Developing Characters for a Stop Motion Animation Short Feature

Whenever I work on my art, I usually tell myself that I can finish the project in 2 days, which never happens. It has taken me close to a year and a half, maybe more, to get this far with the dolls. I volunteered to help my friend Alejandro with his stop motion animation project. I thought it would just take a week to do it, but the week became a month, so in April, I was busy helping Alejandro with the development of characters of his feature film.

His initial idea was to have a laboratory type of setup, with a female robot or android, a scientist, and two lab assistants. The second set will be a newscast type of environment, with an older gentleman interviewing the scientist from his lab, with the scientist viewing the interviewer from the monitor in his lab.

I agreed to make the characters, and wanted to help further, at least in finalizing the rest of the bodies, but I had other commitments, so got as far as making the "masks" of the human characters and the head and jaws of the robotic character. I have yet to see his final animated film short, but he also told me he wanted to keep developing his story and probably lengthen the film.

That would be hard work, since each second requires a certain number of frames. Even at 15 frames per second, it would take a long time to come up with a 15-minute stop motion animation.

Latex is the base material for the masks. Initially I sculpted in polymer clay. Then I made plaster casts of the heads. I didn't include the back of the heads, because Alejandro can cover those areas with hair, and he'll figure them out later.

The eyeballs for the latex were tricky but easy. To make an eye socket on the latex, I superglued the eyeballs to the plaster cast's eye area. Then I brushed on the latex around the area. When the latex dried, the eyeballs were in place, and it was just a matter of using a blade to take out the eyeball for later coloring.

The robot girl was a different method. She is supposed to be "stiff," so the head for the shoot was made from polymer clay, with the lower section just below the nose cut off, so that jaws with different mouth movements and expressions would be interchangeable.

 She went through several incarnations, and so I'm not really sure which of her would be used. I gave all the different faces of the girl and their jaws to Alejandro so he can use whatever he decided on. I made a suggestion that the rejects can be part of the scenario, like including shelves of the prototypes.

Stop motion animation is a whole different discipline altogether. It was good to help my friend out, because we hung around and talked about stuff, especially since in March, the previous month, I took the Dov Simens Filmmaking School, which was a 2-day seminar on filmmaking.

What was funny was, on the day when he was at my place, my phone rang, and Dreamworks Animation called me. I was losing sleep, so I saw their phone number and called them 2 hours later. They expressed interest in evaluating my book, Dollman the Musical. So that was good.



Coffee and Cake... and Screenwriting Books!

I'm just beginning to catch up with my blogging and editing pics to include. I was out of town in February 2012, doing something worthy of writing about (still confidential hehe).

I discovered that Dov Simens Filmmaking School was coming to Chicago at the opportune time when I would be back! I heard about this 2-day seminar years back, when a friend, who was a former staff writer for the tv shows, The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son, highly recommended it and mentioned it to me many times over. Back then, the seminar was held in Los Angeles, New York, and a locale in Florida. Last 2011, I learned that they finally included Chicago. By 2012, I had the time and money to do it.

I basically did my best to get ahold of the course subjects and whatever information I amassed, I studied more than 5 times over, so by the time I attended the seminar, I felt I wasn't just blindly attending.

It was also a great time for me to attend, since my latest literary work, Dollman The Musical, A Memoir Of An Artist As A Dollmaker, was basically a script, although my original idea to submit it to Broadway producers. 

As I have been telling people, my book writing promotes my art. It is my way of marketing and branding myself. However, when I write, I make sure that I write great stories, that it make full circles, and that they stand on their own regardless of whether I'm a visual artist or an astronaut. As much as I hone my artistic skills, which currently has been about porcelain / ceramic / ball-jointed dollmaking, and attempt to master it, I approach writing books the same way, that it is a separate discipline that needs to be just right. 

Blogging to me, as you might read here, is essential, but I allow myself to be a little scatter-brained.

I wrote a book in 2006 - a full-length 170,000-word memoir, which I decided to pull out for the meantime. I had a few more books later on. By 2010 and 2011, however, I started to learn new approaches to writing. By November 2011, I finished writing Dollman The Musical, so Dollman incorporated new writing styles and approaches. By 2012, I seem to have incorporated writing scripts into my psyche. Quite timely. Everything converges somehow.

Just finished pouring ceramic porcelain slip - BJD doll parts

A screenshot of my justin.tv vid. (6 minutes)

http://justin.tv/dollman/b/317490071

I just made a video on justin.tv. It's a few seconds of panning across my muddy molds. I am hoping to make 5 sets from this batch, which will go to one single diorama. The pieces have dried, but they have to be smoothed out. Then I'll put them in the kiln.

