Today

Well, Just wanted to talk about what I've been up to today as it is kind of relevant. I went into the Wolverhampton art gallery to partaker in some animation workshops. I will Post the name and details of the animator running the events, Ive met her twice now but still cant remember her name (how bad am I?) Today I worked on making an armature using wire twisted together to create the basic shape, this was then held together by a basic polymer clay that had been set. These were to create rigid forms for the head, arms and legs. I might try and snap a picture of one tomorrow. Once the Polymer has set It is wrapped in an adhesive first aid bandage, this prevents it from cracking (to badly) under the various stresses you will place the puppet under. From this point I wrapped the whole moddle in a base layer of Tin foil, the point being to build up around this with foil to create the shape of the character, on top of this will be a layer of plasticine which will make up the bulk of the character. It is important to do it this way (apparently) to prevent to much warping in the general shape of the character, also as the weight of the character may be to much if made entirely from plasticine, also I believe the weirs would work their way to the surface If placed directly into a plasticine body.

Now I will be going back tomorrow to continue building up the tin foil layer of my moddle, I will find out a bit more about the animator lady who is running the workshops.

I also just finished listening to a collection of audio tracks taken from stand up comedy and other funny(ish) sources. These are intended to be used to make an animation to be entered into the Flip Festival animation festival, I might give it a shot although I only have 15 days left to enter. Not sure If I can make it or If I will be able to find any real inspiration in the tracks.

Oh, just encase I forget, here are the names of two interesting animation/ graphic design firms I need to look into, Mainframe, Tomato, Atic, Framestore.