Mothers Days

(Minor Project Stage) by Nat Urwin

Contents
Project Origin .................................................... Page 03 Script ................................................................. Page 07 Influences .......................................................... Page 11 Puppet Research ................................................ Page 15 Reference Images .............................................. Page 27 Storyboard ......................................................... Page 29 Character Design ............................................... Page 31 Concept Art ....................................................... Page 46 Learning Dragonframe Software....................... Page 58 Chromakey Testing ........................................... Page 64 CG Buildings .................................................... Page 100 Sons Clay-work ............................................... Page 103 Mould Making .................................................. Page 119 Silicone Tests .................................................... Page 134 Hair Tests .......................................................... Page 148 Custom Tools for the Job .................................. Page 169 Eyelids .............................................................. Page 173 Project Expenses Sheet ..................................... Page 177

Project Origin

I went for a walk on the beach one day in the rain and saw an elderly couple wrapped up in warm clothes and blankets, sitting on camping chairs in the sand, with wind-breaks and umbrellas up pouring a cup of tea from a flask with great smiles on their faces enjoying themselves. THIS is BRITISH I thought to myself. So from there I wanted to make a comedic short, nice and British for my final project.

Under these umbrellas are the couple, unfortunately this is the only picture I managed to get of them.

The basic idea of this project is to make a short animated film using real hand crafted stop-motion puppets, a few set pieces, and props with the majority of sets and scenery being CG. Using green screen techniques. Example:

The story is about a man taking his mum out for her day out and each time. they visit the seaside, in whatever the weather, to the same place, they sit on the same bench, her favourite place. Not really his ideal place to visit unless its sunny which comes across subtly in his animation. We see them over autumn in the rain, winter in the snow and ice and spring in the wind, each time with something a little humorous between them, and the finale is in the summer. We see him sit alone, same place, same bench but this time people (sound effects) everywhere and he is so alone. When he gets up from the bench the audience is left with an In Memory plaque on the bench.

Script

Mothers Days

(NO LIP-SYNC REQUIRED)

Draft 10.

Autumn - Cloudy : Colour palette reds, browns Long shot of a car driving along the seaside - model car along the coast (CG). Car : Son driving, Mother in passenger seat. We see them from the front (as if the camera is attached to the bonnet) We see the mothers face just peering over the dashboard as she is short, she lights up a cigarette which starts to ll the car with smoke so he opens the window and his hair starts to unravel and blow around the car. The mother sticks her arm up and grabs the hair to keep it from blowing around, she continues to smoke whilst her arm is up in the air holding the hair and he continues to drive as if nothing is odd about this scenario. He pulls over (parks) and they sit there for a moment. Camera cuts to the sea / beach while sound effects give the impression they are struggling to get out of the car - son unfolding wheelchair etc They sit (his hair immaculately bad again) under one of the beachs sheltered benches (typical seaside bench - light blue, rusty metal), the mother happy and the son blank. After a moment has passed the son then gets up and walks off camera, he comes back with 2 ice-creams. As he stands giving one to his mother (before she takes it), she fumbles around with her sleeve and pulls out an old tissue, spits on it and wipes his cheek (think grandma when youre a kid), then she takes the ice-cream. His ice-cream is held out slightly to the side of him, out of his peripheral vision, a seagull which is sitting on the canopy to the bench poos on the ice-cream without him seeing. We continue to see him sit down next to his mother (in her wheelchair) he stares into the sea (off camera) for a moment, then without looking at the ice-cream goes to lick it. CUT.

Winter - Icy / Snowy : Colour palette blues, whites Shot of a shop sign with snow and icicles, its clearly winter and cold, baron. Sound effects of a car stopping and them struggling to get out again. The mother wrapped up in her winter clothes with a blanket on her legs, Tinsel around her head and ashing christmas lights on her somewhere, looking happy, and a cup of tea from a ask (steam). The son wrapped up and looking emotionless out at the sea. They are sat on the same light blue seaside bench. The mother suddenly gives signals to the son indicating she needs the bathroom. Next shot - Outside the public toilet cubicle with sound effects (he has to help her go to the bathroom) and the metal seat is cold. (Teeth chattering, running wee sounds) CUT back to her back at the bench and the son walks back into frame with some nice hot sh and chips. They sit there quietly enjoying their meal representing quiet peaceful moments of time together.

