CASE STUDY: The Pogles

hand drawn illustrations AND 3d stop motion puppets
translates across media/process
world-building for children's entertainment - in both traditional publishing and stop-motion television

WST: Character Design - Brenna Bramble

Initially this character was called 'Bonnie Birch', one of the Birch family who own the Birch Bakery in Whistle-stop Thistle but only once I'd uploaded this character design page did I realise that the word 'Birch' looks like it says 'Bitch'.

Amongst my ideas for the name change was 'Bonnie Beech' (another tree), but this didn't sound right either.

I eventually settled on Bramble, which isn't going to get confused with any swear words. 'Bonnie' wasn't suiting the character anymore, it sounded like a country singer: 'Bonnie Barley / Bonnie Bramble', so I tried a few different names before going with Brenna.

The dry-brush eraser effect works really well behind the text to bring it out - I wonder how this would work on some of my 3D illustration scenes to add text to busy coloured photos?

WST: Character Design

A logo/title for the series. I'm pleased I went with this name as it does work as a place name, it sounds fun and exciting, nature-based and it looks great written down - lots of ascending letters and fits nicely with thistle underneath. Only worry is that children struggle with this 'th' phoneme. Test on children, see if they can remember the name of the place and if they can actually say it!

Having a consistent branding like this across all the products I create will tie it all together as a series. Although I'm no expert on branding/graphic design (this might be terrible) it is something that will bring all the material together and stamp it as coming from this one world.

Started to colour some of the characters I've been drawing in my sketchbook. I've not drawn for a while and I know I often overlook it/avoid it in briefs in favour of MAKING but I have had fun drawing these characters and I definitely have spent longer figuring out who these characters are than I usually do.

I like the big, round shape of the bodies - think this cold be a distinctive 'characteristic' of the Thistle-folk that makes them distinctly recognisable.

The 2D illustrations could be applied really easily to products like clothing, lunchboxes, wellies (specifically outdoor/exploring products for children... backpacks?) so I intend to keep drawing and have the drawing/3D models work alongside each other as part of the world.

CASE STUDY: Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom

I hadn't realised until now how much my idea for Whistle-Stop Thistle had been influenced by Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. I only watch this when my little cousin is at my house on Tuesdays, but I had obviously soaked up some of the ideas from this show and regurgitated them in my pitch. For example, the idea of my little town being hidden behind a big bramble bush is exactly the same introduction as B&H's. I didn't consciously decide to make mine the same as B&H's, I thought I had conjured up this idea on my own but had evidently been informed by what I had been watching with baby James.
I will need to change this as although I do want my world to be SIMILAR in audience and tone, I don't want it to be a COPY and I want it to stand out, be unique!

I spent at least two hours researching Ben and Holly this morning and I've learned a lot about the creators' intentions and the response of the audience to the show. It's been a really successful product and it's useful to evaluate why that is/what makes a world so charming.

I do think what makes Ben and Holly pleasing to me is that it's not 3D CGI like most contemporary children's television, it's much more basic in its construction. B&H, alongside 'The Little Princess' and 'Charlie and Lola' are all flat, 2D animation shows that I find easier to watch and enjoy. In this way is is quite nostalgic of the older, classic children's television that I grew up with. I do find physical puppetry and stop-motion much more engaging as a viewer, but CGI puppetry is too in-your-face and modern, lacking the honest and handmade charm of physical puppetry.

Reflections on the Whistle-stop Thistle Pitch

Ben Jones, Shelly Kaur, Meg Swan, Emma Knowles, Sophie Edwards-Smith, Sophia Watts

I presented my idea for creating the 'Whistle-stop Thistle' world and it went really well!
This project has potential for lots of mini-projects and applications so it is definitely something that will keep me busy for the remainder of the course and that could be extended beyond this module/my time at uni.

https://www.soundtrap.com/studio/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpyQZhk6Anc

Proposal

Come on! It's time to go. We're going somewhere new.
At the bottom of this field, behind the big bramble bush.
There, can you see it?
You're going to have to squeeze. Mind the thorns!
I told you to wear sensible shoes.
Past the nettles... shh! A little closer.
Can you see it yet? You'll have to squint your eyes really tight.
DOWN THERE, IN THE LEAVES!

