ONE CUTE STEP FORWARD

Shel here again....

I WAS ABLE TO TAKE A STEP FORWARD TODAY AS WELL. I woke up this morning and found a sweet little dog armature waiting to be foamed.....sometimes i feel like the shoemaker, it's fun to wake up and see what the little elf has made in the wee hours of the night.

so i got to foam the dog which is good cuz otherwise it was a dissapointingly deconstructionist day.

here's some pics of the whole foaming process, someone asked me to tell more about how to foam but i know there are people who are much more experienced at it than me.....so here's some pictures of the process and am happy to answer any questions anyone has in the comment section. i did make some variations for this guy. because the dog is thick and needs to be able to hold some pretty crunchy poses, i put extra foam in the mix to make him spongier (for skinny puppets, i use less foam to make them dencer). and because the mold is so deep i put extra gel in so the foam would gel soon enough to put the top mold piece on without dumping out all of the liquid. i used 200 oz. of base which was a perfect amount for this guy (because he is so deep and suseptible to spill off, i like to have extra to pile on). cooked him for 6 hours at 180 degrees. we do all this in the garage (including the cooking in an oven we put in there) to keep the chemicals out of the house.

ONE BIG STEP BACK

hey there, Shel here again......

STEPPED BACK last night when Justin and I watched The Wrong Trousers and I had my finger on the pause button the whole time….kept stopping to check out the inspiring sets…I got really excited and, one day away from our pre-production deadline, I decided our set is not quite right yet….I want it to look sterile, which I feel I got, but it came out too neat and symmetrical in the process. Plus after studying Justin’s storyboards some more I realized we’re going to need more hallway length….so I tore the whole thing apart, drilled about a million more holes and will start putting it together again on Thursday about 7 inches to the left and with hopefully a “grungier”, slightly less proportional, sterile flavor. The bummer part is we’ll need to add another week to the schedule cuz real life (you know, the “continual motion” one) has me booked solid till next Tuesday

Shel's Pre-production progress report

ALMOST THERE!

Shel's Pre-production progress report...

Okay, this is Shel, sticking my toe into the blog soup. I’m super excited that we are 1 week away from our begin shooting deadline and Im pretty sure we are probably going to make it…..

SET: I’m halfway done with a dog cage addition to the hallway set (a necessity now that the storyboards are done and we’ve realized we’ll want some hallway shots from over the shoulder of the dog in his cage).

Once this addition is done we will clean out the garage (stop motion isn’t all fun and games it turns out) and put down a carpet so it’ll be a little cozier for Justin in there for the late night shoots, and then it’s push and click time (woo hoo!!).

PUPPETS: I’ve been pumping out puppets like crazy lately. I had to go back (big fat sigh) and redo some of the puppets I made in the begining cuz as Justin does his test anims we are realizing that I hadn’t used nearly enough prose-aide in the paint (they’re cracking all over the place). This was a rather painful realization but now that I’ve committed to remaking them it’s actually been cool cuz I can feel how much I’ve learned since I first started foaming puppets 8 months ago. In the begining armatures were such an aggravation and now I can make ‘em and cook spaghetti, and help the boys with Latin homework at the same time; the foam comes out on the first run now (I’m not saying I’ve mastered the mystery of the foam process here [...don’t want to jinx anything!], but the FOAM GODS seem to have decided to take pity on me, which is kind and I am humbly grateful); pro-pasting just keeps getting simpler (especially as I’ve gotten more experienced with trimming and burning the extra mold foam at the seams), and then the painting….well that part’s always been fun (only now I’m using a 50/50 prose-aide/paint mix!). These new puppets look and feel a million times better than the first runs, I’m finishing up my last three now and I can honestly say I’m going to miss making them. It’ll be a long, long, long time till we are in puppet making mode for our next film!! (I’m starting to get how time takes a whole new perspective in stop motion land.)

I'm looking forward to posting a picture of the whole cast on the set (sometime next week hopefully...).

Shel

New animation and Thoughts !

Heres my latest anim. I call it the {ToughGuy test}

http://www.animationrasch.com/STOPMOTESTS/ToughTestCompcompressed2.zip

Stats

I completed this animation in 2 nights of work. It was 12 hours in total.

I shot this on 2's......This is a first planned{before it was 24 pics a sec}or completely

whatever I felt the animation called for.