Spring - Still a bit chilly, windy : Colour palette Greens - spring colours Daffodils in some borders, with the car sound effects (Cut a bit shorter) They are both sitting on the bench, with her empty wheelchair to the side. They sit there looking at the scenery in front of them for a little while, his hair lifting in one piece a little with the breeze. Theres a carrier bag on the bench next to him, he pulls out a stick of rock, unwraps it and gives it to his mother. We cut to a shot of him sitting there, then his mother passes the stick of rock back to him, he goes to put it in his mouth then just before he does looks down and jumps once he sees his mothers dentures clamped around it. CUT

Summer - Sunny : Colour palette oranges, yellows Usual sound of the car pulling up, camera focused on a beach windmill stuck in the sand. CUT to the son sat on the bench, usual established shot. He sits on the bench thinking for a while, we see all the very subtle gestures of somebody thinking, lots of sound effects of people around him enjoying the beach and the weather while he sits there basking in the sun with his eyes closed, then he looks to his side and smiles. He gets up from the bench, the camera cuts to further away, revealing his mum isn't there with him. Then cut to the view of a shiny In Memory Plaque on the bench that was not there in the previous seasons. As he walks away from the bench, (to continue the slight humor and unluckiness of the guy OR to signify the jokes between him and his mum still continuing even after she has passed), there could be a string of gum stuck to his bum from the bench which stretches longer as he walks, then snaps.

END

Influences

Paranorman

Oh Willy

Mary & Max

Pirates : In an Adventure with Scientists

StoryCorps

Reasons for choosing which aspects to make CG or hand-made and why those particular methods.

The following picture is a great indication of why Ive decided to make the majority of sets CG.... As much as Id love to get stuck into building stuff like this, I dont think I have the time, the money and definitely not the space.

Puppet Research

Wire Armatures Pros Cons

Cheap Light Good for hosepipe style

animation Easy to make Fast to make

Breaks Easily - best for

characters that dont move too much

Ball & Socket Armatures Pros Cons

Strong More Pricey Long Lasting Heavier Good quality joint moves during Slightly harder to make from
animation

scratch More time consuming to make from scratch

Direct Painted Latex Puppets Pros Cons

Cheap Can be cut open and mended

back up if there is a problem with the armature

Can look saggy Looks cheaper

Foam Latex Puppets Pros Cons

Light Flexible

More equipment needed -

Electric food mixer, Oven (cant use your cooking oven as it will not be usable for food) Takes a lot of practice to get the foam mix technique right

Claymation Puppets Pros Cons

Looks great Cheap

Hugely time consuming Harder to animate

Silicon Puppets Pros Cons

Looks great - can achieve a

high amount of detail Flexible - Deadener can be added to make it more fleshlike Looks like skin and flesh

Takes patience to make sure

there are no faults or bubbles when casting the silicone. (Not really a con as that is the case for the other types too)

Aardman & Laika facial armature, both use rapid prototyping with a 3D printer for these films to replace all or some of the face

Facial armatures of the Zombies in Paranorman Tiny ball & Socket paddles for eyebrows and lip movement

This is a page from The Making of : The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Its a great example of some of the stages to create this monkey character. From sketchy expression drawings , then a tidy digital colour painting, a maquette followed by the armature process.

Whats What Hand-crafted CG

2 Characters :

- Ball & Socket Armatures - Silicone Bodies - Clothing Wheelchair Seagull 2 Ice-creams 2 Fish & Chip portions Bench & Plaque Stick of Rock Dentures Flask & Tea Carrier bag Car Seats for the car scene? Tinsel Small Christmas lights Plaque Chewing Gum

Long shot of the coast Small CG car for the long shot View of the sea and beach Icy Shop with swinging shop sign Daffodils scene Car Front & Simulated Smoke Toilet Block Windmill in sand

Reference Images

Storyboard

Character Design

I decided the son character should be a little podgy. Skinnier characters are much easier to make and animate as they are lighter, however, I felt this character would have a bit of weight behind him to suit the personality.

