Post 5-Model making techniques

Model making in stop motion animation is extremely important, as this creates the majority of the animation (puppets, characters, sets etc). For example, when making your characters, you have the option to be able to remove the mouth part of your characters and make several different mouth movements, which is considered the quicker, more efficient way. Or, the alternative option which is to create a fixed mouth on a head, and create several different heads, with different mouth movements fixed onto it. 

These sketches are the original drawings from Tim Burton before the nightmare before Christmas was even made. They give both us and the animators a clear visual of what Burton wanted his characters to look like, which is very useful, as it meant that they didn't have to come up with an appearance for every individual character. 

These pictures are from the final storyboards of the nightmare before christmas. Which as you can see are in a lot of detail, which makes it a lot easier for the animators, as they can then see what Burton vision is of the movie, and can create the characters to the best standard they can.

Armature model making.
There are two options for armature model making. The first being that you can buy an armature kit premade, however these are very expensive for low budget stop motion animations.

The other option is to make the kit yourself which will be more time consuming but a lot cheaper. You first have to gather the tools, which includes: coat hanger wires (or similar thickness wires), smaller/thinner wires, square tubbing and epoxi putty (to help the grooves stick together).

Sculpting
Many people use 'roma' clay to sculpt their characters, which involves taking the clay and sculpting it onto the armature, where it has to be left to harden. Once hardened, it can then be taken off of the armature, and then injected with foam. Once the foam is injected, place the mold into an oven for it to cure. Once cured, the mold should be taken out to cool down overnight. The next day you'll have to gently pry the mold apart,a and then you should have a clay sculpture.

The stop motion animation film 'Paranorman' uses armature puppets to create their characters. Compared to 'The pirates' which uses an armature base, but is molded together, using the sculpting method.

In these two screengrabs, you can see the process of Norman, from his armature base, to the finished product. Compared to the two screengrabs below, you can see how the armature base is covered in hardened clay, and silicone. You can see clearly, that in 'the pirates' the puppet looks more fuller, and a bit more sturdy compared to Paranorman. Using an armature base, it  allows for a sturdy base, and also helps easily move the characters to enable for a smooth shooting when editing the shots together. However, by using silicone structure, it helps the armature become more fuller and will also only stick to itself, so therefore if it was needed to be taken off, it would not stick to the armature. 

In the screen grab below, it shows how the characters from 'South park' are being created using the cut out technique, alongside all the different costumes and movements of the characters, to create the final piece.