Get Ready for a great art event coming your way. Open Studio Hartford kicks off this week and runs for most of November!

Come and hang out this Thursday night at ArtSpace in Hartford for the Open Studios Hartford Kick-Off Party from 6-8pm. Come see the work of yours truly and over 200 other artists from the area.

Open Studio Weekend is the 14th and 15th of November from 11 to 5 where you can see artists while they work in studio. There is a shuttle that can take you all around Hartford to all of the stops. I will be at the Trinity College studios along with the one of the Trinity 5th Year Fellows and three other amazing local artists. Come on by and ask questions or just chat!

Installation and the 2015 BFA Show

After the animation was finalized it was time to frame some scenes and the puppets for the exhibition.  For the puppets I framed all three all colored puppets including mustaches and replacement hands.  I also framed both shadow puppets of Klaus and all three wolves.  I only framed three sets because a lot of the pieces in the sets are interchangeable.  I chose scenes that would be the most representative of the animation.

Framed Shadow Puppets

Hanging in the gallery proved to be rewarding and entertaining.  Hit some road bumps along the way a.k.a. the TV falling out of the wall and almost plummeting to a sad concrete death.  Luckily, the TV stayed in the wall and the frames went up easily after a few attempts.  As part of the Installation Committee for the show I enjoyed seeing my fellow students work go up and helping them when they needed it.

Photo Credit: Catherine Boyce Photography

Exhibition installation nearing its completion.

The opening reception was on Thursday, April 16th.  Everyone who attended enjoyed themselves and it went off without a hitch.  Many students received awards.  I personally received the Dean's Purchase Award and 1st Place Student's Choice Award.  Thank you so much to everyone who came out to see the show.  It was such a humbling and exciting experience.

Here is the final version of the animation that I had slaved over.



Klaus from Nicole Horsman on Vimeo.

Animating

After making all of the sets and puppets it's time to animate.  I use a copy stand to shoot down for my animations.  The camera shoots down so that I can use glass. I layer glass on top of each other so that I can move certain things without disturbing the backgrounds and certain objects.  The reason why the room is dark is to reduce flicker and control the lighting of the set and the animation.  I use LED lights because they don't flicker and they stay cool so I can use tissue paper as color filters.  I also use and LED tracing pad beneath the backgrounds to make it seem as if light is coming through the windows.

Animating takes a lot of time and a lot of patience.

Work Station with storyboards along the wall.

Copy stand with camera shooting down. 

Animating a scene.

Animating a scene.

The Puppets

All of the puppets in my animation, Klaus, are made of paper and assembled using paper or wire joints.  I use BFK Rives printmaking papers and Sobo Glue to joint the characters.  All of the puppets are painted in gouache.

One of the simplest puppets is the one of Klaus facing the viewer.  He is painted with gouache on paper.  His eyebrows move and he has eyelids that go over the eyes to simulate blinking.   He also has two different mustaches.

The two Klaus puppets that are in profile were much more difficult.  All of the pieces were cut and painted.  This puppet has replaceable hands, mustaches, and a movable eyebrow.  Once that was done I jointed them.  I used paper joints for the larger puppets because it holds well and is easy to replace if there is a problem.  Below you can see the joints on the back of the puppet.

Finally, I had to make two small puppets.  They can fit in the palm of my hand.  Since these puppets were so small I needed to be jointed with wire.  

Materials for Making the World of Klaus

To make the sets and scenes for my animation, Klaus, I only use a small range of tools.  All of the backgrounds, sets, and puppets are all painted cut paper.  I use BFK Rives printmaking papers because they take wet medium well while also being easy to cut.  Watercolor paper is simply too thick. My primary cutting tools are different types of scissors and X-acto knives. I use Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache for the painted parts of the piece.  

After all of the paper for the puppets is cut and painted I need to joint them.  For smaller puppets I use wire joints.  For larger puppets I use paper joints.  

Materials used in the creation of Klaus

Here are a few examples and sneak peaks of some of the details and how I use these materials.  

Tiny painted furniture.

Clocks.

Small full body puppets of Klaus.

Visual Development and Character Design

After I make the initial story then I have to start redesigning Klaus, the sets, and the overall look of the piece.  I started with Klaus.  Since my original designs were only really fit for making shadow puppets I experimented with shapes and angles.  I stayed with the same body shape, but experimented with expressions and shape of the face.

Next I worked on the sets and ideas for what they would look like.  Some I realized more by painting them and some were created through the storyboards.  They were roughly made and used for reference for the final piece.

Finally I worked on the most important aspect of this work, the clocks.  The evolution of the clocks through the animation is pivotal.  I spent extra time realizing these clocks and their progression. Through this process I found a medium I was excited to work with in this animation.  I am creating the animation with cut paper painted with gouache.

                 

Storyboards and Animatics

After I have stared at the wall a sufficient amount of time, and finally come up with a story it's time to start storyboarding.  Storyboarding is a mapping out of key frames and important scenes in an animation.  It is important to see that the viewer will understand the story.  There are usually a number of revisions at this stage...and lots and lots and lots of drawing.

Initial Storyboards: Usually very rough, adding tones helps. 

Initial Storyboards

Showing storyboards to people who are not familiar with the story are my best friends!!! They are a blank slate and tell me what they do and do not understand so that I can make certain points and aspects more clear before I animate. 

Final Storyboards for the first sequence.

Finally an animatic is made, which is a moving storyboard. It helps to find pacing and fluidity in the animation and final notes are taken before the final animation is shot.

Next will be a post on visual development! Stay tuned.