Tour de Yorkshire

Tour de Yorkshire was coming through Ripon, right past the stationery shop where I work on Saturdays. My boss asked me if I could make some little bikes for my dolls to ride as part of the Ripon 'tour de shops' in which visitors were challenged to complete a quiz around some fantastic independent Ripon shops (i.e. how many dolls on bikes are there in Stuff4Offices? What colour is the bike necklace in Tuttobello?)

I have never tried to make a bike before and it took me a really long time to work out how to make them sturdy enough. I started using wire but they were too weak so I used lollipop sticks. I also found some old super8 film reels in my camera collection and thought they'd be the perfect size for wheels. They worked well in the end and look like bikes! They stood up on their own, they were the right size for my dolls and they were definitely eye catching.

Issues: lack of time! Since I've been so busy with other modules, I really rushed this task and didn't get chance to make fresh dolls specifically for the tour de yorkshire these are all window dolls (ones that I make in advance to go in the shop window for people to walk past and see - they can buy them directly from the window or order a specific one to be made for a little more money).

I also got really frustrated trying to find yellow paint in Ripon the other day (we need a good arts supplies shop!!!!) when I had half-painted the bikes and completely ran out of yellow so I ended up buying some washable kids yellow paint from The Works and it was so bad. It didn't stick to the plastic film reels, it just moved around on the surface like oil.

It was a great day for Ripon and so good to have so many people out watching the race. I'm not hugely interested in the event or sports or cycling in general but there was a fantastic atmosphere on our street. It brought visitors and tourists into Ripon and into the small shops.

It brought people to see my dolls (people were coming in with their quiz sheets, looking for my dolls) and we also gave out my business cards.

Katherine Morton Interview RESPONSE

LYFF

Had a great time at Leeds Young Film Festival in 2015 with Fin and James, so we decided to book it again this year.

Fin wanted to do a Minecraft event with Youtuber Wizard Keen and a Stop Motion Animation workshop with Paul Couvella (Freakstreet, Pingu). I wanted to go and do that one but it's a CHILDREN'S ONLY workshop so I could only drop Fin off and pick him up at the end.
I'm disappointed that this wasn't available to a wider age range, it excludes people from going and learning - I would have been happy even stood at the back watching!

James and I did a VR experience: Tiltbrush with Rosie (who was on my foundation, now studying Animation at LCA) and we really enjoyed that. I painted a giant Moomin and Moominpappa in Virtual Reality.

Volunteer next year? Get INVOLVED? Then I could Meet the animators and speak to them...

Anna Dennison Reply

I'm not using Anna for my creative report but I wanted to speak to her for my own personal interest. These questions were designed just so that I could learn more about Anna and her progress after graduating.
I hope to continue this conversation and stay in touch with Anna.

FACE PAINT SHOP AUSTRALIA Photos

Kate from Face Paint Shop Australia has been posting lots of updates with her pixies 'Flossie and Morgan'. She sends photos to customers of their parcel with Flossie and Morgan packing it and people LOVE IT. In her feedback on her shop she gets comments on them as well as her products.

I expected to see one or two photos of them but she posts loads and I want to cry a little every time!

Spring

Some dolls for the window at work! Spring dolls in boxes. I need to work out some new branding for price tickets, certificates of authenticity and business cards to pop inside the boxes. I also still need to increase the price but I'm scared that people won't think they're worth more.

I've been really busy with other modules so I only had time to make a couple of dolls this time but AS SOON AS I PUT THEM IN THE WINDOW SOMEONE RESERVED THEM!

I'm still so happy with these boxes. They work out so cheap and are the perfect size for my dolls. I'm not sure how they will post (will I need to put them inside another cardboard box?) but they look like proper products.

Backyard Society

Who are they?
Backyard Society. A COLLECTIVE of artists/filmmakers.
Based in Berlin, Germany.

What do they do?
Make animations, puppets, films and motion graphics.
I'm most interested in their puppet animation, especially this one for Crystal Fighters in which they made lots of bustling creatures as puppets to tell a story for this music video.
Atypical approach to a music video - probably not a conventional method of selling music and not what fans would expect?

Lay Low - Crystal Fighters (Official music video) from Wayne McCauslin on Vimeo.

''The video was made with a small group of talented people at our studio in Berlin, using traditional methods such as, stop motion, puppets and hand made miniature sets. The vision came about after speaking to Graham and referencing the marvelous 'power of 10' video, Where we see the journey from the smallest thing in the universe to the biggest. And from that initial idea, I wanted to give the video a narrative and reflect the songs emotiveness and what it evoked in me. A sort of visual metaphor for how life has it's changes and processes, and trying to connect it and make sense of it all.  The biggest challenge was ofcourse trying to recreate the whole universe. We used a lot of glue!'' Wayne McCauslin

How do they relate to my practice?
A commercial business making films, commercials and music videos using puppet animation - something I'm obviously interested in.
Something I could do or look into doing, or a possible place of work.
Too much digital animation and VFX involved for me so I would be most interested in the puppet animation projects.
However, they do mix several processes and they must have people with experience in different processes working together on this. Their Husky video was made using stop motion but then digital puppets were placed in after:

Film was produced over the summer of 2015 in Berlin, and was hand crafted using puppets and miniature sets then finalised with compositing the 3D characters. 


Husky - I'm not coming back (Official Music Video) from Wayne McCauslin on Vimeo.


What can I learn from them?
How they set up a company. What they look for in employees/job applicants. What skills are needed.