Concept Art

I was trying to find the right looking place for the characters to sit for all of these scenes.

I found this scene didnt have enough going on, plus I needed to have something in the background to use the CG elements with, which this scene does not provide.

This scene looks better, the buildings would be in CG, but it doesnt quite say seaside yet.

This is better, the dullness of Bingo and Family Fun is just what Im trying to create. The irony.

The next series of images show different visuals I tested out until I came to one I liked.

This is the best suited for my animation. The run-down seaside look, yet the mother loves it so much.

Learning DragonFrame

As Id chosen DragonFrame software to animate my puppet in, I decided Id learn how to use it by making a kind of DVD Extra. I made the puppet armature come to life and learnt the ins and outs of this piece of software. Now Im confident to get great results using it for my animation.

Chromakey Tests

Id never used the chromakey technique before so to get started, I first tried the method on a still image. This turned out fine, the image was clear and I colour corrected it accordingly. The next stage was to try the method with a moving set of frames.

Before

After

Page 07.

Test 02 with the chromakey method showed up some problems. Mainly lighting issues where there wasnt enough lights in the correct places to remove shadows. The video clips of these tests are on my blog.

Chromakey : Test 03 Process Breakdown

Overhead light source : Dichroic Light Cool light source : LED Multicolour Light

01.

Surrounding light source : Small Florescent Tubes

This is the setup I used for this test. A piece of left over MDF board from my window blackout boards as the ground surface, and some lights I was able to use. I was unsure if the florescent tubes would cause any flicker issues but I just had to try and find out.

Crease under one of the boards supporting the green screen, is a possible problem.

Shadows, not very life-like, but not casting onto the green screen which reduces issues there. 02.

The selected section of footage to work the after effects onto. This is how it looks straight from the camera.

Very grainy, a possible issue to remove in the chromakey process.

03.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte mode

Clip black mode is the part of the process where the blacks are adjusted to be more black. This section shows most of the graininess from the previous image has been removed, however, the crease is still an issue

04.

This grey graininess needs removing in the next step. Any grey sections will show up as slightly transparent areas.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte : Clip Black

05.

The grey graininess in the previous image has been removed, however, this process has revealed more of the crease which is a problem.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte : Clip White

Here is the image in normal keylight mode, it shows that if the background was black, the crease would not be an issue. However, in the next image it becomes clear what I mean by the crease being an issue. 06.

After Effects : Keylight

This black line is the crease. It will show up throughout the whole animation so further steps need to be taken for it to be removed.

07.

Added a background in the green screen section.

First I added some colour correction so the character and flooring looked a little more settled into the scene. There were many stages of adjusting the RGB, Red, Blue & Green Curves until I found a balance I was happy with.

08.

Colour Correction

These purple rectangles are the masks Ive added to the scene. I duplicated the background image, placed the duplicate on top of the green screen and masked off the areas where I want the duplicate to show which covers the crease fault. I left them transparent for the purposes of this image to show what they were surrounding.

09.

Masking out the Faults : Transparent

I turned the transparency to 100% to demonstrate that the creases are now seamlessly hidden.

10.

Masking out the Faults

These masks then need animating to move along with the character. The next image is an example of what it looks like if they are animated incorrectly.

11.

Animating the Masks

Here there is also a 3rd mask. This is to cover up any graininess that couldnt be removed during the Clip Black & White process.

12.

Here it shows what happens if the mask is animated incorrectly. It means areas that you dont want covered up, end up having pieces of them missing. Thats why attention to detail is so important, you want the faults removed but not the characters.

Faulty mask animation consequences

Here shows some blue-ish graininess which shows up as movement during the playback. The way to avoid this issue is to have better and even lighting of the green screen. 13.

Final Comp : Without Mask 03.

14.

