stop motion – My Explores

Self-Motion Portrait

What is the difference between a good and a wonderful day? It may be subjective, but while the cause of happiness may differ, the experience will be universal. Dizzy eyes, a broad smile, relaxed brows, and an intimate contraction of the facial muscles. Today, I felt all that while working on a charcoal-drawn self-portrait.

We had to draw a self-portrait and stand back every 2 minutes so the camera could click the progress and turn it into an animation clip. More than ten of us stood in a row, each depicting our own version of the self. That wasn’t all; we also had to gradually adjust the expression of the image being created. The most challenging part of this was standing back from the paper. I was so immersed in the process that I would be the last person to stand back, most of the time.

We have overjoyed adults who couldn’t stop laughing while drawing or looking at the portrait. I couldn’t, especially when I was staring at it. This was the first time I’d drawn so quickly under such tight conditions. I also learned that if you start to like what you’re drawing too soon in the process, you won’t want to edit or transform it.

As I progressed with the subtle expression changes of the lips and eyes, I began to notice some defects in the portrait; the perspective of the face and the proportion of the eyes to the mouth and nose to the mouth were achievable, but these little details were plainly visible the next day. It was challenging to look at yourself in the mirror, develop an emotion, and then try to reference that with the charcoal image. I was making random expressions without drawing at one point.

Despite this, I could make some substantial facial expression evolutions and transitions. As we went on, my coordination improved, allowing me to better understand the imaging and its motion. Charcoal Animation was the most enjoyable workshop in the last two semesters. There may be more to come, but this day will be associated with my first year in university.

photographing myself after an animation self-portrait session

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t share my happy self-photos; they are proof of the perfect ending to a delightful and beneficial day.

Burning Charcoal

Violence up close has a smell. Like copper blood and charcoal burning.
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I enjoy the feel of charcoal in my hands. I’ve always adored it since I first touched it in junior high. The aftermath of using them was always a mess, but creating an image was always splintered, in my opinion. Please forgive me; I’m coming from a fine arts perspective. I had no idea I had feelings for it until I felt it again after so many years.

When it comes to making a single still image, the process of snapping progress and sequencing a scenario in the same form is beyond capacity. At least, that was my own opinion. The session of seeing samples of how charcoal animations were documented and performed appeared to be very intimidating.

We were encouraged to try our hand at making simple animatics, such as passing clouds, fluttering birds, and swimming ducks, as well as everyday simple character actions. I chose fire since there were many more references for me to establish a basic shape and movement of it while blazing up and down. However it did not turn out as planned; although I did not plan it well. I expected it to just seem that way as I went through it frame by frame.

The burning fire animation was made out of 48 snap photos, and because I didn’t have a camera stand, the shots were taken with some approximation in terms of framing. To make it more exact and flowing, I had to remove and change individual frames after the shooting (there was so much concentration; I used to not remember if I missed certain images that I drew and ended up repeating a few).The animation’s pace had to be tweaked so that certain visuals were not missed.

Fire Dying Down or Burning Up

Honestly, it was an excellent warm-up for the charcoal and its texture. The actual connection to the paper felt terrific. I hadn’t felt this good about creating something traditionally in a long time. I remember being completely drawn to it. I would like to use this sometime in the future to tell a story that soothes the eyes through soft and gradual movements.

Puppet Making Workshop

The Progress…

I was ready to work on modeling my puppet; the wiring work, making joints, and adding volume to them were all on the agenda for the day. However, halfway into the day, my patience took a back seat, and my anxiety crept in lousy.

A new day brings new thoughts and manipulates the ideals of where you want your journey to take you. I was so preoccupied with making this puppet that I wasn’t following my initial thoughts; I made it up as I went along. I started by twisting wires for the hands and legs. I chose proportionate limbs for the puppet because I wanted more realistic yet unconventional hand and leg motions regarding posture and gestures. My most problematic issue in making puppets was twisting the wires for the wrists and fingers.

Well, it came with many unwanted back aches and neck crunches…

I was unsure if I could construct a functional palm without destroying it. This was still better than the previous one, but it’s all part of the learning process.

To separate the forearm, the biceps, the thighs, and the calves, I used striped rectangles of soft foam to warm around the essential areas of the hands and legs. The foot was slightly larger and gave the feel of shoes, which was to balance the head and feet with almost the same size.

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Puppet Making workshop

Start…

Hey! I am posting my experience of making my puppet right from scratch. Before I say anything further, I will let you know this is the 3rd poor attempt at making a full-blown puppet that gives out some character (the last time, two times, was an utter fail).

