Stop Motion Demon puppet - Finished animation on page 6, 11/08/09

[The Dark Power]

Hi

Something I'm working on at the mo. It's gonna be a stop motion animation puppet and so will be molded and cast in silicon over an armature.

I also plan to make a 1:1 scale articulated version of the head and shoulders for close ups.

The projections on it's back are going to be tentacles rather than stationary shapes.

There's some more pics here: http://www.thedarkpower.com/php/stopmodemon.php

Thanks for looking, any crits welcome.

[tysiony]

Nice textures, erm ....... interesting bits

[The Dark Power]

Haha, cheers.

I wanted it to look kinda unsettling, hence the 'bits'.

Interestingly, this same thread got deleted from another forum I posted on because they wouldn't allow any nudity, alien or otherwise!

[lilalex]

Congrats, 'TDP' - That's looking really sweet!

Any chance of some SBS's when you go to cast him in silicone?

I've always wondered how they get the armature properly positioned within the final 'puppet'.. besides magic of course.

Keep it up - look forward to the updates.

la

[pijay-brown]

cool

the character is great,

a good amature for the stopmo will be a good challenge and could make great mouvements.
textures and "sexual tentacles" are nicely done. are you going to cast them too?

do you have a story?
could your alien run? cause with these kind of legs and articulations should be nice

bravo
next step?

[The Dark Power]

Lilalex - thanks. I'll try and post some step by step pics, I might be a way off from that stage yet though. I'm not sure exactly how I;ll position the armature in the mold - I've not done a silicon puppet before.

The last two I did were sculpted over wooden artists mannequins so the articulation was already there. There's some pics here actually, if anyone's interested: http://www.thedarkpower.com/real10 main2.htm

Pijay-brown - thanks also. All the tentacles are temporary at the minute. I plan to cast them as seperate pieces otherwise I'm gonna end up with a seriously complicated mold for the main body!

As for the story, I tend to mainly concentrate on the model making and editing as that's my thing. The story tends to come later.

What I have so far is a fairly surreal idea with some other aliens mining glowing runes. The creature above shows up and steals them with the final shot being the runes coming together to form the title of the film, which is all in an alien dialect.

Yep, sounds weird, it;ll probably completely change by the time I'm through as well!

I envisage the creature moving by hunkering down quite alot, with it's 'sexual tentacles' dragging through the dirt, I would imagine it could run at a fair turn however, given it's musculature.

I guess the next step is to finish the damn thing! ;0)

[lilalex]

Awesome Stop-Mo stuff at the Real10 link, 'TDP, thanks!!

I see where you ended up using the build-up method of puppet creation; that's the same type I've seen, recalling all those old Harryhausen "armature, latex, cotton, latex, cotton, latex, and paint" dinos - not to mention the big Kong himself.

I'm amazed at how little real info about properly casting an armatured stop-mo puppet there is on the 'net - you can hunt down some DVD's, but the stop-mo guys are real quiet about some of their techniques.
Fortunately not all are, here are a couple of how-to's that may help out?

A link to Nick Hilligoss' puppet page;
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...0051&uid=42706
Shows several real good and fairly low-tech/cost methods of puppet production.
And another of a single Radke'head-based puppet - also low-tech;
http://www.stopmoshorts.com/tutorial...uppet_fab.html

Godo job - Look forward to the updates -
la

[CatHicks]

Wow, I really love those eyes. Great texture work!

[The Dark Power]

Cheers CatHicks

and thanks for the links lilalex, that may well be a method I end up using for the armature, I'm not really set up to produce a machined ball jointed armature.

I did find a company making them, but the going rate was about £500 ($1000)!

[The Dark Power]

Hi

Just a quick update for those who are interested - didn't want this thread to die.

Been working on the arms, mainly concentrating on the skin texture and musculature.

Thanks to Smellybug for the excellent tutorials, they've been a big help!

[novenus]

Looking good...! Can't wait for more pics!

[Patrick]

That is really awesome work. The skin details are really looking good.

It's too bad that puppet animation is becoming a lost art. I remember great books from the Cinemagic guys published in the 80's that had lots of great puppet-making tips.

A few questions. What material are you using for the sculpt? Are you sculpting that over the armature you plan to use in the actual model? That is normally a requirement to get all the proportions to fit in the mold. In one of the books I saw, they brushed a layer of foam latex in the mold to build up the skin, then wrapped the armature in a gauze before inserting it into the mold. I would assume the same process would work with silicon. And you don't have to bake that.

After a quick search - I came across these two books. They are a little pricey but seem to have some useful info.
Stop-Motion Armature Machining
Stop-Motion Puppet Sculpting
I may have to get those myself just for the coolness factor!

I'm looking forward to seeing the progress on this. It takes me back to my old 8mm film days!

[dkounios]

wow...so much detail on this...great work!

[Insomniac Zombie]

That's going to look great when lit and in motion! Nice to see that Stop Motion isn't completely dead... Are you using tiedowns for him to stand, or will he be supported on a rig?

