LAIKA Holiday Challenge Results

So I didn't win this competition, but there was some fantastic submissions. I know that my work got seen by LAIKA which is really great. I hope they do more competitions because it was really fun to have a go at working 'with' this company and their characters.

What was successful in the winning image: 

It was a moving image. The image flashed with different coloured Christmas lights, so it was dynamic and captured attention for longer on the Facebook banner.

Recognisable characters, true to the visual style of Laika's original characters. Hand drawn but kept in the house style.

Subtle colours, using Christmas colour scheme but muted so as not to be too garish or distracting.

They did, however, share a few of their favourite entries and mine is the first one on the Facebook album. They shared one of my test photos, not the final image. It might have been confusing or even against the *rules* that I posted several images.

FAIRYTALE HUNT 4/4

More happy winners for the final round of fairy hunting!

We had one in the shop at Stuff4Offices where I work and it took a while for anyone to find it, but eventually this little boy and his Woody found Rapunzel in our window.

What a fabulous start to the Christmas Fairytale Hunt! Well done from everyone at G Craggs, Eva and Sam Platts! A fantastic prize of £100 for a lovely family!😁👍🍾
Posted by Stephen Craggs on Saturday, 23 December 2017

FAIRYTALE HUNT 3/4

There's been a bit of an argument on Blow Your Horn about some of the children winning multiple prizes every week. Some people are saying that they should give others a chance but others say it's fair enough: if they were there first and found the fairies then they're the winners!

LAIKA CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE COMPLETE

Tadah! It's finished. I'm really happy with how this looks. It's striking, Christmassy and definitely inspired by LAIKA'S Box Trolls.
I would have liked a bit more dust or a darker background to make it look more like an attic...

LAIKA COMPETITION ENTRY

Backdrop isn't dark or grungy enough. Would prefer more depth, more suggestion that this is an attic.

More of a scene.

I am really pleased with how the Boxtrolls look! The shading and detail on the face is different to what I usually do. They look like the original Boxtrolls but not exactly the same, they do have a hint of Jay about them in their cute expressions and raised eyebrows.

LAIKA COMPETITION

(Image from The Boxtrolls, LAIKA)

In my original proposal, I mentioned some competitions that the stop motion company LAIKA have done in the past (but haven't done since 2014) and that I might try and track down some of those briefs to work on since I am a big fan of their films and they are the kind of company I would like to work for/with.

But low and behold, LAIKA posted on their Facebook page today that they are hosting a competition! 

The prize is only to be featured on their social media cover photo, which isn't brilliant or much incentive to enter, however, it is exactly the kind of brief I want to work on and would get seen by people within the company... so perhaps it is worth doing this, perhaps more so than just setting myself small challenges for my portfolio, since this is external brief.

(Image from The Boxtrolls, LAIKA)

I've had a quick think and planned out some roughs.

The idea I'm taking forwards is THE BOXTROLLS with a Christmas twist. Boxtrolls as boxes of stored Christmas decorations in an attic. 

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE (Self-Directed)

Design and print wallpaper

Make photos for the photo frames

Make hangers and fur coats to hang in the wardrobe

Clock? Lamp? Papers? Chair?

Make Lucy

Make Mr Tumnus

Make Narnia scene

Make lamppost

FAIRYTALE HUNT 2/4

The boy on the left won £100! Love his sister's face here. It's so so so so so lovely to see these children so excited by my work.

The girl above loved my fairies and used her winnings to buy herself one from the shop to take home.

Mega Crit Peer Feedback

My pile of completed work so far did look impressive and I am proud of what I've managed to achieve so far. It is definitely the best work I've done yet (In my opinion) and is relevant to where I want to take this into children's book publishing. I just need to refine and show the best of my abilities, show dedication to the craft and a portfolio of different scenes/tones/characters.

Should I continue with the Sherlock FOLIO brief?

Mixed response - some saying to push my comfort zone and try to do it and others saying to move on and do something that is more beneficial to my practise.

I think that the brief was so close to being right for me, but the restrictions on it being a Folio competition made it awkward, such as having to have a very plain and patterned cover and the very rigid formal appearance of the brand.

SOLUTION:  Removing Folio, but still making Book Illustrations

I've decided to abandon the brief. The idea of making images for an existing book was appealing to me, but the competition and the Folio brand is what ruined it for me. I'm going to make illustrations using models for existing classic books (probably for a child-middle grade audience) for MYSELF and MY OWN PORTFOLIO, not to please a company competition. I do hope that certain publishers or clients would find these attractive, but I need to be specific and aim for the ones I would want to work for in the future (Nosy Crow, Flying Eye).

Need to update timetable and action plan with these changes.

Here are a few of the books I would love to reimagine with physical models:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Wizard of Oz

Alice in Wonderland

More Poe stories

The Secret Garden

PIPPI LONGSTOCKING

The Wind in the Willows

FAIRYTALE HUNT SATURDAY 1/4

The Hunt was a huge success! I handed the organisation and promotion over to Gaynor as I work Saturdays (plus this is her forte and she did an incredible job of handling it all), but we saw lots of families out hunting for the characters in town from the shop where I work and we followed along on the BYHR Facebook group to see the winners as they were announced.

9 dolls were hidden in shops around the city (some in windows, some inside - all participating shops had signs on the door saying that they were taking part, but the chosen shops were kept completely secret) and one was hidden on a business's Facebook page.

All day I had people coming into the shop and asking if I was the 'girl who makes the fairies' and we sold out of dolls in the window at work. I have a lot of custom doll orders to do... 

All of the fairytale characters were found by the end of the day and prizes ranged from £50 cash to smaller presents/gift vouchers donated by the businesses. There was such an enchanting buzz around the city and I'm so pleased with how well it went. The trail has got my name out there a little more, since all Ripon resisdents get a Review Ripon through their door and lots of people took part in the hunt, but it feels so great to be part of something that has made all these children smile and actively support their community.

And it's not over yet... that was only the first week of four. People are only just getting into Christmas mode so I reckon it's going to be even better and busier next week, especially since those following BYHR saw the amazing prizes won, and people now know how it works and will be going out to try again.