HMM! Moving on.

I wanted to create a puffy character who could express herself primarily through facial gestures. I joined two balsa wood blocks for the head and four for the bottom. Bottom, I kept it purposefully long because I didn’t want to animate the torso if I had to ( The funny part is I realised later that because of that decision, the entire body can not bend or tilt in any manner). Too late; I will just have to be creative with my movements.

I aimed for a small face and large body with proportional hands and legs, respectively. When I initially mediated what I wanted to build, it wasn’t how it turned out in the end, but the looks of it were more or less the same; the personality had a shift and that I consider as massive progress on some levels.

I wanted to add roundness to the main body of the puppet, so I just cut and attached soft foam around the lower parts of the body to give it a good form and help in roughly differentiating the lower and upper halves of the body. I wasn’t sure about wanting longer legs or shorter ones, as the balance of the character’s centre of gravity was unstable.

It was a labour day of constant wood particles and balsa shavings running through everyone’s inner pores; I was losing my patience but apparently not my dedication; how? I have to state that it is an absolute joy to be productive throughout the day.

Stop-Motion Trials

I attempted to create a puppet using items found around us and then transforming them into a distinctive model. As usual, I needed to be more skilled at gathering resources or creating something from them. Still, I had a good time building it. We were at the wood-cutting work area, which had a variety of materials ranging from pliers to sawing equipment. That seemed like a field day of exhilaration, but it wasn’t.

Furthermore, this was the first time I handled saws, which gave me a little sense of accomplishment. I used a different little bottle, leaves, and paper strips, and the rest of the items were borrowed and gathered from the workspace and my classmates.I was trying to figure out how to construct it, even though we learned in the workshop about sawing it at a specific angle at the edge of the table so they can easily chip away. I cut two extended hardwoods and attached them inside the transparent bottle for support before progressively building on them. It was transformed into a trash collector, with the top half of the bottle as a collection bag on its back.

The second time we constructed a puppet was for a stop-motion animation group project. We were divided into two groups and instructed to create a stop-motion video using our puppets. I made a simple puppet with long legs and a square face and body. It wasn’t that complicated, just different parts coming together with twisted wires. I even threw on a tiny coat to give dump sketchy personality.

In terms of appearance, I wanted it to have a very goofy and foolish personality which is why I colored only one shoe to make it funny. I also enjoyed the entire cutting and sawing process, particularly the face. The long wooden snout and the disparity in eye size make it appear strange and doltish.

Then, to enhance suspense and action, we created a setting for the figures out of rusty net mesh and a box. Our initial concept was to show one figure suspiciously coming out foolishly and then assisting the other puppet in coming out; the second puppet fell down and became unhappy due to the first puppet’s assistance.

Filming the animation was a lot of fun. We couldn’t stop laughing at every strange falling posture we attempted. The entire project was enjoyable, and I learned a lot about how to set up the camera, the lights, and the dragonfly program. I’d like to do more exercises and explorations in stop-motion animation because shooting and experimenting with it is strangely satisfying.

The final video

Clay Animation

I chose to come out of my comfort zone…again like I did with this course in the first place.

Here’s my introduction to stop-motion animation and how I attempted to accomplish a small amount of skilful output.

Clays are generally challenging to mould, shape, and build with. You must be patient with the process, and you will be patient by the end. Kidding. It was a physically demanding exercise that made me feel productive and helpful.

In making

I began with sketches and doodles of the persona I wanted to create. After that, I started working on the clay and its shapes, which was extremely pleasant, but my back started hurting after a while. Specific components of the moulding were complex, such as the moulding of the ears and legs, acquiring the eyes and constructing duplicates for the filming. Not only that, but I decided to create an entry sequence for which I needed a lot of shapes (squares and circles, to be exact) so that the movement and creation of a figure emerged.

I assumed the most exhausting aspect of clay had stopped here, but I was utterly mistaken. I began prepping myself to shoot for the animation. The first animation I filmed was not complicated because I had a picture of how it should turn out. After all, the shapes only had to keep rumbling with each other and then building on till the character was formed.

Clay animation 1

On the other hand, the second animation was more demanding regarding character development and then morfying it to another. That, I believe, was really aggravating because I was completely blank on the subject. With some help, I partially figured it out, but it was still a simple mess at the end of the day. It was an experience of worry, tiredness, fun, and peace, which I find ironic.

Clay animation 2

Overall, I’d want to state that clay animations will not soon be part of my future endeavours. Nonetheless, I’d like to shoot a clay model morphing into a 2D design and then develop on that.