First animation test

After doodling a whole bunch of concepts for the 'look' of my models, I've come up with this one that I really like.



I then did some test animation on him. I haven't got the right sized beads for the eyes yet, so I put clay ones in for now - hence why they don't move yet.

Set design - the french cafe, part 1

Hoping that I get a flexible genre, I have started building the sets for my stop motion film. (See previous post)

This is how I have gone about building the French Cafe.

I manipulated a cardboard box into the shape of a typical Parisian building. Taping cardboard eaves on with masking tape (So tape can later be painted)


Next I cut out detail for the roof


Using thin card and fat straws I made a chimney unit






I then taped this onto the top of the building


Along with the roof detail...


Next, using a kebab skewer and a normal straw, I fashioned a power line/tv ariel





Then it was time to paint. I did a base coat...


...then added a darker colour, in splotches, to add depth.


Then painted the roof darker again.


When dry, I made a template to cut the windows out with




Again using skewers, cutting them to the right size, I then poked them into the corrugations in the card to create the window panes.


Then I painted them white


I will add windows in later...


I am also working on some little wire grates too.



Next I cut heaps of lengths of popsicle stick, and painted them white


I will use these as the window frames


Like so. (I will hot glue them on...)


I then painted the 'dirty' look onto my building, to age it and make it more realistic.


It is getting there eh!
Look out for part 2 of the French Cafe set, along with many other sets, coming soon.

48hrs - Introduction

Because it is free for CHCH people to enter the 48hours film competition this year, I have joined! YAY. It is on the weekend of May 20-22.
My team name is Wensleydale, which is a reference to the Wallace and Gromit films.



Wallace and Gromit were the first clay-animation films I watched as a kid. I also loved watching the silliness that was Pingu. I was hooked on clay-animation/stop frame animation films ever since!

A good five or so years ago I bought a beautiful hard-cover book from Borders called 'Cracking Animation' It was a book full of everything one needs to know about stop animation and miniatures, written by the guys at Aardman - creators of Wallace and Gromit, Chicken run and much more!

This book tempted me into making my own animation (the one which I posted earlier). I have often toyed with the idea of doing something more advanced, so I created clay models, but I never had the motivation to do anything with them.
But I have decided, this years 48hrs is the perfect chance to motivate myself into doing it!

Side note, if you wish to help me at all at any stage through this, whether it be by making a cardboard building (style specific), props, models or even with animating on the actual weekend- please let me know!!! I'm happy to take most people haha! Also even if you have little dolls furniture or Silvanian Families stuff, I would LOVE to borrow it! (YES I WILL PUT YOUR NAME IN THE CREDITS!)

So the rules of the game are: No animating/writing/shooting/music writing or anything BEFORE the weekend. BUT I am aloud to pre-make models, sets and props etc (just as a film team could get actors/scout for locations.)

So even if you can't help, you can follow my posts on here and I shall update you with my progress!

LIGHTS.CAMERA.ACTION.

Some cute felt toys

So, I have been told I'm not blogging enough... I know, I'm not a good blogger, I'm always doing lots of fun things but hardly ever blog them. Naughty Kim...

So here are some cute felt toys I've been making... they are all hand stitched, each took over a day to make - sewing most of the day!

Foxy!


Blue cup of black tea!




Rabbit and carrot!


'ouch' says the carrot



I will put them for sale on my etsy or felt store soon! Woo. Also, I would like to sell the patterns for real cheap too...

Natural-sugar shake

For Lent I decided I would do no refined sugar for 40days and stop eating ice cream / drinking juice etc!
So this morning I made a happy alternative.

I used
1x banana
1/2 cup of frozen raspberries
1x teaspoon of honey
1 & 1/2 cups of light blue milk (let's face it, the green stuff is water)

I blended it all and volia! Breakfast!



Now I shall try make some natural sugar based baking to post later.

Marble cakes

Marble cupcakes that I made for CRAFTNOON-TEA (which only 2&1/2 people turned up to, awesome people nonetheless!)
Everybody else MISSED OUT





Amelia's CAKEFACE

Purple Cake Day

On the 1st of March it was Purple Cake Day. I had never heard about this until I was in Nelson for a wedding a couple of weeks back and saw posters and displays advertising it everywhere! It is pretty much a day about celebrating children and rising funds for children in need around the world. This year they focused on the children of Haiti and also Christchurch post quake. Read more about it here.

I decided to make a cake I've alway wanted to make: Red Velvet Cake. But with a twist, a purple twist.

Recipe-
CAKE:
2&1/2C Flour
1/2C Cocoa
1t Baking Powder
1t Baking Soda

225gr Butter - room temp/softened
2C Castor Sugar
5 Large Eggs

1C Buttermilk (If you don't have this, use one T of Lemon Juice or White Vinger and fill the milk up to 1C. Leave for 5mins to curdle)
1t Vanilla
Red & Blue food colouring

ICING:
100g Butter
4C Icing Sugar
1/4C Milk
1T Vanilla

Sift dry ingredients together 2/3 times.


Cream butter for 2 mins. Then add the sugar in 3 separate lots. Creaming for 2 mins after each.


Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1min after each.

Add 1/4 of the dry ingr to the butter mixture, mixing well. Then add 1/4 of the buttermilk and mix well. Repeat this process.


Now add vanilla and as much colour as needed to make mixture turn purple. (If doing red velvet, leave out the blue!)
Mix well.



Pour into cases


and cook for 20 minutes on 180c


Cool them for 10mins+ before icing.


Make the butter cream icing by creaming butter for 2mins and then slowly adding other ingr, mixing well.


Now I will show you a simple icing-bag-free way to ice the cupcakes. (My icing bags are still in my flat in the cordon)


Put a large dollop of icing in the middle of the cake


Flatten it down to the edge of the cake with a knife


Next, starting from the outside of the cake, slowly, with the tip of the knife, push the icing back towards the middle as you spin the cake. (I find it easier to spin the cake if it's sitting on the bench). Spiral in towards the middle.


It may take a few tries practice, but you should get it in the end!

Then decorate the cupcake straightaway, before the icing starts to dry.


I decorated with pearl dust and purple nerds!


With a little luck, the cake should be purple-ish on the inside...


And there you have it!

I hope you enjoy and I hope you are all safe after the earthquake. Take care, and look out for more posts up soon. I've been making something new everyday during the post-quake blues, since I can't go to my flat or Uni!

x