Where were you 4 years ago? Your videos are amazing. I've often looked for kind of a "beginner's" start to stop motion, but couldn't find ANYTHING to go on. I actually got so frustrated I gave up the hobby. Your videos have covered EVERYTHING I was missing in a succinct collection of 5 minute clips. Awesome work. I'm motivated to get back into it now! And to ToonyFatNinjas: Stop motion and 3D Modeling are worlds apart. It's like the difference of using a paintbrush, canvas, and oils, and using Photoshop. Or hand writing a letter, and typing it up in Word. There's something beautiful, and always utterly unique about art that is made by hand. My goal is actually to make a full 2D video game where all of the sprites/scenes/etc. are actually created in stop motion.
Eyes are made of baked Sculpy with a whole in the middle so they can be moved easily with a pin. I sometimes also use doll eyes with the whole in the white of the eyes, and then erase the hole in Photoshop, but making them with Sculpy is easier. A couple layers of clear gloss paint give them a shine.
I use After Effects to merge the frames into one movie file, and then edit in Final Cut Pro. iStopMotion will work, too. Not sure what Windows apps are good for merging frames. The idea is to find an editing program that can let you import and edit stills as single frames rather than a default duration, which is usually 1-10 seconds each.
I use Plasticine clay (van aken), usually with a lighter-weight build-up within, like aluminum foil or balsa wood. Super Sculpy is used for eyes, horns, and sometimes hair.
For facial animation I do snappy moves in ones like blinks, cartoon takes (quick changes), and most lip sync. Twos are good for gradually tightening brows. I can see how an offset blink in twos would cause trouble. The offset is supposed to be a subtle effect, and doing it in twos would draw attention to itself. BTW, nice animation on your channel!
@@ytwetethx No, I've used them on all sizes of heads. It's just trickier when the head is small. A bigger head is easier, and has more range of motion, but that shouldn't dictate your character design.
really like the style of this tutorial - you show us what you're doing instead of getting involved with all the technology which really isn't that important. I would order a set of DVD's as well!
I use Van Aken clay, which doesn't get hard and doesn't need to be stored to avoid drying out over night. As for stickiness, don't get Craftsmart clay. I tried this for the first time last week, and when I heated it to mix colours, I got a horrific gooey mess.
i hear this is the best clay for stopmotion! I will be trying to make a latex head hand and foot set soon as i wish to feature nut and bolt control of smile and forehead wrinkle, but will still pin move my eyes.
np i am just starting this stop motion stuff myself, my first attempt is my vid called twigs, i made that 1 month ago now, and now have made an elaborate rig, and for an armature i bought a "hero factory" which i have assembled just the basic parts to (resembling a $150 steel armature, for only $11.99. thanks for your info vids, they inspire many ideas!
I'm glad I found this channel! I have always had a _huge_ problem with making head/eyebrow movements "flow", and I feel much more confident now...anyways, thanks a ton.
Frequently such mistakes aren't fixable. This is why animating stop motion is far more intense than computer. But sometimes mistakes can be fixed in photoshop. The problem on one frame can be covered over by copying the same part of the face over from a better frame.
When I make the eyes, I poke a hole in the middle. To move the eyes I stick a pin in the hole and slide the eyes around. When using doll eyes, the hole is in the white of the eyes, which I erase in the final animation using photoshop.
I work with lego animation, so I can't do much in terms of facial animation in camera (apart from cut outs, wich I don’t like the look of.), but I'll definitely implement the locking on point in my head movments. Thanks!
The hardest part for me is always the mouth. Eyes I can handle. I use painted beads with holes in them, or baked sculpt eyes with holes in them. Like, I'm making a stop motion with fantasy characters. Characters like the female troll and male orc characters I made have tusks that I can use as an advantage in order to animate the mouths better. But for characters with smaller mouths like humans, elves and goblins, the mouths are pretty tricky.
It's not the camera that captures every frame, but the computer. I'm using Canon XL2 and GL2 for tutorials, but just because I have them on hand for a freelance video business and not specifically purchased for stop motion. These are patched into a computer running stop motion software like iStopmotion or DragonFrame.
en verdad es maravilloso este hermoso arte del stop motion, mucha mucha paciencia hay que tener para que realmente salga todo muy real, con una fluidez y naturaleza sutil, una maravilla de video =)
Awesome!!! ..Thank you so much for sharing some insights about stopmotion. But i always wonder when you have animated many characters interacting together with all the facial details, and then when you play the animation you find a mistake in 1 or 2 frames in the middle of the animation, how do you fix that?
Oh wait, it starts with Stop Motion Pro and then goes to Dragon. I confused it with another tutorial. Still just experimenting with different programs. Stop Motion Pro and DragonFrame offer different features.
thanx so much!...one more question...which plasticine brand are you using? I've used koh-i-noor...they only had a couple of colors instore. It's pretty difficult to find plasticine here in amsterdam. just wanting to make sure i order the right stuff online. doing my first steps on my channel.