Final Comp : With Mask 03

Chromakey : Test 04 Process Breakdown

Students : This is An Iron

Objects hanging on the wall blocking some of the light reflection

01.

Unfolding the crease

After Test 03, I decided to alter the green screen Set-up. I un-pegged the top section, unfolded the cloth from the crease and ironed it out.

White board for reflecting light Cool light source : LED Multicolour Light

Objects removed from the walls, made it so much brighter.

Low energy bulbs

Perfectly smooth Green-screen 02.

After the flicker issue from test 03, I decided to change out the florescent tube lights and replace them with the only other kind of lights I had handy - Low energy bulbs in lamps. The green screen is now perfectly smooth and better/ more evenly lit.

Nice smooth, even green screen.

03.

Image from the camera of the green screen.

Slightest few grains, an almost perfect green screen capture.

04.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte mode

A little bit of Clipping the black to remove those few speckles of grain. There is no White clip needed on this scene as it is so evenly lit.

05.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte : Clip Black

06.

After Effects : Keylight

07.

Added a background in the green screen section.

This Colour Correction is quite a lot moodier than test 03 but I think it still works.

A much cleaner and easier process, practically no faults to need repair.

08.

Colour Correction

Chromakey : Test 05 Process Breakdown

Change of settings, Lower ISO and others adjusted accordingly.

01.

After Test 04s issue of bad flicker even with the removal of the florescent tubes, I did some research and saw the suggestion of lowering the ISO. The previous tests had a high ISO so I changed it right down and noticed the flickering stopped on the live view screen in Dragonframe.

02.

Image from the camera of the green screen.

A bit more graininess than test 04 but nothing to be an issue

03.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte mode

The graininess removed without any hassle, there is no need for White Clipping again.

04.

After Effects : Keylight : Screen Matte : Clip Black

05.

After Effects : Keylight

06.

Added a background in the green screen section.

This Colour Correction is still quite moody but I think it works.

07.

Colour Correction

CG Buildings

There are many different types of building next to the seaside. Ive decided to go for the style of hand drawn structure, with high detail realistic textures. This way I think it compliments the animation by having slightly off character styles that are wearing real clothes and look like skin etc, so they have realistic textures too.

Here shows some Modelling stages of the buildings. I use the images Ive drawn to make sure my buildings are proportionally accurate. Then Each part is UV Mapped as I go along to save from having any built up mess later on.

Clay Modelling

First of all I wrapped my puppet's armature in plumber's tape. I'd decided to sculpt over the armature so I could make sure the armature would definitely fit inside the the model, I wanted to protect the metal from getting clogged up with clay, and so I came up with the idea of wrapping it in plumbers tape as it's nice and flexible and wraps tight to the surface.

After wrapping the armature up, I padded it with an initial layer of Chavant Clay. This clay was used because it's sulphur-free and won't cause a chemical issue with the silicone that I plan to make the puppet from.

Placing some pieces of clay onto a piece of foil, then onto a hot water bottle works great for warming the clay and making it readily pliable whilst building up the sculpt.

I built up the clay into the basic form of the character. Then I tried adding the hands, I don't normally like three fingers on a character, but I tried it on this one. I still didn't like the three fingers on him so I changed it again to 4 fingers, 1 thumb. At this stage I was still waiting for the eyeballs to arrive so I put some temporary sockets in to see how it might look.

I sculpted in some heavy, male anatomy on the character, this shows the initial stages.

When the eyeballs arrived I tried out a few different sizes to see which ones worked best with my character. There was a selection of 8mm, 10mm, 12mm and 14mm eyeballs made of high density Delrin Plastic, I found that the 14mm worked best with my character. I scooped out some clay in the face, popped in the eyeballs and sculpted back into the face creating the eyebrow bone, a nose, and the start of a mouth.

Here I just made some quick temporary eye lids and pupils to see the kind of size I'd need to make for the real ones. The eyes will be drilled into with a very small drill so a pin can be used to move them during animation, also I'll paint some black pupils over the pin hole. The final versions will be a lot smoother and thinner so they look like they belong to the eyes better, rather than just stuck on. You can also see the kind of size of the puppet against the size of my hand.

