Morilyon

Howdy

2011-12-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

The other night I was laying in bed wondering why more people don't cast latex clothes like they sometimes do with skin for puppets, because I'm completely sane. So i started sculpting someplasticine cowboy boots and trousers to try it out. I molded them in plaster, and made thin latex skins. Over the armature I put sculpted some Epoxy putty to keep the seperate parts of the feet hard and the same shape, and also for "bones". Well here is how it currently looks:

(The boots are seperate from the trousers which are in two parts, front and back). Here you can see how the feet work:

Annoyingly I also sculpted a really cool shirt, but the mold didn't set properly so I had to chuck it all out - I'll try again soon!

PLEASE HELP

2011-11-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

This here is a plea for help! I haven't got enough likes as I need to get in to the top 10 for the competition!

PLEASE, if you have a FACEBOOK or TWITTER or VIMEO account, click on this link and once it's loaded, press LIKE or COMMENT. This is for the sake of my "career" in animation!

http://canimation.redbull.co.uk/gallery#32091582

THANKYOUUUU

Red Bull canimation......

2011-11-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Right guys,

So i've done this animation for the Red Bull canimation competition, and i've got two weeks to make it reaaaally popular... If I do, i've got a chance of a month long internship at Aardman, which really is my dream.

I had a few technical problems with the video (i.e vimeo taking it out of widescreen and stretching it..).

Nevertheless, here is the link:

canimation.redbull.co.uk/gallery/video/32091582

I would really appreciate it if you guys could like it, comment on it, share it, send it to your friends - I reeaaally need your help here!

Thanks guys!!! :D

Working on something

2011-11-05T06:17:00.001-07:00

Watch this space!

"Spiritless" - short horror film NEEDS YOUR HELP!

2011-09-24T03:21:00.001-07:00

Hey guys!

Recently I've been taking a break from animation to let my creative juices flow in a different way - live action. I've begun production of a short horror film entitled "Spiritless" with a bunch of my friends, but a few problems have arisen. In short, we need money to complete this film to a good standard.

I found out about this great funding platform called "Crowdfunder", and decided to give it a try! Anyway, we would all really appreciate it if you guys could go to our page, watch our video and possibly even donate. :D

Here's the link:

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/-spiritless-short-horror-film-422

Thanks!

Medusa

2011-06-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

I found Michael Sporn's blog the other day, which is really really great because it has loads of frame by frame shots from classic animations. I was looking to take some key drawings, and inbetween them myself, so I can hopefully learn what was going on in the mind of the animator, and improve my technique! Immediately as I saw it, I wanted to do this shot, of Medusa from "The Rescuers", animated here by the great Milt Kahl. So I printed off some of the keys, copied them, and started inbetweening. I only had Milt's keys up to about the 50 frame mark printed off, so I began adding my own.

Anyway, it would be good to get some feedback..

Someone call the doctor!

2011-05-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

For those interested in doctor who (if you're not, shame on you.), I have designed a T shirt on Qwertee.

http://qwertee.com/product/someone-call-the-doctor/

I would really appreciate it if you could vote on it, and if it gets enough votes, Qwertee will actually make it and sell it for a while.

Thanks!

Lion

2011-04-16T03:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick animation I did over a couple of days!

2011-02-21T04:42:00.000-08:00

I've finally moved on to using 12 field paper and acme registration. I'm certainly not going to run out of paper any time soon! But this is really cool, it's just so much easier to use and the registration is far more accurate than the average "hole punch"

Here is a quick animation that I did in about an hour this morning:

Also, I've been doing loads of animation-related drawings rescently to learn about construction and poses; here are a couple:

Trying to get back into puppet animation

2010-11-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

I spent quite a while looking at traditional animation, then a long period of being lazy and doing nothing animation-wise. Well now I've bought some more resources and am trying to get back into stop motion puppet animation. Some pictures of what I've been doing in the last week:

Armature - trying out thicker aluminium wire then previously. Seems to work a lot better, would recommend 2.5-3mm thick.

Gluing bandage underwrap foam onto the hand armatures with high-tack spray glue.

Cut the foam to shape and paint on tinted latex. I've only tried this method once or twice before, so these came out pretty nice.

Beginning to spray glue soft foam on to armature.

Beeeeautiful.

Trimming the foam down to shape with scissors.

Next, I covered the whole body with the thin bandage underwrap, to give it a smooth skin. This is pretty much where I am now with the puppet. It's looking pretty nice!

2010-10-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance to watch A town called Panic, do. It is litterally the best film I have ever seen. Absolubtly genius! :D

Marnik

...

2010-08-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well we were in London, and one day we had a free couple of hours, so i suggested we go to the London Film Museum. Didn't know anything about it but thought it might be cool. So we went along, and when we got there, I saw they had an exhibition on Ray Harryhausen on currently. I was amazed! Such luck - but its also a shame it wasn't advertised better, because otherwise i could have planned to stay longer.

Anyway, I ran into the exhibition, arms flailing, dribbling, eyes sparkling with exitement. It was really fantastic, I'm so glad I managed to see it.
I took these photos before being told I was not aloud to use a camera in there.

Checked no one was looking, and just had to take this one.

