Secrets of Clay Animation Revealed E-Book Sample 4
- Wednesday, 19 May 2010 06:16
- Last Updated on Monday, 16 May 2011 05:49
- Written by Marc Spess
Tools
Klayton by © Josh Jennings All Rights Reserved. Klayton was made completely from Sculpey Flex.
Humankind has created thousands of tools for various tasks. When it comes to clay animation, tools can be narrowed down to three categories: sculpting tools, armature tools, and set-building tools. The following paragraphs highlight the best tools for each category.
Sculpting Tools
Is there a secret for making good sculptures for animating? Is there a special tool that is used to bring these clay figures to life? Yes, there is a special tool used by clay animators, and all clay animators take very good care of this tool. It's called "hands." Your hands are the best tools for sculpting clay characters. You can pinch, twist, add, subtract, soften, and smooth clay with your hands, but there are a few tricks you should know to prevent problems and mishaps. Dirty hands are the primary problem-maker. If, for example, you are animating a talking man, and you press on his face with a dirty finger, you will get a discolored spot where you least want one. If your hands are really dirty you can ruin a shot, especially if your character's face is made from white clay.
Hand Habits
The best thing to do when sculpting your character is to make sure you wash your hands before sculpting and before animating. Make sure your tabletop isn't soiled with remains from other projects, such as building your set pieces. The dirt on the table will get on your hands and on your clay. Also, a lot of animators tend to wipe their hands on their jeans, picking up "little blue fuzzies" that can eventually build up all over your character. This is frustrating because it does not take long for your character to become a different color.
You can find the full version of Secrets of Clay Animation Revealed here
Click here to view sample page number 3 | Click here to view sample page number 5
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I really enjoyed the site of you, and I wonder if the course on DVD that are selling, teaches from the basics of modeling. Because I live in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and here we do not find this type of course (not of the quality of you). I would like to respond, and I'm sorry English is that I am still studying.