Eat Liz - "Lose This Child"

I just wanted to share this new stop-motion music video from directors Yuval & Merav Nathan ("Her Morning Elegance"). I've had the pleasure of working with Yuval & Merav on more than one occasion and I am constantly amazed at how unique and sincere their work and approach to animation continues to be. This video is no exception and the fact that it was all animated in stop-motion on an actual beach with real sand is truly a testament to the ability and skill of all the animators involved including "jack of all trades" Guy Ben Shetrit who is also the guitarist/songwriter for this amazing band.

It's art like this, that successfully marries two different mediums together to create something completely new and original, that makes me wonderfully excited to see how much further the stop-motion medium has yet to be pushed and explored.

To see more of Yuval and Merav's work you can go here:

OneWingFly.com

For more music by "Eat Liz" you can go here:

Eatliz.com

-Alfonso

Turning Heads

It's been a long time coming getting to this part of the film. When I first started animating I knew that if I ever got to the point in the production where I needed to create the little guy above I would almost be finished. Well it's gotten to that point and I can start to see a dim light at the end of a long tunnel... it's kind of nice. 

 

Anyways the second photo above contains some preliminary character sketches that I made before I began sculpting the head, the final version of which you can see in the first picture. I find it helpful to first sketch my ideas out before carrying it into the 3-dimensional medium of clay. Even if it's not final It helps remind me of what my original intent was for the character I'm creating. That way if I start to stray away from it while sculpting the drawings will always be there to keep me on track. Though sculpture definitely has a lot to offer in terms of designing a character. There may have been something you overlooked in your 2-dimensional drawing that has to be addressed in 3d that ultimately might end up strengthening the design. There's also a lot of little happy mistakes that contribute along the way as well.

Now I'm off to cast a mold for this fella's head since I'm planning on creating a foam latex version of it for animating.

-AlFonzo

Painting Foam Latex Puppets (PAX Paints)

Vincent Tétreault, who's amazing stop-motion work and wonderfully helpful blog can be found here:
vincetetreaultstopmotion.blogspot.com, recently asked me what kind of paints I use for my foam latex puppets. The short answer is that I use PAX paints which stands for a Pros-Aide/Acrylic Mix. If your wondering what  Pros-Aide is, where to find it and why you should even bother using this method in the first place then the longer answer might be a little more helpful.

Pros-Aide is a non-toxic prosthetic adhesive commonly used in special effects makeup. Here's an example of it put to practice as I used it to attach cardboard bolts onto my neck this past Halloween.

Much like skin your foam latex puppet will be moving and flexing while it's being animated and the problem with just using just any old paint is that it will eventually begin to crack and flake off as the puppet is put to use which, needless to say, will look pretty awful when played back frame by frame. Mixing Pros-Aide with acrylic paints alleviates this problem because it remains sticky and bendable after it has "dried." So sticky in fact that it will want to stick to everything including itself, which is why it's such a good adhesive. I talk more about this later.

First off you'll need all the materials pictured above: Cornstarch, makeup wedges and a small makeup brush which can all be easily purchased at any supermarket/drugstore. Acrylic paints which can be found at any local arts and craft store like Michael's. And Pros-Aide which can be ordered here:  Frends Beauty Supply.

1. Pour an equal amount of Pros-Aide and Acrylic Paint, 50/50 should be the ratio.

2. Mix thoroughly.

3. You'll know it's fully mixed when you no longer can see the Pros-Aide. Another wonderfully thing about the Pros-Aide is that it won't add any pigment to your paint.

4. Grab a makeup wedge and begin painting your puppet with the new mix. Applying paint with a makeup wedge allows you to get a softer looking coverage as opposed to sloppy looking paint lines when applying with a brush, though smaller details may be handled with a brush.

5. Once you finished painting let your puppet fully dry before moving on to this step. Because of Pros-Aide's tacky nature it has a tendency to stick to itself and when this happens it can tear the paint off of the puppet when attempting to pull it apart. To prevent this grab the makeup brush and dust the puppet generously with cornstarch.  

6. The cornstarch will change the color of the paint when it is first applied, but after handling it for a little bit and making sure that all of the excess cornstarch is off it should look close to how it was before the only difference being that it will now have a slight matte finish. The puppet can now be handled without fear that the paint will stick to itself or to your fingers.

For even more information and a great article about PAX paints you can go to StopMotionMagazine.com and download their October 2009 issue for free. For more information about where to get Pros-Aide you can go to: Pros-Aide.com 

-Alfonso