Research 4 - Posters

Manga Grapic Novel - Bleach

I like this poster as it says what the story is about in big letters.

Manga Graphic Novel - Save Me! Lollipop

I also looked at film posters:

I like the subheading of this one!

Now fwith the work I already done, I was thinking of creating a poster similar to this one. Though this was the only one I found while researching, I thought it helped quite a lot!

Research 3 - Photos

I have hoped that these pictures would be used, but because of time and the changes in ideas of story and background they have not been used.

Research 2 - Books

    ·        Doctor Who Magazine, comic section.

·        Brody’s Ghost by Mark Crilley (Book 1 and 2).

The imprint on Brody's hand defends him from danger when glowing, has given me the idea, but unlike Brody, the imprints on the Vi-acklings' hand is more like a birth mark.

Here are a couple of pages that Mark discarded or excluded:

Mark Crilley as an artist also helped me improve in Manga/Anime drawing skills by watching his tutorials on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/markcrilley?blend=1&ob=5

·        Peppermint (Book 1 and 2).

    This gave me an idea on what type of colour to use in order to keep it suttle.

    I have noticed in thes books that not all speecch is written in the same size.

·        Gossip Girl (Manga).

    I like the idea that this Graphic Novel actually has breaks to show chapters in the story, and the narritive is shown in black boxed with white italic words.

·        How To Draw Manga Computones.

This helped me with the ideas of adding texture to my pictures.

These books also has CDs to install plugins to Photoshop which were a number of different patterns and textures which I can work with in adding textures and patterns to my pictures.

·        The Complete Book of Drawing Manga.

This had a section on how to arrange the frames in a comic in order to have a dramatic effect. Also helped with colours to use and ideas of buildings from another world.

These pictures helped me to show how didfferent backgrounds change the moods of the character or the situation they are in.

I have noticed the ones that were dark with serious story lines, often had rough edges to the drawings and the ones that were brightly coloured and were child like had clean and soft edges.

Market research

·        Nostalgia.

·        Waterstones.

    I have decided to do a graphic novel with a Sci-Fi theme and a touch of young love and fantasy, and wanted girls to be interested in it as well as boys. But I was told my story wasn’t ‘gritty’ enough and kids these days look for something they can relate to in reality. So, before I went to these shops, I was afraid that my genre would not exist or people were just not interested in it. Then after seeing what was available, I was convinced to continue my own storyline with a few changes that I was happy with.

Research 1 - Films and Programmes

·      Doctor Who. – Tardis (Blue police box) flies in time and space. The Doctor (Alien called a Time Lord) is said to the last of his kind but is now changing. Human companion mainly female. Fights lots of enemies from other planets who threaten planet Earth and other worlds. Daleks are worst enemies. A genius. Regenerates when death nears him to a new body. Has a magic “screw driver”.

Tenth regeneration of the Doctor with his Screw Driver and Tardis 

   This initially gave me the idea of a Sci-Fi theme to the story of my Graphic Novel.

 

·   Mork and Mindy 

This gave me ideas of a comedy aspect to my story.

Funny. Alien (Mork) been sent to Earth in giant egg to learn about humans.

    He talks robotic and tries to speak like humans, but not with Mindy. He sits on head when told to sit comfortably.

    He began wearing human clothes back to front and Mindy first thought he was a priest when he wore a suit back to front.

    He tells jokes and uses a phrase from his home planet “Nanu nanu”.

   He reports what he learns back home at the end of every episode.

·    Halfway Across The Galaxy And Turn Left (Children’s Sci-Fi series produced in Australia). – A family came to Earth to hide from their father’s chief of the government of Planet Zyrgonwho is a bad man. They have the power to communicate with people from their home planet by pressing their middle finger and thumb together against the side of their head. They also use this technique to get want they need from their home planet and bring them to Earth almost like teleporting them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway_Across_the_Galaxy_and_Turn_Left

The family: Mother, Dovis, Mortimer (Father), X and Qwrk.

Dovis using her powers

·    My Parents Are Aliens. 

    Comedy, fantasy, family and Sci-Fi. Two aliens came to Earth by accident. They eat everything that is edible even if they are out of date. i.e. 7year old yogurt.

    They morph a lot.

    They are not sure how to react to things such as their oldest human adopted daughter tries to get into trouble but gets praised instead.  They get confused a lot and learns from what their human children tells them. They ask questions that seem strange and annoying to those who think they are humans. i.e. Alien mother (Sophie) asks Mel’s (oldest daughter) teacher if he was born bold as he has no hair, and did he ever have hair.

    As I aimed my Graphic Novel towards a young audience (secondary onwards), I looked at these children Sci-Fi series to guide me regarding the storylines and situations.

·    Planet 51. – Living a similar lifestyle as us. Humans are seen as aliens to the residence of Planet 51. As soon as a human lands, the army tries to capture him, but one alien tries to help him and they learn things from each other. ‘It is the fear of the unknown that is stopping everyone from learning new things.’ 

For the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4LSg8s5XF4

·  MegaMind. – Alien is sent to Earth as a baby and finds he not alone as another baby alien from another world joins him. He grows to be a super villain, and the other grows to be a superhero. However he turns good when he realises killing the enemy isn’t fun.

·  War of the Worlds. 

Beginning, introduces Mars and the Martians. Not friendly and tries to invade Earth by shooting laser beams from a Spaceship which had a torch like antenna. Spaceship also creates a Force Field when attacked. However, they don’t last long as they are not immune to the bacteria on Earth.


·  District 9. – Clearly showed that I don’t want to do a documentary type story.