mercredi 21 novembre 2012

Two Helen


Chicago.
Public transportations are the best way to know a lot about unknown people's life.
They always tell you their name the second before they leave you forever.
They tell you so much personal things, but it doesn't matter because you'll never see them again.
Names are optional.

 



Then, museums museums museums.





 





dimanche 11 novembre 2012

Making of the Corbeau


So, during my five months at CalArts, I took Stephen Chiodo's class, "Stop-motion puppet design".
Basically, he gives to his students all the rules, methods, (magic) tricks, awesome advices and all the assistance and the help required to make a puppet from the beginning to the end like a pro.
One of the most amazing class I ever had.

I decided, after reading again Le Corbeau by E. A. Poe, to make a raven, really nervous, almost hysterical (... Like every birds after all). Yes, ravens have black beaks and black legs, so now he looks more like a blackbird...




The armature.
The thickness and the strength of the wire depends on the weight and the mouvements the body parts will have to support. The head is made with magic sculpt.





The beak has been pretty hard to make. I tried wood, different kind of plasticine... The answer was simply magic sculpt. For the articulation: a strong wire glued in a little hole in the head and in the beak.





When the armature is completely done, we use an old piece of foam as a kind of sponge to recover with balloon rubber the foam that will define the real shape of the puppet. Thanks to the balloon rubber, the foam sticks to itself, takes every forms you want, and stays really flexible.





To give the foam this black color, I mixed a little bit of balloon rubber and black acrylic, then I only put a thin layer of it. The feet and the legs are covered with a wool yarn glued with a lot of patience...