Animating the Carousel

First bit of animating under way! I glad I'm starting off doing this one as it doesn't involve any performance. I put a bit of green screening fabric behind the doors so i can colour key it out in post.It took a while to sort out the lighting- I made a spot light from lighting foil and had to try not to get any hot spots as the box has a bit of a sheen from the varnish and also the doors having white on them makes lighting quite tricky. White does not bode well in stop motion I have found... Flipping great seeing as a lot of my characters have some form of white...

Anyway, after a few quick tests I got the whole list of shots done in a couple of days so I can get on with the more daunting animation- character based...eeek!

Finiiissheeed!

Box Decor

Now to get on with painting up the box, distressing it etc...


I used the inside of tomato puree tubes for the runners on the roof. They are a brilliant gold- copper litho and its very soft so you can cut it with scissors or a scalpel. It can be embossed by drawing on it.
I used sandpaper and turquoise ink to make it look tarnished.

The feature at the top is a bead I found and a glass headed pin.

Bearded Lady

Monkey

Pip: The Girl Who Swallowed an Apple Seed

Lody's Mistress

Birdman

Gorran and Bran

Move In!

I moved into the animating booth today! I'm in the first group- we have 4 weeks to shoot our films. I am not ready! still got quite a bit of making to do and I was meant to have moved in a week ago!. At least the mermaid is finished (apart from eyes) so I can start with her. Monkey is almost finished just needs his hands and for me to decide wether to put rods from the elbow of from the hands. The crows are finished but I am waiting on Paul Spooner to send me a paper bellows that he has kindly made for me. I'll be making their squeezebox from the bellows/ concertina.

The Gang So Far...

 I also completed the woodwork for the box! So pleased with my self for doing this.

Dressing the Birds

I'm dressing the crows. I found some great fabric for their shirt (Primark knickers no less!) which i retro fitted to the torso. Using black lycra cotton for the suit I used the same method. I really enjoy making costumes- I'm not skilled enough seamstress to make myself wicked garments but I can make small ones for my puppets instead. I think costume is a big part of designing a puppet for me, I've always believed clothes play a huge role in defining a persona. This is probably why I got in trouble at school everyday for customising my uniform.

Hands- Wire armature, sandwiched between foam, dipped in
 latex and white emulsion. I drew the bone detail with marker pen.

The buttons I made out of Miliput. The photo's not very good
but I made little needle holes too.

My original design had a proper ruff made out of feathers
that went all the way round the neck. It worked for the prototype puppet
but the final is bigger and the necks are more spaced apart so the collar ruff
looked odd and also it covered the detail on the necks... 

...So instead I made a sort of cape ruff and some shoulder  pads.

St Pirans, Pyks & Penn Askorn

Happy St. Piran's!

Gool Peran Lowen

I carved out a new belly for the mermaid from memory foam. It's a great foam to sculpt with and leaves a really nice finish- I'm wondering wether I might take a razor to it and just shave off any tiny lumps and bumps.

And little monkey had an operation in his back and head today to fit the operating rods in place.

Pins  hold open the 'skin' on his back to keep it clear of the hole
made for rod (like in the back of head).

Birds...

Polymorph Bones

Add caption

Lightweight neoprene core for the chest gives something hard to
grip when animating.

Wrapping wadding round wire joints...

...Before wrapping the rest of the body.

Feet

Hands

Hands sandwiched between foam and latex then cut out.
I added thread dipped in latex to make knuckles and tendons.

I made the bones in the feet from cocktail sticks- glued and then
wrapped tightly with gaffer.

Bird Twins in the making

Got started on the armature for the Bird Twins today. I had to make a scale drawing relevant to the skulls.

Armature complete with polymorph and K&S.
Still needs polymorph bones...

Scale drawing and armature

Stuffing the skulls with wadding to make them less fragile and also for the
K&S to cling to.

Skulls avec K&S