draws you in and makes you want to look deeper into piece rather than just having a quick glance.

Tools and Techniques

I usd multiple tools to create all my pieces, I began by drawing the basic images by hand, taking inspiration from pictures I found online so that I could perfect them to his I wanted. I then scanned all the images and took time on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator adjusting the size, contrast ad brightness using there tools.

Rough Drawings