**Updated 4/24 - New Stop Motion Animation**

**Steph Laberis** · April 17th, 2004, 11:28 PM

If this is totally out of place in this forum, let me know, and it shall be no more. I posted the pics of this puppet a while back - now you can see her move!

I've managed to finish editting my puppet animations from fall semester and would like to share! This one here was my final for the class and the most frustrating to animate because of the restrictive costume. But, here goes...

The sets are foamcore, paper and balsa. The geisha rat has a twisted aluminum wire body with propoxy neck, feet and hands. I fitted rare earth magnets into the propxy to allow her to pick up props and for the head to pivot on the neck. the head is paperclay with a few coats of gesso.

And for the animation...

Mochi Gone Mad

If anyone doesn't know what mochi is, it's a ball of rice dough that's a traditional Japanese treat. They're yummy!

If anyone has any thoughts, please share! if this goes over well I'll post the other 2 animations.

-Steph

**Scotty** · April 18th, 2004, 10:39 AM

Willow-whisp....this is GREAT! Stop motion animation is something I wish to try someday. In a time of CG Animation....I love this....it has such an old school feel to it, and it's refreshing to see something other than CG these days....LET'S SEE MORE!!
I'd be interested in hearing about the process and such sometime....I really want to try this myself one day with one of my creations.

I think you should post this up over at the Shiflett Forum....I bet everyone over there would love to see this.:thumbsup:

I look forward also to seeing your Raven Thief sculpt finished....although I understand completely the feeling of being drained....get back to it when you're ready....and post it up. (Sometimes we all just need a break, and then fresh eyes breath new life into our sculpts) I invite you to give me your opinion of my Giant Crab Sculpt....I'd be interested in hearing what you think.

Well, I think I've typed enough now...my fingers are cramping, and I'm gonna need 'em for sculpting...hahaha...take care.

**Steph Laberis** · April 18th, 2004, 11:04 AM

I knew I could count on you for an awesome crit, Scotty! ^___^ This film can't touch the animation quality of computers, or in my opinion, it can't touch certain Gumby episodes, but I agree that the old school and tangible feel of puppets is a wonderful thing. Glad to hear you wanna see more - I've run out of space on my yahoo server and con't upload the other two just yet though. Bad me. Must change domain!

Ok, I can either send you a PM explaining in great detail how to do one of these films, or I can do a mini tutorial either on my new site (which will take ages to actually design) or making a tutorial here. I have some in-progress pics of one of my other puppets where you can see the wire armature and stuff.

Mmm yes. The Raven. Still no progress and I'm not rushing it. Grrr.

I'll try to get the other animations online as soon as I can.

Thanks again!

**Bretton** · April 18th, 2004, 03:56 PM

that was great! that mochi is very mad. the music is great and i also prefer this kind of stuff to digital 3d graphics. I cant wait to see more and i would love a tutorial.

**RETEP** · April 18th, 2004, 07:04 PM

that was wonderful willow-whisp

i have been very interested in making my own stop motion short. i think it would be great if you could post a tutorial here, would you also include what program you use to edit and implement(sp) the music?

**Giottoface** · April 18th, 2004, 11:38 PM

excellent job! mochi ice cream anyone?

and i would definitely like to see a tutorial! nothing fancy like a website, i think everyone would greatly appreciate a tutorial on this forum.

and dfinitely let us know when the other two are up

i especially like her tail.

**magic torch** · April 19th, 2004, 03:04 AM

Beautiful work there. Did you use a stop motion program to help with it? I really want to try this myself one day. Inspiring work, please post more!!

MT

**simon.wt** · April 19th, 2004, 04:33 AM

this is insane, very nice, animation/sculps/music/scene/camera settings/lighting, everything was just WOW

**Darkstrider** · April 19th, 2004, 06:15 AM

Wow, it's great to see this here! I'm a total stopmo freak, and learning the arcane artform myself little by little.

Willow, I haven't watched the clip yet, but I will. I just wanted to give a quick shout out for http://www.stopmotionanimation.com

Anybody interested in learning how to make their own animated films, or just fans in general, should definitely check this place out.

Ok, I'm off to download the clip!:chug:

**Scotty** · April 19th, 2004, 09:48 AM

That URL is gonna be getting a lot of attention from me.....thanks for posting it up DS.:chug:

**Steph Laberis** · April 19th, 2004, 11:21 AM

Thank you guys very much for the feedback and compliments! Glad to hear it's gone over so well. I checked out thet URL as well - thanks for posting it! It's an amazing resource and I wish I had known about it last semester.

But do y'all still want me to do a tutorial then? This site can tell you anything I know about the craft and then some. Still, I'd love to put together a tutorial, if anyone will get use out of it.

Here's basically how I put the film together in terms of editting: I filmed using a Bolex camera, then transferred the film to a DV tape. (I would much rather have filmed with a digital camera, but my teacher insists on using film) The DV tape was exported to the computer (Mac OSX) and became a huge quicktime file, which was rendered and editted for sound in Final Cut Pro (I either used MP3s or ripped the files from SFX CDs, right onto the desktop). From there I exported it to quicktime.

And yes, I would LOVE some mochi ice cream... got any vanilla or coffee?

**Darkstrider** · April 20th, 2004, 05:35 AM

AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

...I can't see the clip! I've tried 4 times now... 3 with Safari and once with IE, and all I get is the title. It stops loading after like 339 k's. I know it's a problem with my computer, but I don't know how to fix it!! I tried emptying my cache... no good.

Does anybody know how I can fix it?

