Collaboration with James Stafford

For the second part of Final Major Project I had to collaborate with other Stop-Motion students for their final films. James asked me to make some treats for his film, I made some mini Quality Street styled sweets, some marshmallows, Halloween cupcakes and Halloween lollipops. 

These were all made with Sculpey. The sweets were baked Sculpey shapes wrapped in foil then covered in coloured plastic. The marshmallows were twisted strands of Sculpey, cut in equal measurements. The lollipops were dress-making needles stuck into swirled black and orange Sculpey with masking tape covering the metal and the cupcakes were made completely from Sculpey, using TLS to thin the Sculpey to act as icing and a Sculpey glaze for a shiny surface. 

Check out James' blog of the other props, puppets and set he had to make, looks awesome and the Bloody Mary film is going to be brilliant!

http://staffstopmo.blogspot.co.uk

"Today's special moments are tomorrows memories." - Genie

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT TIME.

My final major project is split into 3 parts. The first part is to choose a character from 2D animation to sculpt a maquette of, ones to the standard of industry. I chose to do the Genie from Aladdin because he is one of my favourite Disney characters of all time. Also as a tribute to one of my favourite actors, the late Robin Williams.

Here is the process I went through to make the final maquette:

I then took some high quality photos of my finished maquette because I had to colour the sculpt via Photoshop.

So here he is - my final maquette of the Genie coloured via Photoshop.

If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake, baked a cake...

For a part of our Visual Forms module we had to pick a theme from a choice of 3 and create a project around it that produced a final image. I chose the theme 'Marketplace' and in particular a marketplace close to where I live that sells cakes. As I wanted to make sure this part of Vis Forms helped improve my model making skills I decided to replicate several cakes out of Sculpey. Here are the results;

 

When it came to producing a final image I wanted to present the cakes in a simplistic way so the focus is on the craftmanship of the actual cakes. So for a bit of fun I took some high quality images of my cakes all laid up on three separate tables. But I added a scene from the Great British Bake-Off behind the cakes, just an image for people to take a second look at!

My final simplistic image which holds my favourite cakes out of all the ones I made.

Expecto Petroleum!

My last project was to make any mode of transport I wish! One of my favourite vehicles is a Land Rover Defender just because I love the look of them and its going to be a challenge to make one in miniature. I made some rough sketches of ideas on how to change the original design. 

We also went over to the TA Army base to some drawing with Visual Forms and they had a Land Rover Defender over there, this made it easier for me to get primary research of the real thing before I make the mini thing!

My tutor sent me some plans of the Land Rover which had all of the basic features, the features that need to be on both my mock-up and final. 

Here is my mock-up for the Land Rover, made from wood and recycled everyday materials. Hardboard for the main structure, bulldog clips, glue lids, sink strainers, shallow flower pots, beads, etc. This all covered with a couple of coats of grey primer.

And here's my final model of a Land Rover Defender. It was a lot of hard work but I'm so happy with the result! Using wood and a lot of sanding then filling, then more sanding and more filling to get the right shape. Hardest part was to get the lights to work, two torches glued to the underneath of the wood so the buttons for the torches where free to get to, to turn on/off. 

Let There Be More Lights!

My final 5 images for this project, using Photoshop to enhance some parts of the images to get the required look of each shot. 

Final Still 001 - Puppet Only

Final Still 002 - Puppet & Set (Day)

Final Still 003 - Puppet & Set (Night/Moonlight)

Final Still 004 - Puppet & Set (Alt. Light Source/Torchlight)

Final Still 005 - Set Only (Settee close-up)

Final Still 006 - Set Only

Final Still 007 - Set Only (Bins close-up)

Let There Be Lights!

Onwards and upwards! New year, new project, new skill! As I've specialised in model making now, I won't be animating my Mrs Shoug puppet so we have been given a brand new brief - "Lighting in Stop-Motion." I have to use a range of techniques and tools to light my set properly. So first I did some research on where to start with it all... 

I will be doing a lot of experimenting with different combinations of lights, gels, reflectors and diffusers to see what gives the desired effect that I need. I will keep all the shots that I take to show development. I hope to get five final images;

1.) Still of Puppet only

2.) Still of Puppet & Set (Day)

3.) Still of Puppet & Set (Night)

4.) Still of Puppet & Set (Alt. Light Source)

5.) Still of Set only

So g'day, until the next post with my final 5 images...