Two more scenes left to complete for my Music of the Spheres short film. I seem to be on track to make my target deadline. Here’s a shot from the start of the end credit scene. Took me a while to draw all those stones in the isometric perspective tower. Worth it, though.
Two more scenes to go until my animation project is complete. Here’s a sneak peek at what I’m currently working on. The backgrounds are painted thus far, but not the crab.
Did you know that hermit crabs are not “true crabs”, since they don’t possess a hard exoskeleton? They need to scavenge cast-off sea snail shells to protect their soft, vulnerable abdomens. Unfortunately, with people removing shells from beaches around the world for souvenirs, hermit crabs are left with little choice but to use plastic garbage as substitutions for shells.
Another scene for The Music of the Spheres completed. This one features our first glimpse at the hybridized crustaceans who have inherited the post-human Earth. Even though it’s a brief scene with only a rigged lobster puppet and spinning golden haloes, it’s one of my favourites thus far. The doily-looking background upon which the hybrid lobster sits is, in fact, an altered scan of an early 20th-century Catholic “paper lace” prayer card. I just love the intricate, cut paper borders.
Below are a couple of examples of paper lace prayer cards found on Pinterest. No information found on their origin.
Finished scene 14 at last. Animating water is a challenge. Not going for high realism here, so happy enough with this. Above is a short clip. On to scene 15.
Lobsters walk on the ocean floor, but they can’t walk on land. Their spindly legs can’t support the weight of their heavy exoskeleton. I wanted a scene with a lobster walking on the beach, however, so I devised an insect-like walk that isn’t technically correct for a lobster but does the job. SO MANY LEGS. Not finished yet, but it’s coming along.
It’s only a background for the next scene in my animation, but I’m quite happy with how this turned out. Four separate layers.
Now, I just need to animate the water and a walking lobster. So many legs. Whelp.
The Papercut Puppets shop on Etsy has now closed. I’d always considered the shop a time-limited side hustle, more of an experiment to see if I could sell some of my art in an easily reproducible and cost effective manner. I never wanted it to pull me away from my main art practice, though I did enjoy the simple pleasure of crafting weird little dolls and puppets between my bigger animation projects. Now that my concussion has healed and I’m able to work on the computer for longer hours, my studio hours are fully consumed with animated filmmaking.
It was lovely selling my puppets in the arts & crafts markets and I met so many interesting and creative shop owners. That’s the part I’ll miss.
I love liturgical art and, specifically, statues of weeping Madonnas, so it’s not surprising that this image has cropped up on my current project. Also, I just enjoy animating tears. You can be really loose with the drawing and it turns out pretty well.
This is the cleaned up footage, prior to digital paint. Below is one frame, painted.
The winter term has wrapped up, and it’s studio time. Just finished another scene from The Music of the Spheres, pictured here in all its split-screen glory. What I plan to be doing for most of the summer.
Still plodding along on scenes for Music of the Spheres. Here’s the finalized artwork for the interior of the Sun Tower. Happy with this colour scheme.
Lady Lazarus 