BEARS ANIMATION
Stop Motion
- Armatures
- Clay
- Props
- Misc.
Welcome to Bear's animation
I have been doing stop-motion animation since 1993.
I use clay figures and supplement them with material for clothes and miniatures
for props,as you can tell from the following picture:
Armatures:
Early on, I discovered that the best way to move the figures was to avoid using
all clay. It tended to fall apart each time I moved the figures or dents in the
clay would appear. I created armatures using my drill press and some pieces of
hardware. The following picture is a close-up of one joint:
The next pictures shows the full body armature that I use as the skeleton base:
Clay
Once I had the skeleton moving, the clay became important and keeping
fingerprints off even more important. I use Sculpty (or Fimo) clay and create
a skull which I then harden. After which I use clay of the same color and
finish moulding the rest of the face. As shown here:
Props
Props can be very important to the overall look and feel of your movie.
The next clip is from a movie I did called "Five Little Pumpkins". It
started out as a poem that my nephew read to me. The pumpkins are solid
hardened clay with pliable clay for the mouths. I created depth
(in a place that is not very large) by layering the trees and keeping the
background slightly out of focus.
Once I had enough armatures built I could then use them for other sources
such as the dog below.
And some of these guys just like to mug for the camera.
And from an "Ants" two minute movie, a couple of scaredy ants.
The monster ant (Big Bully)
I'm at work on the Ants set.
I have been working on producing armatures that will allow movement yet not let go during crucial filming. The following are samples of what I have come up with.
This page will be updated on a regular basis so be sure and drop in for a
visit from time to time to say hi.
And don't forget there is always e-mail:
barrymoffatt@telus.net
