Empty Corridors

Just a quick post today as I realise I'm not posting as often as I'd like to. So lets just hope you enjoy it!

As well as my own project I have to do some collaboration work and as part of mine I was asked to build a little set for another person on my course to maybe use in their animation. It had to be a quite bleak looking place, so I designed and built a deserted, sort of creepy looking, corridor. I took inspiration from that all time classic film, The Shining, based on the book by one of my all time favourite writers, Stephen king - but this is besides the point! I wanted floral, out of date designed wallpaper; deep mahogany coloured wood; and just a general 70's inspired decor all round.

I started off by assembling the walls and thought it looked a little straight and plain, so I shaped some card and made some pillars for either side of the corridor. I then went about making the little doors (the door in the picture I made first though so that I would get the sizing right!)

After a long while browsing online for the right wallpaper I chose one I thought looked good, and then applied it to the walls using spray mount. Once I was done I looked and it and thought it just didn't look right so pulled it all off and then went about scouring the web once again! I eventually found this one which I really liked and it already looked a bit grimy too which was ace for the brief. I then added a lovely brown carpet to the mix, which I got off a dolls house website.

When I was happy with the layout I got the walls down and started to "dirty" them up using teabags and black/ grey chalks. After all that was done I fixed the whole thing together before adding extra details. 

And here is the final thing! I've added a skirting board, which I find makes all indoor sets look that much more realistic. I've also added some lights and a painting in frame (a John Constable if any of you art savvy guys were wondering) which all came from the same previously mentioned dolls house furniture store. I've got to say, dolls house furniture is the dogs when it comes to detailing stop motion sets!

Thanks for taking a look! More on my project to come soon.

Fisherman's hands

My initial plan for my characters hands was to make them out of Silicone, but after opening the container and finding the product to be a deep ox blood type red, plans changed. I decided to use Latex instead, I'd used it before on my old lady character so I knew what to expect and what needed to be done.

To start, I had to sculpt a set of hands over my armature hands, and to do this I used Plasticine - possibly my favourite thing ever! - as it's really easy to use and shape, and will come off easily later on. Once my hands were sculpted I needed to make a two part mould using plaster and clay.

Once I was happy with my sculpts I smoothed them down with talcum powder to give a better texture. I then embedded them about halfway into a slab of clay which I then covered all over the top with Vaseline (this is so the mould comes apart when dry). I added chunks of clay in two corners so that the mould fits together much cleaner when finished. 

I then made a little container for the slab to fit all snug in and glued it up nice and tight using a glue gun.

Plaster was then mixed up good and proper and gently poured over the mould. Banging the table gets rid of any unwanted air bubbles and chunks of clay stop any leakage.

When the top half of the mould was dry it was time to make the second half - hence two part mould! The box is taken off and the clay section removed, the mould is then flipped and the box put back in place. Another layer of plaster is then poured on top, and once dry there you have your two part mould all ready to use!

To make the actual hands acrylic paint is mixed with the Latex and painted on in layers before the armature is put in place and the mould smooshed back together. Then once everything is dry (I usually give it a day to dry completely) I was left with a pair of hands ready to use, once the Latex is trimmed of course.

Unfortunately, my mould broke after being used but I still needed it to make another set of spare  hands so a quick repair job using superglue was in order before I could make the second set. Luckily, everything turned out pretty well - the only problem being that the k&s discoloured the Latex in some areas - I'm very pleased with how it all came out though.

Thanks for taking a look! I'll be using Latex and moulds for other parts of my build so will update with pictures and what-not when they're done, I hope you enjoyed my little post! 

Fisherman and Seagull Armatures

I've started building now and though I'm further behind then I would have liked I'm still trying to find the motivation to kick start my creativity - it's hiding very well! I keep getting set backs due to having the wrong materials or size materials and I really would like to be on track with my schedule.

I'll try not to be too down in the dumps about everything and give you a quick glimpse into the work I'm doing at the moment.

So, I've finally got my armatures built for both the fisherman and the seagull and a the moment I'm working on the hands and bird's legs - which will hopefully be made from Silicone when finished - but I'll be posting about that a little later once they're done and out of the way.

Both my armatures are made using k&s tubing (in various sizes, depending on where they're being stuck) and twisted wire. On the fisherman I used double twisted wire for the arms and triple twisted for the spine and legs/ feet. All exposed wire is covered in heat shrink wrap to help it last longer. For his neck I used a ball and socket joint to give it better movement and also because I'd never used one before and thought it'd be interesting to use.

When it came to the hands I used a thinner wire for the fingers - but the same double twisted wire as the arms for the wrists. Most parts of the armature are removable, as this makes fixing it much easier if it gets broken, and they all slot together via the k&s tubes. 

Each hand is glued together on top of a small, ring shaped piece of metal and the tips of the fingers are dipped in the glue to stop them being sharp and breaking through their covering. Once everything was glued and assembled together, major joints and parts (that I really don't want coming apart and also to add some weight) were covered using chunks of Milliput.

The seagull does have wings if you're wondering, they're just not in the picture! 

I hope this was useful and I'll be posting the steps I've been taking to make the hands all fleshed out as soon as possible. Thanks for taking a look!