Nikki - Graphic Narrative: Evaluation

When we were first given the brief that our Graphic Novel would be ‘Fishing Under The Radar’  the first thought I had was about the Oil Spill. It was an event that was so huge in the news and it drastically impacted the environment, a lot of the Graphic Novels I have read touched upon events that have happened in real life so I wanted to bring that to mine.

I set about developing a plan for the Graphic Novel which came easily enough, I think this really helped me when it came to developing characters and a story arc for the novel because I didn’t have to sit around and think too much about what I wanted it to be, this meant that I wouldn’t be spending time trying to think of a load of different plots that I could turn into a story, it just came naturally. I had to think about plot devices when it came to developing the plot for the novel, such as: action, characters, atmosphere, location as well as a climax and a resolution.

Having the plot come so quickly meant that ideas for characters flowed just as naturally. I knew that I wanted a teenage girl to feature in the novel more than once and I knew straight away that I wanted her to have dark, curly hair. This character, Matty, is a woman who doesn’t rely on the strength or presence of a man to be a valid character and is not drawn to be a subject of the male gaze which is something that female characters are usually subjected to in media. Poseidon was another character that I immediately knew I needed, in order to bring in an element of magic to a story that could have been quite bland and while he is a character that perpetuates the gender roles that males usually have to perform to I feel that it is acceptable in this novel because he is the leader of the sea. As for the rest of the characters, such as the newscaster and the protesters, I didn’t know that I wanted them in the story until it came to scripting the whole thing and then I realised that there would need to be a change of scenery throughout the novel to keep it interesting.

I am not a person who draws very well so I was nervous about how the finished product would look, however I think that the initial sketches I did really helped me to picture how I wanted things to be in the end. I decided not to do anything on the computer to enhance the novel because I like that it doesn’t look perfect, I don’t think that the novel would have benefitted from an art style that is so precise.

Overall, I think the planning and production of the Graphic Novel went really well, the fact that I already had a plot in mind made sure that I wouldn’t get too behind in trying to think of a plot that worked, which I really think helped improve the quality of my work on this project.