Animation Camp Session 2, rough drafts of animations

Here are the rough drafts of animations from the second session of animation camp. The children were really creative and I loved the different stories each came up with. The children imported each of their still images into Premiere Elements. The audio they recorded on the last day of the workshop. I cleaned up these sound files with the freeware Audacity. This animation, The Funny Crazy Animation, is almost completed. Audio is inserted. I will do a little Photoshop retouch to eliminate some of the string and wire supports. The end credit text will also be added.



The tales in the animation Discoveries in the Garden all have garden or park scenes. The figures in this group worked quite well with the magnet feet and cookie tray. I will be doing a little bit of Photoshop retouching of wires and such in this animation as well.


We will be having a screening of the children's work next Monday. We are also fortunate to have Raquel Coelho present a few of her animations, her puppets and children's books during this gathering. She is a professor in the Animaiton Department at San Jose State and has worked at DreamWorks and other Bay Area animation studios. I am really excited to see her work in person and know the children will be inspired by her work, too. She has been very gracious in agreeing to speak to us. We were also very lucky to have a tour at De Anza College's Animation Department with this group as well last Thursday.

Animation Camp Week 2, Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of my second session of children's stop motion animation camp. I am really learning along side the children and it is so inspiring to see their creativity in process. I especially enjoy hearing them encourage each other. This session I have the assistance of my niece and an older student entering Junior High who has been in two of my workshops. It is wonderful to have their help.

I have found that egg cartons work great for storing and staging small clay parts. For simple animation sequences this is a good way to introduce children to stop motion. The children started off creating a sequence in which clay cubes transform into two different objects and back to a cube.
































































































In the first class they created the transforming cube parts and larger people. The people were built up on twisted floral wire stick figures. Their feet are taped down to magnets. We did this to experiment with them standing on cookie sheets. I am hoping that the magnets on their feet will be able to support them on metal cookie sheets, but the magnets I used may not be strong enough once all the clay is added, in which case, we will also have wire supports behind the figure that we will try to hide.
I love the personalities of each of these figures. The children had a blast using a pasta maker to create sheets of clay for clothing. We also had a clay extruder to make strands of hair.










































































































































Storyboarding was also introduced in this first day. In fact, they did not touch any clay until they had a storyboard for their transforming cubes. We looked at sample storyboards from past students and we looked at samples online. After the children completed their storyboard and cube parts, they sketched their clay people. They were told that these figures were to interact with their magical transforming cubes. After the people were completed the children created detailed storyboards for that interaction.

Day 1:
Introduction to storyboarding
Create transforming cubes (place parts in egg cartons)
Sketch characters to interact with the cubes
Create clay figures over wire armatures (in our case thread covered floral wire and magnet feet)
Create detailed storyboard for interaction of figure with transforming cube

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles Installation

A few months ago I participated in the San Jose SubZero Festival by creating a visitor participatory semi-permanent art installation (yes, a mouthful!). The three banners are now up on the exterior facade windows. These were created quickly in a month and a half and originally I designed them to be banners hung higher up, that is why they do not fit perfectly in the windows.

There are a lot of things I would do differently now, but it was a good learning experience. I would love to expand and refine the concept of this project next year for Earth Day. I think it would be stunning to have all the windows covered in strands of only the woven diatoms and plastic bottle bottoms with some solar led lights illumination. I have started to conduct Earth Day assemblies in schools and envision an extension project in which students create the diatoms to be strung and hung in the museum windows. I'll be brewing on this idea.

Two of the banners got tagged. I kind of like it. Bu the things that stands out to me most is that the banners do not fit neatly into the windows and there are not enough participatory diatoms attached. Many people walked away with their creations and did not add them to the banners.



































































Below: Details of the elements the visitors created. I love the colors and textures. Each of these represent a diatom, a unicellular organism found in water. The plastics are all recycled and collected from creek clean ups and from three different schools in Cupertino and San Jose.

Lords of The Samurai

The San Francisco Asian Art Museum hired me to create eight craft lesson plans that tie into their current Lord of The Samurai exhibit. Each project is designed to be simple and use a downloadable template and instructions. These projects are introduced on the Lord of the Samurai blog and then from there link to there website where you can download the template files and instructions.
Below are images of the projects created so far.
Samurai Helmet (Kabuto):























Here is a sample instruction sheet. This series of projects has really gotten me to work with the software program Illustrator again. This particular helmet project was difficult to design in a simple manner. Earlier versions were much more detailed and complicated and even this simplified version's instructions were a challenge to fit on one page. The are three separate pages of templates for this project as well.























