PowerPoint

(I realised I spelled inspiration wrong and went back to change it)

I wanted the PowerPoint to be simple yet effective. So I chose to use my favorite colours that make the writing stand out among the background. I wanted the keep the bullet points short and to the point as I didn't want the words to draw away from the photos, as well as I didn't want to just read from the PowerPoint.  

  

Evaluation

For this project we were asked to create something which revolved around one of the worlds problems topic list. I decided to do mental illness. But instead of focusing on mental illness as a whole, I decided to specify on three mental illnesses in particular that seem to stand out among other mental illnesses. Which were: Depression, Anxiety and Schizophrenia. 

Then for Primary research, I did a questionnaire asking certain questions. E.g. How old the person was, what gender they are and what mental illness they have if any as well as what they do when they're upset to cheer themselves up.  This research inspired me as well as helped me chose what the characters do in the comic to make themselves happy so it can relate to my audience as much as possible and to help those who have it find ways to over come or subside their mental illness. These quantitative results gave me an insight as to what my audience feels on a daily bases and how they over come hard times in their life.  

As for Secondary research, I  looked into the main effects of each mental illness and applied it to my characters in the comic.  

When working on my pre-production, I looked at similar comics that were also based around the topic my comics were going to be based from. Though I did not manage to write about all of them, I did find and write about one that stood out to me in particular. It inspired my background characters as you can see in my rough designs. I could not find anymore comics due the links being sketchy or leading me to pages where the comic is unreadable. Example of comic and my rough design: 

When producing my work, I used an app called 'ibisPaint X' as I described in an earlier blog post. 
By using nothing more than my finger to trace over my drawing I scanned in, I was able to create three unique comics that although were drawn in different styles, they were all drawn using the same technique. By using the Air Brush and Smudge tool, creating shadows, lighting effects and overall shading was an easy task yet took a while to do. Although, it proven quicker using this app then using Photoshop as I was more familiar with the tools of this app. i chose colours that I feel represented the mood. For example, the Depression comic was colourless and grey until he found something that made him happy. The colour of the writing for all the comics complimented the colours used as well as the background so although the fonts were fancy, the colour made the wording easy to read. 
Moreover, the app did have it's problems. When drawing, due to glitches I was unable to save part of my work which I then had to re-draw twice. After that issue, I made sure I saved the image properly before closing the app. 

All three of the comics were aimed at teenagers and early adults as I feel they will find it hard to understand people with these conditions and if they have them themselves, It will hopefully get through to them that some people understand and that they're not alone.

Looking back at my comics, I made sure that none of the content was copyrighted. Everything I drawn was original content, same with the wording. None of the drawings were taken from any other artists and neither were their designs.     

As for my time management, I ended up having to rush one of the comics in order to get it done in time. But as for the evaluation, It turns out that I got all the written work out of the way at least a week in advance. With the exception of adding a few more sentences here and there.   

In conclusion, I personally thought my comics turned out well. Though if I managed my time more correctly, I could of achieved something greater. This is something I will remember for future projects as I dont wish to make the same mistakes as it caused a lot of trouble, especially seeing as drawing is very time consuming.

Peer Feedback:

over all the work is good quality, however writing is sometimes unreadable : dom 

The art work in the comics are very good and presents emotions to the highest degree, however the writing around it lets it down in the first comic as it is unreadable due to the colour balance : Elliot

  

My Final Comics

For this comic, I wanted the writing to be unique to grab mu audiences attention due to the comic itself being quite plain. I feel that the font is what makes the comic look fun to read. It makes it stand out among my other comics as its not just reading sentences from left to right. The colours of the font dont draw too much attention from the drawings itself as well as complimenting the background and the colours used on the girl featured in the comic. Though, due to the two blank spaces at the end, I had to improvise as I didn't notice them until I finished colouring majority of the comic. 

In the future, I will make sure to take the right measurements and resize some parts of the image to make it fit perfectly on the size canvas I use.

Seeing as this comic wasn't so colourful, I wanted to make it look more attracting by adjusting the fonts of the writing instead of keeping it all the same. I wanted to only add colour to the scene to where the boy is happy to represent that the Depression makes everything seem Black and White, only when someone makes him happy and supports him is when he sees the world in colour, which is also what I tried to convey with the flowers in the 3rd part of the comic as the colour is dripping away and fading to grey.

As for this comic, I wanted to spend more time on the colouring and the design of the character as it focuses on the illness which is most personal to me. As I said in the design of my comics, I gave the character red hair to show that she feels different compared to everyone else and therefore is going to get judged for it. As the colours were rather vibrant, I didn't want to get too fancy with the writing. I wanted it to be simple yet readable but without looking to plain, making the comic boring to read. Towards the end, I changed the style of the writing as I felt that the writing before wouldn't capture my audiences attention. However, it was too late to go back and change the writing on the first two comics before it. In the future, I will make sure to plan ahead and test out new hand writing before applying it to my comics.