Teeny tiny people.
The woodland elves of 
You thought elves and fairy folk lived under toadstools? No!
The townfolk of Whistle-stop Thistle are quite civilised.
They have tiny houses, see! There's one.
A bakery, can you smell Bramble pie?
Little seed breads, I wonder what's cooking.
Oh a toy shop! I bet the little thistles love it there.

Can you imagine the stories these little people might tell?
About nature and community, magic and the animals they meet.
How sweet it would be to hear those tales, or to see them move on a screen.

Remember all those stories we used to love about tiny magical worlds? Toy town,
pogles wood, Trumpton,
Moominvalley, Narnia and Oz!

Oh think of the possibilities! Toys and stickers or even a live show.
Stories for children to read before bed,
easy-to-read picture story books,
adventures and worlds for escaping the everyday.
Encouraging imagination, exploration, go outdoors!
Illustrations that look like you could step right in.

Town Building

Progress on the house. Loving this door! Tiny bits of jewellery and scrap metals to make the knocker, handle and letterbox. Would they have tiny flowers in window boxes or GIANT (real-size) flowers? Perhaps I should make them daisies or even forget-me-nots so the scale is accurate. They also need painting and a lot more detail because at the moment they are just card/paper petals.

The Bakery is also moving on. In parts where I've used UHU glue to stick shelves to acetate windows, there are little bits of orange discolouration! How can I fix this? Repaint? Different glue?

Needs a big sign. I am happy with the colours though, looks very twee and almost Wes Anderson themed.

House Progress

new door, a wooden one that's bigger and more detailed

Group Crit Preparation With Patrick

Patrick, Shelly Kaur, Megan Swan, Sophia Watts

It did feel a bit strange to be preparing for a group crit by way of a group crit - and presenting the same information we'd already shared a week ago to the same group again - but I did manage to explain what I'd been looking at in terms of building the street and how I'd moved on since last time.

We discussed how my focus would now be on the crafting of this world and setting the tone for a story. I might not have time to tell the ENTIRE STORY but I should plan and explore this world.
Sophia is also looking at children's books and is making a proposal for a children's book rather than writing the whole thing which is a good idea. Patrick suggested not to add any text onto the actual images, as that should be left to a designer.

It was suggested that I do some collaboration, working with different disciplines, or at least consider how this project could be improved/extended by working with others. As a director or working in an animation studio, I would have lots of different people with different skills that could help in bringing a world like this to life.

Extra Points:
Go to the Museum of Childhood
Know your audience
Could you do some animation or video with this scene? Moving, simple panning? Interactive is fun!

For Friday:
A more concise, concrete plan of what you're going to do
use the words 'I'm going to' not 'I'd like to' or 'I might'
3-5 minute presentation. Use your tone of voice!

Self-Initiated: Street Scene - Research

Collecting research around my book idea. Moving away from a factual story about Kristin Baybars' toy shop and starting to build a fictional world about a street and a forgotten toy shop.

• Maggie Rudy - 3D illustrations using anthropomorphic mice and intricate scenes. A similar process to mine. Look into how she photographs, edits, prints and publishes.
• Houses - looking at buildings and streets, how to light rooms and decorate interiors. Diverse range of building types. Find some real streets! Take photographs and visit streets. What makes it magical? What makes it nostalgic?
• Fictional shops/streets - Bagpuss (toys come to life), Camberwick Green (miniature worlds, twee), Mr Benn (magical costume shop amongst a regular street), The Miniaturist (a story about a miniature furniture maker with supernatural sight/knowledge).
• The beauty of the toy shop - childhood, nostalgia, independent, old, dusty, handmade.