***

In other news, just recieved Elemental Magic. A book by Joseph Gilland on the art of special effects animation. I flicked through and read the first few pages, and so far, its amasing. Really worth having - I recomend it to any one interested in traditional animation or CGI.

Marnik

Belleville Rendez-vous

2010-07-29T02:38:00.001-07:00

Saw Sylvain Chomet's animated film Belleville Rendez-vous last night. It was frickin' awesome! If you haven't seen it already, do so.It's an animated masterpiece!

Thief and the Cobbler documentary.

2010-06-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

I know I've posted about The Thief and the Cobbler before (look in previous posts if you havn't seen already), but I just got emailed by Kevin Schreck telling me about a documentary he is making about the lost masterpiece.

He plans to interview various artists who worked on the film in the Summer, but needs donations to help with the funding.

This link takes you to a trailer and donations.

Please, please help by giving donations, and if not, alerting others about this. I'm really excited to see it, any other animators/filmmakers should be too!

Marnik

New pencil test

2010-06-05T09:04:00.001-07:00

This one worked alot better then the last. There is very little movement but it seems to work in a styalized cartoony way. I started this as soon as i finished the light box (you can see I've drawn the first frame in the last picture of the light box post). The audio is from the intro to a hilarious song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band called "Big Shot".
The body was drawn using the col-erase I was talking about. Near the end it dissapears because it wasn't moving and I thought I'd save the pencil for something more useful!

(let it buffer, blogger video is sloooooow)

(edit) Just watched it back on here and it's really bad quality all of a sudden! Oh well, you get the idea of it anyway.

I was gunna add smoke from the pipe but I decided it wasn't worth it...my knowledge of special effects animation (water/smoke/fire) is very small, but growing! I really like the character and think I might do more animation with him.

Col-erase

2010-06-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

It seems to break really easily...in one day it's gone from new to less then half size. ARGH what do I do? They're so great, I want to use them forever, but not at this rate I won't...

Update!

2010-06-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Finished the light box. AWESOME. I doubt I'll do anything but animate for the next few weeks! The disc spins 360 degrees. The only thing that i bought for this were the two rulers and the light switch - all really cheap. For roughly £5, really not very different from the proffesional £500 ones! The little pencil holders in the top right corner are just little clips meant for holding electrical wire in place - I found they work perfectly as pencil holders.

I might take some better pictures at a later date..

ALSO, I got some col-erase pencils off ebay and they arrived today (just in time for the party!). Col-erase are used extensively by animators, because they are very waxy, so do not smudge, and are very easy to erase.

Marnik

PS, I have 18 followers but hardly ever get comments..what's that about!?

Light box/disc

2010-05-31T03:56:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)

Here's where I am so far. Total cost = £0.00! The circle isn't brilliant, (at one point i got abit fed up with sanding it with the big heavy rough sanding machine, and accidentally took a chunk off my thumb with it. Didn't stop me though!), but it works just fine.
I still need to get two rulers to attach, and a light switch - all of which i will have to buy some time this week. I also need to build the rest of the box, and attach lights etc.

This is so exciting!

Trying things out.

2010-05-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the first animation (pencil test) I've done in a while. I'm learning so much from just trying various things.

It turned out not too bad - the voice doesn't fit with the character, and the mouth shapes arent quite right, but generally speaking the lip sync is correctly timed, and it is quite smooth. Where his face sort of moves down abit - was meant to be him looking downwards. Didn't work - just shows I need to plan more next time.

But the most exciting news is that I'm building a full on proper animation light-box and disc. Should be finished by the end of next week! Awesome!

Also, check out animateclay's new design. Love it!

Good day to you, sir.

The Thief and the Cobbler

2010-05-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Thief and the Cobbler (Richard Williams) is now my favourite movie of all time. It's simply incredible. Go watch the "Recobbled Cut" on youtube. (It's a cut because so unfortunately it was never finished, but every scene exists, whether it be storyboard, rough animation, or finished.)

Admitidly, it's probably more of an art film then entertainment, but i could watch it for hours.

It's got me back into traditional animation. If you're in need of inspiration, watch it.

New blog for any animation fanatic!

2010-05-16T12:14:00.001-07:00

www.disney-animation-art.blogspot.com

Check it out.

Marnik

2010-04-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

I just became a contributing writer in Stop Motion Magazine.
My first article will be in the new issue, released on wednesday. (It's free, and online.)
I am writing about "The tale of the fox" by Ladislas Starevich, a wonderful animation that I think everyone should see.
I will post again when the issue is online - I would be grateful if you guys could take a look and give feedback.

Thanks

More on dinosaur.

2010-03-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

He is fully muscle'd now. Just have to apply latex skin and paint. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Here is the first batch of skin. I made this by crumpling up a load of tin foil, straightening it out again, and pouring out a thin layer of latex onto it. Once this was dry, I added another layer, and so on until it was thick enough. The tin foil gave it a textured reptilian look, that saves alot of sculpting, casting and so on.

Now onto the set. I wanted to make a very simple set that I can use tie downs with (for the dinosaur). The base is chicken wire, covered with strips of hessian, attached with a load of plaster of paris. The hessian is so textured that this becomes rock solid. I will later cover it with strips of kitchen paper and plaster, to give it a more refined texture.
The picture is not good, but keep watching as there will be more to come.

