Monday, 27 May 2013

Big Old Mould

I gave myself the morning off on Saturday to have a little doodle an and play about with some animation.

I made this guy run!


Here's a link to my other vine videos, lots of silliness goes on there :D http://seenive.com/u/907625454071062528

And I also had some fun drawing up my own Joker






So, puppet wise, I've been making a huge mould!

I find the first half of mould making a bit stressful as its something I've taught myself how to do by studying pictures and videos of other peoples moulds. So I'm never really 100% confidant that all will go well.

I start with a big base of plasticine, or sometimes a water based clay,  for the sculpture to lie in.

I then carve away the basic shape so I don't have so much to build up around the sculpt.


I've seen behind the scenes pictures of the certain stop mo studios using what I believe to be locators for holding the armatures in place when casting. I wanted to give this a go as I think its great way to ensure your armature is placed precisely in the mould. I made mine out of super sculpy.


Closing the gaps around the sculpture

The finished half with all the trimmings

I use Coroplast, or Correx as its known over here in the UK, a corrugated plastic I use for the mould walls. It's great stuff as you can make a whole wall out of one strip.


I have used a Ali-Fastcast to make this mould as it is a very, very strong material compared to the usual Crystacal R plaster I use. Basically it's a prefilled fastcast resin that is filled with an aluminium filler to add extra strength to the mould. Very easy to work with.

Here is the first half done, its just needs a good few layers of mould release and new correx wall then the last pour.


Here is the finished mould. I needed to do a quick test cast to set my mind at ease that everything has worked ok. I made a very basic wire armature covered it in cloth tape and poured in some Dragon Skin FX pro.


The waiting game... Also note that this thing is bloody huuuge! I'm sure it weights the same as a small child! And also another note that the edges on it were ridiculously sharp. I have a few rather large gashes on my hands due to this. Nothing a good filing down didn't solve though!


Friday, 17 May 2013

Strolling chap

Posting this here as I'm having extreme problems uploading it elsewhere. It's still very early days with these animated gifs.


Thursday, 16 May 2013

Time thief

"Excuse me officer, I'd like to make a complaint. Somebody seems to have stolen time from me..."

Ahh if only we could do that and claim for lost time! Where does the time go!!!! I seem to be saying that A LOT lately.


During my very odd few spare moments,  I'm still trying to keep doodling. 
POIROT
Then this morning I got up super early so I could get  quick bit of doodling in.
I also tried an animated gif. I am quite happy (for the moment) with how this turned out and am would reeaaally like to play about with more 2d animation.
 I'm also going to explore this character a little bit more over the next few weeks.


Poirot


These two are for the awesome Cup O' Doodle BLOG

Two Face



Teddy boy


This was my first ever animated gif, which was a lot of fun


So thats all for now! Until next time...  blergh to time ;)

Friday, 3 May 2013

DOGONAUTS - Enemy Line


My good friends Justin & Shel Rasch have a kickstarter campaign up and running to help to finish their stop motion film.

They are two of the most inspiring people out there and I have so much time and respect for them both. They have my support 100% and if you have any love for stop motion and animation then you should too!

I would be eternally grateful if you could take the time and check out the page. Please back this amazing film. You really wont regret it!

Here is the link http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2131064235/dogonauts-enemy-line