Pub set

I realised in my last post that i didn't really explain the pub set that my latex figure was destroying so i thought that would be the topic for today:

So to start i took a painting by Van Gogh:

 

I then built the painting as a the set out of foam board to see how it would look and to get the scale right

 

I then built the set out of wood, foam board and paint, i tried to make the set look a lot like a painting and i think i achieved this very successfully.

And here is the painting and the set together so you can see how it works.
That's all for today really, but here is the link for the film again if you missed it:



Jabawoki film from Kyle Bennett on Vimeo.

Foam latex puppet

Okay so i wanted to show you the first foam latex puppet i ever made.
It was for a university project in second year (now graduated)

It was quite fun to make but i wish I'd created a better armature.

Here's what happened.

I first created my puppet out of Plasticine with a very basic wire armature.
I then took a big wooden board and covered it in clay, i placed the plasticine figure on top of it.

I then built up with the clay all around the puppet so that i could cover it in plaster to make a mould for the foam latex.

I then built up walls using blocks of wood and sealed the edges.

 

I then filled the box with plaster and waited for it to set.

 

I then had a plaster mould.
I took out the Plasticine and did the same thing for the other half of the puppet

I then put my custom built armature inside the mould
This was then pressed together with the other half of the mould and foam latex was injected into it and cooked in a special oven.

I used the foam latex puppet to destroy a pub set that i build based on a painting by Van Gogh.

The link for the film can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/24355426

Rabbit lip sync

Okay, i've finally got round to sorting out my blog and getting myself together, so i am going to update on what i've been up to and then will post updates of all projects i will be working on.

So to start with i thought i would put up the work from a project that i really enjoyed working on: Rabbit lip sync.



This film was created when i was in my second year of university (now graduated)
I first started by interviewing people around the Stoke-on-Trent area.
I found a funny fisherman who had a lot to talk about, he was mostly talking about fishing but finally he started to talk about his garden and his vegetables.

When listening back the audio i had recorded, images were conjured up of this big brown rabbit on a vegetable patch.

Here is what i did:


After a lot of concepts for this character (that i have unfortunately now misplaced) i created many different rabbit maquettes

 

 

 

 After this i created a simple garden set using foam board and coloured Fimo.

 

I created a foam board fence and drew on lines with an ink pen

 

I used fake grass from a hobby shop to create the ground and a ball of tin foil covered in orange Fimo to make the pumpkin

 



This was a simple drawing to see if the rabbit puppet would work on film


 

Next it was time to create the rabbit.

I felt that in true Aardman style i would create the rabbit out of Plasticine, this was an esthetical choice as i felt it would look best on my brightly coloured set.

I began by creating a pumpkin that would be secured to the set, i then built the armature of the rabbit from the pumpkin. I did this because the rabbit puppet would not be getting up and walking and would remain on the pumpkin for the duration of the animation.



The eyes and nose were created using Fimo. The eyes were secured into tin foil covered eye sockets and Plasticine was moulded around them to keep them in place.
The eyes had tiny holes in the centres so that they could be moved easily with a pin

I created the rabbit without a mouth as all of the mouths would be replacements

I next created the rabbits replacement mouths:

Rabbit with his A mouth

And here is the finished rabbit puppet:

Then all that was left to do was the animating (my favourite part!) Here are some shots of my set up:

 

 

 

I really enjoyed working on this project, it was really fun and i hope to work on more projects like this in the near future

And that's all I've got to say about my rabbit animation, here is the link to watch the video, please enjoy:

https://vimeo.com/17490055