Began build up on Dr Dino

2010-03-14T06:58:00.001-07:00

2010-03-04T11:05:00.001-08:00

The plaster mold went horribly, horribly wrong.
Never mind, I'm trying out some new stuff now, and will hopefully still enter an animation for Ray's 90th, possibly with dinosaurs.

Could be cool.

Back!

2010-03-03T08:05:00.001-08:00

Got back from Uganda and had an awesome time!

I just read this:

http://wobblytripod.blogspot.com/2010/02/ray-harryhausens-birthday.html

I've been looking through loads of creatures and decided I will just do what lots of others will probably do and make a cyclops puppet. Don't know if I will enter it or even animate it as I haven't done stop motion for a while, but it would be fun to attempt to make.

Head sculpt (unfinished) :
Armature:When i've finished sculpting the face, i will make a mold with plaster, and make a latex mask from that.
Should be cool.

Marnik

YAY

2010-02-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Going to be in africa tomorrow - how crazy is that!?

Won't be posting for a couple of weeks coz i'm gunna be in Uganda.

Seeyou.

The craziest things happen when you're in love.

2010-02-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Seriously...WHAT!?

Feedback on the logo?

2010-02-03T08:48:00.001-08:00

How to make a getaway.

2010-02-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

Been doing some research, so i thought I might do some posts like this. Hopefully you will benefit from them.

"Yogi, it's the ranger!"

Look at how those rough brush strokes are used, but in the animation all you see is bobo rushing off the screen.

Brilliant.

Going back to basics.

2010-01-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

So I finished that shot and watched it back, and I am really not happy with it. I could either carry on going this way, and make an awful and ugly film, or stop and wait until I have dramatically improved.Therefore I am going for the latter.
I'm not going to make a film of any kind, until I am completely sure I know what I'm doing.
I will make lots of short shots and tests, and post them on here, and try to make them interesting. I might do it in such a way that they connect together, but it wouldn't be a film, more like practice.

See you soon.

2010-01-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

Merely ran out of tracing paper/frames. Gunna buy some today. Only a couple more seconds and this rough shot will be done. Keep watching!

2009-12-23T13:45:00.001-08:00

merry christmas folks :)

2009-12-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Yeh.

Colour test and exhibition

2009-11-29T08:18:00.000-08:00

Wheh, I havn't posted for ages, sorry about that. Havn't really done much since I last posted, but today I decided to try out some colours, see how they will work. Just filled in the parts on a photoshop like program. It turned out pretty good, and was easy once I got going.

Also, my art class put up an exhibition this week, and some of my work went in to it. Here is my favourite thing i did, its a bust made out of plaster. The picture is awful, hopefully I will take a better one when the exhibition's over.

2009-11-10T08:20:00.000-08:00

Alright, i'm not even going to bother trying to explain whats been going on in my head in this past week. Basically, I've come to the conclusion - stop motion is not my thing. I've been having far too many problems with it.
I got really interested in classic animation rescently, and have therefore switched to that. Please no one try to convince me back to stop mo, or ask me why the change - I'm just happy with it for now.
Infact I'm very happy. I tried a little test of ole' Münchhausen, and am very pleased with it. I like the flickery look of it. This will probably be the way I make the film now, and am glad :)

(obviously this hasn't been rendered)

(he is sitting in his sleigh)

You know that feeling when something actually works :D

I'm still working out some more things like colouring, but I'm pretty sure I'll do that on the computer.

Comment!

A question

2009-10-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

I've worked out that I can animate with my webcam, and there wouldnt be any camera flicker. I really don't want camera flicker - but I really want good quality, and I don't know which one i'd rather have. Good quality or a stable camera?

Here is a bad quality un-rendered version with the good quality camera:

And here is a similar thing with the webcam (with lighting flickers).

I don't have any money to buy anything else..

I really don't know what to do!

Done another shot!

2009-10-24T03:48:00.001-07:00

Primarily I was glad with it, then when I put the good quality frames together there was alot of camera shakey-ness...I'm going to have to stop that somehow...

No worries!

2009-10-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Lost inspiration for a bit, but getting back into it....

Should be doing another shot next week (half term)

Keep watching!

Birthday time!!!

2009-09-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

That's right folks!

Set and SKY!

2009-09-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

I know I havn't posted in a while, but with the start of school again, arty-time has been limited. Today i spray painted a backdrop/sky for most of the snowy scenes. I also made a little section of a snowy set, but alot smaller - to put in the background for forced perspective.

Here's the setup, might be a little easier to understand:

And heres a quick shot i took to see how it would look - pretty awsome! (other than the lighting..)

Comment!

BOOYAH

2009-08-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

First shot ANIMATED

Booyah

I may well have to do it again, I'm currently waiting to upload all the frames, but still YAYA

VLOG coming soon!

Looking at my previous posts...

2009-07-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

...I noticed that I havn't taken pictures of the sultan's palace exterior set. So here it is:
(click for closer uppers)

Opening time!

2009-07-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

So I haven't done much work on the film rescently - who are you to tell me what to do?

