FMP Production Log

FMPBRAINSTORM

Graphic Novel/Comic Book,Set in medieval times focus on a hunting story or a scouting mission

Set of comic strips over a series of newspapers or magazines

Electronic comic strip released online over a period of weeks o months

Graphic Novel set in the early 1900’s focusing on a jazz singer of importance before their fame or rising to their fame

3D model of a 1900’s jazz club environment

Adobe Illustration of a series of old fashioned 1900’s posters displaying jazz music and blues instruments to be shown in music stores to either attract jazz fans or increase peoples interest in jazz and blues.

3D model of an idea for a new style of jazz club set in town

For my Final Major Project I settled on the idea of creating a graphic novel based the iconic jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. The main reason I chose this as my final idea is because I enjoy listening to her kind of music and already knew a lot about her life and backstory beforehand. This is because I grew hearing about her from my grandmother and became invested in her work later on. Therefore I know I would understand the characters and the time and age.

I focused on Ella Fitzgerald because she is my favourite jazz singer, and the most relatable for me. I decided to include other jazz singers who would make guest appearances or be more involved in the actual plot like Nina Simone, Ethel Waters and Nat King Cole.

Settling on an Idea

Gathering Research

For my research I went into Manchester Town and entered a few different stores that sold comics and graphic novels and merchandise like that.

I took previously written up questionnaires and asked as many people as I could about their preferences to Graphic Novels genre, make and style, and their purpose of being in the store on that day. I got more than ten responses, including one from the store owner.

Ideas Generation, using research collected

From handing out my questionnaires I have discovered that the majority of comic and graphic novel fans prefer hardback books to any other kind, and would be interested in my idea.

Therefore I have decided to continue working with my black hardback sketchbook for the Graphic novel and with the general idea of Ella Fitzgerald’s rise to fame.

Qualitative and Quantitative ResearchForums and Polls,

On carrying out my different types of research (qualitative and quantitative) I went online to look at statistics of the best sold kind of graphic novels over the past few years and the best sold genre and type. This was to get a general overlook of the preferences of the community as a whole rather than a close inquiry of specific people’s preferences.I also looked at numerous comics and graphic novel forums and polls to witness the overall outlook of the specific audience of people.

Carrying out visual research

Visiting Manchester Art Gallery and Dawson’s Music Store

To carry out extra research I visited Manchester Art Museum and the Dawson’s music store to look at 1900’s work more closely. I found quite a few pieces from the early 1900’s time frame and photographed them including furniture and place settings.

When I visited Dawson’s music store to look for brass instruments such as saxophones and trumpets that would have been played back in the 1920’s time. Unfortunately they didn’t have anything that matched what I was looking for in stock and only had lyrics and note books on jazz music so I went online instead when I returned home and collected images from their website of old fashioned types of saxophones and trumpets and uploaded them onto my blog.

Storyline and Character List

The main focus of the project is the storyline as it is essentially a novel. I would create the project by first creating the rough outline of what would happen, usually by using bullet points to convey the story in small parts from the beginning to the end, and then read over it and check it to make sure that it flowed well. The bullet points therefore provide structure to the project, the basic shell of the idea if you will.

I would specifically focus on Ella Fitzgerald's’ life and biography. This would give me a clear idea of what happened in her early life so I could use the general scenarios in my novel so it appears if only a little realistic and follows most truths of her life. I would be respectful above all else and show her in a good light so as not to offend anyone, but also because she has been a idol to both me and my grandmother. I would hopefully create unique and interesting characters with a story of their own and their own personality, without veering from the original concept of following Ella.

The title ‘Hollow Queen’ came to me because Ella Fitzgerald was originally the Queen of Jazz. I decided on the title because I already had an idea of how I could put a fantastical twist into the storyline to add intrigue. I was thinking that I could add the fictional idea of a temptation which offered her fame and wealth such as a underhand, back street voodoo character, or demons of some sort beckoning her to accept a deal for glory. This was mainly because when she was younger she went through a very difficult time which made her vulnerable and unpredictable, including the death of her mother Tempie and her boyfriend Joe, being sent to a rehabilitation school , being beaten and living rough. So the story would revolve around whether the Queen of Jazz chose to believe a charlatan gifted her talent, and that she did not earn it, or that she worked for her passion all her life.

• Provide structure• Break up the storyline into smaller main points• Separate storyline into larger chapters so I

understand where in the story I am (beginning, middle toward the end)

