Animating!!

I began animating yesterday after tragically trying to produce some backgrounds for my final piece. Yes i almost had yet another break down.

I've found something that i'm not good at or enjoy within animation... BACKGROUNDS

So whats a girl to do when she can't do backgrounds (or at least something she is happy with). I'd been thinking about it all night last night, to the point where i could have probably put my socks in the toaster this morning rather than my crumpets and not have even noticed!.. Yup it really is that bad at the minute.

I'd seen some pretty cool images on placing cello tape on the inside of a book then peeling it back off to create a.. page like... partly there, partly not... thing. Here i'll just show you.

Ok so just before i show you that i have an idea...

How to incorporate the little girls voice...

So i've had a idea of using some kind of text int the background (from a book or something) then i thought what if i get so many people to write a letter to their Grandmas then use the little girl to read out some of the parts of each letter?! AND the hand written letters in the background!!!!!

That then ties everything together, its relates to more stories than just my own!! and it will be pretty effective i think...

#INSPIRED haha!!

Ok so i was about to show you what i mean when i say use some kind of text in the background...

Here are some of the bits I've been animating over the past few days...

Stresssssssssssssssssssssss

Right so i had a minor break down earlier today!!, well a pretty bad one, but i needed it to move on from the sheer panic of actually animating!!

I need to pull myself together! get my stuff ready for tomorrow and head into the studio and start friggin shooting!!!

I had 2 weeks in the safe zone! and now i'm here! stuck at the very core of panic and poopy pants galore!!!

So, how did i pull myself out and become excited again you ask?!!

1. Well to start with i was worried about my walk cycle, which i simple redrawn the legs but as separate body parts rather than full legs that i will replace, sorted... (hopefully)
2. I went onto pininterest to look back at the images i collected over the past year to do with my project, feeling inspired and seen something that has given me an idea for the little girl in the red coat.. i was cutting out full shots of the little girl with a head and hair etc then i was wondering how the hell i was going to incorporate the red coat (as she was all in black) SHIT! i may have to animate each part of the little girl moving!! double SHIT! BUT!!.. I've found a way... 

HOW BLEEDIN SIMPLE!!!! i seem to have a way in which i make everything over complicated for myself... this stops today!! its all there in this image! my answer! Basic shapes of the coat for the entire girl! no stupid portfolios of a child, hair that moves and no complicated movements of arms and legs! 

If i cut all the shapes that make up the little girls coat i can move them in one go!!

I'm so happy right now...

Told Lass Development

Making the head for the Grandma, i created a mold from plaster of paris, i then placed thin wire around the outside of the face (front of the face) then a wire around the mouth, then poured latex mixed with white paint over the top so it kept the wire inside.

Here is inside the final head, i thought i'd need a movable wire inside the head so i can tilt it, then a K&S wire through the neck so i can attach to the shoulders of the rest of the puppet, sadly this didnt work, as it was too long to be covered. I simply pushed the neck from the head part onto the wire from the puppet and it works quite well, because of the latex it sticks in place when you turn the head. 

I then put sponge inside the head to bulk it out and so it would keep its lightness. then glued the back and front of the head together. 

I then had a base to add detail to the face. 

Originally i was going to paint the face to add a bit of depth, but i did that on a previous face and it looked awful! so i decided to keep it as it is. 

I added hair, movable eyebrows and teeth which really gave character to this face (yes we all had a giggle once the teeth were in) 

I used a ball of string to make the hair, i curl them then stuck on the head with a glue gun

The eyebrows i used the same material, but i stuck a short piece onto a thin wire that i pushed into the head so it was movable. 

Then simply popped the eyeballs in..

The problem i uncounted then!!.. (because nothing is ever simple) the mouth and face wasn't moving as good as i'd had before! on my final puppet!! that looked great!! so what do i do???

Messing around i added an eyelid on top of the eyeball with clay, then added small flicks to make her look more feminine which looked surprisingly good.

I then though what if i used clay for lips??... Result!!

It was great!! it covered the teeth so she could speak and not look odd.. (or even more odd) it also brings the face together with the eyelids brilliantly! 

Its a bit of a trout pout at the minute but this was just me trying out.. don't worry. 

More testing in dragon frame with cut outs

So today gave me a good idea on what i need to do to make sure I'm fully prepared to start animating, and i need to start thinking about getting stuck in next week!!

Most of the cut outs worked really well, i still need to work on the walk cycle and the little girl, the 2 most difficult animation parts... great!

So heres the clips i did today that went really well, (or ok).

The feather worked brilliantly!! i'm very pleased with that, and with an extra bit of time spent on this i could make it quite beautiful.

Above are the tests that worked ok, still maybe need a slight tweaking, but if the shots are short enough they maybe ok for what i need. 

This was the worst!! i did the movements too fast, so on the next one i just tried the legs and replaced them less frequently which worked a lot better yet the legs are still not right. 

Below is the crow test, which was again awful, i need to use full cut outs and replace for a better look. 

