Nicole Ansah

Nicole Ansah — known online as “Kaladania” — is a digital illustrator living and working in London. Specialising in character design, creature illustration, and concept art, her work comprises vibrant and dynamic styles in order to bring the many stories and characters to life.

Determined, detail-oriented, with a strong love for the unknown, Ansah looks to experience new realities and perspectives from the comforts of her digital pen. Believing that “the freedom of unreality is what truly makes us creative”, she seeks to master the art of storytelling through visual development in order to cultivate the skills needed for a future career in the creative industries.

While studying an art foundation at Ravensbourne University, Ansah aimed to learn more about her philosophies as an artist and her abilities in the digital arts. In her spare time, she takes on commission work in order to learn more about running a business, client work, the fundamentals of art, and the day-to-day of a life as a freelancer.

In between client briefs, Ansah can be seen obsessively working on a variety of her own passion projects; each ambitious in its own right and focused on developing a new skill she can use to further her creative future.

https://www.kaladania.art/#into-the-beyond

Kings of Nowhere – What would you do to fulfill your deepest desires? A poster illustration proof testing new styles for my future graphic novel: “Into the Beyond” - a cautionary tale about two friends battling wit and desire in order to survive in a world that was not made for them.

The Gardeners – Visual Development of a speculative future that sees a group of specially trained botanists scavenge areas affected by the fallout of nuclear warfare and experimentation. Through the use of sunflowers, various bacteria, and other micro-organisms, the Gardeners' aim is to revive these wastelands, turning them into new inhabitable areas to help combat the increasing population crisis.

https://www.kaladania.art/#exsistential-choices

Exsistential Choices – Which future will you choose? This Final Major Project looked at how the world could function if the philosophical concepts of Time, Space, Life, Death, and Soul were removed. The project proposed an election where participants would have to vote on which monster they would choose to terminate; and with it, the concept it embodied. These “Existential Choices” were represented through the “beasts”: monsters whose design prompted a deeper investigation into character and creature design (in order to find ways of fully personifying its associated theme).

https://www.kaladania.art/#koo-koo-krazy

Koo-Koo Krazy! – Character design and modeling tests of the main character of a potential future series of comedic animated shorts.

https://www.kaladania.art/#krisis-in-kaladania

Kaladin [the Insomnious] – Crazy, eccentric, and insane in the membrane. The finished character design of the mascot: “Kaladin”, a reckless yet unusually energetic bandit whose escapades are almost as insane as he is.