Category: Production Dossier

Refined Sketches & Assets

Below are some detailed sketches that I created vs some of the coloured in ones that I decided to draw properly. I wanted to take some of my sketches from my finished storyboards and colourise them and make them into final illustrations. I wanted to do this so that I’d have a full idea of what my finished project would look like in the art style I was trying to create and also an idea of the style of colouring to use on the assignment as a whole. I decided that my art style for the comic would be very deep in tone and be very realistic in colour whilst still keeping with the comic style. I wanted there to be not much line art within the pieces and the backgrounds and characters to really bring attention to the most interesting parts of the image. The characters or most important part of the scene will be the centre of attention to the viewer by using the line art within these areas, it will really add definition to these places and add interest.

When creating the coloured versions of these sketches and finalising them into pieces that I can add to pages I wanted to make sure that there was consistency within the pieces themselves and the art style used. I used the same brushes for each one and wanted the backgrounds to be quite sketchy and colourful whilst still adding to the atmosphere of the piece. I used a textured brush for a lot of the background elements and a brush I found that replicated an ivy like pattern to add some depth and dimension to the pieces. I kept the characters quite sharp with their sketchy line art to really add some personality to the character within the scene and make her stand out. I think these colours and drawing styles really work together to make some professional looking artwork which will really work within my webcomic pages and really will lead to an interesting final piece.

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Page Style

Below is an example of the style that my final piece will be in and how I want the project as a whole to look. I really wanted to take one of my sketched pages and create something like this so I could conclusively see how the piece would look when the art is finished for the final project and the text is properly added onto the piece. I took the artwork that I made in the above section to try out my colouring style for the comic and added it to a page that I was creating. This is one of the final pages, I really wanted to play around with how all of the sections and art pieces would interact together and connect to each other. I wanted to follow quite a traditional webcomic style and have the pieces merge together into one long running page for each section. I found a font within Procreate that I think worked really well and added the text onto the page that I created, I wanted the text to be all in capitals and quite bold so it would stand out regardless of the background used. I ended up using a lot of gradients for the joins within the images and used the ivy brush that I used on the artwork to really blend everything together. I think I was really able to emulate the layout of a webcomic properly and make it look really authentic and put together. I really love how it turned out and will be using the colour palette and fonts etc as a guide for my other pages for this project.

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List of Assets I Want to Create

This is a list of assets that I am creating for this assignment that can be reused or combined into different assets to allow consistency throughout the piece. Making this list really allowed me to see the parts that I needed to create for the sketches and the pages themselves and where they needed to be used. It also allowed me to work on my time management by seeing how many pieces I theoretically have to make for my assignment and plan out how long it will take to have all of it done. I suspect it will take me a week or two to create each section of the comic from the sketches I have created into the full colour designs. I am basing this of the time it took me to create the page above and the artworks used within it. Having a set amount of environments for within the story means that my backgrounds can be reused to make the pages look coherent together.

Asset Name	Variations	Type	Used In
Character 1	Front, Close Up, Back	Character	All
Character 2	Front, Close Up, Back	Charcter	All
Sword	Full, Close Up	Items	End
Ruined Church	Full, Close Up, Zoomed sections	Environment	End
Forest	Full, Close Up, Zoomed sections, Ivy variation	Environment	Middle
Bridge	Full, Close Up, Zoomed sections, broken bridge	Environment	Middle
Castle Nation 1	Full, Close Up, Zoomed sections	Environment	Beginning
Castle Nation 2	Full, Close Up, Zoomed sections	Environment	Beginning

Character Creation

To start creating my characters I began with referring to my earlier research and looked at the photos I had gathered on my Pinterest board. I didn’t want to directly copy any of the images I had seen on my board for my characters and wanted to just draw from the style I was going for. I decided earlier on that I wanted one of my characters to be an elf so I decided that the first character I drew would fit this description. I started by just sketching the character, giving her the pointed ears and long hair with a cape to really visualise the character I wanted her to be. I created the 3 sketches below showing the character from different angles and from close up so that I could really play with the style and see how I wanted her to look. I decided that the style that I was drawing in would have quite simplistic faces and not lean into realism and instead go for a more cartoony look. I think this was actually really effective and makes the character look really cute, I like her design a lot. As the characters in my story won’t be named as I want the whole story to have an heir of mystery I will be referring to this character as character A. She will have brown hair and dark eyes and I imaging she will wear a red dress with a deep blue cape. Blue will be her accent colour as I think these rich royal tones will work really well together.

