IPad

The IPad 2 was released not long ago which expand on the power and size of the IPhone, it has all the same interactive abilities with larger and better specifications.



With 3g and Wifi Ipad like the Iphone can access the internet anywhere easily allowing for instant updates, downloads and information. Bluetooth is also a feature which means that device to device gaming and data share is available. Almost triple the size screen as the Iphone with its 9.7inch display. This has a 132ppi which displays at 1024x768. Perfect quality images can be displayed on screen increasing the detail of work that can be displayed clearly. Multi language display so a graphic novel could fit for all cultural audiences. 720P HD recording camera allows for picture interaction with a smaller front camera. Large 10 hour battery life. Mircophone and speakers to record and play sound, also allowing for different interaction types. Accelerometer that allows motion control of apps and games. This gives so many new ways of interaction and could bring joy and play into a graphic novel.

Again the IPad has access to the App Store and Itunes for downloads, my graphic novel could be downloaded into both deviced if placed onto the App Store. This means more people can download and view what i have made. Access to the internet also means i can place it on the web to be downloaded. With the size difference the Graphic novel could be displayed panel by panel or normally.

The main part of apple is the network in which i place my graphic novel. As i am looking at handheld devices to quick and easy to get and read placing it on the App store would allow most Apple products to download the app. As well it would also mean i could place updates. An issue with this is that if i was to charge for my graphic novel Apple would get some of the profit made for using there store.

Apple and Mobile Platforms

We are all used to walking around town with a mini arsenal of technology in our pockets with the capability to do anything with it. usually the tech is in the form of a mobile phone or a touchscreen notepad and with these its easy to access the internet and Apps. My graphic novel needs to work the most capable and alluring platform to work on. One that will be both easy to use and get most of my target audience to view it. The choice of platforms really fits around either Console (xbox, Pc, PS3) or Mutlimedia players. Both have unique ways to view and navigate a graphic novel and multiply ways to view a novel. Also depending on what platform is chosen different methods can be applied to a graphic novel with different interaction tools.

As a culture we are now relying on instant digital updating with our lives depending on quick and easy access to what we need and we have mobiles that do this. Teenagers and gamers all focus there lives on touch screen phones like the IPhone to get access to the internet, Apps and digital books. This is why i feel that my graphic novel should be focused on this mobile user base. But what does this mean for my graphic novel and what is the benefits and features that these mobiles have.

Apple IPhone:



Currently IPhone is in its 4th generation with new and powerful capabilities all enhancing the power that apps and tools have today. With a 3.5 Inch screen that has a resolution of 960x640 it can show good sized and quality images but isn't has good as a console graphics. However it does mean that images would be clear and can hold considerable detail. Further more Build in Camera that can record in 720p HD it creates new ways that players can interact with apps and games. Build in Wifi and 3g allows people to access the internet meaning easy downloads to information and updates. The App Store created by apple using the internet allows players to download from a database of millions of games and applications for every need. Music, Video and more can all be played. Voice can be used as a way of interaction and as well as sounds creating more possible interactive tools for my graphic novel.As a touch screen phone this means that there are many more different interactive ways that a user can play a game or view a interactive graphic novel. Taping is like a clicking, touch and dragging is like scrolling. Zooming in and out is possible. Holding touch is another interactive way.

currently there are many Graphic Novels available on the App store which show panel by panel of the story. Some of the Graphic Novels Include:

Transformers: Defiance
Transformers: Alliance
The Carrier
The Invisible man

Storyboarding

For my graphic novel i understand what story area i am following and what i want to happen but i don't know what imagery i would use to show it in a graphic novel. From my research i understand basic layouts and piecing images together but i have to think and choose for myself what i want the viewers to see and how they interpret the images.

I started by roughly plotting my ideas out for images to help tell the points i want them to. The first attempt was very plain and quick as it was many to see the key areas and points and to see angles and action.



The first panel i went over in more detail as i was sure that i wanted it to be my first image. As the storyboard goes it follows from behind the hunter in which he is traveling through long grass and high trees. This gradually follows the hunter closer and then as he notices something he turns. I then have a eye which would be in a tree hidden behind leaves to hint there is something watching him. again we see the hunter as i wanted to show him over all from the front. Again i wanted to slowly work the creature into the novel so i made it appear and disappear from a tree in two panels as you cant see it but notice it is moving. I wanted to change things up as most images have been of the hunter from the front or back from a medium shot so i thought a birds eye view would create a following effect and as the creature is stalking him i thought could see the creature appearing behind him ready to jump. At this point i want to follow a chase so that i can change the area as this part of the story involves a scifi twist. keeping in mind of the area they are still runing through trees and highgrass and then come to a mud cliff that is not to high but a fall non the less. What i have done is shown this by a image which would be just mud and in the novel scroll up to see a grass edge and the quick fight with the creature. I chose that the fight would be in a form of a charge and stab to make it look quick pased as if it was the first to strike the first to win. As i placed them by the egde i could then make the fall down into the next area. Because im showing a story that is hundreds in the years in the alteritive future i wanted the top of the room they would fall in to be over grown with grass so it appears they will hit the floor but they break through instead. This is were the twist happens with the character in a dark scifi room in which he touches and activates a computer as he gets up.

Graphic Novels and Comics for games

Games and comics are two different things but together they can help each other. Our project is to create a graphic novel/comic to help promote a game concept. Graphic novels generally get readers into a story, creating a graphic novel of the story of a game could protentally get someone to buy the game that they might not of. Graphic novels also help a game spread across more than one medium so that a progression of story may occur.

