Fr
20
Jan
2012
characters
Rob says Hi!
I made my first robot with super sculpey and a ball-joint armature. BUT he's too small. (18cm)
I got the idea of how my first robot would look like pretty early. Rob, the larger guy with no ability to express any feelings.
It was much more difficult to create his friend, the film-enthusiast Steve. Above you can see some sketches. On the right picture you see the latest version of Rob and Steve.
I'll construct the armatures (1:6 scale) with the AnimationSupplies.net "Professional Armature Kit". Below are my construction-sketches. (you can enlarge the pictures) The final Rob will be 25cm tall.
Mi
11
Jan
2012
colours
Yay! I bought citadel model colours on ebay. Worth: 140€.
I paid: 60€.
I've tested them on my superSculpey models and these colours work fine! I'll post some tests soon.
Besides that, I'm working on the Animatic. The storyboard is completed and now I want to animate it:)
Mi
21
Dez
2011
storyboard
Now it's time for a storyboard! I decided to draw it digital in photoshop with a wacom tablet (thanks Sammy for borrowing:)
101 (!) frames already drawn but 3 more scenes left. I'm going to animate an "Animatic" with all these pictures. (more infos on that later)
Di
20
Dez
2011
Robzilla
Back to Stopmotion
I am working on a new stopmotion movie! The first idea of doing a movie with 4 characters and 9 settings went into the drawer. Too huge, lack of money and at last our deskmotion-team split up. But I didn't want to give up and came up with a new and shorter story. After 2 months of developing and planning I finally decided to realize it.
And here it is:
ROBZILLA (working title).
It's a short story about two robots finding a polaroid camera on a junkyard and deciding to shoot their own Godzilla stopmotion movie.
My production schedule states the movie's premiere in October 2012. (Well, if it says so..;)
I worked on the script for about a month. Thanks to Sarah for helping me out with the idea and the writing. Thanks to Martn, Sammy, Michi and Don Patto for giving me feedback. Finally the script is completed.
12 short scenes. No dialog.
first idea sketch
Di
06
Dez
2011
my logo
I finished the post-production of my lovely autumn logo. I don't know what to do with it, but I had to do it:) I need somebody doing a better sound-design for it!
Now my little Studio is clean again.
some "behind the logo" pictures:
Mi
19
Okt
2011
daddy weyland acoustic
Here it is. Deskmotion's first acoustic video. Starting with Daddy Weyland on his balcony. I hope you like it!
Sa
15
Okt
2011
new logo animation
I'm working on a new logo-animation and my studio looks like a mess. I'll post some making-of pictures soon.
Mo
10
Okt
2011
just an advice
we did a nice video for my friends emma heartbeat!
enjoy it
first single from the outcoming LP "that will do you good"
artist: Emma Heartbeat
label: itd-music
production: deskmotion
director: Feliks Horn
cam operators: Sebastian Tomczak, Feliks Horn
filmed with 7D
Mo
10
Okt
2011
moving on
forget what you've seen before on deskmotion...the project "clockwork" is paused but there are many other things to come...the whole idea of this page is now transforming...not only a blog about just one film...now you'll see everything deskmotion does;)
(There's another stopmotion shortfilm in production, musicvideos and more stuff;)
starting now.
thx for reading
feliks
Do
26
Mai
2011
what
I know we are slow... and now we're slowing down even more. Right now we have to move from our studio/workshop and manage to find another place and way to work. You'll read us soon:)
We try to keep the project alive!
Do
28
Apr
2011
sculpting in progress
body
Something is happening behind the scenes of our blog. Everything seems to take forever... But we got something to show again. Magnus is sculpting the boy right now.
He uses Super Sculpey. He starts with a simple wire-armature to keep everything in place. After sculpting the first limbs, he puts the model into the oven to get a solid core. Then he's able to grab the model while adding more Sculpey. It won't loose shape anymore;)
And that's how the upper part of the body could look like. Yes, we like!
burned
One day I got this picture with the title: burn mothafu**er
by Magnus.
This happens if you forget your super sculpey in the oven...
Di
29
Mär
2011
work in progress...
Right now we got many things in progress. Sammy builds the bathroom set, Magnus is sculpting the boy and I'm getting more and more into armature-making.
I found a way to easily built my own armatures. All you need is aluminium, drills, balls, threaded rods, .... I think I will do a whole armature tutorial for our page.
Here are some first impressions:
Mi
09
Mär
2011
Towels
what a wimp
Let me introduce our costume and fabric wonder Nadine.
She started with an easy work (as she said). Towels. Right now I'm not able to tell how she made them;) Something with a lot of yarn in and out again...