No, but now it's the summer, so lots of time to work on the film! Hopefully I will get round to shooting the first short shot within the next few weeks. I've been working on the set all the jazz. It should look something like this, with better lighting:The greenscreen is 'cause I couldn't make a set big enough, it should just look like never ending snow. I will also add digital snow. Here's what the setup looks like so far:

The snow is simply plaster and the trees are the ones i showed you before, wire and tape. I had a bit of a disaster with the plaster and had to make two layers eventually, but it seems to have worked out ok now.

Marnik

Finished MJ raisin sculpt!

2009-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished plasticine MJ/california raisin sculpt.

RIP Micheal Jackson :)

I think Earth Song is my favourite song from him - very touching. What about you?

Titles!

2009-06-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here they are!

Micheal Jackson california raisins sculpt WIP

2009-06-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

I was gunna sculpt a california raisin sometime soon anyway, but after the dreadfully sad news I felt like making some kind of tribute!

(sorry the pictures so dark, click to zoom in)

This is still a work in progress and i will post it here when finished, with better pictures.

It's based around him from this ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HEyGY--IIw&feature=related

Marnik

Making a cobbled path - vlog

2009-06-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

The base is plasticine, which i poked lots of holes in with a stone from the garden. I built a plasticine wall around this, and filled it with plaster. I then put on a second layer (not shown in the video) before carefully pulling it out of the mould. It looked awsome, but unfortunately it soon broke in the middle. I'll fix this some how. I need to make LOTS more pieces like this, as i need to fill a whole space with cobbles, so next time I will put on a layer of hessian (if i can buy any from anywhere) to make it stronger.
Here is how it finished out:

So what do you think? Should I do more informative vlogs? Or go back to pictures?

A picture can say a thousand words
But a video can take a thousand pictures.

The nasty thing is, for some reason I can't edit videos from my camera, they upload in a weird format, all i can do is take them straight from the camera and put them on facebook or here.

What a strange and boring post eh?

Hehe, more interesting stuff to come!

Comment!

2009-06-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

(Picture from Claudio Antelli)

Keep watching :D

On your marks! Get SET!

2009-06-07T05:25:00.000-07:00

I had to build a small set for the short scene involving the palace I showed in my last post. I used the good old diorama style again, like with the church set. Heres how I did it.

First, I layed out the basic shape with cardboard.
Then made it 3D with newspaper.
(no i will NOT switch to tesco. Grr)
Now I plaster on torn up pieces of kitchen paper.
You need to work very fast with plaster of paris, it dries quickly. Here it is, plastered:
Next, I paint the basic earth colours of brown and green, very watered down, onto the set.
Then I start adding the woodland scenics grass, bushes, and any other extras. Lots of this i just made myself from cutting things up into tiny pieces.

And that's where I am so far, still lots more to go! You'll notice in the last picture, the lake area is white - i'm using PVA glue in layers, and should end up looking like water.

Today I'm gunna make some evergreens, and bushes.

'scuse me, may i RESCULPT YOUR FACE please?

2009-06-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, certainly...

I'm VERY happy with this, i can't stress enough how it looks EXACTLY like the image i had in my head, of how i wanted the film.

YAY

Finished palace:
And whats next?
Well... i dunno yet, we'll have to see...

Marnik

2009-05-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Soooo...I made the exterior of the Sultan's palace - still some more gold to be put on this.

The onion domes are plasticine with several layers of plaster over the top.

Also I started making the baron's outfit (yeh, I'm remaking him, i was never happy with how he looked), but unfortunately his arm broke half way through so i'll have to finish him tomorrow when it's dried.

Loving the sunshine :D
I just had a glass of Pimms so i'll have to read this tomorrow to make sure it makes sence..

hehe..

Sultan does Travolta!?

2009-05-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

Yay he's finished! I've decided to go back to the clay look - it's more interesting and animateablebleble...

Marnik

A sultan of swing!

2009-05-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hey, sorry it's been so long!

WARNING THIS IS A MEGA LONG POST - JUST WATCH THE PICS IF YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO READ IT ALL, I WOULDNT :P

During the time i've had off posting, i've done lots of things for the film, most of which was trial and error, more often then not error - so I'm gunna leave out all the boring stuff that didnt work, and put in the important stuff!

When the Baron first arrives in St Petersburg, Russia, there is an illustration of him in his sliegh, headed towards the town. So i had some spare time and decided to start making the town, and ended up getting two buildings almost done;

All that's needed now is for them both to be plastered over and painted. I still need to make some more buildings!
Next is onto something i did aagggeess ago, but i wasnt going to use it as i don't like it much. When i realised it isnt THAT bad and is only a background, i decided to bring it back into the story. So here ladies and gentlemen is the SULTAN'S palace:

I still need to glue that shelf up and put some vase/pots in it. I also need to make lots more furniture and STOOF (stuff with lancaster accent) hehe..
I've started on the first pieces of furniture, two chairs for the baron and sultan to sit in. Here is one nearly finished:
AND FINALLY....
to sit on that chair...
to live in that palace...
THE SULTAN! (headless and handless but the point still stands)
VERY fat but still cool :D

So anyways, Claudio Antonelli is currently in the process of making the title sequence for me (he's the film's editor). I've explained exaclty what I want and found the perfect music.

I love being a director.
It makes me feel powerful
MWAHAHAHAHHA

See ya round..