As this is the first time I've made a puppet there are bound to be mistakes. One being detachable arms and head. The reason being, these components will contain wire parts to the armature, the hands and the facial ares that move (mouth). I'm separating the whole arm as there will be a summer scene in the animation where the character will be wearing a t-shirt so the arms need to be visible without gaps where hands attach. The mistake I mention is where I sculpted the whole character, then had to dissect him to find joints and then repair the separate elements.

I've used a straw so there is enough of a gap, when it comes to joining the silicone parts together, for the chunky parts of the armature to get to the sockets inside.

I drew some sketches to figure out where to dislocate the shoulder as there were a couple of complications with this area, some of the armature parts were glued together so they couldn't be the parts that separate.

Here is an image of a temporary stand-in shoulder and arm joint (taken from my second puppet's armature) so I could keep track of where the joints and block-out areas would be.

I then put a piece of clay at the other end of the armature piece and a large straw around the whole joint to indicate where there would be a gap in the silicone so the detachable arm could slot back up into the joint.

This shows how I had to take a lice from the character's shoulder to locate the joints to unscrew them for this process.

Then re-sculpted the separate pieces to resemble their former shape ready for the next phase.

Below shows all of the pieces ready for the next step. The body, head and arms will now be finalised in shape, then smoothed ready for casting. The stand-in eyelids and pupils will be removed and final versions will be cast separately with different amounts of closure for blinks.

Mould Making Test Man

01. 02.

As Im new to making puppets, I wanted to make a little stunt man to try out all of the chemicals for the first time. I sculpted a little test man from Chavant Sulphur-free Clay, it has to be sulphur-free as I will be using silicone for this guy and sulphur causes problems with the chemical balance of silicone when it comes to curing. Chavant is oil based and, it is pliable at room temperature. I put my guy in the freezer once I was finished sculpting him so the clay would be harder with less chance at causing any nicks or scratches while I do the next step.

03. 04. 05. 06.

I took him out of the freezer and straight away got to work with building up clay around him. He is small, so it doesnt take much time before he warms up again, which increases the likelihood of accidental nicks. Here I am using Gedeo Non-Firing Clay (Water-based air-dry clay) because after a LOT of research and trying to find this or that type of clay I thought Id just try with what I have to hand and see how it turns out. So I placed him on a bed of clay and then built up around him to a half way mark where the seem would be for my two-part mould, making sure the angle was sharp and not blended into the model. As he is made with oil based clay, using a water based clay is good for this process as its easier to separate him later on.

07.

08.

09.

Once the half layer has been built up, hes bound to be a bit messy, so I used a soft paintbrush with some water and just brushed the lighter clay from him. Its also important to keep the water-based clay moist whilst working with it, I just kept brushing over it with a wet paintbrush. When the ayer is built up and the area around him is flat, I neatened everything up by chopping off the sides and smoothing it all back off ready for the frame. Image 09. shows the pieces of foam-core/foam-board I cut up slightly longer than the length of each side of clay and just over double the hight ready to make the frame.

10.

11.

12.

With the 4 sides of foam core I used a hot glue gun and started to build the frame. I built 3 sides then decided to come back to the frame and cover the sculpt with petroleum jelly as a mould release agent. I researched a lot into releasing agents, one that was particularly well mentioned was spray wax release but when I was trying to source some found that it was quite a hard product to get hold of. I was originally going to use petroleum jelly but I couldnt find any answers to the question is it ok to use with silicone?, in the end I thought Id just give it a go and find out. Saves quite a lot of funds compared to other releasing agents.

13.

14.

15.

16.

After brushing a layer of vaseline onto the clays I finished gluing the 4th side of the frame and putting another slice of foam-core on the bottom as a base to keep things nice and fixed together. Next I added a couple of round pieces of plasticise (I should have done this before fixing the frame for ease of access but thats a learning point for my first attempt). The round pieces are great for a guide when making the silicone case these act as good points to make sure the two halves of the mould fit together perfectly without slipping around. Then some angular pieces at the side to be points of access, to separate the two halves. Then I added little pieces of plasticine around the edges and smoothed them in to prevent any leaking of resin.