You won't recognize that she'd done something miniature like this the first time. She even sewed a wire into the towels. Now they can hold every position and even be animated...
450 meters of yarn were needed to imitate this toweling fabric for all three pieces.
Mi
09
Feb
2011
First room!
boy's room
Sammy almost finished the first room. Two walls, a floor and a roof. Now the interior and props have to be build. And she'll add some more patina when we make the set ready for shooting.
After doing some test shots, we noticed that we need a roof. Sammy got this idea of an attic-like roof and constructed it.
victor's inspection
This is not the day when we found out we done everything in wrong scale....
This is Victor being the first person in our set. "that's one small step for a man,... but a giant in miniature"
Thanks for the visit:)
Di
01
Feb
2011
character to practice
my new one
I just glued my molds and casted the body again. I made a different armature with wires and no ball joints. It's not that perfect but I need a character to test and improve my animation skills.
Do
27
Jan
2011
the choice of the right lenses - flicker
"Do not use automatic lenses!"
that's what you read everywhere...I made the test with my lenses and this warning is true:)
The reason for the flicker in automatic lenses is the iris in your lens (I hope I use the right translation for this part). In automatic lenses, the iris is always wide open to send you a bright picture on your focusing screen. Even when you switch your f-stop to 11 the iris only closes to the right position when you take the picture. It does this automatically.
The problem occurs when you shoot the exact same pictures again and again. The iris doesn't always hit the exact same position. It's just millimeters but this causes a flicker when you watch it animated.
A manual lens (like the Nikon Micro Nikkor 55mm f2.8) is flicker free. You can set your aperture manual and the iris stays in this one position.
I tested it with different lenses, lightnings and settings and can confirm it.
But feel free to test it yourself;)
Sa
08
Jan
2011
Animation table
wooden animation rig
I've started building an animationtable with a wooden rig around to place lights. The idea is to save tripods and make the whole construction one piece. So you'll never accidentally move a single light. And you have more space around.Next step is to attach it to the wall.
I also made two long molton curtains to kill all light from the windows. It's working pretty well.
And finally I bought Dragon Stop Motion! Now I've been able to shoot more than 50 frames;) I think it's the best Stopmo software you can buy right now. It has all professional studio features (like RAW capturing, motioncontrol etc...) and it is very clearly arranged.
So right know I'm working with a PC (dualcore/4gb ram) and Dragon Stop Motion for framegrabbing. My camera is a Canon 5DmkII with a manual Nikon Lens (55mm/f2.8) and a Zeiss Distagon (25mm / 2.8 ZF.2)
Check the COMMENTS below for more information!
Mi
05
Jan
2011
production design started
After the long period of planing and drawing Sammy started her work on the sets.
boy's room sketch
Sammy made a few tests with materials and colours and decided to build the first walls, because she hates drawing all the time. So now she finally get to dirty her hands....
she also learned how to fake wood by hand. Look at this:
the room's floor
Do
16
Dez
2010
character design
I am very proud to introduce our new character designer Gunnar. I love his work and I'm always touched when I see new drawings to our ideas.
Imagine you develop a world and its characters in your head and you meet somebody who is able to put it on paper even better than you got it in mind...that's crazy.
so here they are: the development of our salvager.
first row of salvagers
second row of salvagers
need I say more...?
and if you want to see more stuff of Gunnar visit one of his blogs. I really recommend his project Luna on Aetherverse.
Fr
26
Nov
2010
ARGH
1/2 boy
Sorry, but yesterday was a f**ked up day. I casted the bodypart and ended being embarrassed. The shoulder-joints were not in the right places and that's what happened.
The arm doesn't fit to the body. But not only a bit...There's a huge gap when you move the arm.
But of cousre that's not all....THE MOULD BROKE! Argh.
worst day
evil clamps
so don't ever use this clamps with moulds! They're stronger as you think..or as I thought. But may be my mould wasn't so well done.
Right now I'm unmotivated but I got some ideas how to solve the problem. The broken parts still work for every single arm.
The only reason I didn't cast the puppet in one piece was to make it easier...haha. and now it's to late for one piece.
Di
23
Nov
2010
my arms in the making
1st step for hands
First I start with the hands.