Samurai Half Mask (Mempo Mask) complete with sweat drain tubes (made of straws) and whiskers made of recycled produce netting:























Samurai Tosei Gusoku-Type Armor:























Samurai Sword:













Hands down, this was my son's favorite project. You can see from his face how thrilled he is to have created one. He helped me design it, too. This is his prototype.























Next I will be creating the lesson plan for a haiku project. I have conducted haiku projects several times with elementary school children and it is very entertaining and engaging. All these templates will be posted on The San Francisco Asian Art Museum's website (scroll to the bottom of the webpage to see them). The museum will be uploading a new project every week.

In a few years I hope to put together a book of all the various museum craft projects I have created. I have quite a collection now. I think that some can be quite fun for adults, too; I have been asked if I do bridal showers and corporate events when I conduct my paper hat workshops. Recycled materials are often designed into my projects adding an important if subtle conservation message. Below is one such project (for the de Young Museum) that used recycled sample wallpaper books, discarded tie fabric and produce netting to create fun and stylish hats.

Present Tense Biennial

I received an email regarding a panel discussion about contemporary art, community and public space and was intrigued by the project being discussed. It is called Present Tense Biennial and is presented by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco in collaboration with Kearny Street Workshop. The panel discussion is July 25th form 1-3 in the San Francisco Culture Center Auditorium. This biennial exhibition showcases vibrant and diverse perspectives on contemporary Chinese culture. Featuring artists from the Bay Area and beyond, the show includes a wide array of media at the Center’s main gallery and in storefronts throughout Chinatown.
Here is the show's website:
http://presenttense.us/

Many very interesting artists are participating. Here are a few:
Cui Fei:
http://www.cuifei.net/works/letter5.htm

Bu Hua:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2004/Nov/113605.htm

I think this would be a great model for showcasing artwork in Japantown, San Jose. Inviting contemporary Chinese and Japanese American artists to create art for storefronts and reflect on the history of San Jose's Heinlenville Chinatown/Nihomachi would result in innovative and engaging art that would educate the public on the histroy of the site and bring visitors to this area.

Last day of Animation workshop 1

Today was the last day of the animation workshop. It was an intense week of working and I think all of us were quite tired by today. I know that the children all have a renewed appreciation for the animations they see in movies and TV. It is a lot of concentration and hard work for so few seconds! Yesterday they had a very interesting tour of De Anza's Colleges Animation Department. It was good for them to know that a really excellent animation program is right here in Cupertino. Today the students recorded sound using the freeware Audacity and they imported the image files. They will add music later.

Below is the rough draft that the three boys created. Their story is about a few pet shop animals that try to escape a pet shop but then are caught again. Each animal tries to escape the shop on his own and is caught. When they are put in the same cage they use teamwork to escape and sail home in paper boats they find. The final animation will be two minutes and a music track will be added as well. All the still images and audio files were inserted into Premier Elements by the children. There is very little dialog here. They had fun creating the sound effects using paper, water in a tupperware, my creaky door and rattling keys.
Teamwork Animation:


The three girls' animation was focused on vanity and the bad consequence of it. A group of fairies are invited to a party. Two of the fairies wear big puffy showy dresses and fail to realize that it is a bowling party even though the older wiser fairy advises them not to be so dressy. The two fairies brag about how beautiful they are. At the bowling alley, one overdressed fairy knocks down a little girl's drink with her big fancy skirt. The overdressed fairies bowl terribly. They end up learning their lesson and have a yard sale to sell the big puffy dresses. The girls created a lot of dialog and even wrote out their script. There will be music added to this animation. All the still images and audio files were inserted into Premier Elements by the children.
Vanity Animation:

Day Three of Claymation, Pet Shop and Fairy Party

Today the children started filming their animations. We had two stages and two cameras working. Here the girls are filming their fairies. We filmed in my garage. Thankfully it was not super hot today! It did get hot with all the lights, though. The children rotated through roles of director, animator and camera person.


