[The Dark Power]

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated. Patrick thanks for the links, very useful I think I may have to get them!

To answer questions:

I'm sculpting it in regular super sculpey, which I'm actually kinda regretting - I think I woulda been better using the firmer grey stuff. Because of the skin detail I'm using alot of turpentine to smooth the details which is making the sculpey quite gooey. It's just about manageable, but lesson learnt for next time!

I'm actually sculpting it over a regular wire armature, which is really the wrong way of doing it. I kinda got inspired to make the model though and didn't wanna have to wait to get on with it.

I'll have to make the proper armature once the sculpture's finished.

As for when the models finished, I'll likely use a green screen rig to support the model which is a technique I've used in the past: http://www.thedarkpower.com/real10ga...s/100_0386.jpg

Rods beneath the set might work a little better though so that's another option.

[Bronze-Dragonrider]

I'm lucky to have come across this thread, I've been looking EVERYWHERE for information on how to cast something in silicone with an armature inside, and can't find a thing. I look forward to further pics from you on how yours progresses.

I'm thinking of doing a dragon in silicone, but I'm having a very hard time figuring out how to do the mold with the armature inside and still be able to cast it effectively. It'd be easier to do it in sections, but since the armature has to be in one piece that isn't possible... anyway, looking forward to your progress and any tips you can give with your experience!

[SEVANS]

Please show us as many progress shots as possible, especially the armature and the casting. Looks like a great project.

...and the alien 'bits' - don't know whether to be grossed out or laugh at him exposing himself. Very original 'add-on'.

[tysiony]

Have a look at these sites, they guys on here are great and the articles and links are awesome.
http://www.stopmoshorts.com/gallery/...showgal&cat=16
http://www.clayanimator.com/english/menu.html
http://www.stopmotionworks.com/
http://www.animateclay.com/
Hopefully some of it will help.

[The Dark Power]

Hi

Thanks for the comments and even more useful links!

I've now finished and cooked the body. As you can see the tentacle genitalia has been removed as these will be cast separately.

I've decided to eliminate the tentacles that were sticking out of it's back. I still like the look of them, I just think too many tentacles are gonna be a nightmare to animate if you consider they'd be writhing about all the time.




I'm now doing the head which will be cast separately to the body as it's much more complex. The tentacles on the head will also be cast separately, so I'm just working out where the joins will go and adding detail to obscure them.





I've also made a start on the hands which are only in the preliminary stages at the mo.

[Moai]

I don't know squat about modeling, but I just have to say that that's the best alien genitalia I've ever seen. Great texture and anatomy as well. Rock on!

[The Dark Power]

Thanks for the comments.

Here's a quick update. I've split the head up into sections to make it easier to cast.





Been working on the hands too.

[wild thing]

His weenies make me giggle. I could only imagine what kind of project this is for. Hehehe.

Still, loving the design and detail going into it.

[The Dark Power]

OK bit of an update. I've finished the sculpture and am now working on making a mold. As requested here's a step by step of what I've done so far.

First off split the model into easier to cast pieces:



Cover the back in cling film. This stops the model getting covered in clay.



Next build up a clay wall.




Cover the front half of the sculpture in clingfilm and begin to build up a case around it.





Remember to add keys, this will help the two halves of the mold align correctly.



Next cover the front of the mold in fibre glass.

[Vinicam]

Cool concept and textures, but looks like a hentai alien! lol

[The Dark Power]

Thanks. I guess it does look like a hentai alien, I never really thought of that. No bad thing I guess!

OK, have done abit more on the mold.

The clay on the back of the mold is cleaned off.




A clay case is then built over this half of the mold.




This is then covered in fibre glass as well (remember to add a layer of vaseline as a separating agent). The mold is then split in half and the clay on the inside of one half is cleaned out, leaving the section of fibre glass hollow.




The clay surrounding the other half of the model is then cleaned up and made to align with the details of the model. Seam lines and keys are added.




The mold is then bolted together and silicon is injected into a hole cut in the back using a large syringe (I used one which is made for icing cakes)




The mold is then opened and cleaned up and we have the first half of the silicon mold completed. I'll post some more pics once I've done the second half.

[pijay-brown]

good and very intersting wip

Hope you'll succeed in all the process

did his right leg break?

very good work

can't wait to see the latex injection....

Bravo

[The Dark Power]

Hi, thanks very much

The right leg actually cracked when I cooked the sculpture. I guess the clay must've expanded slightly around the armature and cracked.

The casting has widened the gap slightly, I'll be filling it in before I do the second half of the mold.

[lilalex]

Dang - that's coming along nicely! Awesome stuff.

Are the metal armature's 'feet' staying secured throughout the casting process, or do you have another Stop-Mo armature which will be imbedded/covered with the final 'skin'?

Keep up the great work - looking forward to more updates!!

la

[fauster]

wowwwww

Thanks for the picssss

Interesting method to make a mold.

Thanksssss.

[Shadowwing]

What kind of clay did you use for the clay case? Is it the kind that hardens or modeling clay?

BTW, thanks for sharing the process with us.