Patchwork

Front legs are a bit weird I know.

These drawings weren't scanned in I had to take a picture with a camera, there's not a huge difference it just makes using the magic wand a bit trickier. So I'll scan (I have a bunch more too) them in on Monday and re-do them.

So this is going to be my wow image. I'll work more on it tomorrow because I'm knackered right now. I'd say it's about halfway done so far.

Also the puppet needs to look more like the drawing and the drawing needs to look more like the puppet. I think it's the hair that's making the difference. And then nose is a little low down.

I have actually made my armature. But there's constant niggles that mean I haven't animated with it yet. So, I'm going to fully puppitize it first then animate with it. One of the niggles is, one of the nuts (used in the feet to tie the puppet down, but as you can see she stands on her own! which is good news) is un-ringed. I think that's the right term, basically it's smooth on the inside so you can use the screw on it. Grr.

People like these ones but there's not enough background in them.

This is my storyboard, so you know I have done one basically. But.

I have changed the premise again slightly. There's less of the Dog and the ending has more clarity to it, but basically I do have to re-do the 2nd half of the storyboard.

She no longer just finds bit of rubbish, instead I've based it more on Kurt Cobain and the song Something in the Way. Where he claims (he actually didn't) lived under a bridge.

So now the idea is much more about coping with loss. The Mother builds a scarecrow frame with the driftwood but clothes it with the son's clothes.

There's also an exchange with a neighbour at the end. I'd rather not give it all away.

But in a few words, it's subtly clear what's going on and it's not cliched. Also it's only implied that the son may have killed himself as I'm drawing parallels to Kurt Cobain but it's not actually supposed to be a Kurt Cobain like character....also it's not about the son. It's about the Mother coping with the loss.

Week 2..or 3.

Okay so I finally admitted I'm ill today. I hate being ill...well it's not really ill, it's just a cold but I've managed to get the achey coughing one so going into Uni today is just not a good idea. Not least because I don't want to spread it around either.

I still did American Football practice yesterday though, although it's good because exercise is good. Anyhow. The point is these may be a bit shit because my head is aching and going WARAAAGGHHH and I have to go and blow my nose every 3 seconds and it makes me lose my train of thought.

ANYWAY. This is explains why I drawded this.

I don't like this one. It's not working right now. I'ma doing it tomorrow.

I've got a better angle I've doodled but I don't have a scanner at home.

If y'all remember this one? The Light at the End of the World, by the Owls.

I'm going to be mimicking the style of the opening.

Also for those of you (everyone) who haven't been reading mine and Derek's back and forth emails I've now changed 90% of my script! BUT! It's better. Muchos better. How?! HOW? Well, you'll have to wait til tomorrow when I scan my storyboard in because like I said I don't have a scanner here. Sure I could take a photo of it and upload that but how desperate are you for a storyboard? Probably not very.

The main difference now though, besides everything, is that she lives under a bridge. Well she doesn't live there. For some yet undecided reason (mainly because I can) I'm going to make this 2D flock of birds metamorphose (if that's the correct sciency term for 'change'?) into the Puppet. I'm going for a whole Brothers Quay, and The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb kinda feel.

In a nutshell, the Mother makes a 'scarecrow' of her son out of garbage and old clothes, with her dog, under this manky arched bridge.

There's a bit more too it than that obviously but I won't give away the ending until, well tomorrow I guess.

Also my armature is leg-less at the minute because I had a re-think and have made the legs better but tomorrow it shall be completed so I'll have pictures up of that, then on Friday I'm going to test the armature by itself. I've got a possible 'tailor' lined up too. So the plan is that next week I shall be doing animation tests with the puppet fully clothed and ready to go.

The best bit is I'm still on schedule...and I haven't even cheated and re-made my schedule.

Storyboard

Also here's my armature. It does exist. I need to pop into Tragos and get a vice so I can cut up my K&S though (the brass square tubing on the left)

Ignore the hands, don't laugh. They're going wrong. Very very wrong. It's incredibly tricky to twist a pair of hands to be exactly the same size, this is my 5th attempt. My backup plan is to carve them. Although that may be a better solution anyway because she doesn't actually have to clasp anything. Also I've realized the outline of the feet isn't to scale they are going to be much bigger than that so it can actually stand up. But yeah I've got the torso done it's just the extremities to do and then cloth her and do the hair and pop in her eyes.

It's about 7.5 inches tall so far which is pushing the max. It'll probably be about 8 inches once I've added the hair but that's to be expected since I designed it initially to be 6.5-7 inches high (they always go taller than you design).

This is more the colour palette I want.

(although ignore the actual drawing and everything because it's crap and texture-less

I'm just trying to get the colour right)

Digital painting mucking about. They need more style.

The Inspiration is coming from the Kansas prairie

The storyboard is a bit too colourfull at the minute but you get the idea; I'll give this a wash layer tomorrow but right now it's 11pm and the only break I've had today has been the bus ride home so goodnight.

p.s. in case you were wondering the opening shot is inspired by

Van Gogh's Wheatfields with Crows

And so it begins.

I have renamed it. For the minute. Because it was confusing people. I'm running with this for the minute whilst I think of something better.

Check out my schedule. Snazzy innit.

Anyway, Panic time. Well not really.

I've advertised for voice actors and have 2 replies already!

So I'm doing the idea I had at the end of 2nd year. It's about a son from a mother's point of view. There's not really a story it's more a monologue, or contemplation if you will. It's a dramatized version of my own experiences from certain things and I'm going for a subtle and minimalist approach.

It's going to be done mixing CGI environments and stop-motion sets and puppet and have a washed out monochromatic type colour palette.

Anyway there'll be the storyboard and script up shortly. This is just to let you all know what's going on.

Also, pictures of puppet coming up soon but I'm waiting on K&S and super sculpey to add the finishing bits. Oh and also Wunda Web. It's all go anyway.