Check out my script / book DOLLMAN THE MUSICAL - A Memoir Of An Artist As A Dollmaker. The e-book version is now on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com and Smashwords.com. It's also on Apple. I hope you like the book. I submitted it to some Hollywood film companies and 2 weeks ago DreamWorks Animation called me and wanted my release so they can read and evaluate it. It's a good sign, especially since they called Monday at 9 a.m. their California time. Maybe other companies are reviewing it as well, I don't know yet. :-)

DOLLMAN THE MUSICAL eBook is now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Dollman The Musical - A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker by Artist Valentino Zubiri

It took a while, but Dollman The Musical - A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker is now available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This is why I haven't been posting or working on my actual dolls. I let some people read the draft, and they said they cried a few times, they wanted to hug me, etc. and some called it "poignant" and they said it changed something in them and made them feel good.

Initially, I was going to print a few copies to send to some literary agents, but I eventually decided to let the public decide if it is worth further related projects, including an intensive, full-length book or its actual staging and collaboration with a composer (the lyrics are in the book, but I want to collaborate with some key people). I wanted the cover to be kinda simple, as if it's a script... It is a real script, and I even did not include too much emotion, making you the director of your emotions, and leaving some parts intentionally vague and  more open to discussion and interpretation.

Dollman The Musical - A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker is a great, quick read, but it has it's drama. I hope it inspires and uplifts people, especially those who had to deal with child abuse, terminal illness of kids, pedophilia and incest. If you are a parent, I would recommend this to you. 

Here is the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006U14MP2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=banbusbuzmag-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B006U14MP2

And here is the link to Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dollman-the-musical-a-memoir-of-an-artist-as-a-dollmaker-valentino-zubiri/1108198161?ean=2940013768024&itm=1&usri=valentino+zubiri 

If you don't have a Nook (Barnes&Noble) or Kindle (Amazon), they also have free apps so you can read their eBooks on your laptop, desktop, pc or Mac, or other gadgets. The eBooks posted are formatted differently for the Kindle or Nook, so make sure you go to your correct store. Please support and give a really great review.

My Current Writing Projects Related to My Art

I'm polishing a screenplay about my interaction with a master artist. He reminds me of Robert de Niro. There's a twist. I want to send this to an agent in California who is involved with a nonprofit I highly respect.

I have a musical about being a dollmaker. It's about kids of all ages. I got some friends to read it. They cried at some parts. It's kinda sad, but there is redemption. I am sending this to a nonprofit organization with a famous founder.

I wrote a memoir from an artist's perspective of tips from my "mentors" from a certain time period. Some of them are famous.

I wrote another book about my encounter with a healer.

As an artist, I'm being watched by a few top galleries. I have yet to sell one piece, but I'm holding out because of a tip from a person who is highly regarded in the art field.

I've been going to Book Expo America, where I learn trends in the publishing industry and writing. When it rains, it pours, I believe, so I keep writing, just in case I start getting noticed -- which is now happening.

I guess this is what I can currently mention.

Doll Heads and Their Plaster Molds

It's way past bedtime, and I just wanted to share this with you. Today, I spent time making 8 heads. My "fantasy" was to make 30 full sets in one day. Obviously this was not to happen. I only got to this point, not because I'm lazy, but because all this just takes time. You have to have some patience. You also need to assure yourself that eventually you'll see some finished works.  

 I currently have 8 faces which can fit the current body that I have. This is the first full set, so I admit they are rough. I wonder if I should just maintain that roughness in all my future works. I was told by a gallery owner to keep it rough and don't even paint them. I still want to see how they would look like painted and dressed. Another gallery owner told me I need to refine it some more. I tend to agree, but I'm still proud of my progress. As soon as I start working on a new set of faces and bodies, I know I'll see an evolution of my work, which makes this worthwhile and worth showing (or even touring). 

 I'm too sleepy to extrapolate further. :-) 2 more pics below LOL.

How 200 grams of FASTfire BRONZclay looks like

I took these quick pictures of a pack of 200 grams FASTfire BRONZclay to show you how the actual pack looks like.

Like me, if you haven't really seen a pack of bronze clay, you would probably be surprised at the amount of clay you would receive. Like me, you probably would have been expective more than what gets shipped to you.

It took me weeks to make a decision to purchase a pack, and when I did, I waited for four days, impatiently tracking the UPS package online. On the day it was supposed to arrive, I had to wait outside my building to make sure that I don't miss the UPS truck, because my building has a problem with deliveries--there's no way for anyone to buzz the residents from the outside and our building has a reputation for missing deliveries and we end up going to the UPS (or Fedex) warehouse.