Character B in comparison will be a human character. I imagine her to be almost an opposite of the first character and have orange toned hair and a deeper skin tone than character A. Having the characters look distinct from each other will help with any close up panels within the comic and make it each to differentiate them. With this in mind I began sketching a character that was different than the first one I created but still fit within the same style. I tried to create sketches from the same kind of angles to show the comparisons between the two and how they look. I also really wanted this character to have a shorter haircut than character A, this was another way to really distinguish them from each other and not have them look too similar. I wanted to also draw the back of character B because I really liked the hairstyle that I drew her and wanted to experiment with the back view of the character.

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Initial Sketches For Scenes

Before I made any storyboards I actually wanted to draw out some of the scenes and things I could use within my storyboards. I wanted to do this so that I’d have some clear visualisations of scenes and areas before I started to make an actual storyboard. I started with some scenes of character A that I felt would place well within the end arc of the story. I drew these scenes as she was entering the room with the sword and discovering it for the first time. I wanted the areas to have columns and pointed windows and overall look quite grand. These initial sketches however were really just to get the layout and visuals down before I created anything more detailed and are not meant to be anything interesting to look at, just a way for me to play with different layouts for further sketches and scenes.

I also created some basic sketches like hands and feet that I knew would be used often within the comic as a reference sheet so that I could save some time drawing these different poses. This I think was a good idea as it will allow me to save time drawing things complicated like hands and have some that I can reuse to improve consistency within panels and pages of the comic. I also drew some shoes to use as a close up panel within scenes of the comic and a close up of character A that can also be used within different situations and panels by changing any background present and the expression on the half of her face which is pictured. This sketch as it is quite basic can also be turned into character B for any scenes that need a similar image.

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Panel Storyboards

Beginning

For my comic I wanted the pages to be able to convey a lot of information within a relatively small space. I chose for my storyboards for my webcomic to be half the length of a normal webcomic to allow for a more compact look to the design. Below is my storyboard for the beginning of the story. This beginning page will be to establish the story relying mostly on the omniscient narrator to tell the information through text based communication and illustrations of the areas within the story. The country the story takes place in I decided would be called Celestia, and both of the nations would be within this country. I drew 2 different castles for this beginning page to establish the setting of the story and show off the environment it takes place in. I wanted each castle to look different so that it felt as if it truly was 2 different societies.

After this exposition half of the page I added two scenes. One from each of the girls stories, showing the end of some outside conversations telling them the mission they are to go on. I added parental figures to each of these characters who would be giving dialogue about the mission they are being sent on and also establish that both of these main girls in the story are actually royalty. After these scenes within each respective castle, showing the appearance of each girl for the first time, there are two zoomed shots of each of the girls smiling looking prepared and establishing confidence for their characters, they both say ‘I’m ready’ and the next part of the story will continue from the start of their journeys. The next part of the story will be some more establishing shots walking through forest and lake areas within the land of Celestia and each of the characters will come across their issue within the story they have to overcome to get to the sword goal.

Middle

For the middle of the story I decided that there would be a total of 4 pages, 2 for each of the characters, their journey and their struggle within the story. Character A has to take her journey through a deadly forest, the artwork showing her walking the long path from the castle towards the forest. The character would be suggested to have been walking for a whole day before the events of the next scene. This will be done with text between the two parts of the artwork showing the passage of time. As the character is walking through the forest after this time the ivy will start to creep up around her feet and end up entangling her completely as it is magical/enchanted. The character will then cut herself out of the ivy with a knife she is carrying on the next page and once she is free the forest will be conquered and she will be through the forest.

The next two pages will be a similar story from the view of Character B and will start with a meanwhile subheading to show that it is happening at a similar time to the other character. It will again start from her travelling through the area near her castle and after some time finally reaching a bridge. This was supposed to be the bridge that she used to get to the location of the sword but the bridge is actually broken to pieces. The character will have to find a way to cross this bridge in the open place. On the second page they will find the solution to this and be able to conquer her own path towards the sword as Character A has done before her.

