It has been a while - but spent a long time putting everything together for submission - including all the nitty gritty bits that need doing!

And finally, here is my critical evaluation;

During the Final Major Project, both my artistic technique and researching skills have developed to show a substantial improvement compared with previous years. However, the Final Major Project is reliant on independent study and time management skills, which are factors that have affected my project in both positive and negative ways.

FMP1 encouraged me not only dedicate most of my time to finding useful information, but it also made me push my own abilities to learn and attempt something new. Due to the independent nature of the study, becoming captivated by the subject of research was effortless, which I believe is apparent in my own work. The three main areas which I researched where; dark horror stories, the paranormal and the art of creating a graphic novel. The choice to study these areas was influenced by previous work, so I felt that I already had a certain knowledge and interest of these subjects. I would regard FMP1 as being some of the most organised and focused work I have ever accomplished (although I saved each individual page as a JPEG file, not realising that the Universities computers would open them in slower programme than my own, making it appear unorganised) . The biggest problem was managing time efficiently. I discovered that too much time was spent on researching less informative areas than areas which would have supported the FMP2 study more effectively. For example, the more useful part of the study came from researching existing graphic novels. It directly informed me of how to begin creating my own graphic novel. Whereas the research into horror stories needed less time because I already knew much more on the subject in comparison. The research into the paranormal was not used at all during FMP2, but it aided me in creating a mood. When FMP1 had finished, I felt that I had learnt a lot – but perhaps not quite enough about creating a graphic novel. But this could also be down to the idea that I am more interested in creating art than I am creative writing.

FMP2 felt like a more natural study thanks to it being more like previous years, and was not written research dependant. Using techniques and skills inherited in previous years, I began taking the information of how to create graphic novels learnt in FMP1, and began creating a scene from my own story. The artwork shows signs of further improvement and visually contains a much stronger sense of atmosphere. My Photoshop command is more refined, with improvements in digital editing and colouring. I would also argue that my technique of digitally editing traditional drawings is now more advanced, with me actually using Photoshop to colour and add extra significant details much more effectively. But the style which I established did become a problem. The traditional drawings took up a short amount of time, whereas the digital editing took up a lot of time. The problem began with the fact that continuity is extremely important when creating a graphic novel scene, a factor I had learnt during FMP1. Due to the artwork being quite complex I found myself having to go backwards much of the time to edit parts of earlier drawings to keep continuity with newer pieces. This is the probable explanation as to why comic book art is generally simple. But I believe that I managed to keep continuity, even if it did take up much of my time, meaning that I had sacrificed quantity for quality - which is not necessarily a negative outcome, but not particularly satisfying on final reflection.

My organisational skills were not as refined during FMP2. Rather than writing the scene, story-boarding it and then doing each individual frame in order, I began by picking a frame purely to keep me engaged, interested and to establish a style. I think that I chose this option because I had already spent a lot of time story-boarding the first scene during FMP1, and decided that I wanted to begin more polished pieces of work. This did not prove to be a negative move until towards the end - because it began to feel slightly disjointed and I found myself having to fill in the blanks. I also chose a scene later on in the story rather than starting from the beginning, which also made the work feel slightly disjointed towards the end. The scene itself is not finished, but rather just a part of a scene - due to the amount of time it took to do each individual piece. I have learnt this year that setting a realistic goal is very important, and that had I decided to start from the beginning and done the project in a more orderly fashion, things would have been easier later on.

The Final Major Project has given me a great opportunity to continue, even when I have finished the course. I intend to continue work on the graphic novel and publish it via the internet as a 'web-comic', releasing a new scene approximately every two months. It has also been recommended to contemplate locating a writer who may have more experience in creative writing than I have - not only to maximise the stories potential, but also take some of the weight from my own shoulders. The story itself has quite a lot of depth due to my previous two years dedicated to developing the characters and their backgrounds. The research into the paranormal which did not directly affect the work in FMP2 will eventually be used when I reach the appropriate scenes.

All in all, I am satisfied with my achievements during the Final Major Project. I would have liked to be more organised and perhaps had more of a final outcome. The original plan for FMP2 was to establish a style and technique for the future of my graphic novel, and I feel that I have done so. It has been a steep learning process, and the fact that I want to carry the project on suggests that it was a success.

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