Tag Archives: Nile Plumb

Exploring Animation

Today I have started a new course of animation. it’s an online course from Future Learn titled ‘Explore Animation’ it’s designed to take 4 weeks to complete dedicating 3 hours per week. It’s content should apply to all animators across all mediums and includes exercises and award winning shorts to study. It’s being presented by the NFTS (National Film and Television School) and is free to participate, optionally you can purchase a certificate after completing the course to add to a CV or resumé, or use it as evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

You can sign up here
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-animation/
I’ll be posting my task videos and thoughts on this blog, coming up first will be a simple flipbook animation done on post it notes

Lemmy and Slash Statues Campaign reignited!

Reigniting the Lemmy and Slash Statues Campaign


Hi 5 Years ago I started a campaign to get statues of Lemmy and Slash built in Stoke-on-Trent. That campaign gained traction and was noticed by national newspapers and many international blogs and news sites, I attended council meetings pitching the positive roles these musicians have had on the world and continued influence and suggested these icons be celebrated in their home towns.

Since then I’ve had the honour of meeting both Lemmy and Slash after their concerts in the UK, Slash even came to Stoke-on-Trent for his amazing concert “Made In Stoke” which was recorded and released on CD, DVD and BluRay.

Stoke-on-Trent is well underway into it’s refurbishments and redevelopment of the city centre and has seen a big increase in it’s arts and culture sectors, sadly with Lemmys passing it only seems more fitting we push for this monument now. I was on BBC Midlands Today promoting the idea once again stating their continued inspirational influence and that it would be an honour and increase tourism to the area and be a welcome addition to the growing arts culture in the area.

Lemmy and Slash are also much loved and celebrated state side as well which is why this campaign now wants to celebrate with the USA too, we’ll be producing identical statues for the Sunset Strip in LA and Stoke-on-Trent, truly showing the international appeal and links for these two icons.

Since launching the Kickstarter we’ve already received £1,956 and growing with some amazing backers pledging thanks to everyone so far but we need more for these dual statues to be built

12400776_1054813181236240_728406402029874004_n

Please if you can, help us out and I hope to rock out with you soon!

Live LOUD!

You can download our press release here https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxtadubfvvvqz77/Lemmy%20Kickstarter%20Press%20REL%201.1.docx?dl=0

Visit the Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/StokeStatues/

More Silicone Puppet making

Since my last post I have managed to track down and purchase more materials such as Chavant clay and Toluene (A paint thinner that also works on silicone) And I used the process to make 3 more models and moulds the 3 part mould (my first ever) for an aardvark, an ape and a toad.

Arvin in chavant

Arnie Aardvark in chavant

Arnie and Slinky

Arnie and Slinky

arnie divided ready to be cast in plaster

arnies first section curing

arnies 1st part of the mould cured

arnies mould part 2

arnies mould ready for part 3

 

arnies mould complete, left, right and underside

arnies 3 part mould assembled

arnies armature

Arnie’s armature has metal nuts in his feet, they’re magnetic, so I can use magnets to secure the model when animating OR use ‘traditional’ tie down screws too (I’ll probably use magnets)

arnies armature

 

For the toad and ape I made armatures first so I can be sure they fit inside my models, they also have nuts in their feet for magnetic tie down

terry toads armature

terrys armature

terrys model

terrys model

arvins model in chavant clay (armature inside)

the crew so far

arvin ready to be cast

arvin detail plaster coat, painted/daubed onto the model directly so as to preserve fine details

painting the first detail coat of crystacal R plaster onto arvin model to preserve fine details

detail plaster coat finished

Arvins top half completed, hessian is added in layers of the plaster mould to add strength to the mould

Perfect £1 bucket for plaster, it’s flexible so dried plaster can be cracked off and disposed of, DO NOT wash wet plaster down sinks and drains.

arvin’s mould removed, lots of left over WED clay that needs to be cleaned off

arvins top half ready for casting

Easily the best way of cleaning off moulds, I saw them doing this on Face Off with a hose, I don’t have a hose, but I do have a shower!

these clay blocks in the middle will form drainage pools so excess silicone can pool into these resulting in thinner edges on the model and a tighter mould.

Terry Toads mould and armature

Arvins Mould

 

Yesterday I cast the aardvark in silicone.

