Every summer from 5th grade to 12th grade, I attended a camp called Nature Camp in Vesuvius, Virginia. In college, I worked there for four years. Well, during each session, a ghost story called Percy is told around the campfire. It's a wonderful story that works in a lot of the lore, people, and natural areas surrounding camp. It's scary and delightfully fun! I decided that this story would be really fun to turn into a graphic novel.
However, it had been over 15 years since I heard the story. So, I went about contacting all my friends from camp, some who still work there, hoping to find a recorded or written version. I knew that Colonel Reeves, the old camp director, had at one point recorded a version. Well unfortunately, the new director finally got back to me and told me that the tape had disappeared many years ago. Since then, the story has just been passed on orally. So then, I set about contacting members of the staff from the last few summers hoping that someone could help me. I spent a good portion of the last two weeks, just tracking down this story and almost decided to do something else. However, everyone I spoke with thought it was such a good idea and so wanted a copy, that I felt I couldn't give up.
I finally found a staff member who can record the story for me, except he can't do it until tomorrow evening. So, I know I don't have much yet for this rough draft. I remember enough of the story that I could at least begin the illustrations. My idea is to use my photographs (mostly mine, a few from friends, and a few creative commons) and cartoonify them for the graphic novel. This is what I have thus far. I plan to continue tweaking and working this week. Hopefully, this will come together! My fingers are mightily crossed!
Hi Jen -
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I'm intrigued and am eager to know where/what happened to Ferncliff! The only thing I can suggest is to add a period at the end of "The campers loved him" in the first block. And, would it be possible to make the image of his collar in the last block a little clearer? From first glance, I wasn't sure what it was. This is so cute though! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it!
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to post feedback late....I defended my thesis on Friday and have been preparing to start a new (second) job this week, so I made those things my priority. However, I don't think my suggestions would take much tweaking to your final draft, if you choose to use them at all.
First, this idea is awesome! I'm glad you are documenting a traditional camp story, especially in such an interesting way! I love graphic novels, and yours will be of high quality, I'm sure. The start you posted above is really cool. Only a few things I might play with a bit:
--The text blurbs are a bit hard to read at that font size and the line spacing; however, I think the font suits the mood of the story. If your pages will stay small in the final version, I would consider increasing the font size or line spacing.
--Also, in regard to the text bubbles: white does help the black text stand out, but since you have a lot of earthy colors in your photos, what about an off-white or tan background for the text?
--I like your images, but more contrast in the final image would make it easier to make out the dog collar.
--When sentences continue to another picture/page, maybe start the remainder of the sentence in "..." or keep the first letter lowercase, to remind the reader that it is a continuation of the previous sentence?
One more comment: this reminds me of the now-canceled T.V. series, Wishbone! Did anyone else watch that? I loved learning about literature with that show, and now my 4 year-old watches old episodes online. I suppose I'm reminded of that show since Ferncliff is also a white and brown Jack Russel. This project is pleasantly reminiscent of childhood =)