17.

18.

With all of the clay and plasticine in place, I covered the inside of the frame in a coat of petroleum jelly to make it all water tight. The jelly texture can actually be picked up in the detail if too much is applied around the sculpt so be sure to brush it off enough so its just a thin layer on the bit you actually want to cast the silicone in. Next I got some jewellery scales so I could measure the chemicals accurately. I cut some plastic cups down so there was less surface area to get covered in the mix. Then I zeroed the scales with the empty cups and weighed out the Polycraft SG2000 Fast Cast Polyurethane Liquid Plastic Casting Resin, 15g of part A and 15g of part B separately. I only needed a little amount as the purpose of this is to try out the technique and materials. Then I just mixed the two parts together and poured it into the frame trying to get as few air bubbles as possible. Then left it to cure for an hour.

19.

20.

After an hour the resin was set and I could remove the frame and move to the next step. I broke off the foam-core to reveal the results of the first mould half. Then I separated the clay from the plastic and was happy to see that it had worked!

21.

22.

23.

24.

Image 21. shows how easy it was to separate oil from water after the first half of the mould. He was a bit messy after this though so I held him in a tissue to reduce head from my fingers melting him and cleaned him back up with water and a soft paintbrush. Once he was clean I placed him into the new first half of the mould and added the plasticine wedges (I learnt from the first half and made sure to do this before adding the frame). Figure 24. shows I didnt want him to get any nappy rash so I covered him in petroleum jelly again...

25.

26.

27.

Here I repeated the process of using the hot glue gun to make a new frame around this half. Then I sealed any gaps with the small pieces of plasticine and covered everything in a coating of petroleum jelly to ensure water-tightness and to make sure the two pieces of polyurethane resin dont just stick together trapping my little guy inside.

28.

29.

30.

Again I measured out each part of the resin by weight and mixed them together. I didnt have any problems with air bubbles in the first half of the mould luckily, but I thought Id try brushing the first layer of resin onto this half to see if it reduced that do occur, then I poured the rest in before it began to cure, and left it to set.

32. 31. 33.

34.

After the second half resin had set it was time to dismantle and see how it had turned out. I had a bit of trouble seperating this one, it was because the round areas I had made were a little bit too pronounced, I fixed this later on but that is why its so useful to have those pry open points. I separated the two halves, then had to scrape wee man out and scrub the two part mould with some warm soapy water and a brush. I used a toothbrush and a nailbrush for this, its a nice hard plastic it can be scrubbed clean without worrying about parts getting worn like it would with plaster. Then I dried it with a cloth and a cotton bud in the hard to get areas.

36. 35. 37. 38.

Once the mould was clean I had to take care of health and safety. Whilst I was cleaning it, the backs were quite sharp just from how it had set in the frame and it cut me, so I had to smooth it off. In good health and safety practice I used ear defenders, dust mask, and safety glasses whilst working in a well ventilated area. Figure 33. shows how dusty things got. Image 34. shows the nice smoothness of the moulds now. This is also how I fixed the problem of the round locators inside the mould, I sanded them down ever so slightly and it was enough to make them fit perfectly without being too tight and hard to separate.

Air bubble

39.

40.

When I separated the two halves an air bubble was revealed in the first half. I fixed this by mixing just a drop of each Part A and Part B, filling in the air bubble and leaving it to cure. After my first mould is now made I prepared the workspace to make the guys little wire armature.

41.

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43.

I constructed a little wire armature to be placed inside the little guy. Next step - Silicone!

Silicone Test Man 01

The first image shows the materials needed for this test. I weigh out some silicone on jewellery scales, it has the consistency of honey. Next I mix up some oil paint into a flesh tone.

Once the paint is in the colour I want it, I add some to the silicone. As this was my first time, I wasnt sure how much paint to add, I later found out it was a bit too much which meant the curing time was around 4 days rather than the usual 24 hours. After mixing the paint and silicone together, I added the catalyst, this is 5% of the weight of the silicone.