Progress on the armature

2009-04-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Balls on Rods.

A foot - if this doesn't turn out tight enough I may have to redo them, simpler.
Shoulders and Pelvis.
And here's it all laid out as it is so far. It may be a while before it's finished as I need to buy some more brass to make the 'sandwich plates'

I am also making some dipped latex hands for the armature as we speak (write/read)!

Marnik

B+S Joint!

2009-04-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, just a quick post to tell you what I've been up to today.

Well I had all the stuff I need to make a ball and socket armature, except threaded balls. Today I was looking through my room and unexpectantly found a necklace with lots of gold balls on it. Naturally, I seperated the balls, took two of them and made a ball and socket joint.

I was really pleased with this, it's the first time I've ever done this (except playing around abit with those helping hand things) but it just goes to show, if it took me all day to make one joint, and there are (?) number of joints in the body...

Marnik :)

New camera setup!

2009-04-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

I've worked out a new setup where I can use my Samsung S1050 digital stills camera to animate, with a webcam assist.

GOD IT FEELS GOOD TO BE HIGH QUALITY!

For some reason it's not as good quality on Vimeo as the actual file is, but for now, I'm just worried about working with the camera and stuff rather than uploading it to the internet.

For the next time, I need to remember to lock up the tripod so it could't move if it tried! I also need to make sure every detail is perfect, as I'm used to a rubbish camera where you can't see any details.

Oh and I finished the morph animation last week, I'll show you once the competitions over.

Marnik

Fortress gate!

2009-03-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

I had to make the front wall of a fortress, with a moving portcullis (this will be important in the story)

Its all just cardboard and paint!

And here it is finished: (I made it so the portcullis can slide through the two outter pieces of cardboard on the wall)

And next, I found this site with an animation competition to animate morph! I love morph! So I thought I'd better not miss out on this one, and have started animating. I have shot one scene with just morph but for the rest I need to buy some more plasticine for chas, which will have to be next week - so keep watching for that!

Marnik

Evergreens! Path!

2009-03-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hellooo - For the set I made a couple of evergreens like this:
They were alot easier to make than I thought! Here's one glued into the set with a couple of dead trees too.
And here is the set so far - I added more grass and a path. Still more to come!
It will probably be a few days before I do more on the set as I want to be sure everything is rock-solid dry.

Marnik

Mini trees!

2009-03-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Just an update - I wanted more hills for the background to give it abit of perspective. I had some left over hills I made out of foam/hot wire and plaster. I painted these green and made little tiny pine trees out of twigs and fake-bushy-stuff from woodland scenics. They turned out looking pretty cool! (Sorry the pics are kinda bad)
Marnik

The Baron lives!

2009-03-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went shopping and got lots of arty stuff including fake grass, plasticine, new modelling tools and paint.

Let's start off with the Baron's new head! Yay!

Next is the set - I've done alot with this scince I last posted. So first I added a big hill onto the back, and then put the church on, plastering around. I then painted the ground brown/green with watered down acryllics. I then started gluing on the fake grass (pictured below)

I need to re-paint that door on the front, plaster got all over it.
Now I need to add more grass and then tuffs and bushes, trees, a backdrop and I shall be done! I'll post better pictures soon.

Marnik

Sets, trees and sleigh!

2009-03-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today I started on the rest of the church set - this is once all the snow has melted so it will all be green and grassy. I started by getting the shape I wanted with chicken wire.

Then I covered it in kitchen paper and plaster. This will give it a really nice texture.

And here is it painted - I just used very watered down acryllic. It looks really good but this picture doesn't really look great, I took it when the light was bad.

I'm now gluing little sections with woodland scenics grass!
Next, I started making the army of dead trees I need! They start out as wire:

Wrapped in masking tape,

And will eventually be painted. Here are just a few.

And heres the finished sleigh :D

Thanks!

Marnik

Sleigh!

2009-03-08T01:32:00.001-08:00

So heres the finished sleigh:

Or at least I think it's finished, comment with extra ideas! Today I will connect it to the horse, and get started on the lots of dead trees I need!

Marnik

Starting on the sleigh

2009-03-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

To go with the claymation style, I will have to make everything out of clay, or atleast make it look like it is. I decided to make the sleigh out of FIMO clay. Here are my designs:

And here is the structure of the sleigh:

I have now pretty much finished it, but will wait for it to be baked before I take pictures! Hopefully I'll post it here tomorrow!

Keep watching!

Marnik

Deviant art

2009-03-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, just posting to say I have got an account on deviant art to put all my best rescent paintings, drawings, so on...

www.marnibob.deviantart.com

Check it out!

Oh and for Munchhausen I've decided to go with a completely different style to my origanal idea - it's going to be claymation sort of like Mark Twain, so I'll have to stock up on plasticine soon! I will still definately use the church...and probably the horse as I won't have any other use for him, and he's pretty cool :D

Marnik

Latex head!

2009-02-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

I'm soooo pleased - I wasn't expecting it to come out near perfect, but it did! There are a couple of air bubbles, the most noticable one on the eye, but other then that - just how I wanted it!

What I did while the mask was still in the mold, and I'd only put on a couple of layers was line it with thin alluminium wire, in different angles so it would keep it's shape. This was really good 'cause now I can change the shape of his head, for looks and animation!

