MY STOP-MO JOURNEY
I have been a huge stop motion fan since birth. My father would play Frank Zappa Music videos animated by Bruce Bickford. These videos stuck in my brain, I was amazed. Throughout childhood, I would animate my Littlest Pet Shop toys on a cheap little camera and flip through the pictures to make them move. It was fun. I then became a huge fan of all the films we know and love.
Today, I still love stop motion and have experimented with it on my own through out my journey at SCAD. I started the Stop-Motion Club at SCAD Atlanta, which proved to professors and the Head of Animation that Stop Motion classes should be offered. Experimenting was fun, but it was only so fun until I realized that the industry has a set way of doing things, so I wanted to learn.
We still didn't have someone who was a professional in the Stop Motion field. I then sent a letter to the School requesting that this program be taken seriously. They listened, and we now have an amazing professor, a fabrication room, and a shooting stage room with 8 tables for animating. While my work is on its own path to getting where it needs to be, I am very passionate about this medium and will work hard to make sure it gets the respect that it deserves.
Today, I still love stop motion and have experimented with it on my own through out my journey at SCAD. I started the Stop-Motion Club at SCAD Atlanta, which proved to professors and the Head of Animation that Stop Motion classes should be offered. Experimenting was fun, but it was only so fun until I realized that the industry has a set way of doing things, so I wanted to learn.
We still didn't have someone who was a professional in the Stop Motion field. I then sent a letter to the School requesting that this program be taken seriously. They listened, and we now have an amazing professor, a fabrication room, and a shooting stage room with 8 tables for animating. While my work is on its own path to getting where it needs to be, I am very passionate about this medium and will work hard to make sure it gets the respect that it deserves.
SCAD FROG ANIMATION
I was asked by SCAD to animate this frog puppet (which was fabricated by the super talented Vivian Trujillo). This project stands to be my most technical and clean work in terms of pure Stop-Mo animation. A lot of planning and shooting stage construction had to be planned out to make this piece of the promo video work how we wanted it to.
FELT PUPPET SHARK
This is the first stage of this puppet (besides the drawn design). This is the armature, I had to make multiple versions before I felt that this was the most effective for animating, size, and the strength and durability of the wire.
This is the first stage of this puppet (besides the drawn design). This is the armature, I had to make multiple versions before I felt that this was the most effective for animating, size, and the strength and durability of the wire.
This is my shark. He is for my Senior Capstone film. He is a felted foam puppet. Teeth are made out of a hard paper, which I connected with tiny wires and super glue into the foam and felt.
This is the foam build up stage, where I sat for hours sculpting and cutting foam down until Mr. Shark got to a shape that I felt was near perfect for the felting stage.
BICYCLE MATT
Bicycle Matt is a real man in Naples Florida. He is my muse. So I decided to make my first planned out functional puppet based off of him. This is once again a felt and foam puppet, constructed in a similar way to Mr. Shark guy above this. You can see him animated in my reel on the home page if you are interested to see him in action.
ARMATURE
FOAM
HE IS ALIVE
"WINNER"
BEHIND THE SCENES
This was my first full stop motion attempt at SCAD. This project was fully written, fabricated, animated and edited by myself. This experience was extremely fun, and I enjoyed every part of it. Having full creative control and hands on this entire project makes it hard for me to choose which part of stop-mo I love the most. Today, I am looking more towards Stop-mo animating, but would love to make another project like this.