The girls picked flowers from my garden to decorate the set. I love the elegant feel. Each of the girls spent a lot of time carefully creating their sets and costumes. They created wings of floral wire (24 gauge). They cut lace and fabric and then hot melted the material to the wings. The wings were tied on with fishing thread. We use this fishing thread to make the fairies fly, too.
















































































This fairy was created by Brittany, the oldest girl in the group. I really like how she styled the hair and the outfit she created. All the girl's garments are quite sophisticated in color and style. The next fairy down is Nina's and the bottom one is Kadin's.














































Here the boys are filming scenes from their pet store animation.
They used the shadow set back lighting a lot. It was interesting listening to the boys verses the girls. The boys were quite silent in their interaction as they snapped their shots. The girls were much more verbal in discussing their shots and each move. It was an entertaining contrast!




















































































Below: Perhaps my favorite frame of the whole animation. Mitchell took this bug eye view of being caught in the net.

Stop Motion Animation Class Day 2

Today the children created most of their sets and refined their storyboards. It was a busy second day as we plan to start filming tomorrow.
Below: a few sketches from yesterday and the cages and animals created by the boys:











































Shadow set for Ed's insect:
















































Shadow puppet parts for Mitchell's Thorny Devil desert scene:






























Cole used a lot of real plant materials for his sets both in the cage and for the main set. It will be interesting to see how he uses these for his shadow elements.


































The boys created smaller version of their animals to sail away in paper boats in the conclusion of the movie. These animals will also be used in the main pet shop scene. Ed taught the other boys how to make paper boats.






































The main stage for the boys set. The Pet Shop doors will slide open to show the pet store.

















Lights for the pet store.

















The girls created the set parts for their fairy story. Large trees were created of wallpaper sample sheets spray mounted onto tag board. These trees are in the background.

















Sketches:





































































They also created element for the shadow screen. These they created of real plant materials
from the yard. We hot melted these to wooden boards. This will be dramatic when back lit against the shadow screen.

















Below: images of the fairy set in progress:



































Creating the fairy party invites.























Doll in dress. The girls challenged themselves to create costuming for their fairies. Tomorrow they will make the wings and the rest of the dresses and the children will start filming!

Stop Motion Animation Class Day 1

Today was the first day of my summer stop motion claymation classes. The children created rough storyboards and began to make their clay figures. They first sketched their clay protagonists by looking at reference books. The boys chose to create animals and the girls chose to make fairies.






































































After they had sketched their figures, I created wireform skeletons for them to build the clay upon. I used 24 gauge thread covered floral wire. This is much cheaper than using armature wire.
This below is the base form for all the fairies.























































































































Below: base form for snake.







































Above: A piece of screen mesh was used to create texture on snake skin.
Below: base form for Thorny Devil lizard.






















































The children build up the creatures using Van Achen Toon Clay. I cut the clay into small blocks so that it is easier to manage. I also had a pasta maker and an extrusion tool on hand for them to use. The extrusion tool was used for the hair on the fairies and the pasta maker was used to create flat sheets of clay for the undergarments.























































































Cole had the good idea of pressing his snake eyes into a block of clay to hold it still before he created the pupil. All the children then used this technique to create the pupils on their bead eyes. Tip: make the opening of the bead the pupil and draw with a permanent marker a ring around that hole. Apply vaseline to the socket before you put the bead eye in. This will make the eye move more easily when you move it with a pencil tip while animating.























When creating the face it is good to build up with small layers on the face. I created a sample character and used a half moon shape to build up the cheeks. I didn't want the eyes to look surprised, so I put a small banana shape of clay above and below the eyes to create the eyelids. Be sure you stick the bead eyes in deep enough that the eyes don't bulge. I should have painted the pupils before sticking the eyes into the head. My husband noted that at this stage the face looked like Lord Voldermart!


















Adding hair, eyebrows and color to the mouth help the face look like a face.














































Tomorrow the children will add more detail. The girls will use lace and fabric to create the garments. They will create the sets and refine their storyboards.

2009 Summer Camp Stop Motion

Monday is the start of a week long stop motion claymation animation workshop. I will be teaching a second workshop later in July as well. The children will be using black box stages made from cardboard boxes. Lights from IKEA are attached to ceiling of stage and to floor of stage. A dowel is hung from the ceiling so objects can be suspended across the stage. I have made two stages so that I can have two groups of three children filming at the same time.

1. They will be making shadow puppet set elements to attach behind the shadow screen.
   
2. They will created set elements for mid stage that can be fixed or slide on and off stage.
3. They will create elements that suspend from the ceiling
4. They will be able to place different colored celophanes to create different light effects.

