Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Leah’s characters brighten up hospital’s children’s ward


AS THE winner of last year’s competition to design characters to brighten up the children’s ward at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Charles Darwin student Leah Sims has been working with a professional illustrator to develop her designs for a series of woodland characters. 

The development phase is now complete and Harry the Hedgehog and his friends - a woodpecker, a fox, a badger and a mouse - have moved in to the children’s ward. 

Harry the Hedgehog was originally drawn as a piece of GCSE graphics homework and Leah’s graphics teacher, Laura Pacifico, entered the designs into the competition. 

“When I found out that my designs had been chosen, the artist Paul Gurney and art director for the hospital, Sarah Taylor, visited the school to discuss the initial ideas and indicate how the designs would be used around the ward,” explained Leah, pictured. 

She also visited the hospital with Mrs Pacifico and members of her own family to see where the designs would be used, discussing the different scenarios and further developing the characters and their personalities with a team which included the head nurse of the children's ward. 

“After the ward visit, I went to the illustrator’s studio to see how the computer images were produced using my originals as a base,” Leah said. “We communicated by email, exchanging ideas until the designs were finalised and ready for printing.” 

Finally, after almost six months of hard work, the first picture has gone up in the main reception. 

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am extremely grateful to everyone involved in bringing my characters to life and to the art and design department at Charles Darwin School, which has supported me the whole way,” the student concluded. 




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