For a while now I have been promising an update on my animation puppet building, so here it is. It is photo heavy. I apologize, but that is the best way to show you what is going on.

I have been experimenting with how to build puppets so I can improve my animations. As fun and cute they are as is, I am limited on what I can do by the materials I am using. Previously I talked about my first puppet. I wasn't happy with the hands, so I also rebuilt the hands with a different technique.

I was not really happy with the eyes, nor was I happy with the way the hair turned out. I used the same body, and rebuilt the head to do some experimenting. I found some googly eye tacks at the local Hiron's drug store. Here is how the new head looked with the googly eyes:

Looks kind of silly, but a bit cute. Didn't turn out too badly. Next problem to solve was hair. I had a heck of a time figuring that out. Here is the hilarious first try:

That did not work for me. Also had issues getting more than just the top of the head covered. So I headed to the local Joann Fabrics to find fuzzy fabric. I found a couple of types. My first attempt was aweful. I couldn't get it to sit right, so I decided to cut a piece for the crown, then strips to fill the rest out. Here is just the corwn and the rest of it:

That worked much, much better. Interesting swirling going on because of the way the fur was attached to the base.

Next project was to build up the chest and cloth him. I built the chest up with cushion foam. Then I cut and sewed felt for a shirt. It was harder than I thought, though I shouldn't have been surprised, given how much I suck at sewing. I then cut the bottom off the legs of a pair of jeans and sewed them into tubes for pants. Pics:

Just getting the clothes on made the whole thing fall apart, so next I gotta figure out how to keep that from happening. I love this guy. I think it is going to work fine.

Next project I need to work on is the video for the steampunk film festival. I think that if I can get a good enough animation I may be able to also submit it to the Northwest Film Festival.

It has been such a busy week. I have been working on animating. I plan on sharinf pictures and thoughts on the process, but right now I am SO tired and need desperately to nap. I will post when I have more energy.

I will, however, take the time to share with you my new video. It is not great, but it isn't bad. I ran out of time to do proper audio dialog and sound mixing, so I went with the silent movie approach.

Also reworked my second animation ever. It is pretty bad. There was a lot more to it, but I cut it down for your sanity and mine. It was part of a series of animations I did about the Tardis taking time to have adventures without the Doctor. The sound is a little off, but I will fix it later.

So there ya go. Will talk about animating next post.

Well, we shall see if it keeps the title this time.

I have been working on hard on my new puppets. I have a ton of pictures to post, but art the moment I am on a train on my way home from Orycon, using my hot spot wifi and my iPad to post really quickly. Not conducive to posting pictures.

Orycon was a blast! I was on several panels about filmmaking and music. I did a concert with the Eugenics, which was great aside from the asthma attack I had on the midle o one of m solo songs. I met lots of create, wonderful people. I got to filk again, and was starting to shed my shyness by the last open filk. I was on a panel witha guy who organized the 50th anniversary Doctor Who mini con they are doing in Portland on Nov. 23rd. I was invited to go sing some Doctor filk there. That is exciting. I met some people from Eugene who want to get into filmmaking. A lot fo people I met gave me festivals and showcases geared toward animation. I have decided I need to get more serious about my stop mo. I need to find another source of income so I can fund my expensive stop mo habit. I need to find myself workshop space. I need to find myself people to help me out. I tried that once for the web series, but without money or a place to build we quickly came to a standstill. If I am going to get this going, I NEED to get space to build. Space others can also work in. Space they can work in when I am not there. Once I get that it will be easier to organize help.

So...

My goals are:

1. Clean up my TARDIS video to submit for the Doctor Who mini con.

2. Create a 3-10 minute stop mo to submit to the Northwest Animation Film Festival. Deadline for submssion is Dec. 31st.

3. Create a 3-10 minute short for the Steampunk Film Festival in February. I have no idea when the submission deadline is for this. It takes place Valentine's weekend.

4. 3-10 minute short to submit to the Fandance film festival at Norwescon. I think dedline is march 1st.

5. 3-10 minute live action short to submit to hellbender media as comensation for the intern program I did with them at Norwescon last year.

6. The Webseries....no deadline, though if I can get at least 1 episode done I may be able to submit it somewhere.

I need to figure out how I am going to get all this done. My first move should be finding a whorkshop. Next move should be contacting people who were interested in the past and gathering a group together to get these done.

Ok...I am on the train and it really is starting to give me a headache to read. I am on the upper level, which is way shakier than a lower deck seat.

If you are reading this and feel like you can help out, either with finding whorkshop space or people or resources, PLEASE contact me. :)