2023 - The Selfish Giant

Description: The Selfish Giant is a self-directed 2D visual development project based on Oscar Wilde’s short story of the same name. I reinterpreted the young Giant and his garden for a teenage and young-adult audience, developing the project through character research, silhouette exploration, costume and prop design, environment thumbnails, colour studies and final key art. The project focuses on translating the Giant’s emotional transformation into visual design, using shape, colour, composition and environmental changes to reflect the transition from isolation and winter to warmth, openness and spring.

Synopsis: After returning to his beautiful garden, a selfish Giant drives away the children who play there and builds a high wall to keep them out. Without the children, spring never returns and the garden remains trapped in winter. When the Giant finally sees the children return, he begins to recognise his own loneliness and helps a small boy climb into a tree. As his attitude changes, the garden begins to bloom again, marking the Giant’s transition from isolation to kindness and connection.