Making my Comics

This is a simple outline to one of my three comics. By using an app called ibisPaint X, I was able to create my comics a lot easier then using Photoshop. Especially since my skills are stronger than my Photoshop skills with this app. 

I start out by adding a simple base colour, all on different layers. Next, I add shading using an air brush tool as well as the smudge tool. All the lines and colours are added using my finger, which gives me more control then a pen would surprisingly. 

After, I lay out where the words will be placed as well as colour the background. I wanted the background to reflect the mood as well as match the colours used on the characters. 

For example, I used bright red hair for the girl in the Anxiety comic to symbolise that she stands out among everyone else and will draw others attention. This is because most people who suffer with Anxiety feel like everyone else is silently watching and judging them.

As for my Depression comic, I wanted it to feature a male character as some people only associate illnesses like Anxiety and Depression with females, which isn't always the case. I wanted the comic to show that males can have the same illnesses just as much as females or any other gender can.

In both the Depression and Schizophrenia comic, I shown a character of colour. This is so anyone of colour can relate to it and not feel forgotten or left out. By showing a range of different skin tones and hair colours, I feel that my audience will appreciate them more. 

My Comics

These are three sketch designs I came up with for the comics I will be producing for my Personal Project. Each one features a different mental illness. The first, is Anxiety. Second, Depression and the third is Schizophrenia. Each comic is not only drawn in a different style, but the characters featured are all unique with different hair styles, hair colour, skin colour and gender. This is to ensure that my comics can relate to a wide audience.   

I wanted to make the anxiety comic longer than the others as I feel it needed more explanation as well as its a more personal topic relating to myself, making it more important to me. 

The depression comic is quite short as I felt most people already know what the illness is already and therefore didn't need much explanation. I believe that short, quick comics grab the attention of a more wider range of audience then longer comics.

As for this comic, I wanted to keep it short as the illness itself can go into a lot of explanation, so I tried to get the main focuses of it and make it simpler for others who dont have the illness to understand without getting confused or mistaking some of the traits someone with it might have, for example, being violent, which is not the case. I wanted to make this comic longer than the one about Depression as I have a very close friend who suffers from this mental illness, making it more personal to me. But I didn't want to lose my audiences attention, hence why it is shorter and more to the point.

Inspirational Comic

http://imgur.com/gallery/0VnF3

After looking at this comic, It has inspired me for my depression comic by helping me understand the mental illness a little better. It has helped me phrase my words better to help others who don't have depression understand what it is like for people that do. The art style the artist has used also inspires me and I will want to incorporate some of that style in my own comics. I happen to love the colours used as well, they're subtle but set the mood. Although the drawings are quick and sketchy, it suits the topic of the comic very well and helps get across the message. The colours correspond to the words very well making this an amazing comic.  

My Primary Research Summary

Here are some screenshots of the results I got from my survey. I will take these results into account when making my comics as it could help me aim my comics at an audience that need it most and how to relate it to them so they can help others around them.

Looking at this part of the survey, majority of people who took it are in age range of 17-20. This could indicate that mental illnesses most effect people around this age, so I will want to aim my comments for this age group and perhaps make the characters in my comic look around this age meaning my audience can relate to the comic more and really feel for the characters. 

This part of the survey shows me that majority of people who took this survey are female, this could connote that females are more  likely to develop mental illnesses rather then another genders. After looking at this, I will make at least two of my comic's center around females so my audience can relate to it more, then the other comic focus on a male character to make it appeal to the male side of my audience.  

Most people seem to play video games when they are down, or talk to friends or even draw. I want to incorporate this in my comics so my audience feel like they can relate to the subject so they feel like someone understands and that it can get better. 

After analysing my results, it gave me enough research to know who I should aim my comics at and what should be included in it. Without this information, I wouldn't be able to create comics that would appeal to my audience. This information is also useful because I know that it's not fake, and its my own gathered information so I'll be aware if there is any mistakes.

Proposal

*For this theme, I will be creating three short comics describing a specific mental illness is like from that persons perspective e.g what it feels like, how it impacts their lives and how others treat them because of it. 

By the end I want to print off my work and mount it to make it stand out.

For this project, I will be creating three digital comics about three mental illnesses. (Depression, Anxiety and Schizophrenia) These comics will come from the perspective of the person with the mental illness. It will describe what it feels like, how they help themselves and how others can help them. There will be a few drawings of the person to illustrate what they say and feel also.  All these will be digital. 
In addition, I will be creating a photo that combines the three mental illnesses, Depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. It will consist of one person with multiple different, faded faces that show different emotions to represent schizophrenia. They will also be shirtless (the image will be waist up) with discriminating words written on their skin to represent how anxiety makes some one feel naked and judged when in public and how they doubt themselves. Their original face will look neutral with the word 'Depression' written across their forehead to get across that being depressed doesn't necessarily mean being sad, more not caring. However, I will only being doing this as an extension. If I can not finish my comics to the best of my ability I won't be able to create this photo. 

