Clay Dead!!!!

The Undead is something that will never die, ha pun, no I mean it. Zombies are something that will always get the big bucks and today we can see the genre in so many forms, not just films and TV but also video games, music videos and now even young children's toys. When I first decided that I wanted to make movies at the age of 17, I was given a video camera and told to go create, and I did. I followed a dream. It was one that I had thought about for a while and when given the opportunity to make a short film of my choice I jumped straight into making a zombie trailer.



Since then I have wanted to create something with zombies in it. What i mean is something full, like a film or a novel. Problem is everything has been done to death. Even ideas that I have told Mel about and she told me it would never work, next thing you know a film has been made and Billy Connolly is playing the lead role!! I think it is hard to create a film that breaks the norm and a lot of Zombie movies have that curse. Yer in recent years there have been some nice little gems in the genre, like Zombieland, Warm Bodies and ParaNorman. But every hit has it's bombs, just look at the Resident Evil series!!! Anyway back to the point, when getting back into the modelling one of my favorite things to create was a good old zombie face, a creature with a slack jaw, missing eye-ball, ripped ears and bones coming out of the neck.



So the other day, when going through some old model pieces I noticed a T-shirt i made a couple years ago for a model of a friend of mine and because of its blood soaked look I decided to re-use it on a creation of a zombie killer. Once finishing the man I felt it was only fair to give him a few friends to pick off, cos one zombie is never enough!! This became a small scene featuring 3 zombies, one including a head I made quite early on in my time of 366 clay.

                                     

If you have liked the pictures or even if you do not, but you like a good zombie flick or series, then check out the lovely tale of 3 close(ish) friends who are just trying to live life while the living dead strokes the streets around them. Zomblogalypse is a lovingly created web-series shot in York by 3 film makers, on little budget but a great love for the genre. Featuring some great one off characters, the beautiful City of York itself and a cool little twist on the found footage genre, this series is really worth a look, and it will get you ready for the up and coming movie!! Plus I have a very small part!!! I mean tiny, blink and you will miss me!! Enjoy!  

Not Just Monster Mayhem!!

Making a scene is always fun. You make one creature you think it looks cool then you wonder what it would look like breaking though a brick wall attacking folk. After you done that you begin to let the mind wonder and think what a cat like monster would look like sitting on the top of a watch tower. How about I have part of the wall falling down because something is crawling underneath it? Hmmm, I now have a wall, how about a hut. And a well. Ooo another hut would beef it up. And so on, and so on. Over two weeks in my spare time I have created a small set dominated by dragons, mole monsters, vines and huge mouths.

One of the reasons that I started the whole blog and model making back in 2012 was for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones was because of another blog a friend showed me some time ago and has always stuck with me. It was a theme of models someone had made based on little creatures. They were so colourful and wonderful to look at, that I instantly fell for their charm. The sad thing is that I lost the link for the blog some while back and have not seen them again. I think that this is not such a bad thing. I think that if I still had that connection, I would be copying them and not doing my own thing.

That is why I created the village scene. Not for anyone but myself. I like the idea that people may find it interesting and I would love people to look at the models and love them as much as I loved the little creatures I saw way back. But I make this stuff for myself and knowing that maybe someone else out there may get some inspiration from it is an extra boost.

I have no plan to stop the model making; in fact I hope to do a lot more with it. I have plans in the works and since starting the blog back in 2012 I have not stopped making funny little creations. OK, so the 366 clay did not go to plan, but I got a lot out of it and it was a great help on my way to creating bigger and better things. I also love the fact that in reminded me how much I love being creative and made me so happy to be reliving something I enjoyed so much as a child.

Watch this space for new models, new blogs and new concepts. And if anyone is reading this and wants me to create something for them, I would love too!! It helps me to get better at what I love and create new friends in the long run.

Here is to the future of 366 Clay!!

The Move From Models to Animation

At the beginning of this year I made a promise to myself that I would try to make a model a day for 366 days. I knew at the time that it was a bit of a big ask, as I’m not very good with deadlines, but I truly felt I would keep to it! So it makes me sad to realise that I am so behind. I could power though and try and catch up but I do not see the point when I will probably get so behind again. In the long run though, I have discovered something that I think is a step forward in what I do. 

After a couple of months of doing the models, people started to ask if I was tempted to do animations, to bring the models to life. At first I dismissed the idea as I had done the whole stop motion thing at an early age and thought at the time it was too hard, but I decided that was the wrong attitude and I had to give it a second try, and I’m so glad I did. It is great to see your creations come to life and when seeing what I could do with Buckethead I was quite impressed.

It fueled me to make more, creating life into both Ted and Epic Phil. 

And looking back on the animations I done over the last 5 months, I’m quite proud of what I have achieved so far. From that I have decided to not stop the blog or even give up making the models, but instead have the blog concentrate more on the films. Because when you think about it I am still creating a whole lot of models for the films, therefore it makes sense to write blogs which talk about the making of the films and include pictures of the models. Who knows I may still make it to 366 models!!

To see more films check out and subscribe here: http://www.youtube.com/user/tomisaninja/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Day 151 to 153 - Green Dwarf and Friends

When I was in Primary School I created a character known as 'Green Dwarf', and since then till this day I have always doodled the character here and there. Also when I made shorts back in the day I would entitle them "Green Dwarf Productions", so because of these two facts I thought that I should create the great little guy in clay form and slightly change the name to "Green Dwarf Animations" to put in front of the animations I make. 

These other two guys are characters from the same world, which I hope to enlarge and create a whole story around.

Day 149 to 150 - TIMMONS!

Richard Timmons! 

A man best known for his internet web series which documents the everyday life of one Tim Helsing. Plus a man who goes over the line when it comes to abusing production staff!

http://iamtimhelsing.com/

Day 146 to 148 - Brothers 3 "Enter Steam Punk"

Something that interests me is the world of Steam Punk, an idea I was first introduced to when working on “I am Tim”. For a while now I have had an idea for 3 models based on ideas I have gathered from different subjects I have picked up on from the Steam Punk world. The models are a group of men brought together to form an alliance of high skilled assassins, each skilled in different forms of combat. The first is a giant who allows no man to get the better of him as his muscle is formed of steel. A hard worker and an amazing fighter!

The second is a master of blades and a high society gentleman, fond of a good hunt and a swift kill.

 Lastly we have The Sniper, who needs no sight on the gun to see his targets, as he uses his brilliant steam punk eye.

These are just my first try, and once the web site is up and running (hopefully soon) I will write up character bios for each one. Please tell me what you think, have I done Steam Punk proud? What other types of models could I do? Please let me know!