So, i kind of know what i need to do to get stuck in with my cut outs. 

And then start testing with my main puppet... oh please god work!!!!

Heads, Coats and a walk cycle

Below are scans of the drawings i did when thinking about my cut outs and poses etc. How the head should look and the coat, as well as a walk cycle from behind.

 Above are 3/4 turns and profile drawings, i struggled with the profile and the nose, but i'm happy with the final result.

Below was looking slightly into the coat and hair, and possibly a hint of light on the face so you can see features. 

Below, walk cycle and legs, this was sooooooo hard to get into and get my head around!! So all i did that day was these 2 sheets, i wasnt happy with the legs i'd done, bit on the chubby side and really small feet, i knew i needed to work on this but i was struggling at the time.

Here i felt i was really successful with my walk cycle, very simple and only a few poses for each leg, but i need to see if it works on camera, and if it doesn't i can simply make an extra couple legs. 

These drawings below are of the little girl, i was hoping to experiment with this scene rather than animate every single frame of the little girl moving around on screen. i'm thinking of just making a still background of people in the underground bar then have these images (cutouts) move around slightly or in some way in front of them. 

i was also going to use red material for the red coat of the little girl. I made one, but i'm not sure if it looks any good, again i need to try it out on the camera. or figure out some other way to include the red coat, its something that needs to be included in the final film. 

 

Stop motion and cut outs

Right today was the day i was going to try out some of my stop motion cut out pieces, sadly i was not really prepared to do this.
I need something to hold them down and A LOT more materials and cut out pieces.
I also recently bought some see through fabric that i thought would look really cool, but it didn't!

Oh Dear!

So i need to do some serious research and look more into how to create what i want to create. The aim is to get something like the tale of the three brothers but with stop motion and cut outs. using the fabric to create the material look within that short. but it just looks odd and out of place and is very difficult to move the way i'd like to.

maybe use a different fabric? a more darker fabric so it blends with the black cut outs better? maybe look at making the cut out protrude slightly so i can put the fabrics behind them to blend in. or is this possible to blend them in after effects?

I think for today i will look at doing some backgrounds in photoshop (to keep my mind off of panicking that today didn't work out very well)

And i seriously need to get a move on with cutting out if thats what i still plan to do.

Here's the movie file that i did whilst messing about today...

Let the bodies hit the floor!!

Next up, BODIES!!!!
My puppet needs to be reallly slim and fragile looking, and i only need to build the top half of her body so that's good!
So far here are my experiments...

Lots of fingers!

My first attempt at an armature, bit too bulky

Covering my other armatures in latex

 Trying out hands, needs to be so much smaller.. oh dear

 Keep it as thin as possible!!

 Not too bad..

 

This final image was using supersculpy to create a mold, however the puppet never made it out of the plaster alive.. it was a sad day for all!

Practice with clay, molds and latex

 

Ok so i practiced with building, molding and baking faces! Using clay i molded just the basic face shape, i know i want this character to have a very long and gaunt face, the nose i wasn't sure on whether to make big or small, but i originally started quite big as you can see. the next image was the results to my faces. the bottom face is just clay, the middle 3 art latex. I created clay faces, made a mold from them using plaster of paris, then filled that mold with latex. the top 3 are what i molded in supersculpy then baked in the oven, i looked briefly into replacement animation, but for my piece it wasn't necessary. 

Again using supersculpy i had the idea of using an inside face (skeleton) then applying a latex or silicon face over the top, i made holes in the mold before baking so i could attach wires for the nose ears and mouth, sadly that didn't work, the wires just kept falling out of the supersculpy, even with glue!  I also looked into how to make realistic teeth for the puppet, i tried out acrylic nails that worked pretty well, but i could also use supersculpy which maybe easier to mold to the correct shape. 

Above is the more detailed face made from clay. i then created a mold with plaster of paris, i'm currently waiting to add latex and wire to the mold, and hopefully have a movable mouth. Trial and Error!!

Creating a Silicon Head

I would love to create something like the Paranorman zombie characters for my final project! however time and experience isn't on my side, so i have to adapt!!

If i could create anything similar to this then i will be extremely happy!! 

My main character (grandma in the hospital bed) isn't going to talk, shes just going to murmur and move her mouth so this kind of idea is perfect, i just need to get some practice in!

Paper cut out

Ok, so i've seen some work by a couple called Davy and Kristen Mcguire, The Ice Book. I love this style and find it really effective. i think my story/film would really benefit this style.

I been thinking about where i could use this technique, possibly the walking to the hospital scene, looking up at the hospital, entering the hospital, the corridors of the hospital and the bar scene.

I need to experiment with this idea to see if it is possible to use, and to give me an idea on time scale to produce.

Replacement animation (with cut outs), 2d digital projected would be 2 of the possible ways i would add animation to this. 

I need to create a sepia colour whilst producing this. so I've bought some coloured plastic sheets to expereimtn, maybe i will have to change the colour myself in some software.

Below are some references for me to spark some ideas or creativity. or a start to try out the cut out idea.