Tink... The Continuing Saga

Here we are again, and this time I want to share with you the development on a couple of the fairies.

Some of the main characters of the initial stories – like Rani, Fira or Beck – never made it to the films and thus became the lesser known "girl gang" that surrounded Tink. But their counterparts – Silvermist, Irridessa and Fawn – despite being secondary characters in the books, found their way to the screen.

A few fairies did make the cut:  Rosetta, Vidia, Queen Clarion and Terence.  Unlike Bess, Lily and Prilla... Oh yeah, and Mother Dove...  who don't even have a conterpart in the films.

Speaking of Prilla... she was the "youngest" of the fairies... or should I say newest?  This gets confusing because, you know, they don't age.  Anyway, since everyone had a talent, they gave Prilla a unique one.  She had the ability to astral project her way into the "real world" and visit children.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.... no fairy left Neverland back then.  So, she was kind of important to keep the belief of fairies alive in the real world to ensure all the other fairies' existence.

Not going to bore you with ALL the fairies, just wanted to touch upon Vidia (at first, "Invidia").  Back then, she was a villain.   She didn't hang out with anyone... kind of Maleficent-like, she was the bad fairy that lived apart from everyone else (who all lived in the same tree, BTW).  She seemed kind of like a Grima Wormtongue (LOTR) that preyed upon the fears and insecurities of other fairies.  Basically, negative karma.

 

Anyway, back to the development process:

As I began my studies, it became painfully apparent how much my skill level was not up to par for this property, and had to practice a lot to begin to understand it.  This involved a lot of research... and a lot of just drawing.  I began to just draw poses.

 

These are only a few examples I kept over the years.  I did many that were so horrible, I had to quickly throw them away before they sprouted more heads and burned holes in the walls.  But as tedious as it was, I had to get the feel of the characters until they were more of a natural extension than just a drawing.  Guess that's what they call "finding the character".

It got a little better as time went on and things developed more.  Instead of trying desperately to cling on to the designated "models", I started bending towards the influences of Fred Moore and Norman Rockwell (for children poses).  And interestingly enough, girls from Anime.  You know, the cute ones... but not so... fully developed.  The posing for the pvc anime figures were perfect to help with getting the feel of these characters.

 

I was just starting to get the hang of it... and then, they decided to make the films...
(to be continued)

My Years With Tink

Hey there!  In celebration of the release of the latest Tinker Bell film in the series, I wanted to pay tribute to this most beloved protagonist.  Since she has been the center of most of my work for the last 12 years or so, she 's become a very important character to me.  So, in the next few posts, I will backtrack down memory lane and share some of the work I have done for this long project: like some early drawings  and even some really really rough sketches of this world that never was. Hope you'll enjoy!

Tough as it seemed, I remember "development time" while working at Disney Publishing to be some of the most memorable with my partner in crime, Judie Clarke.  She is a brilliant artist, who is actually responsible for much of bringing the Fairies world  to life.  She fashioned much of the Pixie Hollow world with her beautiful backgrounds.  Much of her work made it into the end titles of one of the films as well.  I, instead, tended to focus on little character vignettes, making up little scenarios in my mind about their lifestyle. Now, I know these drawings leave much to be desired and there isn't a moment when I look at them that I don't want to redo them or erase them from existence, but they are a bit of history, and like it or not, we all learn from history, right?
Still, some of those drawings were important starting points for further development and maybe they also served as little inspiration for something we would later see in the movies.

In the beginning the world we worked on was very different from what later was developed in the films.  The Fairies lived in another kind of Pixie Hollow.  The concept of Neverland  had expanded to Pixie Hollow itself, and as no one grows old there, nothing died in Pixie Hollow... meaning that there were only the seasons of Spring and Summer.  Since there was no cycle, there was no Autumn or Winter.   No Winter!  Yes, that's right... no Periwinkle!  No Secret of the Wings! Just Spring and Summer...... ALL the time.

I was actually proud of this last one... until I later realized it was almost exactly like Sue in Pecos Bill.  Not so proud after that.

In the first book published, the heart and soul of Neverland had its physical form of an egg.   As the author of the book said presenting her work, a tiny drawing of a dove by Judie had spawned the idea of Mother Dove, protector of the egg... and thus, protector of Neverland.  Just goes to show you that even the smallest detail can be critical in story conception. So the artist must remember that when submitting development artwork!

Well, this is a good point to take a break for now and meet again in a few days to view some early concept drawings focused on a couple of characters and how they evolved.

Ciao!