It has been well over a year since I released my first album - Push Me Away. I was a bit burned out from that endeavor, so I put music on-hold for a while. So, what have I been doing in my spare time? Many things, just not music. For some reason I decided to start a new hobby. Stop motion animation has always interested me so I decided to give it a go. If nothing else, maybe I could make a music video using stop motion puppets I create.
I can't begin to describe how time-consuming creating a puppet from scratch is. Especially a puppet with replaceable limbs. I don't know why - I guess because I like to torture myself - but I decided to create the more-advanced puppet armature that has an aluminum block with holes for each of the body parts. Each body part has a brass bushing that fits into each hole in the block. 6-32 set screws secure each bushing so the limb cannot fall out of the hole. It would have been easier to make an all-aluminum wire armature - but where's the fun in that? Since this process is so time-consuming, I may buy a pre-made armature for the next puppet and see how that goes.
I have not even started yet, but the process of "filming" stop-motion movie is extremely time-consuming. One shoots many still pictures while slightly moving the puppet between each shot. When the pictures are viewed at 30 frames-per-second the magic of animation is revealed. At this time, I intend on making several puppets and making a music video. My typical song is about 4.5 minutes long so I think I can survive this process. At this point in my life, there is no way I would spend my precious free time creating a stop motion movie that's any longer.
My main guide for this hobby has been the book - Stop Motion Filmmaking by Christopher Walsh. It is a well-written book on the subject. Below are images of my first (almost complete) puppet that I made completely from scratch. Click on the images below to see larger versions.
