Using Photoshop, create a graphic narrative scene of at least 15, and not more than 30, pages which advances a story with geometrical shapes (a la Molly Bang), perhaps some photographic images to serve as visual "accents," and words.

This scene is part of a larger story, which you will summarize at the beginning in a synopsis of no more than two-hundred words.

The audience for this project should be adults, not children.

Like a Storyboard

What you are producing with this project is similar to the storyboards that filmmakers use to plan the shots of a movie. See, for instance, this storyboard for the beginning of the Cohen Brothers' No Country for Old Men.

Sample Projects, but not Models:

Note that these sample projects were completed in response to a different assignment. They are provided here only to suggest the general form and some visual techniques.

• The Dollar (Tim Zimmerman)
• Joe Erickson's "The Raven"
• Jennifer Schak's "Night of the Intruder"
• Leah Durland's "Travelin' Soldier"
• Dane Peterson's "Rift"
• Graduation
• a single image from a project that uses photographic "accents" to create a collage effect

Guidelines

The story from which you choose a scene could be something published in textual form (but not previously visualized) or something that happened to you. Take care, though, to pick an original text that tells (or can be made to tell) a story. Not all lyrics or poems do, for example.

Produce each page (visuals and text) as a separate Photoshop file, which you'll evetually want to save (most likely) as a GIF after you're done editing and revising it.

The story should be told primarily with the images. Any words you include should be supplemental.

Submission Directions for the Graphic Narrative Project

A. Save the book cover design and the page images of your graphic narrative as the following file names into a new, empty folder called "source" in your nonwww folder for this course. This folder should contain nothing besides the pages of your graphic narrative.

• Save the summary/synopsis as "00.gif" (or whatever format you files are in)
• Save the first screen of the scene as "01.gif"
• Save the second screen as "02.gif" etc.

B. Create a "Web Photo Gallery" of these images by choosing File > Automate > Web Photo Gallery.

Under the "Files" section of the dialogue window,

• the "Source..." should be the folder "source" folder in your nonwww folder.
• the "Destination..." should be the empty folder called "narrative" in your 4260 folder (www/5260/narrative)

There are four areas of "Options" available in the second box from the top of the "Web Photo Gallery" dialogue window. Go through each and be sure to

• to include your name in the banner,
• to enter your e-mail address where it's called for, and
• to display the "large images" at the "custom" setting and choose your width (at least 600 pixels, maybe more depending on your proportions).

C. Post the "narrative" folder containing the Web Album to your "www" folder (www/4260/narrative) on the Web server using Dreamweaver (Note: if you practice creating and posting a Web Album and then modify your pictures, completely delete the old "narrative" folder on the server and replace it with the new one).

D. Send a message with the URL of your Web Album to the discussion "Graphic Narrative URLs." If you've followed my suggestions for naming and placing files and folders, the URL should be
<http://www.d.umn.edu/~youruserid/4260/narrative/>.

E. Print the page images out (a black-and-white printer is fine since it saves money), making sure that each prints so that the longest side is at least 6 inches (a 4 x 6, for example). You can put more than one image on a page if you wish. Be sure your name appears on each printed sheet. You might try using Photoshop's "Contact Sheet" function (see page 388 of Weinmann and Lourekas) to create a printout of more than one image per printed sheet. Be sure the page images are big enough to read/see.

F. Write your commentary, pointing out features of your work that reflect your understanding and use of Molly Bang's principles and other terms of the assignment. See the directions for doing commentaries from the syllabus.

G. Turn in the commentary at the beginning of the class meeting after the due date.