Dream on.
Nira is the story of two young girls who use the power of their imaginations to turn their everyday lives into extraordinary adventures. With their minds alone, they create exciting scenes in which they befriend bugs, explore mazes, and rescue a cat from the depths of the school basement. Using rounded shapes, bright colors, playful proportions, and dynamic compositions, I create a world in which viewers can be creative. Nira considers that imagination is available to everyone, no matter their age.
The Experience
Nira invites viewers into a space where they can be creative and dream bigger. The gallery installation contained 12 posters, each featuring bright colors and energetic scenes. The space was drawn together with vinyl cutouts, allowing the characters to enter into the viewers’ space. The installation included an 11 minute video featuring character animations and time-lapses of my drawing process. It also included copies of the book that viewers could read and two plywood standees of the main characters. The space allowed viewers to enter into the world of Nira and consider how imagination could enhance their lives.
The Process
Nira began as a love letter to the younger me. As I transitioned to adulthood, I began to question what it meant to change and leave my younger self behind. I realized that this change didn’t require me to abandon my creativity and imagination. Nira was made with love for all of the art and design I have made from the time I was a child until now. Every character and setting contains a piece of the younger me and her love for storytelling and character design. Nira speaks about a part of me that I refuse to give up; a part of me that I can use to make every day brighter.
The Characters
When designing the characters for Nira, I wanted to make two girls who were opposites. I needed one who was short, round, bubbly, and excited, and one who was sharper, taller, and a bit more reserved. In the initial sketches, the girls had rather similar body shapes. Their designs were also more complex, with wrinkles and stitches showing in their clothes and ribbons and pins in their hair. Over time, I simplified the designs down into a few flat shapes. I made their body proportions different so that each character was unique, showing their personality through their design.
Every character in the story is a reference to a character I made in the past. I redesigned each one to better fit the setting and style of the work, and to make them fun but simple background characters that Nira and Fleur could interact with.
The Brand
The brand of Nira needed to feel bubbly, playful, and inviting. I chose two fonts as a base: the round Nunito and the playful slab serif Aleo. These fonts had great contrast and lots of weights, but both were still playful. In posters, I used these two fonts in playful ways to create interest. Throughout the book, I used these two fonts as a base and inserted other fun fonts when it added to the mood or theme.
I focused on a bright, playful orange, the color of the main character, for the book’s brand. In most cases, I used a monochrome orange color scheme for the brand, but I brought in the colors of the characters when it could add interest.
The Story
Nira uses an everyday elementary school to create a magical world. Readers follow the girls as they learn that a classmate’s cat has gotten loose in the school during show and tell. The girls take it upon themselves to locate the missing cat. Throughout their mission, they visit all sorts of mysterious parts of the school and use their imaginations to create wild adventures. Will Nira and Fleur rescue the cat, Missy Whiskers, and bring her back to where she belongs?
Nira
Nira uses an everyday elementary school to create a magical world. The 6 chapter, 112 page book reaches out and offers viewers a chance to dream bigger about their world. I hope that readers will step into the book and learn that imagination is for everyone, and can be a tool to make each day brighter.
Nira is not currently for sale. Follow me on social media for more Nira-related updates!