Friday, June 26, 2009

SHIPS week 9 (deadline schmeadline)

hi.

shel here: chug chug chug......making progress steady and sure.......

i really thought that once we got to the painting stage it'd be a downhill ride and i'd finish up in a week........ but wow........i am continually blown away by HOW LONG EVERY SINGLE PART OF STOP MO TAKES.......and by how opptomistic i still am.......HA!

so i eagerly prepped, and gooped,

and we sanded, and painted, and painted,and second coated, and (sigh) repainted the colors that weren't quite right, .....and cleaned up edges, and cleaned them up again, and dug grooves to paint inside of for depth (even though it takes forever and they kind of don't show once they are painted, i just have to trust we'll be able to FEEL the groves and it's worth the time since we want texture, esp since we're shooting in 3D now.)and (groan) some days it feels like i've actually moved BACKWARDS!!! in that i've come up with more new things to do then i've gotten done.

this is where i can't tell you how grateful i am for DICK KANESHIRO who's been so steady in his intern-ness (i truly hope he is learning as much from this process as we are benefitting from him!) and Bridget Dash, who's been an inspiration and huge help on Tuesday nights.....because even tho i keep finding new things to do (or to re-do) to add to the list (setting us back), they keep moving forward. Dick's daily progress is salve to my (what feels like) antiprogress!

(i know this "antiprogress" is part of the progress process, and in the big picture i'm cool with it.......but this week i have to admit i got a bit disheartened.)

to which justin gently reminded me that the deadline is not what matters, what matters is that we enjoy the ride (this is what we do for FUN after all!). which is very funny cuz that's exactly what i try to convince him of (and earnestly believe) in regards to his deadlines......but i want to MAKE my deadlines!!

black paint for Flea Ships's primer:
grooves dug in and painted,
purple top coat with spray paint......exciting to achieve the base "eggplant" color i've been dreaming of.......
Todd artistically playing with rivet color options purple wing cap doohickys

aedon and i will go on our anual mother/daughter dance festival vacation up in berkeley this week, which will be a welcome break from the garage, and when i get back this is my mission for week 10: BALANCE.....deadline-schmeadline.....enjoy the ride......
Bridget's got it!

16 comments:

Darkmatters said...

Chin up Shel (and everybody involved) - I know when you're so close to a project (heh... you guys're actually INSIDE it... as close as you can get!) it seems like you[re not accomplishing anything, but from out here, this is absolutely AMAZING!!!!

The ships are looking incredible... better than I imagined even (and that's saying a lot). I love the way the flea ship looks just primered.... I almost wish you could leave it like that, with that matte black metallic sheen... like a 70's muscle car that's been rebuilt and primered and left like that, only black instead of the usual primer grey. Awesome!!

Gregory Sesma said...

Awesome, those ships look soooooo awesome. I really like the eggplant ship. You guys and your intern army are creating some really spectacular looking stuff. I'm so jealous.

tonychauzer said...

I always get that "every step of stopmo takes years" feeling as well and I've only gotten to the door. You guys blew up that door with a bazooka and then built a flying spaceship in it. The best part though is you guys always seem to pull through in such fashion that it gives hope to us just starting out.

That seems like the funnest garage in the world haha. Maybe my folks won't notice if I permanently move the cars outside... forever. :)

Increeedible work!

rich said...

The team is working hard! the ships look stunning. I like the colors on the ships, they say a lot about the pilots. The ships totally feel like an extension of the characters now.

Yeah deadlines can get addicting and it feels really good to make them. But in my little bit of experience so far it feels even better to get a little more "organic" with my timeline. The deadlines are good landmarks to aim for. Sometimes pushing too hard can ruin the experience and harm the work. Which is worse than having to take a couple steps back from a "said" deadline.

I don't see this happening at all here though. From out here in the saftey of my work chair,it looks like the work is coming along swimmingly! Lots of learning,hard work and success! I love that you both are a support for one another, and help eachother see the bigger picture thoughout the process. Very cool dOods!

:)

Shelley Noble said...

Great post, Shel. I'm glad Justin and you are focused on enjoying the ride. I'm glad to hear you too get that "glacial slow" feeling, even with having multi-hands on deck.

Have a great time with Aedon.

Kenneth Sipel said...

I just realized that you guys are essentially teaching a class on how to make a great Stop Mo film. Thanks once again for sharing not only in the things you do, but how you feel about what you do.

Shel Wagner Rasch said...

DARKSTRIDER: thanks for the encouragement.....i really like that base coat too! last night i was a bit sad to paint over lots of it with a more "metally" looking stuff....or as dick says, the "hand hammered chinese wok spaceship look"...we'll see how that works out!

GREGORY: thanks man!!

TONYCHAUZER: thanks. yeah, i love the garage....(but i'm afraid we WILL have to blow up one of the walls just to fit the sets in!!!)

RICH: thanks...i'm so glad you are getting a sense of the characters!!! and on the rest, YOU SAID IT!

SHELLEY: thanks girl. glacial slow definitely describes the feeling.....i've been thinking about you alot as i build bits and pieces, i have so much admiration for your artistry and attention to detail and patience!!!

KENNETH: thanks. we are learning SOOO much! did you know that after you spray paint, you can turn the can upside down and spray till just air comes out and you've cleaned the nozzle? it's dizzying how much there is to know.....

Alonso said...

For a second I thought that you had made a big chocolate version of Dobby's ship :)

I think the grooves stand out and make it look a lot more believable. Displacement map vs bump map.

Every step you make is 1 step closer. You guys are doing great :D

bRYEnd_of_the_schtick said...

(^ perhaps lifelines wouldst work better than dead ones.

(^ A lot can generate an attitude adjustment : even the slightest shift in terminology.

(^ PUSH! breathe.. relax: count...
(^ sip some liquids....
(^ wait for another cosine tangential nudge from the inside(r)

Ryan McCulloch said...

you guys rock my world

amoebaboy said...

yay !
fantastico,

Yaz said...

Shel, the ship is looking W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L.!!!

Kevin Parry said...

Hey, thanks a lot for checking out my blog!

I've been following your posts for a while, since Gerald's Last Day; it's great to see such awesome behind the scenes on stop-mo projects.

I don't know if I'll have anything as cool as a spaceship in the near future but keep checking back as I'll be putting up some various things as I get closer and into production on my project!

Aravind.J said...

That's one very long process,WoW!! The ship looks sooo cool! It's nice to see so many of you working on it and like you work area.. Waiting to see the finished painted model.. Awesome!

a guy in a gorilla suit said...

After taking lessons from my guitar teacher, I often was at the point, where I asked myself: was there any recogniceable progress in the last six to eight months ?!". Then he played a track I recorded at his home about that time (6-8 months ago) and haven't heard since then. And there was a huge progress. It really (I dont exaggerate !) took me a moment, to recognice my own sound. It was just about some improvised lines, and he had other students, so he just said: what do you think about this guy playing. Then when I realized, that this was actually me, months ago....

Amazing ship. Somebody really did his/her homework ! And when I remember back to the first test-sequences, then I just can say, that this one is something very serious, that this project really will make some noise. All the best !

Adam said...

Dudes and dudettes, lovin' those spaceships! So cool! I feel like I could almost squeeze in there and go blast some extra terrestrial fleas.

PS. Bring in those BMX pics!!

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A