Portal 2 was released on the 21st april 2011 but before the release there was a comic that was released to help promote the online fans. The digital comic was realised piece by piece to keep fans awaiting the next piece of the story which would get them ready for the game. What the comic did tho which was a surprise was tell a underlining story from the first game and then carried on from the end creating this brigade between the game and the graphic novel and then links into the second game.

Avaible to read here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109064-Official-Portal-2-Comic-Reveals-Truth-About-Cake



The comic 'Lab Rat' Also told the story of a different character both in the present time and his past. I felt that worked better as it was a new story that filled the gaps from the original game and areas that the fans wanted to know about. I liked how they didn't us the main character as when your playing you get immersed into her story and if they were to write about her it would take away from you being the player other than someones else.

The art style was very painted and different from what the game looks like. This broke some connection but the style itself was different and i thought it was interesting. It felt like it was all painted and they tied this into the game as the main character and other images have been painted in hidden places. This refers the game back to the comic and to the character in the comic building him up more. the comic immersive and relative. I also like how they also create the older versions of characters telling some there past and giving you a hint of time different.

It was as good way to persuade comic book readers who haven't played the game to maybe have a look or buy the up coming game. Its also made a lot of coverage over different websites so this would of increased the viewing rate and potentially the amount it advertised to. Valve must have looked and understood the amount of comic readers in its target audience.

Other Graphic Novels And Comics

Across libraries and the internet there are many different forms and styles of comics and graphic novels. Although i have already looked at graphic novels including the first there many available to get. What i have been looking at is the use of different forms of comics and graphic novels and also how we can use graphic novels to help promote a game or extent a game.

Digital Webcomics:

There are many different forms of digital comics with the usual comics posted online in which you can just click page to page to small boxed panelled comics. Each has its own use for the style. I recently bought a book called 'Ice cream and sadness, Cyanide and Happiness vol2' Its a series of short 'webcomics' that created comedy through the use of short puns. They style is very simplistic and child like but there short cartoon panels fit what they are creating.

exmaple:



There work began on the internet and got very popular in which they extended into other areas like animation to keep there work going. There comics have made there way into books that are a collection of webcomics not graphic novels. I like how they have combined the simplistic art style into the background boarder of the comic as well. It gives it a new style altogether and makes the pieces feel like they work unlike most graphic novels and comics that stick to straight edged panels.

Manga:

If most likely have seen anime or at least heard of manga as a childish art form. What manga is tho is a artstyle that has stormed the comic world. Created in japan the word japans word for Manga translates in english as comic or cartoon. It is believed that manga came from the art of scrolls and that it has just changed during time. Manga is famous around the world as it now is a recognized art form and the amount of fans is huge. In japan there are currently lots of different types of manga to suit different needs and styles.

Manga comic example:



Manga is more known for its artstyle and various styles as chibi art and antiofomoric have appeared thanks to manga. What is more impressive is the use of styles that have appeared from manga. I have mentioned in a earlier post about how manga use a black background to express the change from present to past. You can see this techenic used above. There panels usually are in formed patterns but can wander and be out of line usually to show progression or break up story parts.

Comic Primary Research

I got some comics to look at both the visual style, layouts and to get a general idea of what i should be producing at the end of this project. I have read a lot of comics as well as manga which is a Japanese form of Comics. Im used to seeing how a comic reads but i am not used to seeing why each is comic was done in the way it is.

The chosen comics i am looking at are: Black Panther, Marvel Zombies 2 and The Invincible Ironman/DoctorStrange.



Now most are used to the panelled way that comics display there art as a story but the layout is an effective way of telling a story so drawing images to selective panels can make more out of an image. After reading through The Invincible ironman I have noticed that wide panel images are mostly used to show environment as you can fit more of the area in a wide panel than a thin one. Tall panels in this comics are generally used to help show character with most of the body fitting in the panel, some do used tall to help show large tall rooms in this book but it kinda feels like its more on detail overall so they want to you to see more stronger imagery. Panel sizes also depend on the amount of text that will be scene as in this comic the texts are the same size so if there isn't enough space i wouldn't think they would change the size of the text as it would then not match.

Page layout from Invincible Ironman:




Now at the end of this comic part there is a sudden change, Images overlap each other and are not in alined panels, also the background page was white but now it is black. I remember a lecture we had during our first year about comics and how manga artists used black backgrounds instead of white to automatically show its a flashback instead of having to draw it or write it. Now taking that into consideration it could be flash back, when comparing that to the images it does appear to be more like memories, the overlapping of images appear to be showing a tight sequence of events that are being remembered. This is important to remember to help improve my work if i go into more graphic novel work or comic book work. Because my current story area doesn't cover a flash back i don't need to use overlapping panels or a black background.

Flashback page:



The Marvel Zombies 2 comic appears to have a lot more square panelled images and not wide or tall. I feel that its because there is a lot of focus on different characters as there is a lot of them. Each small square or panel focuses on a characters face. I also have noticed that there is a lot of Large art that show a action or environment that then get a bunch of panels overing it so you get some of the art and then some of it as a background.

Image:



Typically adverts are used to help to show the change of pace and setting but as we are not looking at or would place advisement in our project its not reliant to focus on. Another interesting piece in this comic is a page of panels that have no text show a sequence of actions by characters all in the same sized panels making each image equal. Its also easier to just look through as you don't have to follow any text. As i don't plan to have much let a lone any text in my chosen part its useful to know that its easier on the eyes to view the art like this.

Image: