Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays everyone! :)

Hope you all had a great time, I'm looking forward to what 2014 will bring! Stay tuned for a special surprise this year! :)
Love from Gemma, Amber, the Tree Spirit x

The Snowman and the Snowdog Trailer

It's nearly here everyone, the long awaited sequel to Raymond Briggs' "The Snowman" from 30 years ago! The Snowman and the Snowdog is a brand new film from Channel 4 and Lupus Films in London that I have had the incredible privilege and pleasure to work on this year... one of the many reasons I have been so busy since Uni!

The film is set thirty years on from the original and features a new boy, the same old Snowman rebuilt again and a new Snowdog! Some have frowned upon a sequel to the original who feel like this is just a 'remake', but it is a totally new adventure and is a real treasure to watch as it respectfully celebrates the original while also updating the beloved story. 

I was invited to join the crew in London as a 'line tester' so I was testing the original hand drawn animation under a camera (everything was drawn properly on paper like the original, not with a  computer!) to show the animators and Director how the scenes would look before they are scanned. I did this for a couple of months before joining the rendering department where I hand coloured scenes in pencil for the final film! It was an incredible experience and I loved every minute.

So without further ado, here is the finished trailer for the film, which will have its full broadcast premiere on Channel 4 this Christmas! Don't miss it!

P.S. I haven't forgotten to update you all on Acorns! I've currently submitted it to several festivals for next year so I will update if it gets selected for anything!

Christmas Watercolours

For Christmas I've done my friends and family some watercolour cards, it's been very fun and enjoyable to experiment with watercolour which I haven't used in years. I've posted these to show my development in using this technique as I plan to extend this into my production art, inspired by watercolour art by Hayao Miyazaki.

These were for my friends: classmates and housemates...

From left to right:

Jessica's Mollie and Babbit http://arabbitcalledbabbit.blogspot.com/

Robert's Alex and Knitted Dragon http://knitteddragon.blogspot.com/

Claire's Stag http://clairespiller.blogspot.com/

Paul's Direwolf 'Snow' (Game of Thrones)

Zara's Roberta and Emileena http://thezukineework.weebly.com/

Bryony's Pond Creature http://utopiaofthepond.blogspot.com/

Victoria's Ballerina http://dancingshoesfinalyearfilm.blogspot.com/

Dale's 'Zommer' (Moshi Monsters)

These were for family:

From left to right:

Alex's Link and Zelda (Nintendo's Skyward Sword)

Grandparent's Giraffes

Eleanor's Babbits, Ebony and Eddie

Emily's Cloud (Square-Enix's Kingdom Hearts)

Dan's 'Wookie the Chew' James Hance homage http://www.jameshance.com/

Sarah's dragon-esque My Little Pony

Uncle and Aunt's African Lion

Mum's old dachshund, Pippi

More watercolours to come soon! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)