Hey there again,

A few weeks ago my dear friend Nils came over for another Studio Monday. He grabbed all my animation equipment and wanted to make another One Day Animated Short™ as he made one last year.

His setting looked somewhat like that:

Setup for One Day Animated Short 2.

Nils' idea

He cut out all the shapes you see in the clip, put them into a frame and lit them from behind in a way, that the camera grabbed the images of the back-lit shapes on a white screen.

The Animated Short

What he thinks

This animation was more experimental than the first one.

I had no story in mind and was a lot less focussed on the production than last year. The basis was just the technical idea of filming projected lights and shadows from a screen – and although the result is okay, the technique (that's my summary) isn't really useful.

Post-production was extremely time-consuming (each image had to be altered regarding brightness, contrast, and color in Photoshop), and preparing the cut-outs was pretty time-consuming as well ... I would say: The best technique should be the one that helps you best to tell your story. This one was more a stumbling block than anything else. ;)

What I think

Most hand made animation techniques are time-consuming, that's for sure.

Nils chose one for which this is especially true. Basically, he did a replacement animation and had to cut out every tiny move from a sheet of paper.

I love the style though. (And I love to work with replacements, too!)

The mean thing about trying to finish an animated short in one day is that you have to keep it simple. – For most people that's the hardest part. Whenever you have the time and the resources, I'd say, go for the most fancy way.

Anyway, I like this little animation, and as always, it's very inspiring to have someone like Nils around. Well done, Nils! I look forward to your third One Day Animated Short!

What do you think?

See you soon!

Love,
– Jessica ♥

Since I need to buy some more lights (especially spots) first before I start animating my Orpheus film project, I spent this Studio Monday collaborating with a friend on another (yet secret) art project.

There will be animation involved, and we worked on the set and the puppets today. My friend Miriam is an architect and build the room. And I created the puppets from cardboard and metal cramps.

The puppets are approx. 12 cm tall, and slightly three-dimensional. The cardboard is about 2 mm thick, so they appear less flat. It's all pretty simple, but the animation is supposed to give an impression of the final artwork that is planned as an interactive installation.

Orpheus Update

Back in Bristol, I learned that it's much better to plan an animation accurately before shooting. I first divided the storyboard into approx. 40 animatable bits, scenes or shooting sessions. Next, I'm going to 'dope the sequences out' and then start animating.

I also scribbled a storyboard for a trailer of my film project yesterday. Now I really need to animate. And to find a title for the film.

I hope you had a nice week as well?

Love,
– Jessica

steadily
the work
evolves and grows
the artist is(n't) amazed
– progress.

While it was quite hot outside, I hid in my chilled basement studio to work on the puppets for my Orpheus film project.

I finished the first half of the Orpheus puppet's mold today. When the plaster was setting, I made the armature of Charon, the second character who – like Orpheus – appears both, as a puppet and as a silhouette.

No fancy pictures today.
Just simple shots of what I did today:

This is the first half of the Oprheus puppet's mold. It's still drying, and I'm going to cast the second part in two or three days.

The final armature for the Charon character (or see a bigger version of this image)

At first I thought, "Well, there's nothing in this post that is for or helps my dear readers". But still, it is: I'd like to share these pictures because they show how important it is to keep the things going.

When I started my Studio Monday, I wanted to create time and space (and a routine) for the work on my film, so that it will be eventually completed one day. And that has worked amazingly well so far: Every week I accomplish a lot of things.

As soon as one Studio Monday is over, I want to find as much time as possible to take the things further, because it's simply so much fun, and I'm motivated to go on. This is not about discipline right now. It's just, you know, the process is simply pleasing.

(I've written about this feeling before.)

Do you know this feeling? I really wish you do!

Yay for another successful Studio Monday! Since I'd been stuck for the last three weeks or so, I decided that something had to change today. It does, and it was a tough and challenging task. I also had no visitors, so I set to work alone.

I wanted to move on with the sets for my Orpheus film project, but it felt like running against a wall.

I kept going though. After I made the first element, the throne of Hades, I got stuck again. I had this very clear vision of how the set was going to look like, but every little step was annoying and stressful, and often it took me several attempts to get the shapes right.

Whenever something went wrong, I was about to stop. But I kept going for three long and disappointing hours until something changed. I don't know exactly what it was, but eventually I made it into the Zone. I continued to work for three more hours and suddenly a large part of the set was built.

