Paper Puppets 2

In my last post, I explained how to make the parts for a paper stop motion animation model. Now I'll show how to paint them. I also use colored pencils sometimes, for the details.

Last time, we got to the point of tracing out each moving part and numbering them. Trace one more copy of your original, onto more substantial paper. This will be your color scheme. If you haven't picked out your colors yet, this is your chance to make multiple copies and experiment. James Gurney, the author and illustrator of Dinotopia, has a lot of good advice about color schemes in his book Color and Light. A good rule of thumb is to stick to 3 or 4 colors per character, with one of those colors in contrast to the others.

Small to medium brushes are nice for this, and they should be fairly soft, but not really floppy like the brown or sable watercolor brushes. I like synthetic brushes because they last longer too. It's really important not to make your watercolors too wet. I usually use one or two brushfuls of water to wet my main paint color, and make a little puddle in the lid of my watercolor set. (My favorite brands are Prang and Guitar. Crayola is actually very good too. Avoid Roseart at all costs - they are pale and wimpy.) Don't use the straight paint color unless you want a really bright color, although that might be good for a superhero. I usually make Westerns and/or ghost stories, so I like muted colors. I always mix my paint in the lid, and I leave the mixed colors in there so I can rewet and mix them later. That way I don't have to use black to darken my colors, which I find muddies them. Browns and purples are better if you need to darken a color. There is also a watercolor called Paynes Gray that comes in squeezy tubes, and it's a very lovely alternative to black. That's the only expensive watercolor I buy. *

Here are my brushes and one of my messy paint lids, with some wet brown paint:

You can see how I mixed the old dried dark brown and dark blue paint into the new brown paint to get a more interesting color.

Do a light, flat layer of paint on your copied drawing. Keep a scrap piece of cardstock handy to test your colors on before putting them on your actual picture.

Once that's dry, add darker shades around the edges to give the figure some depth. Also, you can bring out details and textures. I blended the shading in more on his pants, since they are a rough wool, and I used a hard edge on his leather jacket and boots, since leather has some shine to it. To blend the shading, put a very small amount of plain water on the picture first, then carefully add your darker color. Use a thin line, since it will spread into the damp area, and you can always add more later. For the harder edge, simply paint a darker color over the dried paint. For the darker colors you can also just use less water for a thicker paint. The areas farthest to the back of the character will be the darkest (the wrapped around scarf, the underarms and flares on the jodhpurs)

Once you have decided on your color scheme, use the same colors on the individual parts. Since they're going to be cut out, you don't have to stay in the lines!

Next: Cutting and gluing!

*Besides my squeezy tube of Paynes Gray, I have discovered that Prang's powdered tempera paints are absolutely gorgeous. They have a velvety texture and muted colors that I really like, but they are very hard to find. They are what I used on all the characters and backgrounds in Ghost Train.

Paper Puppets for Animation!

I put these on my steampunk blog too, but they're not necessarily steampunk, and I haven't posted on this blog in almost a year. I get all kinds of ideas, but they seldom make it out of my brain.

Anyhoo, here:

Now that I'm all done making things for and vending at Wild Wild West Con II, I'm going to put a couple of art tutorials on here. For starters, here are my two actually good animations.

First, the models. I like to make mine out of paper. It is much easier to work with than clay, especially under hot lights, and it is much much cheaper than proper machined armatures with rubber skins. You can make them look exactly how you want. I also like how it looks like moving illustrations in a way that other models don't. That fits my style a lot better, since my background is in drawing.

Actually no! First, the storyboards. You don't want to start anything else without a storyboard, or you will do lots of extra work. So do your storyboards. They don't have to be fancy. The main disadvantage of paper characters is that you have to make one model for each angel you see them from, sometimes up to 8 just for the full body. If you make extra models for closeups, it gets even more out of hand. There are several spots in Ghost Train where I made large models for just one shot. This madness can be kept to a minimum with the clever use of storyboards. If you never see the back of a character, for example, don't make the back view model.

