Who Am I?

I am Neena de Ruiter (AlsiusHaku), I am a digital artist and media/graphic designer. I graduated Simon Fraser University's School of Interactive Arts and Technology in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts and Media Arts Concentration. My passion is digital images and conveying emotion with the pieces I have created.

What Did I learn in my Studies?

A variety of skills including programming, graphic design, typography and video filming had been taught within the first 2 years of my studies, however, in my last 3 years, I focused on Narrative, Video Game Design, and Graphic Design.The School of Interactive Arts and Technology had some individual projects, however, mostly focused on team projects. I learned to work and communicate with a group of people, and also what happens when a team does not come together. I have some examples of work I completed while in school hereLearning did not stop after graduation. I continue to study, create and critique my own work and other works. I want to be a part of a team which I can learn even more new design strategies and concepts while also putting our my own experiences out into the world.

What Did I do a Year after Graduation?

Immediately after I have graduated, I got myself a Working Holiday VISA and headed to Japan for a year. Although finding a job and suitable place to live took time, I soon found myself working at a Anime Merchandise store within Osaka's Electrical town, Namba.While learning how to speak formal Japanese, I also was tasked with managing the English social media page as well as translating for customers at the store.
I also created various pop-ups and posters for our English Speaking customers which included information on store policies as well as guide them through our large store.I loved my time in Japan and wished to return here to stay permanently. Before this however, I decided to return to Canada and gain some experience with Graphic Design which led me to my position at Windsor Plywood.At Windsor Plywood learned how to communicate with clients in order to help create the posters and ads they envision. I learned the flow of creation in a business setting and the importance of communicating not with just the clients, but also with fellow teammates to ensure a satisfying product. I often was working on multiple tasks at once, so I learned to manage my time to complete projects by their due dates.

Illustration

Although it merely began as a hobby, illustration and design soon became part of my work. I strive to continually practice my skills and evolve my creations while I grow my media presence.I prefer to create pieces around original works rather than fanart of existing ones. Ideas are influenced from my experiences and from the world around me. I know I still have much to learn, but am willing to know and grow with new knowledge I can only gain within the field of creative design.

Art Examples

Original works | Fanart | Commissioned Pieces
Art is heavily influenced by Japanese anime and manga styles with cel-shaded colours. Art is completed on an IPad Pro using the MedibangPaint Pro program.

Process of one of the Trick with Treat Ensemble stars fanart I did. Due to limited file size, you can click on the image to be linked to full size image.

Character Reference Sheets

Various reference sheets of original characters. Used to get a grasp of the character's design and personality from many angles.
Reference sheets are also used for 3D products such as figures and plush toys.

Merchandise Design

Plush | Tote Bag | Charms | Phone Cases | T shirt
Items I have designed and created for personal use. Artwork and Design is done solely by myself, while printing has been done by pixiv factory. The plush was made by AppleDew, while the design of the character was done by me.

Graphic Design

Some of the work I have created while working with Windsor Plywood. I have created flyers, ads, social media posts, posters and logos for the company during my 4 year stay there. The company has evolved in their design even within my stay with an updated, "wood-grain" design becoming the standard within the company. I was required to work within a media guideline, logos, font and colours were generally kept consistent to create an identity for the company.Contrast was a big highlight in terms of design. The dark blue background allows for the white text to stand out. The use of shadows also was used to make the text pop up.

Flyer Examples

Stores would send items they would like to put on their Flyers or Newspaper ads.Some information on the ads have been cropped out for this site.

Projects

Projects I have completed as Assignments for my classes at Simon Fraser University's Interactive Arts and Technology Program. Group Assignments allowed me to learn excellent communication between myself and other members of the group.

Oxford Comma

Team Project | Modelling| 3D Animation | Editing | Character Design
A 3D animated short about a comma on a student's computer coming to life. This project was done with a team of 4, and I was mainly in charge of designing and animating the text cursor character as well as editing the video on Adobe Premier.

Posession

Team Project | Art | 2D Animation | Coding
Interactive Handheld Horror experience. Players can experience the horror's of a possessed bunny plush by entering the many versions of the haunted bedroom. Navigation is achieved by utilizing the gyro scope on the user's phone.
The interactive experience was created using Unity3D.

For this project, I was in charge of the animations for the bunny plush as well as some of the coding required.
Here are some examples of the animations which were implemented into the game.
Research was done on various horror series and artists, such as Junji Itou and Edogawa Ranpo. This was my first attempt at "horror" and since I drew in a "cute" style, I attempted to mash the two ideas together to create an uneasy feeling. Combined with audio, and other lighting effects within the space, our group was able to acheive a horror experience.

Siege Engineer

Project | Art | 2D Animation
A video game project I completed with a group of 5 on my final year. Siege Engineer is a quick time tower defense game where the player is the sole engineer which must protect their kingdom's castle from the invasion of the neighbouring kingdom.
We were tasked with developing a single game during the semester while logging our weekly progress on a blog.
For this project, I was the sole artist and art director. I designed all the characters and created all of the assets which were implemented in the game.

Sprites for the protaganist ended up having diagonal movements as well and 3 characters had 4 emotions. The cutscenes were essential to give a narrative for the gameplay and allow players to have a break inbetween levels.

Spari - App Design

Team Project | Prototype | Designer
An application design project where our group decided on the application through user survey and designed a working prototype of it. This project focused on designing the overall look an interactions for the app, and not coding the application itself.
Spari is a travel budgeting application. It allows users to insert information about their journey and keep track of their budget during the trip. The application also gives tips to the users on how to save dependent on their specific destination.

Below is an example of how the landing page for our application works. The landing page is on one of its older looks, however at this stage we already have decided on our final colour scheme for our application.

Commission Prices [OPEN]

My commissions are currently Open! Any changes to this will be updated on here. Below is the examples of some of my work as well as the prices. Please do not hesitate to contact me if interested, or any questions arise.

Commission Workflow

First I will discuss the commission and give you a quote for the work.Sketch will be worked on and finished within 3 days of time.Once sketch is approved, I will ask for full payment.After payment is completed, I will begin completing the piece. I will update you on the progress I makeCommissions usually take me a week after full payment has been made.
If I need more time, I will inform you 2 days prior to due date.
Extra charge for commissions needing to be completed earlier.

Past Commissions