Normally, I would recommend to do something completely different when one is stuck. But in this case I have done something different for weeks, and I really wanted to move on with the set building. Surprisingly, it worked.

This is the main view into the throne room with Orpheus and Hades.

The underworld where Hades is the king of the dead is a world of shadows, and that's why this part of the film is completely made of silhouettes. It's a small set: Imagine another landing, and the Throne Room which is guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed hound.

Today I already finished the interior design of the throne room, some parts of the cave and the landing. Most of the elements are made of corrugated cardboard that I've painted black with acrylics. I used lamp black which is the deepest black available. (Actually it was my main work to paint things black today. You should have seen my hands…)

This is Hades sitting on his yet unpainted throne made of cardboard.

There are only a few things I still have to do before finishing the set: making a door for the throne room from wire and black spray paint and adding more cave elements and a background. Oh, and I need a silhouette boat as well. There isn't much left now what I have to do yet for the sets. But unfortunately I set the progress bar to 97% on set building, so 3% percent are left. Let's see if this is an unbreakable rule…

Today I also designed the gate through which the characters enter the hall.

I really hope to finish this set soon.

"Really? – Yes!" (2011)
Mixed media on paper | 60 x 42 cm

Excited

A lot of things happened during the last weeks. First of all: I married the most beautiful man alive. Finally. After 11 years. How cool is that? I'm also saying goodbye to some paid but annoying jobs. Which means I have more time to spend in the studio, but at same time find new ways to earn a living. 2011 seems to be a year of change for me.

Joyful Days

The wedding came suddenly, and the days (joyful days!) rushed by. We had a big garden party at our house, and we had most of our friends around which was just perfect. I was some kind of jet-lagged the days after the wedding, and so we decided to do some in-house honeymooning. We haven't spent so much time together for years I think. It's still great!

Letting Things Grow

Studio Monday was a lonely event the last three weeks. I didn't write about them because I didn't get so much done on my Orpheus film project. But at least I did some creative work: I started and finished working on several new paintings with which I am very satisfied right now. And I worked a lot in our garden that is still more like a jungle.

I accepted that I got stuck again with the film and tried to do some loosening up through the drawings. That worked nicely, and so did gardening. Sleeping a lot was helpful as well.

My friend Shelley Noble wrote an article about why it's so much easier to to the first 97% of a project, but so amazingly difficult to do the remaining 3%. I have similar issues. I've got a big Resistance against moving forward with my film. (Notice the progress bars! The end is near, my friend, at least in set-building.)

I also had a big Resistance (yes, in Capitals!) against writing about it. But I do this for now, perhaps I'll overcome the other as well by doing

Other Things As Planned

Like this:

"They said it's just a memory" (2011)
Mixed media on paper | 100 x 70 cm

Understanding

Those last three weeks in which I spent a lot of time in the studio, and preparing and celebrating my wedding helped me to understand what I need and what I want in life. Working on a complex film project is very similar to live in a long-term relationship. After the first euphoria has transformed into some everyday life, it takes a lot of energy to accept changes and to keep it going though. The good thing is: it's definitely worth it!

Again, I'm sharing my process because I think it's important to see not only the good things in life but the difficult aspects as well. However, I hope you find it helpful.

Literally. And practically. I have this day called Studio Monday that is a kind of weekly open studio day. You're more than welcome to join me on my creative adventures: either your bring your own projects to work on or you could support me by giving me a hand on mine. If you just want to peek into my studio, that would be fine as well. – It's all about sharing!

It's part of the concept of Studio Monday, that I'll have plenty of time to work on my Orpheus film project, if nobody comes around. Today I finished the Cave set that is the entry to the Underworld where young Orpheus is searching for his beloved but dead Eurydice to eventually bring her back to life.

The last missing part had been the water of the River Styx. And today I built the waves, and did a small test animation of this rather classical water solution:

The waves are made from cardboard again, and painted with acrylics. To make them stand upright I use plasticine. Since I'm going to move the water during the scene, I needed a supportive but flexible material. The plasticine works nicely.

I then made use of the shadow puppets of the project to do some camera angle test shots, and created a small animatic of the scene. I roughly timed the single shots, and learned that this part of the film is going to take about a minute, perhaps a tiny bit longer.

