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! 

Day 143 to 145 - Head, Sun and Yellow Rodents

This group are a little mismatched. First we have a head which started off as a friend but ended up looking more like one of the Russians from "Rock N Roller".

The Sun was an experiment into flat characters which is something I am very interested in creating into an animation.

 Lastly the rodent was really just a test of using up left over clay!

Day 141 and 142 - The Barman and the Rat

So I think this working in a pub has rubbed off on me as this is my second model based on the pub!  

The hairy barman (which is not based on me, what ever Mel said) is an idea which connects to a script idea, based around a pub set in the middle ages. 

The rat on the other hand is just a rat, maybe inspired by Ratatouille as I watched it the day before, who knows!

Day 139 and 140 - Violent Laser Battle

Megazone, a place where I spent quite a few hours as a kid and still find it fun till this day, and after a birthday trip there about 4 weeks ago, it reminded me of something a friend said to me. He told me that he could not come with us to megazone, because he may take it too seriously and try and smack someone with the butt of his gun!! 

Day 133 to 138 - Ted goes Royal and a ....Tree

 Because I love Ted so much and I was pretty happy with the turn out of the first episode, I have decided to make at least 2 more episodes! The first will include a little nod to an event that has just pasted us and one still to come. Here are some of the props and costumes I made for it.

O yer and the tree from the pilot!

Day 131 and 132 - "Tom is a Ninja, Tom is a Ninja, Tom is a Ninja and His Friend is Fat"

When I lived in York, I and my housemate Jonny would think up random ideas that we would talk about making into a film or TV show. One of my favourite ones that I will never forget was “Tom is a Ninja”, which I even created an outfit for! So here is the two main characters, 

Tom the Ninja

and his fat friend, who when we thought about it more became Tom’s career, as Tom was not mentally all there!