Starting the Process... Technical Drawings
When I came to considering the puppets I would build for this production, I knew from the off that I wanted to continue to push my fabrication skills after building a ball and socket armature for my 2nd year developing practice module. I wanted to repeat the process of making ball and socket armatures, but refine my skills and really push what I had learned in an attempt be at an industry standard.. The first task was to come up with some technical drawings to work out the internal requirements of each characters...
When designing these puppets I had to take into consideration the actions they were required to perform in their animation. So I made sure to encorporate as many K+S rigging points in the appropriate places to allow the puppets to be suspended from the set floor. I then took the designs to a friend on mine in the Model Making department at Aardman by the name of Andrew Bloxham, who is an incredibly talented armaturist responsible for the complex " squash and stretch"armature inside the Wererabbit puppet and the Pirate Captain. He was able to give me some valuable tips and ideas, one being sculpting a strong magnet into the head, and using steel rods in the necks as opposed to K+S. This meant that the heads would be held firmly in place but could still be removed with little effort. With the puppet designs finalised, I once again approached John Wright Modelmaking, who was more than helpful (as per usual) and gave me a most generous discount on my order.
Assembling the Armatures...
As I was making my film at Aardman, I was given free reign of the model making department, which meant that Andrew Bloxham was able to keep an eye on me as I soldered and assembled my armatures, lending opinions and advice whenever he was able to. His input was highly valued, especially given my passion for puppet fabrication. To work alongside someone so well versed was an absolute honour and I learned so much of value in a very short amount of time.
Coring and Padding...
Once the armatures were fully assembled, it was time to core them and plump them 0ut. To do this, I fashioned grip points on the shins, thighs, forearms, biceps, chest and hips using white Milliput. Once this had set, it would provide places to manipulate the puppet without disturbing the surface of the puppet too much. I then sandwiched the armtures between slabs of foam, snipping them into shape with scissors (a long and laborious task, which made my fingers red raw!). Once the foam was sufficiently shaped in relation to my technical drawing, I could then cover the puppet in a thin layer of latex soaked Muller Wrap to act as the skin beneath the puppets clothing. Then, finally, I could clothe the puppets, in their respective outfits, using materials that would stretch and not hinder the movement of the puppets during their animation.
Once the armatures were fully assembled, it was time to core them and plump them 0ut. To do this, I fashioned grip points on the shins, thighs, forearms, biceps, chest and hips using white Milliput. Once this had set, it would provide places to manipulate the puppet without disturbing the surface of the puppet too much. I then sandwiched the armtures between slabs of foam, snipping them into shape with scissors (a long and laborious task, which made my fingers red raw!). Once the foam was sufficiently shaped in relation to my technical drawing, I could then cover the puppet in a thin layer of latex soaked Muller Wrap to act as the skin beneath the puppets clothing. Then, finally, I could clothe the puppets, in their respective outfits, using materials that would stretch and not hinder the movement of the puppets during their animation.
Final Touches, Fast Cast Resins and Silicone parts...
As I was using real fur and hair on these puppets, I had to find a way to keep these elements from "boiling" under the camera. Loose parts on a puppet cause all sorts of issues when animating, and can cause really distracting twitching. So, I tried a variety of processes and materials to keep this under control. I ended up using a mixture of pva glue, epoxy silicone adhesive, a fabric stiffener called "Stiffy" and good old fashioned hair spray. This ensured that any fur I used, would be solid as a rock.
Also, being in the Model Making department at Aardman meant that the model makers there recommended various different ways of approaching parts of my puppets that needed to be more robust, especially the heads and hands. They recommended that I make silicone hands, as they are much more durable than the latex build up hands that I was planning on using. For the boy, they let me use one of their molds from Pirates!, and all I had to do was make the internal armatures, and pour the silicone. But the beasts hands proved to be a much more time consuming and intricate affair. I sculpted a pair of hands out of clay, which I then took a master silicone slash mold of. I could then use this mould to make fast cast resin copies. Once I had a pair of fast cast hands, I had to lay them up, half buried in plastiline, ready to take a mould in Aluminium Fast Cast (a super strong resin containing powdered aluminium). Once I had both halves of this mould, and mixed up the right pigment to match the beasts skintone, I could inject Dragonskin silicone into it, and get a pair of working silicone hands.
With the boys head, I made a fast cast version from a slash mold of my initial super sculpey version. This was due to me having over baked the head I was planning on using, which had caused discolouring and inconsistency in tone between the head and mouth pieces. With this new fast cast resin head, I could airbrush both it and my mouth replacements to be the same colour. I was shown how to airbrush by ex UWE student, Natalaya Hamideh, who now works at Aardman.
As I was using real fur and hair on these puppets, I had to find a way to keep these elements from "boiling" under the camera. Loose parts on a puppet cause all sorts of issues when animating, and can cause really distracting twitching. So, I tried a variety of processes and materials to keep this under control. I ended up using a mixture of pva glue, epoxy silicone adhesive, a fabric stiffener called "Stiffy" and good old fashioned hair spray. This ensured that any fur I used, would be solid as a rock.
Also, being in the Model Making department at Aardman meant that the model makers there recommended various different ways of approaching parts of my puppets that needed to be more robust, especially the heads and hands. They recommended that I make silicone hands, as they are much more durable than the latex build up hands that I was planning on using. For the boy, they let me use one of their molds from Pirates!, and all I had to do was make the internal armatures, and pour the silicone. But the beasts hands proved to be a much more time consuming and intricate affair. I sculpted a pair of hands out of clay, which I then took a master silicone slash mold of. I could then use this mould to make fast cast resin copies. Once I had a pair of fast cast hands, I had to lay them up, half buried in plastiline, ready to take a mould in Aluminium Fast Cast (a super strong resin containing powdered aluminium). Once I had both halves of this mould, and mixed up the right pigment to match the beasts skintone, I could inject Dragonskin silicone into it, and get a pair of working silicone hands.
With the boys head, I made a fast cast version from a slash mold of my initial super sculpey version. This was due to me having over baked the head I was planning on using, which had caused discolouring and inconsistency in tone between the head and mouth pieces. With this new fast cast resin head, I could airbrush both it and my mouth replacements to be the same colour. I was shown how to airbrush by ex UWE student, Natalaya Hamideh, who now works at Aardman.