13 "Old Thunder Owl"

2009-11-17T06:13:00.000-08:00

Trying got get back into the swing of things. Here's a bottle label I created for my good friend Justin KW's home brewed beer. He essentially asked me to just "come up with something" leaving me with total creative control. I found a lot of inspiration for this illustration in the style of Rankin Bass cartoons as well as a few characters from the 1982 animated film "The Secret of NIMH".

"Blight"

2009-02-23T18:27:00.001-08:00

"Giraffe"

2009-02-14T07:02:00.001-08:00

I started with the form or the basic shape and outline in my head. The humanoid element to the sketch came out somewhere along the line.

"Window"

2009-02-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

New tablet sketch. Trying to get back into these it's been a while since my last post.

"Johnny Be Good"

2008-12-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

New tablet drawing. No explaination.

"Terrence Runnigan"

2008-11-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

Sketch based on the short film The Dirty Mime by Zone 5 Pictures.
http://zone5pictures.com/films/index.htm

"Cold Cuts"

2008-11-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Image of a butcher I had in my head yesterday.

"One hundred one, one hundred two, one hun........"

2008-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Martha called me from the Chicago Airport two nights ago and she described to me a man she saw passing through security who had his carry on checked only to find it contained six bottles of cheap cologne and two dozen naked Barbie dolls. I imagined him reaching his destination, checking into a seedy hotel, and quietly combing his doll's hair in the bathroom mirror...

"...and he was smiling my smile."

2008-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

Messing more with the tablet....while watching Obama get elected.

"Axed"

2008-11-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Trying out the new tablet...

Production Titles: 13th Hour Films

2008-09-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is the production slate for my film label Thirteenth Hour Films under which I will be producing "The Organ Grinder". All elements were created from scratch in After Effects with found photos, textures, and sounds. This is a rough draft. Not by any means a finished piece. The sound needs more work and I'm not yet satisfied with the text font, size and color. Work in progress.
More to come.
-D

Organ Grinder: Head Mold pt.1

2008-09-07T14:50:00.001-07:00

After completing the head sculpt I built a wooden box around it to create the plaster mold. Many people have different ways they do this, here's how I roll:

Method:
A) Pour first half of plaster up to the ears. Set ping pong balls for keys. Let harden for approx 2-4 hours.

B) Prepare hardened mold for 2nd half of pour. Remove ping pong balls, cover surface of mold with release agent (Crisco works fine). You can see I set screws into his pupils. That is so that the screws will anchor to the second half of the mold and pull out of the clay head upon separation. They need to be in the mold when the silicone rubber is poured so that the eyes will create eye sockets in the silicone rubber.

C) Pour 2nd half of mold, let harden for approx 2-4 hours.

D) Remove wood stocks and gently separate mold with a flat head screw driver. Lastly, clean mold thoroughly with soap and water.

Thanks for chekin' me out! Comments welcome!
-D

Organ Grinder: Mugshot (revised)

2008-09-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

Here's a revision of the Organ Grinder's head/face. Dado gave me a few criticisms on the original. I changed his forehead so the wrinkles are predominantly horizontal instead of how I had them going vertically. I also gave him some jowl definition with a couple frown lines. I appreciate the tips Dado. I think these changes make a huge difference.
Thanks for checkin' me out! More to come.
-D

Organ Grinder: Mugshot

2008-09-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Shots of the Organ Grinder's head in modeling clay. Next I will pour a mold for his head and then cast it in silicone rubber. More to come comments welcome.
-D

Organ Grinder: Skeleton

2008-07-31T14:26:00.001-07:00

Here's the ball and socket armature for the Organ Grinder character in my latest animation. Turned out a bit larger proportionally than my original plan. Most of that was because I bought the materials for a 12" humanoid figure and had to cut his limbs down significantly to get it close to my blueprint. For those of you who are in the market for ball and socket armatures for stop motion you can get kits to make your own like I have here. They are fairly priced and you don't need to go to the UK for individual parts. They even come with alan keys to adjust the set screws. Even better there's no silver soldering required for the threaded rod and the ball. They come pre-soldered. Here's a link to the site where I get mine. The guy who owns and operates the site is a great dude and is very knowledgeable if you had any questions.
http://www.animateclay.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7

Organ Grinder (storyboard END)

2008-07-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

This is the storyboard for the ending to the my latest stop motion project "The Organ Grinder". For some reason or another I worked out the ending in my head before everything else so I recorded the shots while they were still fresh. These frames will spoil the apex and punchline of the story so if you'd rather be surprised then feast your eyes upon something else.

Self Portrait 4

2008-07-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

I've been messing around with the ol' tablet. I was inspired to do some rotoscope drawings from Ashley's recent work...although I cheated a bit. Ashley didn't. Check out her self portrait "Loose to Tight" on her blog: ashleyholzwasser.blogspot.com

Inner Beauty: "Succubi"

2008-07-03T05:08:00.001-07:00

I found this image of three mannequins online for a different project I was working on and I began to manipulate it in Photoshop. Then I thought this might be a cool exercise to sketch since I haven't drawn still life or from a picture in years. It probably shows here too. After I finished the sketch I realized how rusty I've become with figure drawing and perspective. I've decided to make myself do more sketches in attempt to oil those old cogs.
Thanks for checkin me out.
-D

The Organ Grinder: "A Cruel World"

2008-06-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

A second frame from the storyboard. This is not necessarily how he will look in the end. My puppet versions of drawings rarely ever do I find. Im just experimenting with scale and proportions. For example his body position in relation to the environment would be difficult to pull of if I gave him large feet like in the previous frame. I draw my characters in positions as such so I can visually conceptualize what movements or positions I want the character to be capable of pulling off and then build the puppet's joints and frame accordingly.

More to come. Thanks for checkin' me out.
-D

The Organ Grinder

2008-06-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Concept character drawing for new stop motion project about an organ grinder and his trained monkey trying to make a living in the big city.
More to come...comments always welcome.