I got the idea for this hand-armature from "animation-supplies".
animaion supplies instruction
It's an instruction to build hands with 1mm aluminium wire. I bought the wire at a bonsai-shop...
twisted wire
brass forearm
Later I twist the wire to make them last longer (I hope). I built a brass forearm to have a stable piece. So the arm is only bending at its joints. (elbow and wrist). I just stuck the wirearm into a brasstube and (epoxy-) glued it.
the whole arm
To fix the hand/forearm to the body armature, I just clamp the brasstube in between my balljoint piece of the upper arm. It has the same size as the balls and fits well.
dragon skin with pigments
When I got everything in the right place I make the first skin of silicone in the mould. I'm using smooth-on's Dragon Skin FX-Pro silicone with SilTone Pigments. (This color is "light skin"). For the first skin I put a drop of Thi-Vex in the mix. It makes the silicon more like rubber and it sticks more to the walls of the mould.
first skin on one arm
First skin means you put a thin layer of silicone on your mould and let it dry. I do so, because later on no wire will stick trough your characters skin! because now the skin is like sealed from the inside.
the fill
then I put my armature back in the mould and fix it with some (non sulphur) clay. It is important that it stays in place. Mix silicone again and cast it in. I always try to get rid of the airbubbles with a toothpick.
closing the mould
Then I close the mould and put it upside down so the silicone floats into the fingertips and not out of the arm!
the arm
open it...
And finally: the arm
So
23
Mai
2010
money money money
how rich you have to be to make a stopmotion movie...
or
how long we are able to pay this thing.
Right now, we spend appr. 773€!
Just for software, materials, armature, supplies....no movie...just testing!
And there are so many things to come. 4-5 characters, 8 miniature Sets, a working/animating room to hire...
you buy a car....
...we make a movie;)
So
23
Mai
2010
buying new stuff again
Dental Plaster
my first "better" plaster. I like it so far. Nice blue color;) But I found the holy grail in plaster:
ultracal 30
tadaa: UltraCal 30 plaster available in europe. Hard to find. I bought it from my new favorite online store: formfx.eu. I haven't tried it right now. But it's recommend by everybody I guess...
thi-vex
This is Thi-Vex II by Smooth-On. A silicone thickener for platinum silicones like DragonSkin. You put 2 drops into your 5g pint and get a thick gel. Now you can paint the insides of your mould and the silicone isn't floating to the bottom after 5 seconds. First impression: Great!
sculpting tools
We got some new sculpting tools. Right now we're starting to sculpt the first body parts. And yes, I bought the cheapest stuff again;) Two sets for about 20€. We have to watch our money...Which I'm not very good at. After buying all kinds of stuff just for testing;)
So
09
Mai
2010
DragonSkin
dragon skin / psycho paint
Yeah. I got some new stuff...
Maybe somebody already recognized, this is Dragon Skin Fx-Pro silicone.
A two component silicone (right) and a bunch of fleshtone pigments (left) to colorize the whole mixture. I can't wait to test it.
This is made for fx-masks or prosthetics. It's very bendable and durable. I bought it at formfx.eu (Amsterdam)
tests will follow....
Mi
05
Mai
2010
NSP plasteline
nsp soft
I got new a plastiline to form the bodyparts (head, hands, feet) of my puppets. NSP sells the clay in three styles.
soft / medium / hard
The soft one is nearly as soft as the "cheap" plastilin from your arts supply store. Which is (in my eyes) a bit too soft. Anyway, I made my first hand with this one and it worked...
Mi
05
Mai
2010
No cold foam latex!
kyrolan foam latex (release agent / part B /part A)
Right now I'm looking for the best material to cast my puppet pieces (arms, feet, head). I know everybody is using (4 component) foam latex, but I wanted to test an easier way. Okay. To be honest: I failed this time.
(I'll explain it short. For more information, please mail me.)
my testing setup
My kitchentable. I got a (testing) plastermould. some cups. brushes. a scale. and the foam latex.
casting foam
I bought the Kyrolan "Kaltschaum SF" (cold foam latex). (60€) Simple to use. Just mix two components together and it will explode like a mentos in coke after 3 minutes. And after 15 minutes your piece is set. Cool.
But only if you want to make your child some new softballs for sports class.
squeeze
The handling of the material is fine. Very Soft and light. But when you look not even close, you see every pore of the foam. I tried various mixtures and times. I almost mixed it in slowmotion to get no bubbles in the components...Didn't work out. This material is not what I expected.
sponge?
Sa
01
Mai
2010
robothands
I'm really bored of testing materials, reading blogs and spending too much money for all of this stuff. All we wanted to do is a movie...;)
Today I just switched the topic and made a small animation test. I'm testing a new framegrabing software called Dragon StopMotion. And it's aw... "What's this Mr. Bay?" - "It's AWESOME!" okay, i'll buy it...
This test was made with the limitation of 50 frames. for fun.
Druckversion