End

For the end of the comic there will be a total of 6 pages. These pages will show the story of the two characters entering the ruins where the sword is housed and going to grab it. The first character will enter in the first 2 pages of this part and the second character will enter in the subsequent pages.

For the final two pages, as the characters own sections ended in them both reaching for the sword, this next page will have both of them reaching in the same panel, stopping and realising that someone else is actually there at the same time. There will be two large portraits of the characters taking up most of these two pages, showing their reactions and them properly within the background. The final panel on the final page will be an illustration of both of the characters back to back ,this will signify their closeness and how they may become enemies in the future as they aren’t looking at each other. The text above this illustration will tell the reader that the story has been told from the POV of Character A being the narrator the entire time by showing the text coming from her in this final illustration. The characters finally meeting up will be a tense moment so I didn’t want much text to be on these pages or really any dialogue between them both except some ‘oh’ sound effects etc, as I felt it may take away from the pages themselves. The full page colour illustrations will really add to the comic and make the ending very beautiful and wrap up the story completely as the characters stories are merged and are brought together into one ending.

For my story I wanted to have a basic 3 part story structure using a beginning, middle and end. The beginning of a story usually is where the characters are introduced, the setting and world building is established and the goals for the characters are explained. The middle of a story is usually where something a character has to overcome happens or a conflict is introduced/ the character makes progress towards the goal. Finally the end is usually where the conflict of the story is resolved or the main plot points are wrapped up, though elements can be left untied to add to the idea of an open ending.

With all of this in mind I took my mind map I had made earlier and started to try to combine these elements into an actual story that I could create a webcomic for for the assignment. Below is some notes I created outlining the initial story that I had created and how I wanted it to progress. Writing down all my ideas for the story really helped me decide on the elements and see that I could fit them together into an interesting and cohesive dual perspective narrative.

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Story Outline Creation

Once I had a written summary of my story using the mindmap I initially made, I had a really strong idea of what my idea was going to become and how I was going to turn it into a webcomic. I started by definitively mapping out the beginning, middle and end of my story into a proper outline. I started with my beginning section and created a part of the mindmap. I added a point for myself to each branch of the map to remind myself of the goals I wanted each part of the story to fulfil. The beginning part of the story would contain the bulk of the exposition and establish the plot and setting within the world by having a sort of omniscient mysterious narrator to the story. This invisible narrator would be telling the important information and key points to the audience that I feel either can’t be achieved using the visual medium efficiently or could not be told in a concise manner in any other way. The beginning of the story would also introduce the two point of view’s from the two main characters, the story will show each part of the journey from each girls point of view.

The middle of the story will be dedicated to the two hero’s journeys to the goal and the challenges that they have to overcome within this section of the narrative. They both will have to journey to the location of the sword within this arc and will have a minor task that they have to get past. One of these characters tasks will be being caught in deadly ivy and having to find a way out and the other character will have to cross a ruined bridge as their challenge. These parts of the story offer a roadblock in the journey which must be overcome by the protagonist and offer character development in the form of them becoming stronger by overcoming these tasks placed in front of them that hinder their journey progression before they are solved.

The final part of the narrative is where the two halves of the story as told by the 2 main character’s points of view are converged into one narrative. Each of the hero’s will finally reach the place that the magical sword is housed, within a ruin, and being in the same place their stories will naturally converge. They will both discover each others presence once they reach for the sword. This will imply the end of the journey as they have discovered the sword but also signify the start of a new journey together, in an open ended conclusion as they touch hands. It is implied with character narration that the omniscient narrator all along was one of these two main characters and that they know how the future of the story will turn out, with love and loss and war. This is an interesting twist to find out that the narration the whole time was one of the characters telling the story of the journey from both points of view, their own and their lovers.