More to come!

Marnik

YAAAAAAAAY!

2009-02-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Yay! The mold worked - or at least I think it did...I'll have to see how the latex mask comes out!

I've already started layering latex.

Marnik

Plaster of paris mold made!

2009-02-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

This was my first ever try, so fingers crossed it works okay!

Marnik

Beginnings of a head for the baron!

2009-02-19T02:48:00.000-08:00

My plan is to make a plaster mold of a plasticine head, make a latex mask in the mold and make an armature for the head.

I havn't yet got any plaster, and before I do, I just thought I would check 'plaster of paris' is the right thing to get....?

Thanks!

Marnik

Finished the church - yeah!

2009-02-18T01:33:00.001-08:00

Painting the roof:

And here it is all stuck together and finished:

(sorry if the photo's are abit distorted, my PC's gone weird!)
Well, I say finished...I still need to make 3 steps underneath out of wood, but I've got other stuff that needs doing before then, so that might be a while...

Marnik

More on the church!

2009-02-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made the tower bit on top. Here are the 6 pieces cut out:

And here they are stuck together. I used hot glue and taped over all the edges to make it nicer:

Next I had to make the onion dome. For several reasons, I realised this wasn't going to work, or it would be extremely hard, so instead I made a tiled dome:

And here is it all put together so far. The tower is not glued on:

I also painted the doors, and added knobs made of epoxy-putty, and cardboard crosses. Here is the whole thing (other then the roofs) with its first coat of paint:

Lately I've been noticing that my views have gone down - if anyone's reading this please comment and get other people to come along and join the fun :D

Thanks for looking!

Marnik

More progress on the church!

2009-02-16T04:07:00.000-08:00

So I made the main roof and the one above the front door out of wood, then tiled over it with cardboard.

Here it is all constructed so far, all the bits glued together with hot glue.

I made some hinges for the doors, out of cardboard with alluminium wire stuck on top. I hot-glued these to the inside of the doors. They work pretty well, 'cause they are animateableableable(?).

Today I will try and work on the spire.

Marnik

Beginnings of a church set

2009-02-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

So the first set I am building for this project is a Russian church. Here was my origanal design:

And here is what I've done so far:

The two doors have not been glued in, I will come up with something so they are able to open.

I am going to spend a good few hours cutting out many many squares now to make the tiles for the roof.
At some point I'm gunna have to come up with how to make the 'onion' on top look right. Also, I'll have to make at least 3 steps all the way around, underneath the church itself.

Marnik

Finished the horse!

2009-02-15T02:07:00.000-08:00

The bits on the eyes are called blinkers, horses that pull stuff wear them - just to let you know theyre not some *FAILED* attempt at eyes. This horse will be pulling the baron in a russian sleigh, which I've built half of already. It will be made of FIMO clay, 'cause I now have loads of really nice colours, although I need some more so I'll have to wait untill we next go to town.

Marnik

Baron von Munchhausen

2009-02-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, I told you I'd explain it, so here we go:

For christmas, my grandma got me (and all my cousins) a wonderful, thoughtfull present. It wasn't just a book, it was an old, forgotten story of Baron von Munchhausen. Now she knew these stories scince she was young, but they were all in german, so she had to personally translate them. To add to that, she made them into proper books, with ingraved hard covers, and even a personal message to each person inside! In the origanal books, there were black and white pictures, which, for us, my grandma photoshopped colour into them - wonderful!

Anyway, these stories now feel very close and dear to me, and I deffinately think I should create something in return. What better then to animate the stories! Each one is funny, wild and adventurous.

They are set in the 1700's, of an extrordanary man on his travels from Germany to Russia. I'm sure they'll be very fun to animate!

Here are a couple of exerpts from different parts of the story, with pictures:

Here I am not showing you any of the craaaaazy stuff he does, as I don't want to give much away before animation!

For the snow which is in most of it, I will use lots and lots of white newplast plasticine. This is so I can create footsteps in it, and also as there is a sequence that plasticine will be perfect for the snow!

There is also a small russian church near the begginning, which I have started making today out of wood. I will glue gun the bits together, and cover it in clay.

*******

In other news, I have put lots of layers of paint on the horse:

The paint is just acrylic mixed with latex. If I had more money I would use PAX paint, although latex and acrylic works fine!
I still need to paint the hooves!

Marnik

More progress with the horse!

2009-02-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

I've added lots of layers now and overall it looks pretty cool, baring in mind it was my first proper go at the build up technique! The head is too big and the legs don't look right, but other then that it's alright!

I still need to add more mane (tissue paper and latex) and then I can get on with painting him. In the book illustrations he is brown, so I'll go ahead with that!

Marnik

Horses head!

2009-02-08T09:49:00.001-08:00

Hey,

I take back what I said about the head in my last post - and went back to the origanal idea of using latex and tissue to build up the head.
Okay so I admit it doesn't look like a horse, but at least I can animate it and it will fit in with the rest of the body...

Tonight I'm gunna try and thin down the neck, add a mane and give the whole horse a new coat of liquid latex.

More to come!!!!!

Marnik

Munchhausen's horse

2009-02-08T02:24:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

For the Baron's horse, I decided to go for something that I hadn't done much of before, the Latex build-up technique. This is where you make the armature, and cover it with foam/sponge, and build up, as if creating muscles. Once you are finished building up with foam you cover the whole thing with liquid latex, in thin layers. This technique was used on all classic stop motion monsters and dinosaurs.

Here are some progress pics:

The horse just required a simple armature, with a tie-down in every foot.

Building up the foam. Up to this point I stuck everything on with hot glue and epoxy.

Now I needed to glue bits that would have to move. I used Latex for this.

The first layer of latex with epoxy hoofs and head now stuck on.

Next, I need to make the head. I started a forum post about this here.

THE CONCLUSION:

What I think I will do is use something along the lines of making the inside of the head out of plastic and wire, to lighten it up abit, and then sculpt it out of something hard, but for the bottom jaw, just leave some wire sticking out. I will then sculpt the bottom jaw with latex and tissue, so that it will be the only moving part of the head - I think that would work!

I will have to give this a go some point today, I'll keep you imformed!

Marnik

Finished body

2009-02-07T02:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some better pictures of the body - now finished.

I added a half-belt, a collar and some other small details.

Marnik

Baron von Munchhausen puppet fabrication

2009-02-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

If I wasn't rather busy right now I'd explain the whole origan of the idea of Baron von Munchhausen, the story and why I'd like to animate it. But I will explain. One day. Hopefully...

So today I made his body, he's a baron from the 1700's so he needs to look smart and posh. I've been designing him many times and my most rescent design seemed to fit the character perfectly, so I went along with that one. Unfortunately, my camera batteries are flat, so for todays post I have to use my rubbish one.

This puppet was more trial-and-error sort of thing, so I didn't make it a particuarly nice armature, but it worked fine.

I then used a very simple version of the build up technique, just with felt and foamy dish cloths to fill out the stomach. I glued it on with a strong plastic glue, which appears to be pretty much the same as epoxy, except without the two parts and dries alot quicker - perfect!

Once I'd finished all the felt fabrication, I added on little details, the sort of thing a Baron would have worn. The main bits are just string with gold paint, glued down. The rope from his chest to shoulder was made from lots of pieces of small alluminium wire rolled up together. The shoulder things are just cardboard painted gold with wire drooping down. As I didn't put tie-downs in the feet (which I now very much regret) I had to make the boots out of something that would stick to the set floor. The only thing I could think of was plasticine - which I had lots of lying around, so I went for it. They doesn't look great and I may well change them, but they'll do for now!

I'm really sorry about the quality - i will upload much better pictures tommorow!

It's not quite finished - it will need a bit more work!

Also, I did a walking test of him, comment if you want to see it!

Marnik

2d animation tests

2009-02-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

First a man walking, then a cat running. These were my first ever proper tests at 2d animation. I used the Animator's survival kit as a reference.

I've got looooads of stop motion related stuff I will probably show you some time soon, so hopefully you'll be seeing more of my blog!

Marnik

Merry christmas!

2008-12-23T09:36:00.001-08:00

Hey guys,

I know I havn't posted in months, and I havn't got anything stop motion related to say even now, but I thought as it's christmas, I might as well post something special for you lot. Well I know a few people that visit my blog are very interested in all sorts of beatiful artwork, and music, and I have played guitar for years, and discovered a love for the look and sound of the rare Indian stringed instrument the Sitar. Rescently, we got new neighbours, who I told of my love to sitars, and got the VERY unusual answer of 'Oh really? I've got one!' Of course this made me very excited, and we arranged for him to come round some time with his Sitar, and show me what he knows. He is not Indian, but like me, very interested in the sound and lifestyle. So anyway, long story short, he gave me a lesson and left it round my house a week ago, and it's still here now, because he reckons you don't bond with an instrument unless your left alone with it. Here is a picture of me playing:

This is probably compeletely uninteresting to most of you guys, but I thought it's allways about my animation here, never about my usual life, and this was a pretty dang interesting story!

Please comment with anything to say and if you want I will follow up the story when I'm a lot better, to see if I actually start learning the Sitar.

Merry Christmas,

Fish

Finished the drum kit!!

2008-10-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Woo - here it is:

Fish

2008-10-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the 'armature' for the drum seat:

And here is a finished drum:

Fish

More on drums

2008-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

So I made another drum, drilled holes in them all for the wire, then hot glued the wire together temporerily. Here is kind of what the set up will look like, with two symbols aswell.

Here is the new drum on a stand:

And here are the two above the bass (as you can tell I don't know the technical names!):

And here is one of the symbols drying:

Since then I have made a stand for one of the symbols, and have covered all the hot-glued joints with Epoxy putty for strengthening and it will look better. When they're dry I need to paint the other symbol and make a stand for it.

GREAT NEWS!

Go to Animateclay.com!
No!
Awww, please?
Oh, okay...why? To look at puppets?
Not to look at puppets.
To download a tutorial?
Not to download a tutorial.
To kiss some sort of mouldy fish?
No, not to...what?
Hmm...how about..... To look at the first post and read that you, Fish have just won a 2 disk tutorial on building sets by making a youtube video of how animateclay.com helped you?
YEEAAHH!! How did you guess?

Visit www.animateclay.com to see what I'm talking about!!

Fish

Finished guitar one, painted bass, making drums

2008-10-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

All nice and finished!

Painted the bass, but still need to drill 4 holes and add strings.

The drums are all epoxy putty with cardboard tops and bottoms. For this I am going for a claymation look, Will Vinton style, so pretty much everything will be plasticine, which is what I'm going to cover the sides of these drums in. That's also why I made the whole of the guitar and bass out of epoxy putty.

Fish

Stringing guitar

2008-10-12T08:26:00.001-07:00

I finished painting the guitar which I made out of epoxy putty, and then couldn't think of a way to attach the strings.

So what I did was drilled some holes in the top and bottom of the guitar (epoxy putty is really good for drilling holes into) I only made 5 as I couldn't fit another in, and it's hardly noticeable that there is one missing string!

And now as you can see I can put strings in. 3 are drying as we speak.

Fish

Started making drums and painting guitars

2008-10-12T04:46:00.000-07:00

Painting guitars

Drums

My edit/Origanal

Fish :D

Guitars

2008-10-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Just making a Hofner Bass and some electric guitar - I started off by making a basic wooden body and neck for the bass, then covered it in Epoxy putty. For the other guitar I decided to scrap the idea of the wooden inside, so I just made it completely out of epoxy putty. Still in progress!

Fish

2008-10-11T02:09:00.001-07:00

Table top don

2008-10-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have been wondering where I have been for the past couple of weeks. Well I have been creating a simple claymation about a lonely plasticine man named Don, who is created on a table, and can't seem to get off.

*will upload tomorrow*

Fish

2nd video blog and pictures

2008-10-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Replacement mouths

Tie downs

Fish

First video blog

2008-10-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Fish

Starting video blogs

2008-10-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, just to say I have something very special to announce to you Morilyon fans, but I am starting video blogs now so I will tell you in the first one!! Excited? GOOD!

Fish

Happy birthday me! 13 today...

2008-09-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

...that's right people, I finally hit the teen mark! I got a load of cool stuff which will be useful for my animations - I will show you some time!
In the mean time, I got to go, bye!

Fish

The animation I did with SJMovies

2008-09-21T01:47:00.001-07:00

A short film by Morilyon productions and SJmovies working together - the comeback of the green dude from surprise.

Fish

More on the bar set

2008-09-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, since I last posted, I have done alot of stuff on the bar set...

Here are the finished bottles with finished labels (made by me on Photoplus) and tin foil wrapped around the top of EVERY ONE!. There are lots - and believe me, they took a LOOONNNGGG time to complete!

As you can see, I had to take out a couple of shelves to fit the wine bottles in, but I think it looks good like that. At this point I stuck on a load of mini beer-mats to the back.

Then I made these beer-pully-things out of fimo (like all the bottles), and hot-glued them to the bar. I can tell this set's going to be good!!!

Now, do you remember the outdoor set I made a few weeks ago? Well like I said at that point, me and SJ Movies are going to do a joint production of a short cartoony stop motion. It's almost ready to start shooting, but today, we are just going to do some tests, and see how he (Sam - producer/director) likes the set and puppets. I am going to try and make a video blog at some point with him, to put on youtube and show what we've been up to!

Fish

BOTTLES, BOTTLES, AND MORE BOTTLES...

2008-09-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

Obviously these bottles are still unfinished - but it's a start...i suppose...

Fish

Beginnings of a bar set

2008-09-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, my entry to the stikfas competition will be set in a bar, so I got to work right away! Here are some behind the scenes pictures:

This is the floor...it is in that shape because when I started putting down the floor I was making the deck of a ship.

This is the main bar section - I cut 3 pieces out of wood then hot-glued it all together.

Hot glueing to the floor of the set.

This is the bit at the back (not quite sure what you call it) with lots of wine bottles on the shelves. I cut out pieces of cardboard, then hot-glued them to a piece of wood.

Here it is stuck on.

And here's another view...

A days work :D

Still need to:
Make 3 bar stools
Put up mini posters around the shelf bit
Make billions apon billions of mini wine bottles
And some more stuff...

Oh yeah, here are 3 new stikfas animations I did today:

Micheal Jackson dance

Simple exercises

A quick lip sync test - just to see if it's possible on stikfas

See you soon!
Fish

2 new stikfas!

2008-09-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
There is offically a competition on stopmotionmagic.com to enter a video about why stikfas are the best to animate! It can be stop motion, live action, CG, or whatever, so I thought I'd give it a try! But first, of course, I needed the stikfas! So I looked up where you can get them in the UK, not on the internet, and there where about 20 results - not many! But guess what - one of them is in a shop very near me! When I found out about this, I was very happy, and popped down there today. There, I bought 2 stikfas, put them together, and test animated! Here is the imformation of the competition: http://www.stopmotionmagic.com/stikfas/
Here are the lil' fellas:

Of course this is not my entry, but here is a test animation called Proposal - Orange just wants to get married to blue, but blue has other ideas!

Also, here is a sculpt I did a couple of weeks ago, here I was studying Irwin's (from the Hoosiers) face - it didn't go too well!

Hopefully later this month I will be getting a much better camcorder to animate with, that is what I will film the stikfas 'advert' with...exiting stuff!

Fish