I used monkeyjam as the software.....{Planning on giving anasazi a try next}

Shot with a Nikon D 70s and a TamronSP AF Asperical XR 28-75MM1:28 macro Lens

and 1 hour of Sleep...Ha!....just in time for work.

I have been feeling lately that My work is too planned.....I will break down the animation poses.....the Breakdowns...the timing ....my offseting of limbs. I felt it was way too stiff feeling to

always work like this. So I made plans on this shoot to just give myself a base score of actions and then work as I go. This shoot was pretty much straight ahead with an idea....a clear idea though.

Even when I plan out a shot to a heavy degree It never ever has been a straight line to a finished piece......Im constantly Improvising on the spacing and timing as I go. The characters are never in the same relation to each other or the camera .....Stageing is different than you were imagining ....Its a constant adaptation.

love this and Hate it all the same.....I wonder If as I get more experiance this will be less

of an issue than it is in my newbie stage.

I also experianced the art of Flickering images....I didnt really get this problem in my first test......but I think its just the lens I used or the way I unscrewed the lens. Im not really sure if I did it enough or too much?? Like I said ....I'm figuring this all out as I go.

I plan on doing a lens test next week to make sure Im shooting right when it comes down to starting the actual first Shot for my Film.

Things are moving greatly and I feel with each shot I complete my skills are gaining strength.

justin

Sneek peek ToughGuyTest {Behind the scenes}

So..... I animated a new Test this last weekend. It was alot of fun .{Action Sequence}

I used the toughguy puppets for this one.....

Here are some sneak peek pics from the shoot. I will post on the ins and outs.....my thoughts

and what I learned on this one.

of course Ill post the film as well.

jriggity

Little Girl Sequence # 4

Well the little girl sequence is finished....1 sequence left....and I have the entire film Drawn out.

I am planning on the first official shot for 2 weeks from now. Shel is doing some set additions for me that will allow some of the new shots we hadnt planned for .Shes awesome!!

Also Shel will be starting to post her thoughts here as well....I am very happy about that since she is such an Important part of this film.

justin

Dog Succes and Failure

So, Shelly Foamed the dog last week.....It came out great but the character wasnt as mobile as I wanted.I tryed to get him into the pose{the image I think about when I picture this film} and he couldnt do it.

This was a pretty depressing sight.....I never had trouble gettin him into this pose in clay.

It a pain in the ass to maintain form......but it is quite flexible in its posing.

so.............I ponder.

We decided to run the stronger nice armature I made to see if it has any more luck..

I dont see much hope but shel put it in the oven....so when I get back from work it will be there to inspect.

I think were going Clay......Dammit....

justin

Post it note sequence 3

Heres the 3rd installment of post it notes.....the toughguy sequence. These were done in mexico in the car with a pen so the drawings are pretty awefull....but...It all there.

more to come.

jriggity

Foam Dogs armatures.

Well,

I had a slow weekend....Not much work was done....I did complete the armatures for some foam Dogs im excited to run. I also completed my 4th sequence of storyboards for the film.

One more left and the film is completely storyboarded.

Shel has been making me another copy of the Richguy and Rich lady which I needed due to some broken armatures and paint job issues. Shes ready to paint and really knocked them out fast.

I also planned out my next animation test which I have set up and am ready to shoot.

Its straight action and will have 4 characters...{a new personal most}in one scene.

jriggity

Dog Sculpted and Molded .

Well I did it..... and I did it one day early.....Yesss!

I finished the Dog in 2 nights of sculpting 1 night of molding.

I've really embraced the idea of doing the main char in Foam....all my previous reservations are gone......and have been replaced by excitement for how Much fun and easy the Foam char will be to animate.

My old teacher from art school gave me some great advice on Molding my maquette of the dog

in silicone to save time....{Instead of making a new sculpt} I already had the new dog at 80% sculpted when I got the information from him......and I didnt have the silicone on me......so I decided just to finish the dog and use the information he gave me to make nice resin copies of my maquettes for gifts or fun statues to sell after the film releases.

Well more X 's for the super list......and on to the Foaming of {Gerald} the Dog.

jriggity

Post it Note Sequence 2 Finished.

Well heres another finished story sequence {2 of 5}....I am finishing the little girls sequence{4 of 5}....I also had to redraw a couple of pages due to losing the sheets somewhere. Dammit!

