Pixie Dust Away!
Where were we? Oh yes... the films. I was skeptical as most people were. I mean conjuring up stories of Tink in books is one matter, but when you set things to film, it becomes like etching something in stone... there's no going back. But I have to admit, they really came through on those small screen adaptations, and really changed the direction of the property altogether. That world suddenly seemed cohesive, and the audience became really involved.
Of course it all affected our work in a big way... but I thought it was a nice evolution. They began to create stories written with new characters that are not in the films, but did contain some main elements from the films that contributed a great deal to the new adventures.
Below is one of the images from a story completely centered around the music fairy, Trill.
And this book was focused entirely on a scout fairy named Mika.
I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to work on character designs for some of these new personalities that shared a secondary role in a Tinker Bell story. The first image below features Trindle and the second, Rolo who both appear in the book Tink In A Fairy Fix.
If I remember correctly, there was a lot of freedom as to what the characters could look like as long as the design followed the storyline so I often would visualize the character according to what the name sounded like to me.
For Rain and Skye, I only had their names to go on... no storyline was given at that time, so it was a little more of a challenge, but in a way,... even more fun. For Rain, I wanted her to have the feeling of being wet, in a way... her hair should feel like rain... her clothes should indicate a a feeling of water falling... and particularly raindrops.
In the case of Skye, I immediately thought of a light breeze and felt she should seem light and graceful. So, I had done the image on the left. Then, I offered another version of her a little more "grounded"(on the right) but with a funny little puffy hairdo to indicate clouds.
It was a great journey to see the property develop and, the books that represented the films were fun to work on as well.
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
The Great Fairy Rescue
The Pirate Fairy
Oh, this next one was an interesting one for me. Although the illustrations I have done in the chapter books are littered with backgrounds of my invention, I never really had to design a specific location that was particularly important (and therefore had been spared the pressure). But this one crossed my path for the Fairy Dress Up books. I had to design the bedroom for Zarina. They already had her house established in the film, but didn't have her specific room designed so I had a little freedom to set the stage for this.
It was kind of fun trying to remember elements that she might have gathered on her pirate adventure and add them to her decor as well as her pixie dust alchemy equipment.
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Never Beast
And I was lucky enough to work on a few publicity poses for a couple of the films.
Secret of the Wings
The Pirate Fairy
I was even able to work on some character designs for the Pixie Hollow Games and a little on the latest film as well with the early development of Nyx.
For the Pixie Hollow Games the director suggested I take inspiration from the colorful costumes used in Siena by the contrada people during the famous Palio race celebrations... and having been there in Siena many times, it was great to do the research for this project!
The character of Nyx in Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast was really enjoyable, even though a short-lived project for me. And it was fun to work closely with the director of the movie. I really liked what they ended up with in the film... she is a stronger character than what I had interpreted. But I did enjoy the fact that they kept my porcupine needle idea for her weapon. There was a question of whether the real needle was that large in relationship to the fairies, but I had given them a real one (that I had bought from a Native American craft supply store) to show that the needles could be quite large. It was brilliant of them to extend the design of the porcupine needle (stripes) to that of the entire scout team in the film. They did a great job!
Whoa, that was long, right? Well, don't worry,... it's the last post about the "Tink Years".
I am grateful that I have been able to participate in this venture. I am not sure if there will be any future films, but this latest movie, I think, is a stellar piece of work. Makes me wonder what's next. Well, for now, let's just say "arrivederci" to our friend, Tink... and hope the next time we meet, it will not be in a space trilogy set in the future on a planet containing a deadly Pixie Tree virus threatening the fate of the Neverland galaxy. ;)
