Accesorize

Flavor Flav (did I spell that correctly) sports a clock. Ethel, not to be outdone, sports a t-bone steak. Haven't keyed the (cornflower) blue screen yet because I don't know how. But I'll figure it all out on Thursday. Adobe After Effects, here I come. Be nice.

Oooooooooh...

G-L-A-M...

O-R-O-U-S...

Yeah right. I haven't showered today. And until I do (shower, that is), nothing is going to make me feel glam. Giovanna Battaglia (the fashion editor of L'Uomo Vogue and also my ultimate fashion idol - woah, she has a Facebook page?!?) once uttered the following, "The lower I feel, the higher the heel!” But not even the most fabulous of heels (THIS pair) are going to cure me of today. I've been beaten by an ugly stick, and I just have to accept it. T'is okay. "The sun'll come out... tomorrow..."

Plus, who's going to see me animating in my stuffy garage anyway? Other than Ethel, that is. Working on some lip-sync bits above. As you can see, she's matching up with the animatic (displayed in its Final Cut glory) quite well... YAY!

Ready For a Close Up

Starting to shoot Ethel's grieving scenes. You might as well start addressing her as Meryl as she's just that good. Check out her tweaked brows and sad "muzzle". Aww...

Golden Girl

Ethel's room is nearly finished. Here she is, showing it (and Mortimer) off. Everything's handmade with the exception of the lamp (it actually works when plugged in) and night stand. The miniature picture frames are made out of thrifted brooches - deconstructed. The artwork? Also thrifted. I kid you... I whipped up all three under five minutes. I'm afraid you can tell...

Animal, Dance!!!

If I have time (which I surely will not), I will animate a walking elephant in the background. But as I just pointed out, I won't have time. So please, imagine an uber-cute ginormous elephant... stomping in the background. This scene would be that much better...

And just in case anyone's curious, my "ingredient" list:
1) Cages. I wanted the zoo to look more "Madeleine" and less "San Diego". Bought inexpensive bird cages from Michaels. They were originally painted an antique-white (which I actually liked), but I ultimately spray-painted the heck out of them. Lined the cages with actual dirt.
2) Bushes. Composed of clumps of "Clump-Foliage" that model-train connoisseurs utilize. Love the stuff.
3) Cage at back. I glued aluminum bars onto cut pieces of textured paper (originally a shopping bag from Cusp).
4) Sam (the toucan) and Seymour (the chimp) are composed of floral wire, tape, and Sculpy.

Shoot Me

Trying to keep up with my production schedule. T minus 6 weeks...

Hope y'all are having a happy weekend. Beans and I attempted to go running earlier today. You know, in my hot pink sneaks? FAIL. We were both panting after 8 minutes of movement. Pathetic! Well, whatever. 8 minutes today, 16 minutes tomorrow... :)

View from the Top

Testing camera angles... (Zoo set remains unfinished.)

Walk This Way

I have to film a scene by Wednesday. That said, I've been furiously sculpting, molding, painting, gluing (you get the picture) away in order to meet the deadline. Look! Ethel's all done... walker and all.

Think I may have learned more about animating during these past few days than I did during all of last year. Mucho thanks to my fellow workshop classmates, Jeff and Kevin for the private lessons :)

Suddenly I See

Ethel's glasses. Check out her beady gaze...

Pretty in Pink

Remember THIS? I think the paint job was a good call. Ethel's looking pretty snazzy in hand-painted pink. Aiming to finish her by Sunday...

Just When You Thought You'd Seen It All

Me pain-stakingly painting beige polka-dotted fabric pink. Who does that?! Yes, now you've seen it all.

Details

The nose piece for Ethel's glasses... they should be painted black as well, huh? Thoughts?

"Beware of the person who can't be bothered by details." - William Feather

In the Flesh

Ethel in the flesh.

I'm struggling with her dress. I can't sew for my life and am trying to create one with a glue gun. Needless to say, my method is backfiring. Grr.

Four Eyes

Such a pain to keep Sculpey/Fimo clean. Finally did it. Here's Ethel and the start of her face. The eyeballs were baked separately and fit into sockets. They can be shifted with a small pin (at the center of her pupils). As for her glasses (they're not finished... still needs a bridge), I wanted them to look a little less matte than the rest of her, so I painted over the baked-clay with acrylics. Think I will be doing some repainting with gloss in order to make them even shinier. And ooh, they're currently be held on by soft clay. Final version of Ethel will have her glasses glued down...

Head's Up

Ethel's head. A work-in-progress. Foil core. Sculpey overlay. Not edible. *sigh*