Whillock

Wondeful to see Josh Funk and his great short film 'The Spaceman' getting into print in September 2015's edition of Videomaker magazine! Josh was kind enough to send me a couple of copies over so that I could see the article and the photos of the puppet I produced for him.

A gift piece, done for my parents, of their liver-spot Dalmatian, Buster.

I was recently reading the Filmmaker Letter from Charlie Kaufman (via CartoonBrew) and discovered the poem he relates his affection of stop-motion animation towards:

This error is the sign of love,
the crack in the ice where the otters breathe,
the tear that saves a man from power,
the puff of smoke blown down the chimney one morning, and the
widower sighs and gives up his loneliness,
the lines transposed in the will so the widow must scatter
coins from the cliff instead of ashes and she marries
again, for love,
the speechlessness of lovers that forces them to leave it alone
while it sends up its first pale shoot like an onion
sprouting in the pantry,
this error is the sign of love.

- Lewis Hyde

It's a lovely summary of the appeal of stop-motion and resonates with my own feelings.

One of the commissions this year, really fun piece to work on. Trying to capture character in these models is always a challenge but I think I managed to get it to look how I wanted from the photo references.

You might also notice the blog is having a bit of a face-lift, it should hopefully be complete in the next day or two as I get stuck back into work after the great end-of-the year celebration period!

Hope you all have a great last day of 2015 and see you in the new year!

The Spaceman, by Josh Funk, which you can see my puppets wonderfully animated in is online and ready to view!

It's fantastic to see my puppets animated, and to have them mixed in with live-action and animatronic use really blends them into the 'world' of the film well. Having the puppets used as more of a special effect as opposed to the film medium within itself is great change, and a chance to see how the detail and aesthetic of the models bears up.

The sets and props of the film, from the gorgeous forest set, to the finely detailed ship interiors have a wonderful feel to them, and I think make for a lovely visual aesthetic throughout. The organic forest vs the geometric cardboard makes for a lovely juxtaposition within the story.

For more information on the film and it's process, check out Josh's website and facebook page

Another commission for the excellent Josh Funk and his short film.

This time the puppet had to be more hunched over, with an angrier expression. I gave a bit more flexibility in the puppet for expression, for example, the neck is a little longer and can now 'lurch' from side to side. The same for the jaw wiring. I really cannot wait to see these being animated, the snippets I've seen so far look great and it's so lovely to see a film being put together combining such textural and traditional elements alongside modern computer editing!

You can see some of the making of the film that's still currently in production here:

It's been a while since I posted on here! Some catching up is in order I think...

This little alien monster chappie is for a short film being made by Josh Funk, which I'll be posting a bit more of on here soon as I have some other things on it I've been working on as part of it.

Next up is a collection of underwater puppets for a client in London, meet: Scuba Girl, Zombie Clown, the Tentacles and the Great White. These are the same latex and aluminium rigged puppets I usually make, with a few variations in construction and techniques and learning things along the way!

And finally here's a cake topper for a golfing enthusiast! Hopefully some more updates coming soon, I'll try and keep things posted as they come this time!

It's always good to see people putting your work to good use, and I received this link to the stop-motion puppet I created, Rufus, in a few short tests. I love seeing people make them come to life in their own way..

Welcome 2014!

And to kick the year off [and the return to my blog] here's the latest puppet posted in my Etsy store: Stanley Sloth

Also working on a couple of other bits of work/commissions, all of which will be revealed shortly.

Time to update all the websites etc methinks!

I've decided I can't bear to throw failed tests in the bin, so I'm starting to sell them on to anyone who might want them, at reduced prices on my Etsy shop. First of all being this latex tentacle that went a bit wrong.

See it on Etsy for more information.

Some miniatures made of polymer clay, flocking, glass bottles, all available on my Etsy Store

My latest fully-rigged puppet is up for sale on my Etsy store, and this time they have an extra set of legs...

The White Wolf puppet is a twisted aluminium armature as usual, with latex, polymer clay and foam structuring, covered in fur, coloured latex and acrylic paints. Fully posable eyes, jaws, legs, ears and tail.

There are rigging points in each foot, and one in the mid back, hidden under the fur. That's five in total, and ideal for any kind posing and 'air' shots.

Available on my Etsy Store

Stay up-to-date with my Facebook page!

A few new updates to the website, mostly a few smaller models that are going up on Etsy, while I get a full sized puppet ready to go on there. This little monkey jar and angler fish model are both made out of polymer clays, finished with acrylics, glow-in-the-dark accents and a little bit of flocking where needed.