I painted a first layer of silicone into the mould to try and reduce bubble on the surface. Once there was a layer there I poured the rest of the silicone on and placed in the armature.

This test was to discover how to use silicone, and to see what issues might occur so I can fix it for next time. After placing the armature in, I poured on a little more silicon so it was nicely full, then placed the two halves together quickly so the silicone didnt drip.

With the two halves nicely together, I wrapped some elastic band tightly around the mould and (as I dont have a clamp) placed a pack of water on top to keep it nicely closed.

After roughly 4 days, instead of the 24 hours it is supposed to take, I opened up the mould to see how the little guy had turned out.

I clipped off any excess silicone with cuticle clippers, and analysed the outcome. As you can see, this guy has a load of air bubbled on him and his armature actually pierces out of the hands. The bubbles are because I laid the mould flat which meant whichever side was on the top, thats where the air bubbles escaped to. The armature protruding is due to the weight of it sinking in the silicone. I will try a different method in my next test to try and resolve these issues.

Silicone Test Man 02

I made a fresh batch of silicone, this time with less paint. Then I repeated the process of painting on a layer in each half, only this time, I let these halves dry for 24 hours.

Once the halves were dry, I made a new armature, this time a differently designed armature as the last one was terrible at bending, this one was made with two mirror sides joined together by the head piece. Then I made another fresh batch of silicone and squashed the two halves together tightly again.

This is how the new little guy looked when I pulled him from the mould.

As you can see I changed the amount of paint in each of the batches so there is a colour difference. This will have to be noted for when I make the casts of the puppets so I dont get streaking when it counts. On the plus side, the new type of armature poses perfectly.

These are the two test guys side by side. In the left image you can see where the armature sank to the bottom of the silicone in test 01, but there are no issues in test 02. In the right image you can see the air bubble issues I had with test 01, but in test 02 I had no such issues. Test 02 is the way forward. The next issue to resolve is matching quantities of paint in with my mixture to seem the two casts perfectly.

Hair Test 01 Real Hair

01.

02.

I wanted to make a chunk of silicone, in the shape of the top of a head, so I could make some hair tests. I decided as this is nothing I need exact replicas of, I could just scoop half a round shape into a fresh block of clay and that would do for my mould.

06. 03. 04. 05.

Id still want this to be nice and smooth like I would make my characters head, so the smoothing process went through a few different stages. In image 03, Im using a multi-use soldering iron, this one has a hot air setting. The clay Im using can be melted to pour into moulds so I used this advantage to melt round parts of cold clay so it was easier to smooth off. A few minutes are needed to let the clay cool before smoothing it off with my fingers, otherwise its just sticky and makes a mess rather than smoothing. So once it cooled enough, I smoothed it as in image 04, then heated it again for extra smoothness. After the second heating there are some air bubbles visible so it needs a final smoothing off with my fingers. The silicone picks up every detail, even finger prints, so it all depends what you are trying to achieve.

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After the mould is ready, its time to mix up the silicone. In my last test with the silicone I think I added a little too much oil paint for the pigmenting, this resulted in a longer cure time (4-5 days). This mix had about half the amount of paint. Then weigh the silicone (I subtracted the 1.6g from the calculation accounting for the cup) and add the catalyst to the weight of 5% of the silicone. Once the mix is thoroughly folded into each other, pour the silicone into the mould from a good height, this lets more air bubbles escape on the way down.

11. 09. 10.

Image 09 is the silicone freshly poured, there are a few air bubbles rising to the surface which is expected. I found the best way to get rid of these was to just blow on them and they would pop. After 24 hours (with the correct mix) the silicone had set. Image 10 shows the silicone when it has set, you can see theres no difference in the appearance so its a case of, gently poke it to see if it has cured yet.

11. 12. 13. 14.

