FINLAY'S FOREST
As the characters and the setting are to be used for eight episodes we decided that the most important elements to start with were setting design, character design, and key poses. 
PRE-PRODUCTION
CHARACTER DESIGN
As the work we are doing on this film is for a pilot that our client hopes will become a series, I have focused on designing each element of Karl and Beryl bearing in mind the structure and usability so that all elements can be handed over to another animator if need be (not to say that they will be, but I did think it was important when making a TV series).
CONCEPT ART
I have chosen to dress Beryl in a knee length cream dress and brown boots. The cream colour will provide a strong contrast to the pink and purple background and will make the character come forward and not get lost in the background. Logically children are likely to wear boots if they are going wandering in a forest. The knee length dress and calf high boots help to portray Beryl's child-like proportions. The choice of the colour and style of the dress was also made to communicate the innocence of the young girl.
BERYL
KARL
I have dressed Karl in a white t-shirt, grey shorts and red trainers. Again, the colour choice was to create contrast against the background and symbolise innocence. The red trainers will create a strong contrast against the green grass and add some playfulness to his look. 
ANIMALS
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
KEY POSES
EFFECTS
The client specifically wants sparkles. She suggested that when some of the characters move they would leave a trail of sparkles. 
'SPARKLE' TRIAL
I gave the particles the element of gravity to accommodate the 'trail of sparkles.' The sparkles will emit from the character when they move, the current path is purely to experiment with the physics of the sparkles.
BOOK
The client also wants an illustrated children's book of Finlay's Forest. She gave me the text and I've worked out the layout and illustrations on each page. Once the client is happy with everything I will go ahead with the final illustrations.
(A PDF of the book is in my dropbox folder as I didn't want to put it online)