Paper Mouths & Fancy Pants

All right, the first meal on the stopmo menu is - paper mouths, (more importantly, how to paper mouths) Robot Chicken, South Park, and Titan Maximum all use replacement animation to animate mouths, so,
its very simple to make paper mouths for a stopmo puppet, this is what you need to start: paper, X-acto knife, paint, paintbrush, and sticky tack (or tape); it really depends on the size of your puppet, so take advantage of it and use your puppet to determine the size of your cut-out (make about 50-100 different mouths so the animation looks smooth). Draw out your mouths before cutting (this will limit mistakes and make the whole process SO much easier) next, cut the mouths out and paint the lips, teeth, facial markings, etc. Last put sticky tack on the mouths so they stick easier to your puppet.

Time for dessert, Fancy Pants Productions is a brick filming (Lego stopmo) channel on YouTube, the channel its self has some awesome videos, but there are also some very helpful tutorials also, so go enjoy that!

Comments

Vincent & Puppet Scales

Tim Burton's Vincent is a masterpiece; the short was animated by the brilliant Stephen Chiodo . I do love that the short was shot in black and white film, ask any true film-lover and

Read full article »

Phil Tippett Launches "Mad God (Part 2)" Kickstarter

In 2012, Phil Tippett ( Empire Strikes Back , Indiana Jones , and is ILM veteran), along side of a small group of dedicated volunteers Kickstartered, storyboarded, shot, and edited, his passion project Mad God . Now, comes the 2 part in this four part epic. In the Kickstarter video for Mad God Part 2 , Phil announces that there will be four parts in this epic. I find it very funny the way he puts this though, "I got four parts. Four parts, and I know what I'm doing! I'm not making it up as I go along, (laughs), honestly! His goal for the sequel is to raise $60,000. Though there is a number of stretch goals he has incorporated, for instance, if Mad God Part 2 raise $70,000, all backers receive a 'family photo' of Phil and his crew. Today is day 29 of the total 30 day campaign, and they have raised $1,500 so far. I recommend supporting this project. If you haven't yet watched the first part of Mad God , you can do so by going to their website (link b

Read full article »

A Trip to the Moon!!

Today, on Stopmotion geek we are going old school, and I really mean old school. Why this is so old is that were discovering, well, your discovering, I'm giving you info that I already know, so, you know, not really discovering... so what, I can rediscover, mmmhun! Georges Melies, was the first-ever Stop Motion animator, in fact, he invented Stop Motion; therefore, we'll

Read full article »

Interview with Matt Bollinger, Painter and Animator Behind Stop Motion/Painting Hybrid Short Film "Between the Days," a Beautiful Portrait of Routine, Unfulfillment, and Despair in Middle America

"Before Work" finished painting featured in Between the Days . Photo courtesy of Matt Bollinger. Often – far too often – we forget the true weight of our actions, our everyday decisions, ranging from those big to small. And, in forgetting, we forget ourselves – who we truly are, where we have been, what we have done, how we have gotten here, to this very place in this very moment. For we are nothing if not the sum total of all our decisions, our actions…even the most minute, even those – perhaps especially those – made in the thrumming humdrum of the everyday: the act of rising from our bed and reaching over to flick off the alarm resting on our bedside table, lighting a cigarette, collecting yesterday’s trash before moving on to more, equally menial tasks. Moments spent alone, in ostensible comfort – the comfort provided us by 21st century accoutrements so many of us have grown to take for granted. Whether we are aware of it or not, each of our actions leave a ma

Read full article »

Interview with Lucy J. Hayes, Producer of Stop Motion Love Story, "Lost & Found"

Knitsune in Lost & Found . Photo courtesy of Andrew Goldsmith. Ever since her childhood, Lucy J. Hayes – the producer of Lost & Found , an extraordinarily beautiful short film that make for a profound mediation on the impermanence and imperfection of life and beauty – she’s wanted to play some part in the creative industry, in some way, shape, or form. For Hayes, that dream went unquestioned. However, the challenge turned out to be figuring out quite where she belonged in the creative industry. “I dabbled in acting and directing, however, I was terrible!” Hayes tells Stop Motion Geek. It wasn’t until she began to put on plays with her friends in her adolescence and early adulthood that the answer to her search dawned upon her: All that Hayes found came innately to her – everything from her ardor for creative work to her love for working with creatives to bring an idea, the kernel of a story, to fruition – she found in the title of “producer.” Knotjira (left) and

Read full article »

Frankenweenie armatures

These are armatures and puppets from the Tim Burton film "Frankenweenie."

Read full article »

Short Flicks: Bent Image Lab's "Fruity Pebbles"

What could be better than starting your day off with part of a whole breakfast, Fred Flintstone, and Stop Motion? We couldn't think of anything either. Nevertheless, these awesome commercials/BTS will bring out the kid, and nerd, in all of us. Directed by Rob Shaw for the incredible Bent Image Lab (a studio that just moved to Manhattan , by the way), these TV spots encapsulates everything we know and love about the modern stone-age Flintstone family who establish how we now think of Prehistoric times. Fire House : http://vimeo.com/45991027 Cocoa Pebbles "Fire Hose" from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo . Cop Rock : http://vimeo.com/42010097 Cocoa Pebbles "Cop Rock" from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo .

Read full article »

Making The Holochess Scene From "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Nearly two years ago, Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters. Star Wars: The Last Jedi , the sequel to Awakens , is set to hit theaters this December. Beyond being revered for its use of homage and devotion to staying true to the tone of the original trilogy, Awakens was celebrated in the special effects community for its use of many state-of-the-art digital effects, innovations only recently pioneered, all of which were practically alien to the practical effects methods employed in the original Star Wars trilogy. However, Awakens did not yet completely forsake what many would today consider its humble beginnings in special effects, including the original film’s use of stop motion. One such homages in The Force Awakens to the original film can be seen for a brief moment when the character of Finn accidentally turns on a holographic chess board in the Millennium Falcon – an effect entirely created with stop motion. Chances are that you remember the scene from the original fi

Read full article »

MAD - Spy vs. Spy

We all love the brilliant original comic strip Spy vs. Spy, that's has been around, who knows how long, is in stopmo!

Read full article »

Interview with Samuel Lewis - Animator, Character Designer, and Sculptor on Stop Motion Short Film, "Lost & Found"

Knotjira, a clumsy dinosaur made of wool, as seen in Lost & Found . Photo courtesy of Andrew Goldsmith. “If I had to pick a starting point for my career as a stop motion animator I would have to say it was my obsession as a six year old with a book called ‘Playing with Plasticine’ by Barbara Reid,” Samuel Lewis – a London-based stop motion and 2D animator and director, whose most recent labor of love can be seen in his contribution to the Australian stop motion short film, Lost & Found – tells Stop Motion Geek. Upon reflection, Lewis explains that his love for the medium of stop motion began very early in life, and has merely managed to burn ever brighter in his fervor to master the craft. “I would spend countless hours fixated on sculpting tiny snails, fruit bowls and dinosaurs to the point where I would stay inside on family holidays sculpting a surfer in a beach scene rather than going to the actual beach that was only a short walk away,” Lewis recalls wistfully. “

Read full article »

Stop Motion Geek

Search This Blog