Today I got lunch with a talented and passionate fellow stop mo animator {Kelly Mazurowski}. I was able to pick his brain and left full of inspiration. It was very informative and I leaned alot . I have more questions than I can ever remember. Thank you very much Kelly!! I appreciate all you time and help!

I have also been creating the mouth Shapes for the poundworker. The first char - in the first shot - of my first stop mo Film!

jriggity

Shel and her Little Girls.

Tonight we got to cross a bunch more X's of the master character List. Shel finished painting the 3 Little Girls. They Look Bueatifull.....shels awesome Paintjob and propasting made them quite wonderfull to look at. The Little Girl in the Film is a energy filled , bouncing ,sunshine character.

Shels paint job says all that with out even animating. Thats Half the Job done!

I also recieved an email from an old teacher of mine from years past concerning my characters armature. This in turn led me to doubting the use of clay for the Dog. One because the ammount of resculpting required is a HUGE pain in the ass, and 2 the weight of the character , 3 ease of moving the character and holding poses. 4 Resculpting the character{cause I really dont like that}

Hmmm.....Dammit ! I thought I was done sculpting! so

Ive decided to go ahead and Sculpt and mold the Main dog ....and then cast him in latex....with a wire armature that might allow me to still get the squash and stretch I was afraid I wouldnt get in Foam.

I am giving myself a week to get this done....Starting tomorrow night at about 11pm.

almost there.

jriggity

The MAGIC Chest and StopMotion Animation

MAGIC!

I use this word all the time when refering to how I feel when watching animation....but more than any form of animation its stop motion that wins the most Magical award. When I watch a good animation or when I finish an animation and watch these lifeless puppets fill with personality or move across the screen by their own Muscles and Minds....WOW!! Total High!!!

Stop motion animation also has a large charm to it that makes people say.....Howd they do that?

Like a magic trick people are try to figure out how'd that character jump or how'd they do rain drops.....there are a million cool tricks and slight of hand that make up Stop mo animation....

and if done well.....MAGIC!....

I was givin a gift a while back by the man who did the Rich guy V.O.{Don Chatfield}.

It was a Huge Old chest That had to be maybe twice my age.....It was said to contain the secrets of hundreds of magic tricks and im sure countless hours of curious enery and happy memories.

I have been waiting for the right moment to open it ...and that moment was tonight.....me and my daughter Aedon went down in the Gym and proceded to open and sift through the chest of Magic. WOW!!! It was stacked. I used to be into magic quite a bit as a kid.....and I came back into it again in my early 20's......but I believe I am about to have a resurgance once again and this time in a whole new way.Thank You Don!

I am going to try and learn a new trick Once a week......some Ill keep some Ill pass on...

but Tonight I learned one Ive been interested in for Years....

the Apearing ball Trick. reach out and grab the ball out of thin air....SWEEET!

For my Next Trick -Make an animated Film that has characters that People empathize with {Very Hard} ......and a story that people Like{also very Hard}..

Abra ....cadabra!!!!! here goes everything!!!!

jriggity

Story Intro Sequence 1 Finished

Heres a sneak peek on the opening sequence....I have been doing my storyboards on these 2 inch post it notes I got from work....they work great and you can just replace one if you dont like it....instead....of possibly ruining a page....

........all the dialog and actions i cut out of the pic....so theirs a little mystery left when you guys see it realized. Tonight I will be finishing the girl storyboard sequence....which will only leave the ending....wooo hooo!!

Shel started the little girls paint jobs today....and she looks great!! She will be done soon....and ready for pictures.

jriggity

DOGS StoryBoards and Skeletons

I have been busy for this last week doing storyboards but tonight I needed to get my hands dirty again. I created a little dog for a poster on set that will be in the background of the hall set.

Shel finished pro pasteing the 3 girl puppets and a Remake of the rich lady puppet that will be among the next batch getting painted. We also did the little girls color chart which was harder than we thought it would be.

I also finalized my animation armature for the main char of my film....Gerald the Dog.

Its a big frankenstein mix of parts and what not.....but it should work very well for my film.

I had done a bunch of work on it a while back but the more I looked at it the more I saw the proportions were not going to work....so tonight I fixed it....Its now ready for action.

jriggity