New Background Concept

A new background sketch I've been working on, of the ruined cottage. 

I'm trying to get a more mysterious feel.
I wanted there to be a lot of strips of light, to suggest trees in the distance.

Location Photography at Bushy Park

I went to my local park to do some research for the backgrounds of my film.
Bushy Park in Terenure has a beautiful woodland area with a river and a small constructed ruin, that makes for some great reference material.

Here are some of my favourite shots from my visit:

 

It's a pity that the poorly-drawn graffiti inside the ruin takes away from the scenery of the place.

 

Film Concept Art

I've been doing some more early sketches for my 4th year film:

I am getting closer to the look I want for the film, and nailing down how the main players will look.

Designs of trees:

These trees are based on the art nouveau style to fit with the general period of the piece. 

Some sketches of my main character, Alva:

Alva is a kind of goofy character, not very elegant, with big expressions. 

Test designs of supporting characters

"The Fairy Queene":

The Queen of the fairies needed to be a contrast to Alva, very refined and regal.

Since earlier sketches, I've pared her features down, giving her less wild expressions than other characters.

A pixie/imp:

This character is very small, but I didn't want him to be too cutesy, because that wouldn't fit with his cheeky, somewhat abrasive demeanor. I think he came out looking a tad like a scruffier cousin of the Rice Krispies elves...

Real Vampires Backgrounds

Out of the backgrounds that I made for Real Vampires,  here are a few of my favourites that don't take elements from the original Nosferatu:

The alleyway and street corner where Nina's vampire hangs out:

The "spooky castle" where Claudia's vampire resides:

The graveyard: for the film, I used two different versions of this background - the one you see here, and another version that showed the graveyard from the opposite point of view (such as when Nosferatu jumps out from behind the tombstone).

The trees featured in each were taken from photographs I took one very foggy morning. I was on a different bus route to usual - I had hopped on what I dubbed a 'mystery bus', and got off at the morgue (because that's where my usual bus stop is, and the weird old building was easy to spot in the fog), and took some pictures of the old walls around it. I usually walk to the park to get my next bus, and I saw an opportunity to get some nice shots of Stephen's Green park in black & white - the bare trees and the thick fog over the lake created a kind of eerie beauty. It was like the set of a horror film, and what luck, because I had just started making my own!
I called it Kate's adventure in the fog, because I'm a bit excitable like that.