SAMPLE SET LIGHTING AND PROPS (Created by my 5 year old)
The children will be able to play with different types of stage lighting to create different moods for their stories.
Front lit stage:


















Back lit stage:


















Front and back lit stage:


















If you want see some inspiring set design mock-ups check out these sites:
Erik Flatmo (Amazing San Francisco based set designer)
John Lee Beatty
Han Feng she does costuming for opera (I had to include her...so inspiring)
Also, for amazing San Francisco based shadow puppet organization check out this website (I have blogged about them before):
ShadowLight.

The children will start with a blank set.
BLANK SET


















The back of the box was cut out of these to create a shadow screen that can be incorporated into the set design. White cotton muslin is the screen hot melted to the back edge of the box opening.


















Below: Tracks (painted chopsticks) in the floor and slots in the side of the box can be used to slide sets on and off the stage.




















Below: My stage design helpers.


















WORKSHOP SCHEDULE (sample inspiration animations will be viewed throughout day):
Monday: Storyboarding, Camera Angles and begin characters. Lots of movie watching.
The children will watch:
Sound of Color
Peter and the Wolf
Last Time in Clerkenville
for variations on a story:
The book The Stonecutter and the following two videos
The Stonecutter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOcLtEUD4A&feature=related
for storyboard: Joust
for camera angles and mood and props: I Lived on the Moon
Tuesday: Props and Figures, refine storyboard
Beringer, Making of a Video
Wednesday: Film
Child
Thursday: Sound record voices and music. Field trip to De Anza College's Animation Department
Friday: Edit in Premiere Elements, create invite for screening and create take home shadow boxes for clay figures and set elements, end credits filming

Palo Alto Libraries Monoprint Teen Workshop

Colography is a fun type of monoprinting and a nice intro to printmaking. I conducted a workshop on Monday for the Palo Alto Libraries teen summer program. Here are some of the results. This is good project for all ages. Tip: remind students that if they include words they must be created backwards as the print will be a mirror image of the printing plate.

Below: Printing plate being inked:
























































Above Printing plate and print.

If you want to try it you will need:

1. glass plates with edges taped up (you can get scrap glass from a glass shop)
2. water based printing ink
   
3. rollers for inking and for pressing
4. paper for printing (I use Japanese calligraphy paper...cheap from Daiso)
5. card stock such as cereal boxes (to cut and glue down)
6. matt boards. These are the printing plates (You can get free from framing shops, just ask for scraps)
7. white glue
8. hot melt gun (to attach lace and other objects)
9. toothpicks (good for creating raised lines)
10. pencils
11. scissors
12. paper towels to lay plates on
13. small container of water (you may need to add drops of water to plates of glass if ink gets too thick)

Step One: Cut and tear pieces of cardstock paper (cereal boxes) and glue down on to mattboard with white glue.


















Step Two: Attach other elements such as lace and buttons. Attach these using a hot melt gun.


















Step Three: Squeeze some ink onto the glass (one color per glass plate). Using a roller spread the ink out so that you have an even layer on the roller. Roll over the printing plate. You can also use a brush to apply the paint to the printing plate.



















Step Four: Take a sheet of paper and place it over the inked printing plate. Roll over the paper with a clean roller or use your fingers to lightly but firmly press down on the paper to transfer the ink.

Step Five: Peel off sheet slowing and place it wet side up on a drying rack.























Below: This print was created with quick sweeps of an inked roller to the printing plate. I love the texture! It reminds me of old barns from my childhood memories of Ohio and Kentucky. This piece was created by one of the few boys in the class. The original sketch had a maze like pattern in it. I suggested that he add bits of toothpicks to create that pattern if he wanted it to be visible in the print. Instead he decided to brush on the ink and do a print. I am so glad that he did. It is a great piece.






















Below: This print was created by drawing patterns with the hot melt gun on the printing plate. A diagonal line was created from toothpicks. The student applied different colors to the printing plate before pulling her print. The result is really beautiful and I hope it was framed and displayed. The diagonal line anchors the busy swirls of the hot melt lines. The two dots in opposite corners also add balancing elements. There is tension and balance in this piece.
























Below: City scape of New York City. I think this teen was Russian. I like how the simple addition of lace on the printing plate resulted in the allusion of clouds above the buildings. It took a lot of patience to create all those windows and then glue them onto the buildings on the printing plate. I enjoy how the windows are staggered on the buildings in the foreground while the windows are arranged in an orderly grid on the back building to the right. This contrast makes me think the windows on the two building in the foreground are dancing or conversion with each other.