Teapot Flowerpot

Mini-project on the side today - painting a teapot for a family member to use as a plant pot.

Apparently you're not supposed to offer your services for free, but when this family member keeps you in a continuous supply of cake, offering to paint a teapot is the least that I could do.

Strange start: I saw that day a teapot being used as a plant pot in a magazine and then my relative said she had a large teapot that she was going to give away...weird coincidence.

I was going to go for a boring typical spot pattern, but then I saw a design on a teapot of large block colour leaves, almost abstract. It reminded me of St Judes' work, in particular Angie Lewin because of the bright blocks of colour. (I would have posted the image of the block colour teapot, except that it was on ebay and so has now disappeared). Her style is a bit intricate for my teapot and timescale though.

Sprey Birches - Angie Lewin

Image from: http://www.angielewin.co.uk/collections/current-prints/products/spey-birches

I wanted a design that was quite simple and bold for a few reasons: it has to stand out in a garden, it's going to get battered by the elements, so it needs to be easy to re-paint and it's for an older relative, so something a bit out there wouldn't be her cup of tea (pun intended).

As always observations were needed:

The Teapot

The quality of the photos isn't great (I blame the clouds), but I'm not sure about the final design...maybe it's a bit too simple, I perhaps could have used more of the space, but I quite like the overlap and mix of scales. I might add some more items if I get time.

Paint On Glass Animation

Since I've no hope of ever owning a real multiplane camera, I made an extremely basic copy to try perspective tricks with. The first test just involved seeing the effect of moving one glass panel back. It doesn't help that the camera moves as well, but I think this set up works quite well, making creating a sense of depth a bit easier. The only thing is that the frames and viewpoint of the camera mean that you don't just see the action.

In the next test I also tried out paint on glass animation...it went...ok. The main problem was that because there was no outline, the blocks of colour merged some features into others, making the action unclear and sometimes messy. Animating two figures separately was fine, it made times when they overlap easier, but the whole process felt too time consuming, with poor results, for the finished animation. Compared to sand animation, paint on glass felt less immediate, with less personal energy in there as well. The glass helped for scale, but I started to rely on it solely, losing some of the details of the walk of the figure, like a decline in height when he reaches the steps.

Photogram And Sand Split Pin Animation

Another trial, this time just to see whether using a photogram as a background works. I was worried that any animation would simply merge into the background, but by using a piece of glass and the sand split pin, the difference in weight and colour helps to keep them separate. Because the photogram looks so frozen and there's distance because of the glass layer, I wanted to play with this, blocking any intended interaction between the sand figure and the people in the background. It even works in a loop, so you can see the figure being ignored 3 times over!

I quite like how the distance between the figure on the glass and the background can be seen, the only problem is the distracting reflection on the glass - no one needs to see me pouting in the background!

Sand Split Pin Animation

I've been doing some tests using sand and plastic split pin figures...so I thought, why not combine them? The result had the ease of split pin, making the process quicker, but it lost the sweeping energy of the sand. Both techniques have their own benefits, but when the sand's not used directly, the full effect is lost.  Still, I quite like the accidental reflection of my hands and the camera dancing in the background.

Glass and Paint Animation

A tester piece, just to trial out the process. The method was fine - watery acrylic could be applied and wiped from the glass easily and the actual movement is good. Also using glass from a photo frame proved to be useful as the frame held the glass well (most of the time) while I painted it.

Illustration: Sequential Imagery - Thinking Outside of the Box

Below is my storyboard and colour storyboard for the mini-project: Thinking Outside of the Box. Beginning with the premise of there being a matchbox and a match next to it, the match had to get back into the box somehow. I wanted to try and include some character development and a definable narrative, but I didn't want to suddenly give the match limbs and features - that seemed just a bit too surreal for me. Instead I went for a more flexible version of a typical match, which I think works well and is still able to express emotion. I enjoyed the challenge of this project, not so much the limited time scale and late nights that came with it.

Illustration: Sequential Imagery Animation

I've loved working on this project over the past few weeks as I've been able to try some short animation pieces as well as practice drawing storyboards. Really, it just gave me a valid excuse to watch a lot of films, read a lot of books, buy a zoetrope and play around with some classic animation techniques. Videos of these can be seen below - the first starts with a thaumatrope (which I call 'The Passive Aggressive Tea-Drinker') and then heads into two zoetrope experiments, where one of the characters from the project Creatures and Characters makes a re-appearance. 

This second video is the flipbook 'How To Make A Bed', which provides a clear image of what a perfect bed should look like. I left the sound on as a flip book isn't a real flip book unless you hear that distinctive "flack" when it's flipped. (My flipping technique still needs some work though.)