Anyway, once you have planned your story out, select the character and angle that appears most. Draw the character in a neutral pose, using the simplest design you can. Then trace or copy it. Never ever ever mark, color, or cut your original drawing. On the copy, break the design down into simple shapes, and draw a dotted line where there they will overlap. Like this:

The numbers will be important for gluing all the parts in the right spot when they are cut out. Then trace each part onto heavy paper, like Bristol or watercolor paper. If your models are small, like under 4 inches, normal cardstock or even index cards will do, but they are too floppy for bigger models. It is hard to trace on thick paper - you need a light behind it. They make light tables specifically for this purpose, and you can get them at most art supply stores, or you can just use the flashlight app on an iPad, or an actual flashlight under the glass from a picture frame.

Make sure you get enough overlap on your parts, and number them as you go. You'll end up with a little exploded version of your character, like a kit, waiting to be painted and assembled.

Next: how to color it and put it together.

p.s. It's a good idea to number each piece on the back as well.

  

Energy drinks, science, daring do, and boobies.

I went to an airshow this weekend at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson AZ. It was amazing! Saturday was ridiculously windy and freezing cold, so they had to cancel a few of the demonstrations, like wing walking and hang gliding. Yes, I said wing walking! Sunday's weather was perfect, so she could perform:



Unfortunately my camera battery died and I had to take this picture on my phone. If I could have zoomed in I would have gotten some shots of her in the air. Still, the Thunderbirds' F-16s behind the biplane look nice.

The other amazing thing was the Red Bull Aerobatic Team. Their pilot, Kirby Chambliss, is a madman, doing things in a plane that don't even seem possible. They also have an aerobatic helicopter. That's right. Aerobatic. Helicopter.



It's not the only helicopter that can do a barrel roll though. We were walking around the ground displays on Saturday in the rain, and there was an Apache.



Me: Ooh look an Apache. That can do a barrel roll.
Laurel (my aunt): Yeah right.
Approaches an airman.
Laurel: She tells me this can do a barrel roll.
Airman: It can.
Me: (smack) I told you!
Airman: (laughs)

I don't think an Apache can do all those tricks as close together as the Red Bull Helicopter, and maybe it can't do what on a plane would be an aileron roll, which is different from a barrel roll... Then again, the Apache was built to kill things, and the Red Bull Helicopter was built to do tricks.

Red Bull invests a lot of money in these machines and pilots, seeking out the best people to keep improving their show, and the state of the art of the aerobatic craft. They also promote science and math education. It's pretty awesome.

Rockstar, on the other hand, pays girls to take their shirts off. I remember when I was in film school, I drank a lot of energy drinks. One day on campus there was a big foamy hose sprayer thing soaking down girls on a Rockstar stage. It was pretty stupid. I stopped drinking Rockstar drinks. Monster coffee is better anyway. Red Bull is OK tasting.

Consider if Rockstar put money into something awesome too. The epic rivalry between these energy drink companies could fuel a revolution in American science education. But, no. Boobs.

Thoughts on Art.

I'm reposting a comment I left on my brother's blog about the types of stories literary critics like, versus good stories, and why there is that difference. I will probably write more on this, especially since I'm trying to stop being lazy and actually make some art this year. (New Year's resolution? Not going so well) But here's what I thought of. It relates to my thoughts on the Eisenhower Memorial too.... He asked why a bunch of spiritual bulemics are running our art world:

It's because they think the purpose of art is to challenge. I used to think they had it wrong, but since my is still blown from watching the last three DVDs of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood in one go, I'm actually ready to concede that point. But challenge what?

Critics steeped in critical theory who (surprise surprise) find themselves and their lives lacking something, think art ought to raise its fist and scream a challenge to God for making things so crappy. Or they would, if they weren't also wussy. And Marxists. So instead they raise their middle fingers and sneer an insult at the past, or the public, or anything that someone else might earnestly enjoy, for being, well, better than them. They tell us that stories about pathetic people being pathetic are realistic, because it's all they know, and they've settled for it.