Self Initiated: Street Scene - House

Little (big) town house in light blue, very Moominhouse-esque. It has two window boxes for flowers to add a bit of greenery to the street.

Should I have more of a PLAN for this? Should it be for something more SPECIFIC? Should I be making this FOR A CLIENT? I think it's okay to be making this for myself to practice building towns and once it's made it will be a great set for loads of photos.

I'm looking forward to having a really busy street with passers-by, employees, bicycles and then carol singers in winter! People looking out of windows, hanging up washing, going shopping...

Bakery has been painted pink but does look a bit odd having two storeys - should have stuck to the pencil sketch plan and not got carried away with windows. It's a very big building for a bakery! Might need to change names of buildings once I have some different shaped and sized ones, best suited to the business.

I'm enjoying making these buildings and can't wait to get decorating them!

Self-Initiated: Buildings/Street - Bakery

I know that I want to make and include some buildings in my children's book, but so far all the sets I've made have been landscapes and the only buildings have been small models (e.g. Baba Yaga's hut) or basic room structures (LWW room), so I decided to have a go at making some functional doll buildings.

I would love to have a full street with cobbles, shop fronts and houses that dolls can be posed both in and outside of, but this might end up just being a tester. I'm starting with a bakery because I already have a few ideas for miniature foods and displays.

Here is the basic cardboard structure, needs painting and adding windows in before details and interiors are added.

PASSION PROJECTS

My favourite illustrator, Chris Sickels, making work for HIMSELF.

PASSION PROJECTS! It's important to do the things YOU ENJOY and sometimes not have a reason other than you WANT TO.

Story Book: Change of Plan

Trying to think about my story. Kristin Baybars' toy shop is fascinating but to make it interesting and imaginative for my adventurous readers (make a psychographic/demographic audience), I would have to write a story about it that might not be true.

This story also feels quite far away from me (London, I'M A NORTHERNER! I could go and visit it but it's really not something that is close to my home/life) and a bit unoriginal... toy shops are really overdone in children's books even though I find them magical and exciting I think I could imagine something a bit more unusual...

What is it that I enjoyed reading/watching as a child? 

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Wizard of Oz

Moomin Stories

Bagpuss

Alice in Wonderland

The Enchanted Wood/Faraway Tree

The Never-Ending Story

Labyrinth

Where The Wild Things Are

The Secret Garden

Pippi Longstocking

Most of these stories involve going on some kind of adventure to a magical world.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Part 2

I bought a big bag of cotton wool for making a snowy Narnia and now my room has at least three A2XA2 scenes set up at once. In order to show the room with the wardrobe opening into Narnia, I literally cut the back of the wardrobe away. It now has a hollow back and the wall behind it has a matching hole cut out too. When the room scene is positioned in front of the Narnia scene, the camera looks directly through the wardrobe into the snow.

I had some difficulties taking the photo as there was a lot of balancing involved and coats would fall out off their hangers into Narnia, but I think I got a good shot of Lucy seemingly 'in action', walking into Narnia here. I didn't want it to look like she was just stood still looking into the void, so her feet as positioned to be walking.

Because Narnia has a different colour scheme and tone to that of the room, I didn't know if it might look a bit odd with the colours clashing through the 'portal'/hole, but solved this by adding a dark vignette to the room, really throwing light into the wardrobe where the new colour scheme takes over.

Mr Tumnus is an odd character to illustrate because he is both charming and disturbing. He is a kidnapper but naturally a good-hearted Faun. I wanted him to be sweet and friendly but to keep some of that frightened feeling I once had from reading of his intentions.

The colour scheme makes the scene feel cold and definitely looks like winter.

The lamp-post is all made of a pencil, acetate and card. There is no actual light inside it, that is just an overlay I placed on Photoshop afterwards. I would like to see how this would compare to real practical effect lighting - perhaps some small dollshouse LEDs could be used?

