As I mentioned before, having characters that you're able to move about and place where you want to is a great tool for a child to have when reenacting a story - and Aardman models are a great example to draw from when thinking about sculpting your own characters.
Below is an interesting 'behind the scenes' video about the Aardman set design and model making departments for Pirates! - it's amazing to see how much detail and precision is put into the model making process!
Below are two videos detailing the process of how they make a model - it has some interesting facts about the tool techniques used and the process they undertake.
Here are some snippets taken from an interview with Andrew Bloxham (model maker) which offers an interesting insight into what his job as a model maker entails.
(Panerai, 2012)
AP: What is your role at Aardman?AB: When The Pirates! production was up and running I was one of three supervisors of the modelmaking department. The three of us were also the design team and that meant that anything that left the department was our responsibility creatively. Our job was also to oversee the making of all the puppets, ensuring that they looked beautiful and worked for the animators.
AP: How did you become an artist/modelmaker?
AB: I always drew as a kid. I used to draw fish all the time – that was my thing! My dad is very artistic as well. He draws insects – he’s an entomologist. I remember him helping me make a small Dungeons & Dragons figure when I was quite young. We actually made a little mould of it in the garage and he heated up some white metal and poured it in, so I was kind of interested in it from an early age. It never really occurred to me that I would do anything other than something artistic.
When I was 18 I did an art foundation course and at that stage I became interested in working in 3d as well as drawing. That led me to do a degree in sculpture and that’s when I started making some automata. Automata are moving models where, for example, you might have to turn a handle and a scene plays out. That meant that I had to get better at making things because things had to be able to actually work. I learnt to use the milling machine and lathe and I never looked back from that point.
I think one of the most significant things that I made was a little steam engine. When the engine first started spinning around it was a real incredible buzz for me, a huge boost to my confidence. I took that little engine along to the interview I had for getting onto Chicken Run and I’m sure that is one of the reasons why I got the job.
AP: Do you have a particular project that you enjoyed above all others?
AB: When I first started on The Pirates! my role was purely as a sculptor. It was by far the most rewarding time in my career. There were only about 8 people on the project at the time. Peter Lord (director) and Jeff Newitt (co-director) would just wander into the workshop and see what was happening with the sculpts. For about a year we were just sculpting pirates from really lovely designs – mainly from Jonny Duddle. It was just wonderful.
It’s a real privilege to see the making of a film from beginning to end. When we started making The Pirates! we didn’t know if we were going to use rapid prototyping or not. I got to watch the process of where Pete or somebody else senior at Aardman made decisions about how we were going to make the film. They invested in new types of equipment with complete trust in the crew’s ability to master those new technologies. I think that belief that we would make it work somehow is really amazing.
Another thing is watching how 85 people in modelmaking can come together, each with their own individual skills, to make a puppet. Together we made about 300 puppets in the department but not a single one of us could make one of those puppets on our own.
AP: Can you describe how the character sculpting process works?
AB: You get a 2d design and you probably discuss the scale of it with the director– i.e. how it’s going to fit in with the things you already sculpted. Then you scale up the drawing accordingly so you can use it as a guide and make a rough wire sculpting armature. You can actually get a lot of character just from the wire armature itself – you can still make it look proud or haggard. Then, as you are putting on the plasticine, you can see it taking shape. It’s a really lovely process.
AP: What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
AB: For modelmaking I think one of the most important things is to be able to sculpt. It’s a useful skill, in the same way as life drawing, as it teaches you to look really well. When you first start sculpting and you try to sculpt a head or something – it’s incredibly difficult and you build up an ability to see what’s wrong or right with time. It comes with experience.
For people starting out at the entry level of modelmaking – I’d say to be enthusiastic and try to do whatever it is that you are doing really well. Be keen and friendly. Also, make things in your spare time and bring it in to work to show people.
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