**Steph Laberis** · April 20th, 2004, 10:06 AM

Can you DL the file to your desktop and open it in quicktime? Check out this page and right-click the file (ratmochi.mov) and do "save target as" or whatever.

I really hope it works! You're not the first person to have a problem with it - the file crashed my friend's feeble PC.

**Darkstrider** · April 21st, 2004, 12:20 AM

@#!%$$$

That didn't work either. I got the same results. I know there's a way of fixing it... I think there's a folder somewhere in Applications that has a file in it that I need to trash, but I don't remember what folder or what file. Maybe I can find out over at the Tech TV message boards. Usually whenever I've had a problem with my Mac they can get it all fixed up.

I checked out your site Willow.... you've got some really great stuff there! I love the art dolls, and the Raven... um, what-its-name. Even unfinished, that thing rocks! Has a sort of Froudian feel to it.

I'm gonna keep trying, and hopefully I can see your film soon!

**KevinW** · April 21st, 2004, 11:28 AM

Hmm. I think I saw you on Deviantart, nice.

**Steph Laberis** · April 21st, 2004, 03:14 PM

Darkstrider: Want me to email you the file? Or would that just get you back to square one... thanks so much for trying this hard

KevinW: Yup, you found my alias on DA. I like this place much better though! What's your account name on DA?

**Darkstrider** · April 22nd, 2004, 12:57 AM

Thanks for the offer, but I'm afraid it still wouldn't work. I'm gonna try asking about it over at TechTV. You know how it works... give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish he'll start spending all his money on tackle!

**PaintMonster** · April 22nd, 2004, 07:36 AM

Good job!
It was interesting although the gap was in the story of the first half, and the story of the second half.
Thanks

**Steph Laberis** · April 22nd, 2004, 09:12 PM

PaintMonster: You thought there were story gaps? I though it was pretty straight forward... :eek:

**KevinW** · April 23rd, 2004, 12:39 AM

My old DA name is kevinweichel
I go by a new name now but that one's a secret.

**Forge** · April 23rd, 2004, 03:40 AM

it's a really good work, you have you're place here girl !

**Darkstrider** · April 23rd, 2004, 03:53 AM

From the pic I can see that the level of work is really good... that window is awesome!

Did you hand-stitch the kimono or do it on a machine? Sewing is something I need to do.... so far I've made all the clothes for my puppets from gloves cut up and hot-glued together. Hey, it's amazing how easy it is to turn a glove into a shirt or a pair of pants!

**Steph Laberis** · April 23rd, 2004, 11:35 AM

Forge: Woo! Thank you! Glad to hear I've been accepted among the ranks here. :chug:

Darkstrider; The major seams in the kimono were machine stitched because strength is everything with these figures. For the collar and trim, I used Stitch Witchery, which is a super permanent fabric glue that comes in tape form. You use a little steam from the iron to melt it in between fabric layers and it's really strong - that way you don't have annoying stitches showing which might detract from the sense of scale of the character.

I wish I had thought of using gloves for pants...! Argh!

**MoFra** · April 24th, 2004, 07:33 PM

awesome stuff....i love all the talent i am seeing from you and other sculptures...this is awesome...keep up the great work!

**Steph Laberis** · April 24th, 2004, 09:53 PM

MoFra: Thank you so much. It really means a lot to me to hear that.

Ok, here's my second animation. This was an exercise in lip syncing, and yeah, that's my voice. Annoying, huh?

Click here to see animation: Fashion Sense

At any rate, she's about 9'' tall and made from Claytoons clay over twisted wire armature. Her eyelid and lips are baked sculpey and she has about a dozen mouths that I changed for each syllable. The eye is simply a plastic bead.

Questions or feedback always welcome. I'm working on a puppet building tutorial, starring the subject of my final film, which has yet to be posted.

**n69n** · May 3rd, 2004, 02:48 PM

oh, shes gorgeous!
& so much personality!!!

**Steph Laberis** · May 3rd, 2004, 05:17 PM

*blows dust off of the thread*

Hey! Thanks so much for the comment! Glad to hear you like her.

Did the film work OK for you? Yahoo was giving me trouble with it the last few days...

*kills Yahoo* :bash:

**Jill** · May 4th, 2004, 12:13 AM

*blows dust off of the thread*

I'm so glad you did!
Mochi is fabulous! What an inspiration, this was just what I was looking for too! I'd really love to bring more life to my creations, yours have such mobility (even with restrictive clothing!). Thanks so much for sharing your work!
*this is my first post* you've outted me!!
Wonderful art, I really enjoyed your short, especially the grain texture of the "film" and the movement of her tail... Beautiful!!
~Jill

**Steph Laberis** · May 4th, 2004, 01:26 AM

Oh my God! No way!

A few weeks ago, I found your site through a friend on Deviant Art and was blown away - you rank right up there with Wendy Froud! I showed your site to my buds at RISD and soon had a small crowd gathered around the computer.

I'm SO happy you thought so highly of my work! I would love to see your characters animated, since they already have so much life and character in their art doll forms.

I'm utterly proud to have outted you here at the forum! Thanks again sooooooooo much for the awesome comments!

And now that you're out, you're expected to show your work here. Mwahahaaa!

**Scotty** · May 4th, 2004, 01:01 PM

I concur with Willow!! Cripes Jill....your dragons...that teddy bear, and the birds are....WOW DETAIL...I'm impressed!

Thanks Willow for stopping by my worksite guestbook...made my day.

Any news on when your new site will be coming around that we've been hearing about? (NO RUSHING...NO RUSHING)

Thread: Updated 4/24 - New Stop Motion Animation

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