Here Mr Tumnus is supposed to drop his parcels in surprise. He does look surprised, but his parcels look too strategically placed to have been dropped. His umbrella isn't snowy either!

Group Crit 9/02/18

Rachel Taylor's Group
Emma Knowles
Megan Swan
Shelly Kaur

I prepared a silly poem for this group crit as I find performing the best way for me to feel confident and speak clearly about my work. I was worried that this wouldn't work and I'd have to ditch the presentation as this was only going to be a small group table conversation, but I managed to still present my poem. Doing it my way because I know this works best for me!

What's gone well:
Pixie Exhibition - good experience and you learnt that you prefer longer briefs that allow you to tell stories
Fairytale Hunt - Meeting peple and building your portfolio
You know that you LOVE making and you're capitalising on that.

What's next:
Karma window display - once this is done you can crack on with your long book project
Continue with classic stories scenes because these are great! Shorter briefs you can do for fun.
Children's book! Start going with this. Send letter to Kristin Baybars.

What did I learn from my peers?
We've all changed so much since first year! We're choosing very specific briefs and doing completely diverse projects that are suited to our interests. We all have a clear and directed path of what we are doing and what we want to do more of.
Megan is going to do a week of work placement next week which is brilliant! And perfect for the retail+merchandising industry she would like to work within. Could I find some experience/placement?

Pitch Presentation

I am an illustrator

Though I’ve often told myself I’m not.

I tell stories through pictures

And get distracted a lot.

By fantastical creatures

Faraway lands

Worlds I’ve created

with my own hands

If I could I’d crawl right in

And as the Queen I’d roam

But I’ll open the gates

For the visitors to walk

Into my little home

Over Summer I was kindly invited

To exhibit my work at Newby Hall

A prestigious venue who contacted me

For fairies aimed at the small

But I found it difficult

To fill the Grantham Room

In such a short amount of time

When you have so much space

Quantity is an impending doom.

I work better with longer projects

Where I can research and get stuck in

For this, I rushed and had no focus

Churning out the same old thing!

My dissertation investigated

Performing spells in art

But the work I made didn’t tell stories

It was about the baking, not the tart.

I felt dissatisfied from the lack of narrative

It was too wrapped up in play

By the end of the module I just couldn’t wait

to have something different to say

So I’ve been choosing briefs that allow me to

Explore stories again

But open them up for children to see

Let the worlds interact with them.

The fairy tale trail was a month-long hunt

for 10 tiny characters I made

Hidden around the City of Ripon

And for prizes everyone played

Although it was local and wouldn’t

get my name much further than there

This project was personal and relevant

A community activity to share.

I gained experience in collaborating

And in working with a team

I created whilst others planned

This project was a dream!

Building my portfolio

And practising my skills

Making things I’ve never made

Scenes with all the frills

I value the charm

Of objects made by hand

As though they belong

To a miniature land.

I was thrilled last year when my dolls were published

In Art Doll Quarterly magazine

So when I saw that they were hosting more open calls

I jumped at the chance to submit a scene

My parents are toy collectors

Which I’m sure rubbed off on me.

I begin with a drawing

But then dolls is all you’ll see!

My main ambition is to

Write children’s books

Considering each page

And how it all looks

My stories are for children who imagine

And wonder

Atmospheres, world building

Fairytale or thunder?

I intend to write my story

About an old toy shop

In which I’ll build every wall

And make every prop

Kristin Baybars alone in a shop

For years and years

The oblivious passers-by,

The witch-calling sneers

Kristin and I,

We share common ground

There’s magic to be uncovered

And memories to be found.

