New Kit

Spent yesterday morning wondering round Wickes and Wilkos collecting together some new kit and updating some old tools for puppet-making.

 The veritable tools of a stop motion puppet maker

Also a book I ordered arrived in the post this morning; Me and My Mammoth by the prolific, talented children’s illustrator and author Joel Stewart. I suppose people making animation are influenced by various formats from comic books, to games, to novels. For me  the picture book is a key inspiration for my filmmaking; the economy of the visually-led storytelling, the unpatronising nature (in some) books as they’re aimed at a young audience and most importantly their layered use of meaning and cumulative metaphor. Stewart’s stories are endearing and whimsical and his illustrations are lyrical and wonderfully textured in an age of flat computer design.
On the same subject, a very precious book of mine is The Look Book by Chris Sickels, the mastermind behind Red Nose Studio. Sickels is a 3d illustrator from the states and has been a consistent inspiration since I first came across his work three or so years ago. He creates artwork for promotion, books, editorial, packaging etc. Look book is his first book and it’s a real masterpiece, full of wordplay, stunning delicate imagery, tactile vignettes and epic landscapes. He creates these intricate worlds that completely draw you in.
The puppet I mentioned I’d worked on at the Aardman workshop wasn’t completed due to lack of time in the session so I finished that off over the weekend except for the feet which still need ‘tie downs’ installing. So hopefully by the end of the next five weeks I should have two decent fabricated puppets ready to bring to life.