Assistant Animator Module: My Work in Situ

I took a few photos of my props on the sets after they had been dressed:

Also one of my props - the broom - from another animation is being used as it fits very well and i no longer had use for it.

Assistant Animator Module: Ripping

I decided to volunteer to another third year animator who was looking for help with some preparation for his final major project, Dave O'Neill. He gave me numbered frames of his character moving and asked me to rip out each frame around the character.

I have done several sets of these, that will be animated at a later date. And have a few more to do, including possibly making doubles of each in case any are lost or damaged while animating, which will mostly be done outside. 

Assistant Animator Module: Making Shelves

Nicola had measured up and cut some foam-board for shelves. I took over and painted them and cut some foam-board for brackets, which I painted up too. When they were dry I glued on the brackets and Nicola attached them to the set.

Assistant Animator Module: Colouring Trees

Nicola and Lily had made some trees for one of their sets out of wire and brushed string, then myself and Lily set to work colouring them. We mixed water and PVA glue in a large tub and dipped the trees in it so it was all covered. Then we sprinkled this green textured power over them until they were covered.

The end result was really effective.

Assistant Animator Module: Basket Weaving

On the list of things Nicola and Lily asked us to do were wicker baskets, I volunteered to make these, I wanted to have a go and see what I could make and have had a little experience weaving before. I started off with the base, which I made from super sculpy and poked holes around the edges that would hold the upright wire:

I then used super glue to stick in all the pieces of wire, which I had measured to all roughly the same length:

Then the weaving; using raffia I weaved in and out of the wire and slowly built it up, until I got about half way up the wire, this proved difficult on the shorter one (in the end i just went to whole way up and didnt do the next bit), then I bent the top of the wire inwards and to the side, hooking each one under the one before it, in this way each piece of wire is held down by another.

I wanted to give this method another go but with thinner wire to see if it would work better and see if it would finishing the top easier.

In fact it made the weaving process a bit harder as the wire bent and moved out of place very easily so it was hard to get the raffia tight but finishing was a little easier.

Jabberwocky: Sewing the Costumes

I started off by sewing all the hems (I did the young soldiers costume first, all by hand, and then did the old soldier and the small scale soldier on a sewing machine) 

Then I roughly tacked together the seems:

And then sewing them together properly, and pulled out out the tacking. 

Then pulled the clothes over the puppet:

Used fabric glue to stick the jacket together:

Rob made buttons out of sculpy and painted them, then i used super glue to attach them:

Rob also made the belt and bags:

Jabberwocky: Pattern Making

For the group Jabberwocky animation I volunteered to make the costumes, for both the full size soldiers and the smaller scale soldier. I started by making some very basic patterns out of tissue, measuring them roughly against the puppets. I then tacked them round the puppet and marked any adjustments on them:

I then drew round the patterns on some fresh issue and made any adjustments:

Myself and a few others went to a fabric shop to get material for the uniforms and bags. I then cut out the patterns and pinned them to the fabric, I then cut these out allowing a little extra material for seems.

Assistant Animator Module: Making Pots

For my assistant animator module I am working with two third years; Nicola Everill and Lily Goodchild on their final major project, for the most part I will be helping with prop making. The first thing myself and a few other assistants were asked to do was to make pots, pans and other kitchen utensils. We sculpted them out of super sculpy, baked them and gave them a base coat of white.

The pots and pans were then painted with browns and oranges, mostly by other assistants. I held onto the bits I sculpted and painted them myself. 

I for the pans I wanted to get a coppery look to them so I mixed a little gold paint with a little orange to get a coppery colour. 

Jabberwocky: Foam Rubber

After all the armatures were finished, it was time to cast them in foam rubber, this is where Kane took over, the plaster molds are coated with a releasing agent and the carefully measured and mixed foam rubber is spread into both halves of the molds and the armature put into place before fitting the molds together and applying pressure to squeeze out any excess. the baked in a oven for a few hours. The puppets come out looking like this: 

Then they came back to me to be cut out.

Mothers Day Present

Couldn't think of a decent present for mothers day, and since my mother is recently retired, I thought about what she wanted to do more of with her freedom, two that stuck out to me were travelling to see old friends and art. So my idea was to allow her to carry something with her, that would fit in her bag and that she cant draw where ever she goes. So I bought a small sketch book and drew up some designs and ideas, sketched one onto the cover of the book, and painted it up with acrylic. Then cut out a label, dipped it in coffee and penned my message.

Jabberwocky: making hands

Jabberwocky: Making the molds

Myself and Kane started making the molds by lying all three sculpts down on boards and building clay half way up the sculpt making sure there are no undercuts, the we tied/clamped them together around the clay, then sealed any gaps with more clay and poured over the plaster. When the plaster had set we pulled the boards away and were left with this:

Next all the clay was peeled off leaving the sculpt in the plaster, bored holes into the plaster (this makes sure that the molds fit together perfectly).

Next three layer of soft soap over all the plaster and the sculpt, dabbing it off with water between each layer, this stops the plaster sticking together and allowed you to separate the two halves of the molds. 

Next more boards and more clay.

And more plaster:

Then the mold can be pulled apart and the sculpt removed. Then into a drying room over night and its ready to be used.