Statement of Intent 2

Lucy and the Wardrobe

Shining light through the window adds a real mood and atmosphere to the dark room. It's really mysterious and adds to Lucy's curiosity. In the book, this scene is described with the window too so maybe I should have included the window in the shot (it does seem a waste to have spent so long making and placing the window only for it to be missed from the scenes), but the window isn't needed - the light from it is the most important to this image anyway - and the illustration doesn't have to be an exact copy of the text, or it would be boring. I'm being selective and directing the scenes from the text, not spoon feeding the reader

Lucy is really small compared to the wardrobe but I think these proportions communicate Lucy's 'creature feeling' and the overwhelming feeling of being somewhere new and alien. Lucy is a child and this is a child's perspective for the reader.

I don't think a book would need this many images of Lucy looking in the wardrobe, perhaps could be narrowed down to just her finding the room and then walking into Narnia, but I have found uploading to Instagram in series of threes to be effective and this series of three Lucy images does tell a story.

I hope these images capture the curiosity and adventure that Lucy experiences in this Chapter of the story.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Not worrying about live briefs or doing briefs just to tick learning outcomes, but trying to use this time to do some things that I really want to! What did I want to do when I came to this course that I haven't done yet?

I want to tell stories, illustrate books. And make things! So this is another small self-initiated brief just for my portfolio. I want to illustrate some classic stories using 3D models. The first one is C.S.Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Starting to build the room in which Lucy finds the wardrobe. The story mentions there being nothing else in the room except a window and a wardrobe - so I've fitted the window into a foam board wall and it works really well to bring 'natural' light into the room. My cat Avril was intrigued...

Self Initiated: Animals - Rabbit

Rabbit! He should really be grey and white for a wild rabbit but I see a bunch of wild ginger rabbits on my commute into Leeds which I call 'caramel bunnies', but this caramel colour is too similar to that of the Squirrel, the fox and the owl, so the characters aren't as distinct as they could be.

He's definitely bouncy! 

Self-Initiated: Animals (Squirrel)

Squirrel was the most difficult animal to make. The tail is pom-poms and tinsel but it kept falling apart. The body isn't furry as it should be and the arms look like he's a rapper or something. Fair enough, it gives him character, but I think this is the weakest of the series. I don't think it's obvious what animal he is and his facial expression is the same in every photo... these images are boring, there's nothing happening and one would do the job of showing what he is - whereas Badger has three photos of three different poses and expressions, Squirrel just turns around.

TOY SHOP RESEARCH: KRISTIN BAYBARS

KRISTIN BAYBARS
7 Mansfield Road, Gospel Oak, London NW3

80 year old Kristen opened her toy shop in 1973 and has spent the last 40 years sourcing toys for it.
Severely dyslexic, Kristen hid herself away at school in the woodwork studio, where she started building her first doll's house, a grand Georgian mansion, aged 15. It took her three years, but when it was finished the house was so beautiful that it was featured in the Essex County Standard and she became something of a local celebrity.
Kristen went on to set up the first toy department in Heal's on Tottenham Court Road in 1954, before opening her own shop in 1973, where she has been amassing a vast stock of toys and miniatures ever since.

Handmade toys, hand-to-mouth existence.
Knock-to-enter system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-38642319/my-shop-kristin-baybars-toy-shop-in-london

https://vimeo.com/88807171

'it's only a totally curious person who would want to even knock on the door in the first place.'
'some people wouldn't find it magical at all, but people who are on the same wavelength find it a magical place.'

'taken the craftsman hours to make and seconds to break.'
'people I would have never talked to in my life if it were just a street situation.'

'It's fun to be a little intimidating at times. Once I came to the aid of a woman with a baby who was begging a parking controller not to lift her car on to a truck. I looked him in the eye and said, 'I'm a witch. You'll regret it.' You've never seen someone remove clamps and vanish so quickly.'

Self Initiated: Animals (Fox)

Demonstrating that I can do different creatures, that they are poseable and that they all have a personality. This fox is really outgoing and adventurous! I could incorporate (fun) type to write up little character studies of each creature and present them as book pages.