FMP: Ellen Leber – Paper Worlds

I have discovered whilst looking for set designers, an illustrator called Ellen Leber from Wales who has used illustration to create 3D interpretations of narratives. I have seen on her website that she created a piece for the FolioArts competition in 2012 illustrating a story that i am currently looking at in the Angela Carter feminist Fairytales Collection: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

she created illustrations for : The Company of Wolves, Puss In Boots, The Bloody Chamber and  a Cover design and these are very interesting to me, because not so much in this first part of my FMP but definitely in the second where i re-imagine “The 12 dancing princesses” i am looking to give it a modern day feminist edge using the influence of Angela Carter.

Ellen Leber’s illustrations have a depth that suck you right into her make believe world, and this is sometimes even easier as some of her illustrations are whole worlds in themselves! I love the mark making she uses in her 3D and 2D work, she calls some of her 3D work “ A Space for a Narrative to be created” and this is exactly how i want my own creations for Alice in Wonderland to be interpreted!

A particular project of hers i am interested in is

A Paper Forest’ Eccentricities & Obsessions Exhibition

Cardiff School of Art and Design BA (hons) Illustration second year show, exhibited in the Morgan Arcade in Cardiff, 2011.

The show was based around eccentricities and obsessions, my piece was called ‘A Paper Forest’, made from crafted paper and black ink.

It is a space that can be interpreted in any way that the spectator’s imagination allows them, it is a space for a narrative to be created.

this piece was created in her second year and i find it mysterious and atmospheric and the environment she has created is charming. below are some images of it, its actually making me consider whether my sets should be full colour or whether this is taking away another aspect of choice from the reader. Also i am taking note of how she photographs her 3D illustrations, the close ups are by far the more interesting and moving, because you feel immersed in the atmopshere and intrigued by what lies beyond it.

A second project of hers that i’ve found inspirational is the one mentioned at the top- For Folio Society and Angela Carter, the 3 pieces she created are amazing and the use of black and white in the background and colour for the characters is really effective! The mark making being used is beautiful and its simplicity just adds to the environment being created: