Windows, roof

Okay, the house is coming along really nicely now. First, I'll start with the windows;

I made the windows out of cardboard, like most of the house so far, then measured, and cut out the holes for where they go.

Here is one of the three windows I made.

Next is the roof. In my designs it is tiled, so I cut out many many little cardboard squares, to hot glue on to the roof.

Nearly there! (sort of...)

This is where I am now! Still need a lot more to do, so I fill up the whole piece of cardboard.

GOOD NEWS:
The gravel has dried almost rock solid, and the grass is not 'hard' but getting along that way! This should be a great build!

TODAY:
I am planning to finish/nearly finish the house and start painting,
Make curtains to go in the window.
Start planning the big blue sky background.
Make a couple of telegraph poles (hopefully)
And maybe more! You will have to come back soon to find out!

Fish

Progress on houses

A couple of pics showing the houses so far...putting a lot of detail into these, should look good when they're finished!

Updates

Gates...fences...path...and more stuff








Fish

Hey guys,

so I'm still working on the ship set I showed you a bit of, but I've been 'commissioned' to work with SJ MOVIES to help make a short series of episodes, with blob people, like the one seen in my most recent short, SURPRISE. I am making the sets, models, and puppets for the film, while SJ directors, Sam and Joe are writing the stories and designing the look.

Here are some pictures of the set being built so far: (click on images for a larger look)

Here is the wood I am building it on. It will be a sort of mini football pitch like one you would find in a park.

Here is once I put the first layer of grass on.

Here is a bag of 'bush' from woodland scenics. I am using lot of woodland scenics stuff in this build, that is what the grass is.

Next are the two goals I had to make. I started off measuring and cutting a piece of wood into several pieces.


Next i glued it all together...

...and painted it. More soon,

Fish

Marnik's photography

Hi, just here to say I've got a new blog up and running:

www.marniks-photography.blogspot.com

I try to take some nice pictures wherever I go and put them there!

Enjoy,
Fish

First steps in set building

Hey guys. Just gunna be brief today. A while ago I had a new idea for an animation. Not going to give too much away, but basically it takes place on a sky ship. Here was my origanal concept plan from like a year back:

And do you no what this is? Well do you? THIS IS PROGRESS! Very slow progress addmitidly, but I can happily announce I have made three floorboards for the ship! YIPEEE!

See you soon!
Fish

Audio/visual haiku challenge

This music was written for www.stopmotionanimation.com where they set a challenge to do a stop motion animation to go with it. This is my entry...



I'm not very pleased with it, but I like the sync near the begining when he plays the guitar.

Fish

Puppet reel

Just a few of my recent puppets made for stop motion . Sorry it goes on for so long I forgot to edit the song down!

Here are the puppets in order:
Explorer
Newsreader
Paul McCartney in sgt pepper era
Martian
Random dude
Elvis characature
Random 70s dude
Morilyon man
Morilyon man with guitar
Ugly women
Friar Tuck, Robin hood and Maid Marian
Robin hood with bow
Eye of doom and dispair
Fish
Victorian dress
Scarecrow without head
The rest is just random pictures I found of armatures and a such.

Fish

Clay on glass test

Hey guys! Really sorry I havn't posted for ages, but here I am! Today I made a short test using plasticine on glass, I didn't put too much effort into it. It was just to see if I could do it. It was my first ever clay on glass animation - at the moment I am working on reactions (things like after he's thrown the ball, his arm keeps moving) Tell me what you think!



Fish

The DVD is now a download! I will send you an e-mail with the two digrams you get with the film, with all the imformation on it, then another e-mail with the actual film attached. Even though I don't need a DVD case anymore, I made it just a a promotional picture really. I still havn't put it on Etsy, but I will as soon as more people start telling me they want it. Sorry it's been a while scince I posted the sort of stuff most of you want to see, but as I'm sure you can understand, I'm making a DVD here!!!

