BA1b: Stop Motion/ Puppet Making

Puppet/ Story Plan.

 Kirstie and I started by discussing our ideas and where we could go with the story. Kirstie was pretty sure she wanted to make a fox so I made a wolf so we both making furry creatures.

I took on more of a directional role in this project, coming up with a basic story which Kirstie helped to add other details which extended the plot. I also did a bit of directing of puppets while animating. Kirstie took on a much more editorial role, which is good because she is much better at it than me. (haha)


Original Sketches/ Character Ideas

Initial face and body sketches

















Rough idea of the body, ears and legs/feet.











The Making of my Puppet.

Construction Sheet

I wanted my character to be able to express his his feelings through his ears, nose and tail. I decided to make his tail and ears out of wire and the nose out of sculptured milliput and wire.

Paw study for hands.

Leg study for legs and feet.

Model Sheet

Equipment.

• Wire
• Milliput
• Sponge
• Impact Glue
• Grey Felt
• Faux Grey Fur (From charity Shop)
• Shiny Material (For nose and paws)
• Black Permanent Marker
• Beads (For Eyes)
• Polystyrene Ball (For head)

Foaming

My first attempt at foaming was not very triumphant. It has a 'Frankenstein's Monster' kind of vibe around it in this picture.
I wanted to experiment with the chubbiness of my character. I wanted him to have a kind of 'dad bod' with a very skinny chest and I belly poking out so I stitched the sponge around the milliput instead of sticking it with Impact Glue.

I then brought the figure into the model making room and sponged it properly, cutting the figure in to the shape I wanted as well as adding sponge to the arms and legs. I am quite happy with how this turned out and made it quite easy to continue on to the next step.


I made quite simple feet and added Milliput to the finger tips to give the effect of claws. 

I cut it back a bit more than I would have wanted in areas, exposing a part of the milliput on the chests. 
I rounded off the legs trying to give a thigh like effect and purposely made the ankles a lot skinnier according to my design and also focusing on the anatomy of a wolf.













After this I added sponge to the hands, leaving the tips exposed. This was so I could make a padded paw which still has a full range of motion and movement.

Furring

I started by covering the body and arms with one piece of felt, cutting off at the knees. The seams are hidden at the sides of the body, the crotch and also the wrists of the puppet. I then added some material I got from a charity shop to the tail and cut it into the right shape and cut into so it had mix of grey and black.

I also added this material to the chest as I found that it made the chest and arm join much neater looking.








The Paws

 I covered the sponged paws with a small piece of felt which just about covered the top of the paw. I then started to work on putting felt on the back of the paws, cutting in between finger so they are still movable.
I also coloured the claws in with a sharpie and I found out when asking other people that painting it with acrylic can make it shiny which is not the effect I wanted to get on my puppets claws.

The Head/Ears

The head was made out of a polystyrene ball that I got from Jarrolds. I added a wooden holder to the neck and also the nose part of the puppet and stuck them all into place.

I wrapped the head with a single piece of felt to get a clean and smooth effect across the face. The think I could have made the back of the head slightly neater but I gave it my best shot and it wasn't too bad considering it was my first try at puppet making.

I then added the same material I used on the chest and the tail to give a scruffy effect to the wolf.
I wanted him to be as non threatening as possible.

The Legs/Feet.

I added the legs and feet last as they were the part of the original design that I struggled to get across in the actual puppet the most.

I did a lot of studying on wolves paws and feet and wanted to make them as true to life as I could on a bi-ped puppet.

Here is a  close picture of the finished puppet's legs.  I think I managed to get the effect of a wolf's inverted knee bone as best as I could.

I did this by cinching in the felt around the already foamed leg to make the thigh part more curvy and muscular looking and then left the bottom of the leg un-foamed so they remained skinnier looking.

I wrapped the top part of the foot and the bottom of the leg with one piece of felt and drew in 'claws' with a sharpie again.

I wish I had painted or colour the bottom of the feet grey as there were parts of the final stop motion were this part of the puppet were exposed to the camera,
however altogether I am very happy with how the legs and feet turned out.

Finals

The eyes were stitched in quickly, taking about 5-10 minutes per eye and I also lined them and the ears with a slightly darker grey marker to make a shadowy effect.



I also added a piece of material around his neck to look like a neckerchief. This was for several reasons;

1.) I thought it would be a cute characteristic feature for the puppet which would make his design a bit more interesting.

2.) I wasn't happy with the way the head looked against the back. I felt that the back should have been chopped back a bit more and came out looking a bit too chubby. When the neckerchief was added it added more emphasis of the neck and helping with this slight flaw in design.

For the paws, I coloured the still exposed sponge in with a grey marker pen. This gave a much more desired effect and helped to fix an issue I had not considered earlier.

I am really happy with how the paws turned out. They are exactly as I had planned them and the claws I had tried to create came out really well.

Stop Motion Shots.

I found my little puppet very easy to animate. His ears and nose worked perfectly. I found his squat body surprisingly very easy to express his emotions and feelings.

I was also really happy that I weighed out my puppet properly so that neither the tail or the nose were too heavy as it meant that my puppet stands by itself with no support.

I really like how my partner, Kirstie, did her puppets feet and would have liked to explore that way of making feet in the future and will ask her questions on how she made her puppet's feet look this way. I wasn't as confident in making my puppet's feet as much I was with the hands and other parts which is why I left them more simple. I also like that she painted on to her puppet to get the exact colours she wanted as this is something that hadn't occurred to me to do and will potentially explore in the future.

Altogether I found the puppet making and stop motion experience very fun and rewarding with and a lot of problem solving which kept it interesting. I would happily explore this type of animation again.

The Animation.

The Story

The story we came up with is a sad tale of a lonesome Wolf cub (which I have named Howell) and an arrogant Fox (which Kirstie named Jeff, after Jeff Buckley... *cries*).
Howell is sad and alone, plodding along, almost walking straight into Jeff (who is very annoyed about having to step around him and sassily walks away). Then suddenly Howell realises that his tail and Jeff's tail are exactly the same (he's a wolf and therefore is colour blind, poor child) and calls out to him making him stop (literally) in his tracks, standing on one foot and looking around slowly. Howell declares that he will stay with him, Jeff says "no" (using hand motions) and Howell gets confused (does the generic doggy head flick thing. However, Jeff thinks it through a bit more and decides that actually Howell would be great to have around as he could defend him from predators when he gets older and agrees to let him stay. The ecstatic Howell then runs towards Jeff and leaps into a big hug which Jeff is shocked by and decides that Howell is actually very cute and charming, showing a softer side to his personality and the beginnings of a love/hate relationship between these unlikely friends.

The Feedback from Helen and Barry.
Helen and Barry said that the story is far too detailed for such a short piece and it was not clear as what the actual story was about, which in hind sight I completely agree with.
We are hoping with the correct editing we can fix this problem and put more emphasis on the puppets acting to show their personalities.
They also said that our puppets were very neatly made and were an "attractive pair"(which I was chuffed with)




Un-edited.

 First Edit.

Second Edit.

FINAL

Before the files were not in the correct format but this has been made right in this final edit.