New model for paper doll

I have been trying to think of ways of making the paperdoll more flexible and have made a new model. Its a bit time consuming putting her bits all together in the right place, but i am definitely happier. So this weekend is probably going to involve making more characters or objects, with my story in mind... which you'll have to wait and see... For now, a sneak preview of the new look paper dolly...

Paper Doll

It is amazing how when you start doing something that is absorbing, time seems to fold up like a fan. I was sitting here, trying to figure out how to use iMovie and suddenly three hours have past. I have something to show for the time at least. I made a little paper doll, I suppose she is sort of a representation of me. Anyway the aim was to animate her, a little easier i thought than jumping in and building a 3d character and set. I am still figuring out how to get the walking properly and i have some ideas for refining her design so that she can move better. I also need to work out how to make this software do what i want it to do and refine me story a bit, plan it better.... and all that stuff. But the rewarding part i think is these tiny bits that you get right when you're trying things out, that is the fun part too and i did not want to bog down the process with all that stuff.



What is it about then? well it started with the idea of animating her posting a letter, and i have some footage of that...to be included later. Fran gave me this diary with all sorts of pictures of the sea and boats... which Al posted all the way here, although i had not expected him to, it was supposed to be stashed with all the other boxes and stuff that Mum and Dad are storing for me. Anyway, so this diary travelled by surface mail (ship) all the way here. I have being sorting through all of my stuff, trying to get myself organised and I saved a number of the images before getting rid of the diary. So I have all these images of boats and the sea and, they linked in with what I wanted to do, I thought they could be a vessels to transport my messages. They also connect with my other water images in a way. The idea I suppose is to represent the connection, or the desired connection with home and my roots.

indian ocean

Things seem to be getting back to some kind of normality, that is, I seem to have both the time and the focus to post something. I'm adding to the previous water footage with this video of the Indian ocean taken at the heads at Knysna in April this year. As i mentioned before about wanting to catalogue my images and video, well, its a kind of start. I have heaps of water, so i thought it was an easy enough one to start with, until i figure out exactly what i want to do with it all. I waas browsing around on Youtube and came across some really inspiring animations, some of them really short... I'll add the links at the below.

what a great day
sand on glass animation

I am working on preparing images of the sand sculpture I made in near Plettenburg bay, its slow progress because my computer is playing up, but I keep plodding on. Hopefully i will be able to buy a new machine next month, so it should go better then. Here is a sneak preview of what I'm working on....
Yesterday we went to some artists studios as part of a Open house studio event in the Richmond area. It was a lovely day and has given me the necessary inspiration i was hoping for. I want to mount some of my work, print some of my photographs and try and show my work somehow. Also, as we were taking a break, sitting on the bank of the river, I noticed some interesting, beautiful junk floating down the river. I have take quite a number of short videos in a similar way, keeping the camera as still as possible and focusing on something particular (in this case as in many - moving water) I am working on ideas for putting it all together, but for now, just this...

land act revisited

It been beautiful in London, sun shining and clear skies. I have been working away at art history assignments, which is going quite well, and I have managed to join two excellent reference libraries, which has helped lots. I'm hankering after time to work on my art, but its not long to go because my assignments are soon due and then I can work on art guilt free. I am really actually enjoying the research and writing, which is a first (at least in a long time). One of them is about informal art training in South Africa in the 1950's and 60's. Reading about Sophiatown, and the forced removals got me thinking about the animation that I did for the Journey to freedom project for UNISA. I think that I did not think about the seriousness of the forced removals and how tragic they really were, well, maybe I did but being my first animation, I think I was more concerned about getting the embroidered images moving and less about the impact it had. My animation is kind of humorous. Anyway, I am glad that I've realised this now, and have been thinking about how I could have done it differently which is a step in the right direction, I suppose.

i'm back...

I have been working on some things... as I keep saying but never posting. I have an idea for an animation and did a rough start sketch to get into the process... I am enjoying it but realise that i have heaps to learn. I set up my camera on a tripod and starting drawing. I want to refine the images and possibly work in a different media. But for now as a sketch its a start.



More images of my paintings and drawings to follow shortly!