Types of Mental Illnesses:

• Anxiety and Panic Attacks 
• Bipolar Disorder
• Dissociative Disorder
• Depression
• Drugs
• Eating Problems
• Hearing Voices
• Loneliness 
• Self Harm

And many more. 

Depression- "Noun- feelings of severe despondency and dejection."

Anxiety- "Noun- a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome."

Schizophrenia- "Noun-a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

(Information found on Google)

I chose this theme as I have people that are close to me with some of these disorders, making this theme mean a lot to me personally. I will be able to get Primary research for this as well easily by asking my friends and family who suffer from Mental Illnesses. 

       

Personal Project Schedule Name:                                                        Chosen theme/ Title:
Week / Date	Activity	Independent Study
W/C January 18th 2016	Introduction to Brief Proposal Initial Research and planning to begin.	·         Do excess research by using books, newspapers etc when out of lesson.
W/C January 25th 2016	·         Pre-production work ·         Plan out how my projects are going to look by doing sketches.	·         Make sure I picked the right topic that suits me and that I can create something to the best of my ability that I’ll enjoy doing.
W/C February 1st 2016	·         Experiment work. Try to experiment with different angles and such.   ·         Take test shots ·         Draw sketches	·         Remember to book out any equipment I need and get everything ready to complete my individual projects so I don’t have to fuss about near the end of the project.
W/C February 8th   2016	Expo Week	. Make sure you document all activities on your blog and note how this could help you with your project and future work.
W/C February 15th    2016	Half Term	·         Look back at what I’ve done and make sure I’m up to date with what I planned.
W/C February 22nd    2016	·         Primary research ·         Analyse research   ·         Write a summary of what I found out.	Friday the 26th Feb is an Interview day and you will not be in your media classes.
W/C February 29th     2016	·         Finalisation of my projects. ·         Present my work appropriately.	·         Make sure I present my work nicely and not just in a folder.
W/C March 7th  2016	·         Organise my work and improve any last details. ·         Begin my presentation.	·         Go over what I’ve done and make sure I got everything done to the best of my ability.
W/C March 14th  2016	·         Finish my presentation to the best of my ability. ·         Write my evaluation.	·         Go over my presentation and make sure I know what to say.
W/C March 21st 2016	Deadline week-Complete evaluation and hand in project Group A Deadline 21st March by 12pm Group B Deadline 22nd March by 4pm.	Thursday the 24thMarch is an Interview day and you will not be in your media classes. Friday-Monday the following week are Bank Holidays so ensure you hand in your work by the deadline!

Inspirational Images (Found On Google) 

(Unable to find the artist)

Artist- http://melkadel.com/

Artist- Matt Kenyon

(Unable to find the artist)

The artist- http://ajgiel.tumblr.com/

I personal like the art done by Matt Kenyon out of all the others as it shows how pills can't necessarily help with someones mental illness, but rather they are still suffering even after taking the pills. The colour also draws in the eye and makes it more appealing. 

Mental Illnesses- Brain Storm

I will be basing my Personal Project around three popular illnesses.

Depression, Schizophrenia and Anxiety.

I chose this theme as I have people that are close to me with some of these disorders, making this theme mean a lot to me personally. I will be able to get Primary research for this as well easily by asking my friends and family who suffer from Mental Illnesses. 

What is a Mental Illness?

"Noun" 

"a condition which causes serious disorder in a person's behavior or thinking."

Types of Mental Illnesses:

• Anxiety and Panic Attacks 
• Bipolar Disorder
• Dissociative Disorder
• Depression
• Drugs
• Eating Problems
• Hearing Voices
• Loneliness 
• Self Harm

And many more. 

Depression- "Noun- feelings of severe despondency and dejection."

Anxiety- "Noun- a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome."

Schizophrenia- "Noun-a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.

Mental Illness Facts

1 out of 4 people in the UK will experience a mental illness each year.

Depression- 2.6 in 100 people.

Anxiety- 4.7 in 100 people. 

Phobias- 2.6 in 100 people.

OCD- 1.3 in 100 people.

Panic Disorder- 1.2 in 100 people.

Post Traumatic stress disorder- 3.0 in 100 people.

Eating Disorder- 1.6 in 100 people

Bipolar- 1 to 3 in every 100

Schizophrenia- 1 to 3 in every 100

Self-harm- 3 in 100 people.

Suicidal Thoughts- 17 in 100 people. 

(Places like Prisons and Hospitals are not included) 
Facts found here- http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/statistics-and-facts-about-mental-health/key-facts-and-statistics/

What I will be doing

For this theme, I will be creating three short comics describing a specific mental illness is like from that persons perspective e.g what it feels like, how it impacts their lives and how others treat them because of it. 

I decided to make three short digital comics as seems popular for people with different mental illnesses to make their own, describing what it feels like for them and how they thank people for supporting them. I also reckon it will make people more aware of these illnesses and understand what these people are going through so they can help in any way that they can. 

In addition, I will also be creating a photo that combines the three illnesses Ill be looking at using my skills in Photoshop.

By the end I want to print off my work and mount it to make it stand out.