The Train: A Junior Visual Narrative Comic by Lara Darling (2016)

My story begins with a girl waiting for her train at a station. She is doing the same thing she does everyday; this is her routine. She gradually begins to notice that there is something different today, across the tracks she sees three mysterious figures. She wants to go discover what the figures were doing, but she refuses to miss her train. She grows more curious and torn, and her wish to leave grows.She hears the train and knows that it's now or never, either chose the train and never know or see what's on the other side. She decides to leave the train and see what's on the other side of the tracks, pursuing her own way. This is simply a metaphor for why I joined freestyle, I am the girl and I didn't want to go on the train like everybody else.

In order to create my illustration I first sketched out a rough estimate of what I wanted in my design sketchbook. Since linear perspective was a requirement, I decided to use it in my first panel to provide context for where my character is. It was difficult to fully visualize my story as a comic, instead of a continuous one shot. I drew the layout initially on graph paper, and used a burnisher to transfer it to the board. When I finished my board, I used ''Genius Scan'' to scan it and save it as a PDF which I then took and put it into Illustrator to help me see exactly what I want I wanted to draw. I set the scan of my drawing as my background layer, and locked it so I couldn't mess with it. I then created many different layers in which I drew the many components of my illustration. I had never used Illustrator so getting used to the program was difficult; I knew what I wanted to create but I couldn't figure out how to do it! I gradually figured out the basics, although I think I have a lot more to learn. I'm not fully satisfied with my work, I think that next time it will go better because I actually know how the program works. I wish that I had drawn more conceptual panels, or panels based on objects, because figures are extremely hard to draw. I think next time I would have had a stronger story and have more fun with the illustration.