I de-moulded the skull and had some hair lined up ready to cut and insert. Id make a piercing into the silicone with a cocktail stick roughly 3mm deep, then using a dental tool with a rough flat end to it (in image 15), Id rest the bunch of hair against the silicone and punch it into the hole. The rubberiness of the silicone held it in place. When let go the hair would stick out as an implant.

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This process was repeated several times, similar to pores in the skin where the hair grows. As this was just a test piece to see how the hair would stay, and to test if it would animate if made from real hair, I didnt worry about the length of the bunches.

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These images show the progression of implanting hair. In image 20 I pierced the silicone at a slanted angle so the hair would stick out at the same angle. In image 21 I bent the hair over to see if I could achieve a combover style with the implants I had done so far.

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Once I had inserted enough hair to make the skull bushy, I decided to give it a haircut. To make sure I didnt cut the comb-over section I wrapped an elastic band around it keeping the longer hair out of the way. I combed through it to find any accidental loops or to remove any straggling hairs too. Then got to cutting this fabulous hairstyle.

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The hair reminded me of a brush because it was sticking out at suck a tight angle.

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The next stage was to apply some hair gel/clay to see if it would give me enough control to be able to animate it. In image 31 it shows the hair as it kept popping back to this position, meaning I wasnt able to animate real hair using this method. To form the held down comb over I had to use something to keep it there, so I cut a small piece of wire and made it into a kind of staple which pushed into the silicone and kept the hair in place. In conclusion, this method of hair will not work for what I need. I do like the look of it though, it reminds me of people with comb-overs that use a load of wax and gel to try and keep it stuck down to their heads.

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My next test will be to use wire and coat it in some light brown silicone, very thinly, to give it a rubbery/waxy feel of wax covered hair. This wire will be able to animate. Im going to try either 0.1mm or 0.08mm wire as I still want it to look like hair and not too thick.

Chromakey Hair Tests

Hair Test 02 Wire

I ordered some wire that I can animate with yet it will be fine enough to resemble hair. The wire however, is shiny, and doesnt look much like hair. Ive tried a variety of ways to coat this with mediums I have to hand. The picture on the right is the silicone ready to be mixed with the oil paint.

I coated several different twists of 0.08mm wire in silicone to see if it would stick. Result... It didnt stick, it stayed tacky in little beads all the way along the wire. Onto the next test....

Piano Wire

Thicker Acrylic Paint

Permanent Marker Airbrushed Acrylic

Ive tried many different wires and ways to coat wire, so far none of them work.

The next test will be to coat the wire in some Wool Roving so it looks like small bunches of hair, but as there will be wire inside Ill be able to animate it how I want to.

Custom Tools

To make the thin wire respond better to animation, I wanted to try twisting it to strengthen it. However, as the wire is so tiny, it wont fit in a drill like the method for wire twisting on larger thicknesses of wire. This called for making some kind of twisting device to fit into my Dremel. At first I tried a pin wrapped to a drill piece with plumbers tape. The first version made the wire slide off, then the second hooked version began to bend. I had to re-think this. And yes, all health and safety precautions were taken.

I made a rounded hook to fit in my Dremel as a drill piece out of some garden wire. It works perfectly and there are no sharp edges.

This method creates a really nice tight twist, perfect for strengthening the wire to animate.

Silicone Eyelids : Test 01

I wasnt sure how to best make eyelids for my characters. I know I will have to make a bunch at different stages of blinks, so I started here. I made a small block of clay, pushed the same sized eyeballs in and rolled them around to make the hole bigger, then filled the holes with silicone and gently placed the balls in. As soon as I placed them in however I noticed them sinking so had a feeling the test wouldnt turn out very well.

Once the silicone had set, I took the castings from the clay to see how they had turned out. As I suspected they werent how they were supposed to be. The bottoms were too thin where the eyeballs had sunk too far.

I could only salvage enough to make one eyelid from that test and it didnt sit too well, so I will try a different way next time.

Project Expenses

For anybody interested in the cost of this project, I have kept an expenses sheet of things Ive purchased so far for this animation. I find its good to keep a record anyway.

Check out more about Mothers Days at: www.skygecko-nat.blogspot.com