Publication Evaluation

During the production of my publication, I found that I was able to easily develop ideas to the final outcome. The illustrations were able to be clearly planned, drawn and detailed within the time given, and were open to change. I believe this is because what I wanted to do wasn't restricted by others, as it would be in a group. This extended to me being pleased with the printed final outcome.

I was also pleased with the apparent quality of the illustrations I produced for this part of the module, because they were based on a topic that I was interested in drawing for, and my illustrative skills had improved since my last attempt at producing a publication in the previous year. This was a strength in helping me create my best work for the magazine.


Something I could improve on with a future print publication is the quality of the binding. While my used method was appropriate for a hand-made zine, I feel that the magazine deserved a more professional quality. This could involve simply finishing it in time to be published by an out-of-house printer.

Another potential issue with the magazine I produced is its size. I previously discussed the potential that my publication had to be a bigger and more realistic magazine, which would mean more pages at a high quality. On the other hand, this quantity of pages is perfect as a zine 'teaser' for what sort of things could be present in a full edition of "Character Magazine," as well as being the optimal amount for a one-person publication.


To summarise, I found development easier when working to my own ideas, and was able to visually present them in a skilled and artistic way, for the publication. However, I felt that the publication deserved to be printed at a professional level, and have more pages of content throughout the issue.

Final publication

The finished publication presented below ended up being a printed 8-page zine at smaller-than-A5 size. I found that this size was appropriate for the sizes of font inside the magazine, and that by adding two more pages than my original plan, I could give the content some breathing room. The outcome was 10 hand-made published editions of "Character Magazine," each one a little smaller than A5 to give the publication a unique quality, with the pages stapled together for ease of access.

(LEFT) Back cover, (RIGHT) Front cover

The covers of my magazine are the best-looking and most professional of the publication (as they should be), although they are the part that possibly had the least amount of changes. From the flat plan, I knew that I wanted something like the final front cover shown here, but I believe I have achieved an even better outcome than I expected. The original back cover was intended to be blank until I decided to use a different version of the front cover illustration to fill the white space. This ultimately provides the right balance of negative space that these covers need.

(LEFT) Page 2, (RIGHT) Page 7

One of the pages I added was a simple, yet effective details page that you would normally see near the front of a print publication. By using a professional format, I managed to provide useful information as well as incorporate my name into the zine in an unobstructed way. The last content page is the interview with Marcus Lehto - I have gone into detail on the changes I made to the original and why on a seperate blog post, but it is important to say that the text is still readable in the zine's final size.

(LEFT) Page 6, (RIGHT) Page 3

The sixth page presents an article detailing the history of the Master Chief in videogame culture, and the origins and development of the character's design. This page uses a host of images from the games and is reminiscent of the format an article would use in a modern gaming magazine. By marrying the text and images in this way, I have shown the importance of the character, as well as broken up what would be a lot of writing for the average reader. The third page is the last of the new additions and is a 'contents' page of sorts, that gives a teaser of what to expect from each section of the magazine. The page uses images from the corresponding sections to also give a flavour of what to expect in each.

(LEFT) Page 4, (RIGHT) Page 5

The final pages shown here are a double-page spread of the first section of content. At the centre of the zine, this article becomes the core of the entire publication, and is allowed to spread out across more than one page. This is beneficial to showing more stages in the development of one of my own characters. The presentation and spacing of information on these two pages gives a simplistic and modern feel to the publication that is carried throughout.

The contemporary aesthetic that I have gone for with this magazine helps it to appeal to a large audience of creatives and non-creatives. While "Character Magazine" was originally intended as a publication by artists, for artists, the development of the publication has helped me to realise the potential it has on educating and inspiring people who are new to the concept of character design. Through this, I believe the zine was a successful attempt at producing a professional print product.

Character development

Character design and development are the themes of my publication, so I have illustrated my own character from my Final Major Project in its design stages. By illustrating the stages, I have shown how I managed to reach a final design for one of my characters, as well as how each layer of detail is compiled together. I ended up presenting these design stages in the centre of two pages of my publication, so a reader could follow the character's development from left to right. A written explanation of the character has also been provided underneath the final stage for clarity.

For the cover of my publication, I knew that I wanted to create an illustration of the featured character in a very unique way. In following my plan, I constructed the following drawing of the Master Chief in segments - from the most detailed and finished to the simplest sketchy lines. The finished illustration is made up of five segments that are cut diagonally. I feel like this proved to be an interesting and experimental way to draw a character, and I enjoyed the challenge of finding a new perspective to draw one of my favourite characters from. The outcome turned out better than expected and looks great as the cover art for my magazine.

Following on from this, I wanted to put the finished illustration through Adobe Illustrator as I wanted to make the lines bolder and was interested in how it would turn out. Below is the result of that experiment, and I am surprised with how clean and professional it ended up looking. While the pencil sections didn't translate well, I used it to my advantage to present a different narrative to the same drawing. This version shows a fractured and broken character, who is slowly dissolving into the wind, which can be representative of many different storytelling elements.

This version of the illustration appealed to me so much that I used it on the back cover of my publication, and I feel that it helps to bring the other elements together (ironically, as the character is coming undone). By exploring this digital aspect and experimenting with image trace, I discovered a technique that I enjoy and have been encouraged to use in my future practice.