Finally finished it up! (I really need to not make a stop-motion short in like 2 days, it’s so much work & burns me out!) Enjoy!
And Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
I really tried to step it up with this one! Worked on sets, lighting, costumes, etc! Basically every frame needed to be Photoshoped in one way or another. All the text frames were done one at a time in Photoshop, and the scenes with 2 Felted Chicken Heads, were shot twice, then photoshoped together! WOW! I’m taking the next couple days off!!!
Don’t FORGET!! Enter for your chance to win a Felted Sushi Set!!
So I just uploaded a new How To video to YouTube about shading wool using chalk pastels!
I got some great feedback from some amazing Felters yesterday via Twitter:
[box] You actually inspire me to take bigger chances, experiment and play. @shanakohnstamm [/box]
[box] Thanks for sharing. I’ve always loved your shading but the airbrush wasn’t an option for me. This is! @runredrunfelts[/box]
It got me to thinking….
★ The real reason I experiment so much, honestly, is that I’m lazy! I see such amazing felting work & realize how much time & labor goes into them. I figure there HAS to be an easier way to create the look that we want without all the work!
★ I don’t see my art work as precious. I think this gives me the “courage” to take more risks with the whole process. It’s just wool after all! Never feel like you are stuck with what you have created so far, you can always cut it, add to it, change it!
★ I’m not really a felter, but a sculptor that happens to work with wool. I love being able to sculpt fibers into fun Plush, without having to do all that pesky sewing! That’s why I don’t feel like I have to be constrained by the traditional techniques of the craft.
★ You learn the most from your mistakes! Like in this video, after working with the eyeshadow, I knew that it wasn’t as good as the chalk pastels. That’s why it’s an experiment. Sometimes you gotta screw it up before you perfect it.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest! And I hope you enjoy!
So here is the very first Felted Chicken Stop Motion Movie!
I know it’s rough, but everybody has to start somewhere, right?!?!?
Things I learned about Stop Motion:
After making this short little video, I’ve learned a couple things about both creating & editing the animation…
1. Patience is Needed!! - I made this on a Friday night, in like an hour. I think it would be awesome to make a longer, better animated short, but I know it would take much more time. I was just moving the Felted Chicken & snapping picts without really any attention to the smoothness of the movements. I probably need to set up a designated space to film, that way I can leave it & come back later.
2. Found the Sound FX! – As you can tell, I’ve found the sound effects library in iMovie! It’s fun & now I can add little bings & zaps but need to be carefull to not to over do it.
3. iMovie Makes it Easy! – iMovie is pretty intuitive. There are also a lot of tutorials out there to show you how to make stop-motion in iMovie. Basically the process is: Import picts into iPhoto, add all the photos from your iPhoto album into your new project, adjust the photo duration, tweak, & BAM!
4. Photo Frame Rate? Between 0.1s and 0.2s – I can’t decide. 0.2s makes the animation a little more jumpy (as you can see), and the 0.1s goes by REALLY fast, so it requires a lot more photos. What do you think?
It was a fun experiment! I’m excited to get started on a larger project. Hopefully it will not become too time-consuming. It’s a lot of work, but seeing the finished project (which makes me laugh) is well worth it!!
With the internet, especially Google Images & YouTube, why would you need to have actual books in your craft library?
I’m a big fan of physical books. I love quickly flipping to an important dog-eared page, having the physical photograph that I’m using for reference, & the mobility of carrying the book from my desk to the couch. None of those things are easily done with your computer. (well, there are ways to easily do it, but I’m partial to paper…)
Here is a quick video sharing some of my favorite books that I have in my Crafty Library. I use these specific books (plus many more) on a regular bases.
Do you have any CAN’T-LIVE-WITHOUT books in your own craft library?
I haven’t posted a video in a while, but here’s a fun Time Lapse flick showing me airbrushing the elephant. Thought it would be fun to show him going from white to grey in under 2 minutes!