The remaining set is the deepest part of the Underworld, ruled by Hades. This set consist of a landing for the ferryman's boat, the place where Cherberus keeps watch, and the throne room where Orpheus is meeting the King of the Dead. This set will be completely made of silhouettes, and I hope to finish it within the next two weeks.

The set building progress bar rose to 91%, and I'm getting more excited (and even more nervous) every week. This project has been unfinished for so long, it feels strange to believe that it's possible to simply finish it. And right now there's only one set to build, and two puppets to make before I'll finally start animating. This is unbelievable…

Today was the first Studio Monday without visitors, but even though I made the best of it.

The next top on my To Do list for my Orpheus film project was to build the boat of Charon the ferryman. (That alone took me about six hours today.) As always I started with the basic shape made of strong cardboard and hot glue:

A few months ago I mad a small lantern of paper which is lit by a small Ballon LED. These are battery operated little LED lamps spending their light independently from other power connections. The lantern is supposed to hang at the ship's bow and leads the ferryman through the dark.

But before I finally assembled everything, I covered the boat in paper mâché and colored with several layers of acrylics, color pencil and pastel dust.

The picture on top shows the final piece placed into the cave set.

Background Animation Test

Inspired by a video I saw yesterday, I made a 10 cm small cut-out character of transparent film covered roughly with black acrylics. The joints are made of knotted fishing wire. – Don't ask, it was painstaking.

I want to animate a few dead souls on the background of the set, and I found a pretty beautiful solution for this: An overhead projector throws an image of rough rocks on a painted backdrop, and I use this black/transparent cut-out puppet for an animation on top of the projector. So there'll be the fixed image of a cave to see, and the shadow animation on top of it. Like this:

And with a satisfied grin on my face I change the numbers of my progress bars… Right now, I'm just working the things off my list. I'm really looking forward to the animation, but I guess I have to train a bit. It was a bit rough today. But even though I am really happy with the visual results…

Funny note: I used the same sequence three times, and at the end of every sequence you can see the battery of the LED fading. – This was not by purpose…

– Supplemental

This was a rather dry report on how I made the boat. Now it's going to be emotional:

Do you know this certain state of mind when you're not really awake in the morning, but yet not sleeping anymore either? Today, in that situation, came a question to my mind: What if the set doesn't fit the needs of my story? What if the camera angels I established in the storyboard doesn't work? What if I just built it all wrong?

Do you know these panic moments? I'm a kind of control freak when it comes to things like this, and I seldom make major mistakes in such a project. But what if…?

To avoid further panicking, I just went down to the basement studio to take some control shots with a snapshot camera, and yes, it seems that everything seems to work nicely. Tf, tf, tf!

The second Studio Monday went by, and it was a great day again. – It's simply amazing to have several hours in a row to work on stuff like my Orpheus film project, and it's great to have some creative companionship, too.

Today's visitor was my friend Leo who is a mathematician but who also is a very good photographer. He shot various pictures of my studio, of my so far finished sets, and of me working on the cave setting that is the entry to the Underworld. All the photos of this post are shot by Leo, who has been a great help regarding a lot of technical questions today.

We also tested some lighting setups in front of the camera, and added the background for the cave scene. Here some of his test shots:

Leo helped me to set up the lighting and did some test shots of the atmosphere. – The second one is my absolute favorite!

I thought it would be nice to have some souls of the dead flying through the back of the cave while Orpheus is entering the Underworld. I already had a few ideas on how to do it, but all of them seemed rather complicated. While I thought about how to lit the setting to achieve a nice impression of depth, I had this idea of animating the shadows on the background.

Since I own several useful but often unused items, I removed the dust from my overhead projector. I first painted a background on which I wanted to project the animation:

The plain background: I thought it would be nice to project the animation at a noisy background for that it doesn't look too clean.

This is a small impression of how we achieved the special atmosphere in the pictures above.

Then I printed the structures of rocks to a sheet of overhead transparency, and projected this image to the painted backdrop. Next, I placed one of my shadow puppets on top of it to see how it looks. – And it looks amazing! Actually I'm really pleased with the setting and the atmosphere right now.

I also added the landing for the boat of Charon the ferryman today, and some more background pieces to achieve a nice transition from the 3D world to the land of the silhouettes.

Two pictures of me working on the landing.

The landing.

The current state of the cave setting. It only lacks a few details: the ferryman's boat, the water and some background elements.

Now it feels a bit more realistic again that I'll someday soon will finish this animated short…