Animation College NZ recently ran its annual nationwide “Light & Dark Character” competition.

The competition invites senior NCEA artistic students to draw or paint an original character of their own creation with a ‘light’ and ‘dark’ emotion. The entries are judged on expression, pose, and ‘wow’ factor, with three winners being chosen for prize packs worth over $1000, and a paid year of study at the Animation College.

In total, 675 Year 11–13 students from across New Zealand entered into the competition. One of our Level 3 Visual Arts students, Deanna Gunn, was amongst those who entered and was selected as one of the top 50 entries. Deanna’s digitally painted entry, depicting the light and dark emotions of serenity and rage, took approximately 10 hours to complete, using a graphics tablet and painting/photo editing programs.

“I tried to focus on what the judges were looking for — the flow of the pose and the convincing expression, but also what I enjoy painting. My main challenge was the rage expression and getting it to look convincing as well as tailoring it to the character’s personality.”

If you would like to see more of Deanna’s artwork, we invite you to check out her facebook page: www.facebook.com/serapheir.