On that day, my phone rang, and I went inside to my unit, where I entertained a friend gripe about stuff. Then I remembered to come out again, while still on the phone, and, sure enough, I saw the UPS truck past my building and already parked on the next block! I ran and chase it, and waited for the driver to come back. Luckily I got my package!

Within the four days of waiting, I went to two art stores, just to pass the time, and I looked at some polymer clay packs, visualizing what the bronze clay pack would be like. I visualized the 200-gram amount to be a huge brick! My thoughts were on making huge villages with mountains in the backdrop made of bronze clay! Needless to say, I was disappointed at the amount that came in the mail.

NOTE: After the discussions about the pics, make sure you read the section below. I also ordered activated carbon, which I will mention later.

In the picture above, I placed the pack on top of a letter-sized (8 1/2 inches x 11 inches) unopened ream of paper and by a Sharpie pen. I figured most of you out there, especially artists, would have the paper and Sharpies around. 

Online, I thought that the pictures of the PMC (precious metal clay) packages were just showing the label. It turns out, those flat-looking images are the actual packages themselves! They just happen to look flat because the clay inside is flat. The wrapper looks like plastic and foil, to make sure that the clay does not dry up.

You can imagine how a 100-gram pack and 50-gram pack would be. They are probably packed the same way but even thinner. I don't think I'll ever buy a 100- or 50-gram pack, because they would be more expensive per gram, and I really could use more than 200 grams.

In the third picture, I folded back the edges of the pack so that what you see is the size of the actual clay inside.

Now, I wonder. Maybe, like me, you are also wondering: if this is bronze, then maybe gold clay is heavier(?) This would mean that the amount of gold clay in a pack might even be smaller than bronze clay! Hopefully only by a small fraction!

I have yet to order gold clay, but as it is, I am hesitant. If I'm going to make settings for my ceramic porcelain dolls, I might have to explore other possibilities other than metal clay. I had always been considering using some type of a darker (earth) clay for accessories, and then coating them with gold leaf. I might want to do that.

There is also something to say about gold leaf. Jewelry is usually electroplated. Metal for jewelry can start with bronze or copper, but before a layer of gold is plated on them, nickel has to be plated on first. Nickel does not oxidize and it acts as a barrier between the gold and the bronze. Without nickel, the bronze, in time, seeps through the gold layer and will oxidize, discoloring the gold. (Read more about this, because I did, and I am not yet considering to do all this.)

Gold leaf is actually more convenient. The layer of glue also serves as a barrier, so that the gold leaf will keep its color for a long time. My purpose for all this "research" is not to make jewelry. Gold leaf for me will do just fine.

The fourth picture shows how thin the pack is. I would say that the thickness is just a little above a quarter of an inch. I thought I was going to get a thick brick of bronze clay!

My estimation is that if you are looking to make jewelry, you can probably make from 8 to 12 decent-sized rings.

ACTIVATED COCONUT SHELL BASED CARBON

You might also forget a few other considerations. So here are some that I remember off-hand.

It turns out, bronze clay needs a kiln, a torch would not work like it would on gold clay. Other PMC's like gold clay can be torched, or placed on a gas stove (with the necessary contraptions). I bought a torch months ago, but I cannot use it on bronze clay. Bronze clay and copper clay oxidize, and so while the necessary temperature is reached, the least amount of oxygen should interact with the clay. Activated carbon is needed. I also had to purchase activated coconut shell-based carbon (approximately $17).

While inside the kiln, the metal clay should have as little contact with oxygen as possible, hence the need to bury the bronze (or copper) in a tray of activated carbon. There are two types of activated carbon available, coal and coconut shell. They are priced the same, but coconut shell is supposed to be better from what I have read.

AND, because of this needed procedure, the carbon needs a TRAY... You must remember that you need to use a tray that can withstand the temperatures of a kiln, and especially, the temperature needed by bronze clay. This means you have to buy the right tray... another expense. I decided to experiment, I have yet to prove this right or wrong...

I had an idea of just making a tray using my porcelain clay so I would not have to buy more and more stuff. I looked at the few trays available online for this process, but nothing sparked my interest. The reason for this is that the trays are mostly flat. Without having seen a pack of bronze clay, with visions of constructing an entire village made of bronze, I thought I need to be flexible with the tray shape. I might want to make something longer and higher than jewelry, so I figured I needed to make my own trays for the carbon.

I stuck to buying just the clay and the carbon, but if you are new to metal clay, and you decide to use bronze or copper, make sure that you also order the activated carbon, and maybe the appropriate tray for it.