Arnie’s silicone model, a few issues, mainly the bi air bubble on its back

excess silicone edges/flash/sprue trimmed and bubbles cut out, I decided to patch the holes with more silicone

Bubble holes filled in the mode is shiny because the silicone is still wet

The bubbles were a shame so I had to mix up another batch of silicone and touch up and fill the areas.

Ears added on, they also have wire inside, a hole was drilled into the milliput skull and ear wire inserted into the hole, extra silicone added to add skin and secure the ear in place

bristle hairs added

 

The ears were carved from some left over silicone, I shoved a wire into them and drilled a hole either side of his head into the milliput skull, and inserted them afterwards adding an extra layer of silicone on top and around the base to stick the ear in place, the hairs are simply a hole pierced into the silicone and old thick paint brush bristles inserted, painted black..

Now to make the toad and ape. Will have to make the feet again for the ape as his model ‘locked’ in the mould and I had to carve it out so now his feet area have holes through to the top. This probably occurred due to poor decision of where to build my dividing wall for his feet as such his toes were wider than the space behind it and once the plaster had set I had sealed his foot in a chamber it couldn’t pull out of.

Nile Plumb’s Animated Ice Bucket Challenge!

Here’s my Ice Bucket Challenge Video, done a little differently and more in my style. ANIMATED!

Enjoy and please donate to charity where you can.

The puppet as you can probably tell is print outs stuck to an armature body. The water is cling film. Replacement faces were used, and a two part bucket so the water can pour out from inside.
I also make my arms + bucket swap sides of the armature as it raises it’s arms.

If you wanted to do something like this yourselves I’d recommend printing/sticking printout onto a stiff card/paper to reduce scuffing and crumpling. There are good examples of this ‘2D model’ style in short stop motion films online

Jungle Tails Concept Models

Hello! Long time no blog post!

I’ve been busy working with a local author on turning her creative childrens book, Jungle Tails, into a short animation. After some scripts and storyboards and designs I’ve reached the concept model stage now, so I have something nice to share with you guys.

These models help establish a scale between all the characters (which is 1/20th their real life animal counterpart size, except the pixie frog he’d be a bit too small at that scale, so he’s a bit larger)

So we have a giraffe, an african elephant (females have tusks too), an ape (based on a chimpanzee), a shoebill bird, an aardvark, a pixie frog and finally a snake.

So enough talk, here’s the photos.

Jabberwocky Mask ‘final’

Beware the Jabberwock!

following on from my previous post where I painted the mask I present a video, much like the first one except now fully painted and detailed.

I think I’ve completed the Jabberwocky mask for the Alice in Wonderland party I’ll be going to.

I’ll be making a tail and finishing off my wings now.

I’ll be wearing a cheap green T-shirt and attaching the wings to the t-shirt somehow.

Not sure what to do about hands and feet yet….

2013 showreel now live

After wading through and editing I have a version of my showreel I’m happy to punt around for now.
There’s always room to improve and chop and change in future, but for now here’s my brand new showreel for you to watch and enjoy.
For the best experience watch in fullscreen and HD

[vimeo 74287025 w=540]

Hope you enjoy! What do you think? Leave a comment for me and share to friends or family you think could be interested in my skills.

I want your music! For my showreel!

I’m making a brand new show reel to promote and show case my animation abilities but also would like a good soundtrack to accompany my short film clips, this is where you come in!
If you’re a budding soundtrack composer, rock out in a band, strum acoustically or mix electronic beeps and whistles I want to help to promote you too!
No need to record something new, time is very short for me at the moment, but if you have a track, instrumental or otherwise you would allow me to use in a show reel, I will give full captioned credits to you/your band.

Know someone who might be interested? Forward this on to them, I’m looking at getting finished by the 10th September at the latest so time is short, however I may make additional changes after this date so please don’t be put off, unfortunately I cannot use all submitted songs but I will use the most suitable sample/s for the footage and purpose.

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you!

Moo business card review

Update: I’ve ordered myself some matte business cards
If you fancy placing an order you can use my link to get £10 off for new customers, and I get a little thanks too.
https://refer.moo.com/s/jy5cl

In my last post I mentioned I had ordered a sample pack from Moo.com I had some interest for a review and even more so for the Luxe cards.
So I dusted off my camcorder, mounted it on a tripod and got filming, many hours of encoding and uploading later I present my attempt at reviewing my sample packs from moo.