But the purpose of art is to challenge. Us. To be heroic, not to give in when the odds are against us, to depend on our friends, to find and hold something or someone that makes us able to face down whatever life throws our way, to pick ourselves up when we fail. And not sneer at normal life and people, because that is what we are protecting, and what we will return to or start again when the story is over, until the next adventure.

We should accept art's challenge, not use it as an excuse to settle, and eventually decay and collapse, because the challenge is too much.

Lavos Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving! And spoiler alert. Highlight to read the whole thing.

So my sister and I decided to make an apple pie, for Thanksgiving. Our recipe called for 4 pounds of apples, which seemed excessive, but I figured they would cook down. We had some adventures with the crust, which was the refrigerated rolled-up kind. I forgot to take it out to soften until I was already cutting up the apples, so I placed it on top of the pre-heating oven. Let's just say it was softened a tad too enthusiastically.....

I fixed it. Pizza style.

And we went about assembling and decorating our pie. I have some hedgehog shaped cookie cutters from Ikea, and we thought it would be cute to put hedgehogs on the pie. Unfortunately, the mound of apples was huge (the recipe said to pile them high in the middle, but it didn't specify how high) and the overly soft top crust stretched out quite a bit. I placed the cut out hedgehogs inside the hedgehog-shaped holes, but it ended up looking like Lavoses instead of hedgehogs.



After much hilarity, we decided that Lavos pie was awesome, and I even drew some fanart of it while it baked. It did cook down, but retained its Lavos-like appearance. We summoned Lavos just eat him. And by summoned, I mean baked. We used a scythe to cut up the apples.



Here is a picture of Magus eating Lavos pie. He is very thankful for it. And for cats.

Nihilistic Hedonism

These are the little bijous that got me thinking about hipsters versus flappers. I found these adorable buttons at Joann's, and this awesome ribbon at Michael's, and made these barrettes.

Hipsters versus Flappers!

Would be the best fight ever. Flappers would win hands down, because you have to be danged athletic to dance the Charleston till the wee hours. These guys will kick you. But that's not what this post is about.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do nihilistic hedonism (OK maybe there is a wrong way and a slightly less wrong way?). Hipsters are slugs with no style and delusions about their "philosophy" whereas flappers had no pretensions, and tons of style, which is pretty much the only way to get away with hedonistic nihilism. Or nihilistic hedonism. Huh. I wonder which subculture typifies which....

Anyway, I'm only bringing up flappers because I think they were the bee's knees, as was just about everything in the 1920s. Especially the slang.

Mostly I want to talk about hipsters. I have been pondering them lately, since I see them around a lot where I live. I have come to the conclusion that they are basically nihilists, and actually quite aggressive ones. How can people who spend so much time preening (they look that way on purpose, believe it or not) and having wanton sex (the "straightedge" ones bug me - their little vows of abstinence never seem to cover sexual abstinence, but their taboos somehow make up for it?) be nihilists? A-hah! They have calculated their appearance to show others just how much pain there is in living (or HMPTIIL, for short). If only they had that much style! See, I think emo kids evolve into hipsters when they reach level 20. Initially their nihilism is turned inward, but once they evolve, they can learn a TM called "blight soul", which they accomplish by displaying skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirts, and giant glasses. This is a stripe of "diabolism of fashion", also seen in the Red Hat Society, where people deliberately pick out clothing that looks bad, to show how much they just don't give a damn.

At least they also take a few hits of HMPTIIL. See their choice of beer. The bathtub gin the flappers were swilling probably tasted better, and if hipsters went blind, they wouldn't have to look at each other.... Also if you're going to sport face furniture like that, you'd better get yourself a set of tweeds!

Next post, I'll be nice.