How to make brass tube armatures DVD is ready to be released!!

WOOOO! Finaly, after all out hard work, the DVD on how to create brass tube armatures is finished. Well, the actual film is anyway, but I still need to put it on to disk and make a cover for it, then I am ready. It is only short, aprox. 24 minutes, but covers all you need to know about creating them. Do you remember the armature I showed you a couple of posts ago? Well I teach you how to make that. Thankyou very much Joe for providing the camera, and filming! Here is a preview of what you will see:



With the boxed DVD you will also recieve a diagram of the armature to work along, and a diagram of how to make the wooden feet that work so well! For all that, I am charging just £6.50, which is roughly $12.89, that price is not certain yet, but I will carry on thinking about it.
You do not get to see my face in the whole DVD, so don't worry, Fish's identity won't get shown! By the way, don't be cheaky and say that it says you can get the whole DVD here, like I said, it's not finished yet!

Fish

News reader and Explorer

Hi everyone! Sorry I havn't posted in ages, I've been very busy!
Firstly, I built a newsreader puppet, just for fun.
Here is me putting Epoxy onto the armature to strengthen it:
Finished armature, as you can see, the head is removeable:Here is the nearly finished puppet:
The removeable head:
Replacement mouth (incase I ever wanted to animate him):
The finished puppet:

Now, remember this guy? I'm not sure if I ever showed him to you, but I made him about a year ago.
On giving it some thought, I decided I should do a remake of him, as I like how he looks, but he is too small to animate and has a rubbish armature. So, remember that armature I showed you in the last post? Well, I used that as his armature. Here are some pics of constructing him - enjoy!:

So far we can only call him 'The explorer' as his name cannot be revealed untill I am sure I am happy with it. I have a timelapse of me making him, and will put it on youtube sometime soon.
Bye!

Hi everyone! Firstly, last weekend I made a tie-down board. Many of you probably won't know what that is, so it's basicly a big piece of wood with lots of little holes in it. Then, you make the puppet with nuts (tie downs) in the feet (not showing of coarse). When you are animating a puppet walking or on one leg or falling over, you put a screw through one of the holes, then screw it into the puppet's foot, and use a wing nut under the wood to tighten it, then your puppet's foot will be held right down to the ground. Of coarse, I am stupid enough to make one for myself, hours and hours of holes, holes, more holes, holes, more holes, and finaly, it was done. Also, while I'm on the subject, look at those
TIP: DON'T DO THIS AT HOME!!!

Next is the coolest news ever!! I am now more into making brass tube armatures, and will (hopefully) soon be selling them in my shop. Here's one I made in the last couple of days. The head can be taken out, and I have armatured the hands as it will be a foam latex puppet. Also, the wooden feet I created from my head, and they sort of work like a ball and socket armature's feet do. Like I said, I created them from my head, and they took a day to make, but I have now thought up a much more clever way of doing it, using more brass. Last but not least, here is a picture of the full armature next to the origanal design I drew a few days ago. Also, you will have noticed rescently up 'till now I have been using black alluminium wire. That's because it was 2mm, and now I'm back on the much more animator prefered 1.5mm.
Thanks!

P.S. I will try and open a shop on the net soon, where you send me your design for an armature, and I will make it. The price will depend on how complicated the design is.

Fish

Happy Easter everyone!! Wousers...In the last week I've spent about £10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 on animation stuff (not really, I'm working out cheap ways of making proffesional stuff, and I have to experiment with lots of things!) from the internet, so when it gets here I'll let you know.

But right now, I'll tell you about the electric guitar prop I made. I was basing it on an old Gibson Les Paul model like this one:
First I drew it on paper, and drew the outline onto a piece of wood. Then I cut it out and sanded it down.
Then I cut out extra pieces made from card to glue-gun on.
Then I gave it an undercoat of white paint
Gave it a proper paint job...
A few extra details + Morilyon man =
Once again happy easter!!

Fish