My Model Experiments!

To start off with, I split my story into six sections of scenery -

• the first section, a forest - the setting for pages 1 & 2 in my book
• the sencond section, a tree trunk - the setting for pages, 3, 4, 5 & 6 in my book
• the third section, a badger set - the setting for pages 7, 8, 9 & 10 in my book
• the forth section, an area with a log in it - the setting for pages 11, 12, 13 & 14 in my book
• the fifth section, an plain area in which the hare an hedgehog converse - the setting for pages 15, 16 & 17 in my book
• and the sixth section, an area of leaves where the hedgehog hibernates - the setting for page 18 in my book.

After I sorted out the sections of the story, I created the 'stage/theatre' for the story to take place in.

After building the stage, I then created the characters from my book using oven bake modeling clay.

First Hedgehog Pose

Second Hedgehog Pose

Third Hedgehog Pose

Forth Hedgehog Pose

To create the spikey texture of the hedgehog's spines, I used a pointed crafting tool.

The squirrel

The badger

The hare

Model Makers - Dreamworks Animations

Again, Dreamworks is another animation company that take 2-Dimensional sketches or drawings a turn them into 3-Dimensional representations.

Below is a video detailing the process that is undertaken when tackling the transition from 2-D to 3-D - something that will be useful for me to see, as I too will be taking my 2-Dimensional illustrations of my characters and turning them into 3-Dimensional models.

Model Makers - Aardman Animations

Aardman are famous for their stop-motion model animations. The models they use are always so full of character, and the set designs they create to house these models are incredible!

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.

Model Makers - Wade Ceramics

Wade Ceramics (http://www.wade.co.uk/) create many collectable character models for children to play with - I myself remember playing with Wade animal models as a child.

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.

'Felix' by Wade Ceramics

'Rupert and Friends' by Wade Ceramics

The Next Experiment - Toy Models

Most characters from popular children's books or films get turned into figurines or toys as everybody knows that children love to collect and play with tacile representations of their favourite characters.

Here are just a few examples of this...

Winnie the Pooh figurines

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs figurines

Rupert the Bear and Friends Figurines

Puppet Experiment Evaluation

Audience Interaction/Movement

Audience interaction is at a maximum when using finger or hand puppets as movement is created directly through the gestures of the audience's hands. This amount of interaction gets the audience fully involved with the telling of the story as they are bringing the characters to life, as well as carrying the story through their movements. However, the puppets that were incorporated into the actual pages felt awkward to use because of their set poses and positions. I think the enjoyment factor of this particular method would wear thin (especially for a young child) because of the limitation and awkwardness when handling the pages.

Material

Using a soft material like felt is appealing to both children and adults. The soft, touchable quality felt has, provides extra interaction with young children as they might like the feel of it - like they are petting a real animal.


Composition/Viewpoint

The stand alone finger puppets can be viewed from every angle as they have no limitations, and can be easily slotted into any composition - like being used alongside a book or in a puppet theatre.
On the other hand, the puppets that were incorporated into the pages had a limited viewpoint because of being stuck to the page.


Conclusion

In my opinion, by creating puppet characters for my book, I have been able to answer the questions posed in my proposal in both a positive and a negative way - I have created a better understanding of how a more tactile approach to storytelling (through the use of puppets) can aid the interest and entertainment value for its audience, as well as weighing out the pros and cons to working in this particular medium to see how it functions when considering the objective of interaction.

My Puppet Experiments!

Here are a few examples of my own puppet experiments...

Finger Puppets

I've kept the puppets simple, making them out of felt that I stiched together. Using felt creates a softness that is appealing to the younger viewer, as well as adults. To incorporate the finger puppets into my story so they can be used for interaction and enjoyment, I would either: use them as an aid to go along side my orginial book, or use them in a staged theatre in which a participant can tell the story themselves.

All the characters of my book presented as finger puppets

Part of a stage/theatre that I made

Part of a stage/theatre that I made

My second experiment using finger sized puppets was to sew the puppets into book pages to incorporate them directly into the story - in a similar mannor to that of the 'Baby Lamb' book that I posted about earlier.

Hedgehog character that will be the consistant throughout the book

The underneath of the Hedgehog character - how it's attached to the page

Below is the Squirrel finger puppet attached to a page. The hole at the bottom of the page is for the Hedgehog character to fit through.

Below is the Badger finger puppet attached to a page.

Below is the Hare finger puppet attached to a page.

By creating these dummy pages of the puppets incorporated into a book page, I can gage that by using this method the audience participation feels limited and akward by the set poses of the puppets and how they can only move backwards and forwards. I think the enjoyment factor of this method would wear thin (especially for a young child) because of this limitation and akwardness when handling the pages.


 Below is a larger and more malleable version of of the Hedgehog puppet. This time I'm going to use just the one Hedgehog puppet, and put him into illustrations from the original book

The Hedgehog peeping out the log

The Hedgehog finding a pile of leaves to hibernate in


Using the just the Hedgehog puppet felt like I was limiting the variety, and therefore the enjoyment of an audience interaction - just having one puppet can get quite boring for a child to concentrate on.