Basic Storyline

1931 Begins with Ella living with her mother Tempie, step father Joe and half-sister Frances who was around 8 years old. 1932 Tempie died from serious injuries, attained in a car accident, Tempie’s presence is there at the funeral. Virginia, Tempie’s sister takes Ella home with her.Unable to adjust, Ella became unhappy and unpredictable, her grades dropped dramatically and she frequently skipped school. After getting in trouble with the police she was taken into a reforming school where her caretakers beat her badly, eventually at 15 years of age she escaped the reformatory, broke and alone she strove to survive. A predatory trickster character notices her crying alone in the street running away and follows her, offering her glory, fame and talent. She is of course reluctant and refuses at first, but he convinces her. He states there is no catch but his intention is less than honourable. Tempie looks on. Vulnerable with no way to take care of herself or ensure her survival she accepts the deal, he snips some of her hair and disappears, Trickster is there leaning against a lamppost in the street, expecting to be paid rubs fingers together impatientlyElla wants to avoid him, makes the band go to Coney Island to the fairground attraction on the boardwalk in the snow. Flash of lightning in the clouds, the demon he made a pact with appears from a lightning strike, wants its’ payment. Trickster shows up at the Grappler, ‘journalism, newspaper printing place’ where the interview is, grabs Ella before she goes in the room to join the others, he’s degraded even more, can see his true face showing through. Demon storms through the door, still hasn’t received her payment, last chance for her soulElla steps back Tempie stands in front of her daughter protectively and refuses her. She tears Tricksters soul from his body, falls limp and sets alight. As if nothing had ever happened she composes herself and tips her hat, then leaves. Ella says goodbye to Tempie.

Main Characters

Ella Fitzgerald, Temperance F, Virginia F, Frances Da Silva, Joseph Da Silva, Chick Webb, Charlie Linton, Benny Carter, Paul Robeson, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Ray Brown, Benny Kornegay,the Trickster, the Demon,

Pre Production

The main materials I would require to complete this project I fortunately have easy access to. These resources include a good quality pencil, and hardback sketchbook, and accompanying drawing tools such as rulers, erasers, sharpeners etc. Once the novel is sketched out, I will decide whether or not to ink it with fine liners and Indian ink to make it stand out, or leave the original work and scan it in to add black tone as well as hints of colour. If I decided to add colour to the novel I would use Photoshop or another computer program to add hints of light colour in a mainly black and white world.

I also worked out what Copyright Issues could arise with the creation of my project I should presume that any work published after 1922 will be protected under the US. Copyright law. A work that isn’t protected by the copyright law is known as public domain and is available to be used freely. If it is under intellectual properties law then unauthorised use may be okay. A principle known as “fair use” allows me to copy small parts or pieces of a work without obtaining permission but as is left to interpretation, can be a risk.

The obvious risk of not requesting permission would be being sued. It is recommended that I seek permission if I am unsure whether it is public domain or not. A fee may be required to continue working with permission depending on the factors. To seek permission I must identify the owner of the rights of the work that I wish to use. For my graphic novel I wish to use a fictional representation of somebody who actually existed Ella Fitzgerald. Sadly the Queen of Jazz passed away June 15th 1996 in Beverly Hills, USA; therefore I would have to search for her predecessor who would be the owner of her estate in the present. I would have to do this for any other person I wish to use as well.

Carried Out Visual Research Reference Images For Characters

TemperenceFitzgerald(Tempie- Ella’s mother)

Dizzy Gillespie's band

Chick WebbRay Brown

Ella Fitzgerald Ethel Waters Billie Holiday

Benny CarterPaulRobeson

DukeEllington

Character Sketches and drawing styles

Ella Fitzgerald

Studies

Character Ideas

Carried Out Visual Research for CharactersTaken from Stephen Poliakoff’s Dancing on the Edge

Sneaky and dishonest, disreputable amongst the dead, which is how Tempie knows of him

Changes over time, becomes thinner and more skeletal and deranged, his true self begins to show through as the Demon slowly takes his youth and health because he is not being paid the full amount.

Like how the Beldam from Coraline changes over time because Coraline disobeys her and doesn’t believe her.

Dresses refined to fit in with the time and everyone else, is conniving and calculating when it comes to deals, there is always a catch, usually payment for the demon

Carried Out Visual Research and Inspiration for the Trickster

Carried Out Visual Research and Inspiration for the Demon

Discolouration of the eyes, red, yellow, black, white, an abnormal colour with no showing pupils or iris, just one whole abnormal colour

Appears mainly human so she can blend in when in public but can change her face, remove her cover easily

Taken from popular American television show Supernatural, Dragon Age cinematic trailer ‘Sacred Ashes and Concept Art World

Beginning ProductionVisual Research, Graphic Novel Styles and Covers

Cover and Title Font Ideas Mood board

Some of My favourite Inspiring Artists

Jo Chen

Draws for Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics and Graphic Novels. Her work mainly Focuses on Buffy, but she hasAlso contributed works to Other comics. I love her style of art and composition of the pages she creates, the soft melding colours provide a soothing tone, and realistic feel to all the characters portrayed.

Omar Francia

Bioware, Marvel and Dark Horse Artist. Mainly draws for Mass Effect and superhero comics. I probably like the simplistic line sketches, overlapped and worked into to look realistic and complex. I love the way he layouts the different panels and the moves swiftly from scene to scene capturing expressive faces and emotion.

A4 Size Paper

Production, page sizes and cutting

The original size of the paper I will be using for the actual base of the artwork will be classic A4. This is mainly because of the simple fact, the sketchbook being used for the bind of the graphic novel is just large enough to fit a specific cut size of A4.

Before beginning production on whole, I figured out the size all the A4 pieces would need to be cut to, I started by editing the page for the cover, which would slide inside the front bind and the first page. The cartridge quality paper, was cut along the length and width, one centimetre across for both, to make enough room for each page to fit, and to ensure the sizes were continuously identical and professional looking.

A4 Size Paper

Cut Size New Fit Size

Bind Bind

New Fit Size

Evaluation of Project

pending