Idea Generation

To start this project I first decided to create a mindmap with a bunch of key elements of stories and ideas that I had for what to create for the assignment. This mindmap can be seen below. I wanted to do this first to explore a range of settings, genres, tones and general story ideas that I had come up with whilst thinking about this assignment. Looking through all of these elements allowed me to see what my options were and combine the elements that I enjoyed best to create a story outline that I would most enjoy. Within this mindmap I highlighted the elements I liked most in yellow and started to create my story from these points. This was a really useful exercise as it allowed me to just throw any ideas for each part of the idea (medium/format, setting, genre etc..) into a document without worrying about if these elements worked together or tied together well as this could be selected later on.

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Mood Board

Once I had my main elements of the story chosen, I set out to create a mood board. I chose Pinterest to be the medium to create this with. The board I created added elements from each of the points I highlighted on the mindmap and allowed me to visualise the atmosphere and style I wanted to go for for the assignment itself. I decided to look for a lot of inspiration images for a fantasy and medieval setting to really help me visualise how the story would take place and be executed. I also looked at general images that could be inspiration for my 2 main characters and found that I was drawn to the styles and aesthetics I was finding to use in my work. I think this helped me with starting to come up with the designs of the characters within my mind and think more about who they are as people and what they look like within a world such as the content in my mood board.

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What Is A Webcomic

As I chose webcomic as my format in which to tell my story I felt that it was important to do a small bit of research into what a webcomic really is and how it differs from traditional print media.

A webcomic is an alternative way to create and publish a comic. It is done in a digital format and usually published on a website or app for other people to consume. As it is not print media there are far fewer restrictions in what the comic has to be, allowing for people to be more creative and experimental with their art styles and subject matter. There is in my opinion a relatively low barrier of entry to webcomics compared to traditional comics as anyone could start to draw and upload any webcomics they make and inevitably find a niche audience who enjoys their work. As these comics are not handled by a publisher there is a lot more freedom to write and draw whatever the artist wants without restriction allowing it to be preferable and somewhat superior to traditional routes. These webcomics can take the form of all kinds of format, being a normal comic strip format, more traditional pages or the long form scrolling images seen in many popular webcomics.

YALSA, 2019. What the Dang Heck Is a Webcomic?? [online] Available at: http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2019/11/25/what-the-dang-heck-is-a-webcomic-2/ [Accessed 07/03/22]

Grifka. M. (The Chicago School of Media Theory) , 2022. webcomic. [online] Available at: https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/webcomic/ [Accessed 07/03/22]

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Fantasy Genre Research

Fantasy is a genre within the speculative fiction umbrella term. Speculative fiction encompasses stories with elements from fantasy, horror and science fiction, essentially meaning anything that isn’t real world (though there is some overlap). Fantasy as a genre usually has the stories set in lower evolved societies, such as placing the story in a historical or medieval setting, and usually features a magical element to it. Often times fantasy can take inspiration from fairytales, mythology and folklore for its world rules and magical parts and usually involves characters from fictional races as a consistent part of the world. These include things such as trolls, elves, dwarves, dragons and other magical creatures. Fantasy is inherently not a realistic genre so authors are free to play with any elements and world building that they want to create a unique and magical world with rules of their own creation.

The genre of fantasy, and overlapping sub genres within speculative fiction, are something that I have always been interested in and are a genre I consume the most content from overall. I personally really like the escapism that fantasy offers, allowing the reader to be transported to an entirely different world. A lot of big fantasy tropes such as a medieval setting, a magic system and mythical creatures are staples of the genre and can be seen as the defining characteristics. I really wanted to place my story in the fantasy genre as it would allow me to get creative with story elements and have a lot of fun with my illustrations and environments for my webcomic. As I have said above in my planning, I am interested in putting my story within a medieval type society as I think it will add a fantastical vibe to the story inherently and the addition of elves and a magical sword will really tie it into the fantasy genre and make it truly recognisable.

Masterclass, 2021. What Is the Fantasy Genre? History of Fantasy and Subgenres and Types of Fantasy in Literature. [online] Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-the-fantasy-genre-history-of-fantasy-and-subgenres-and-types-of-fantasy-in-literature#how-did-fantasy-originate-as-a-genre [Accessed 10/03/22]

Carmody. A, 2022. What is the Fantasy Genre? – Definition & Examples. [online] Available at: https://fantasybookfanatic.com/what-is-the-fantasy-genre-definition-examples/ [Accessed 10/03/22]