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artist's way: week 8
November 6, 2006
Q&D - 2nd pup done
by sven at 11:59 pm
(Q&D = "quick and dirty")
Tonight I finished the second puppet for my "quick and dirty" animation project: "dad." The construction process was nearly identical to what I did for "son."
I made the armature out of annealed aluminum wire and plumber's epoxy putty. There are nuts in the feet for tie-downs. There's an extra loop of wire and epoxy that comes off of the "skull" so I can have a movable jaw.
I used 1" wide strips of 3/8" thick cushion foam to bulk out the armature. I fixed everything in place using athletic tape.
To help smooth out the shape and hold everything together, I used athletic underwrap (a thin foam bandage).
I used multiple coats of cheap acrylic paint to give "dad" a ghastly appearance. I sprayed him with a coat of gloss varnish, then two coats of matte varnish. The spray varnish seems to have eaten away the acrylics in places. Next time I'll only use matte varnish -- and thinner coats.
The clothing was improvised as I made it, using Fabri-Tac to glue fabric directly onto the foam. It's pretty rough looking, but I'm pleased with some of my detailing. I gave the shirt a pair of cuffs, a collar, and a strip of fabric where the buttons go. The buttons are made from blue paper that I punched using an extra-small hole punch. The belt is made from black card stock, and I glued little cloth belt loops over it. The belt buckle is a piece of scrap brass from when I was making brass armatures.
The son and dad look great standing next to each other... But they also look like two separate species. I think I should do more character sketches, to find a more consistent look.
The foam wrapping worked out better than what I did for Percy... But it'd sure be nice to have a puppet body that's been cast from foam latex or silicone, so the contours aren't so lumpy and lop-sided. (Of course, a lot of that is probably attributable to this being "Q&D.")
The clothes aren't bad, for having been glued together... But I find myself thinking about trying a needle and thread or a sewing machine on the next iteration. My main problem area right now is where the sleeves attach to the body of the shirt. The sleeves look OK in one position -- but when I move them around, the fabric pulls in unnatural ways. ...I'm also looking at where the shirt tucks into the pants, thinking that it doesn't look quite right.
I can tell now that I'm going to be pretty frustrated with how the wire armatures behave.
Criticisms aside... Yay! Another puppet done! Now I actually have TWO characters -- who can interact with one another!
posted by sven | November 6, 2006 11:59 PM | comments (5) | categories: stopmo
Comments
He looks cool! Man, you're makin' me feel like a total slacker... here I am two months in on my puppets and nowhere near finished yet!
On the clothes... how are you geting the nice crisp edges on everything? Are the edges folded over and creased? If I don't fold everything over I get ragged cloth and fraying thread everywhere.
Posted by: Darkstrider at November 7, 2006 2:12 AM
W00t! Great work, agent Sven. I love the Q&D look in and of itself! It's like the 3D equivalent of your floating sketches, free, expressive, and creative. I like to imagine the Q&D animation will have the same effect, like a 4D sketch. This is a powerful idea, making stop motion with an unfussy method. Please keep going!!! I love it.
PS> Would you like a scarlet star sewing thingy (like Mike's pumpkin patch one) as a belated birthday prezzy? I'd make it Q&D!
Posted by: shelley Noble at November 7, 2006 7:30 AM
@Mike: Don't feel too bad about slackin', Mike. After all, I don't have fantastic Scott Radke puppet heads that I'm trying to do justice to! Nor am I trying to juggle a batch of eight (?) all at once!
Re the cloth... I don't know what to tell you. I'm just using a sharp pair of scizzors, and cutting with the grain of the fabric whenever possible. If there's fraying, I cut it off with cuticle scizzors before it gets worse. Using separate pieces of fabric for the cuffs and collar maybe also helps hide some of the fraying that's at the end of the sleeves and by the neck.
If you had a closer shot of this pup, maybe you would see some fraying. It doesn't look too bad to me right now, but it might get worse as I animate. You use needle and thread, don't you? Is your fabric getting frayed from manipulation while you're sewing? Using glue means I don't have to fuss with the edges of the cloth too much -- and to some extent the glue probably helps hold the edges together. One of the problems with glue, though, is that it's really hard to not get smudges of it on the fabric while you're working. Blech.
@Shellsy: Wow! How can I refuse? The basket of goodies you sent Mr. Dark looked so appealing... Very kind of you!
A "4D sketch" -- yes! I think that IS what I'm going for here... Nice way of putting it!
Posted by: sven at November 7, 2006 10:32 AM
You're really rockin' man, these puppets are great and I love the storyboards....I imagine your frustration with the wire is due to your recent bout with metalsmithy excellence in steel :) Its great seeing so much activity from everyone :D
Posted by: ubatuber at November 7, 2006 12:55 PM
You guys know about Fraycheck? it's a liquid that goes on fabric and seals edges and seams!! (I used to use it on the ends of my satin toeshoe ribbons.) It slightly stiffens and darkens pale shiny satins but should help Mike with his fab(ulous) fab(ric) fabbing.
ok! one scarlet star pincushion with mini spools of thread colors and useful assortment of pins and needles, mini buttons, etc. I'll throw in a bottle of fraycheck and a sheet of fusible webbing (for you and Mike to try) which is like a gift from the sewing gods for applique (where you iron on say a pocket onto a shirt front, and have it stay in place without fussy teeny stitching.) Remember, this'll be Q&D as I've got a dizzy dance card now that I'm thonnin', ok?
Posted by: shelley Noble at November 8, 2006 1:12 AM