This is irrelevant, but how feasible is it to combine clay animation with live video footage? It would be pretty simple to shoot against a green screen set I think. Compositing might be a little trickier, especially getting the lighting down. Michael, what do you think? Great animations by the way!
excellent advice Michael. I've made an Aardman style animation on my channel with full clay and we had so much trouble with the blinks, especially offsetting them. Do you usually shoot on 2's then emphasize facial animation by doing them on ones? or do you shoot on ones the whole way through?
I used Stop Motion Pro in the first first part and DragonFrame in the second. Both are professional programs with limited demo versions that are free to download but have a watermark and/or a limited number of frames per scene. I'm not up-to-date on free options, but I think a little googling will find you some stop motion programs you can download.
You can use a wire armature as well as a ball-and-socket armature for something like this, so long as it's strong enough to hold up the head. I make the "skull" out of either a wooden ball or shaped aluminum foil.
I think many stop motion artist should convert to 3D modeling they don't what there missing. the only thing i can see about stop motion is that you can actually feel the characters physically and work with them head on other than that i see nothing more perhaps i,m wrong still i will try this 1 day just to see.
Hey Michael great tutorial, i was wondering how you stop the eyebrow dark brown mixing with the lighter face color, using black clay for eyebrows soils the rest of the face quite quickly, do you find this happens? Is it to do with room temp or is black just a bad choice, if you get my drift?
I do find this happens, and for some reason black is especially messy. I stick to dark brown, but even then the colors can mix easily. One approach is to not press the brows any harder than you have to into the forehead and remove and reposition them for each move instead of trying to slide them. And even then you will find that you need to completely replace the brows and clean the forehead clay. It's just a drawback to using clay on clay.
Gabriel Padilla I used Stop Motion Pro in the first first part and DragonFrame in the second. Both are professional programs with limited demo versions that are free to download from their website.
is this Van Akens Clay Ur used for these figures? i have the same clay, but Sculpey III clay that can be baked i have noted, I don't know if and when you bake it will it be as hard as a Clay Pot? unmovable?
Where were you 4 years ago? Your videos are amazing. I've often looked for kind of a "beginner's" start to stop motion, but couldn't find ANYTHING to go on. I actually got so frustrated I gave up the hobby. Your videos have covered EVERYTHING I was missing in a succinct collection of 5 minute clips. Awesome work. I'm motivated to get back into it now!
And to ToonyFatNinjas: Stop motion and 3D Modeling are worlds apart. It's like the difference of using a paintbrush, canvas, and oils, and using Photoshop. Or hand writing a letter, and typing it up in Word. There's something beautiful, and always utterly unique about art that is made by hand.
My goal is actually to make a full 2D video game where all of the sprites/scenes/etc. are actually created in stop motion.
Where u at with your goal now?
Wonder if your still completing your goal
Eyes are made of baked Sculpy with a whole in the middle so they can be moved easily with a pin. I sometimes also use doll eyes with the whole in the white of the eyes, and then erase the hole in Photoshop, but making them with Sculpy is easier. A couple layers of clear gloss paint give them a shine.
I use After Effects to merge the frames into one movie file, and then edit in Final Cut Pro. iStopMotion will work, too. Not sure what Windows apps are good for merging frames. The idea is to find an editing program that can let you import and edit stills as single frames rather than a default duration, which is usually 1-10 seconds each.
Nah, Those things are alive, and cooperating with this. This stuff is so crazy and cool.
I use Plasticine clay (van aken), usually with a lighter-weight build-up within, like aluminum foil or balsa wood. Super Sculpy is used for eyes, horns, and sometimes hair.
Thank you ❤
For facial animation I do snappy moves in ones like blinks, cartoon takes (quick changes), and most lip sync. Twos are good for gradually tightening brows. I can see how an offset blink in twos would cause trouble. The offset is supposed to be a subtle effect, and doing it in twos would draw attention to itself. BTW, nice animation on your channel!
It means starting the move on one eyelid one frame before the other, and having one eyelid settle back open again one or two frames before the other.
For these tutorials I like to jump around different software options. Dragon has more features, but iStopmotion is more affordable.
Michael Parks does the faces need to be larger than the actual bodies in order to animate them with sticker Mouths and pupils?
@@ytwetethx No, I've used them on all sizes of heads. It's just trickier when the head is small. A bigger head is easier, and has more range of motion, but that shouldn't dictate your character design.
@@MichaelParkswho is this character?!
@@fabionoronhazampieri7639 Kevin Claything, who is featured in several shorts on my channel.
@@MichaelParks0:53 no i mean this one
I think i saw him before but i dont remember you know who it is?
Yo uso dragonframe, pero también he utilizado iStopMotion como una opción menos costosa en un Mac. Su bienvenida.
Great Tutorial!
really like the style of this tutorial - you show us what you're doing instead of getting involved with all the technology which really isn't that important. I would order a set of DVD's as well!
Omfg.. All the work just for 1 sec!! Who cans!?!? Awesome
I use Van Aken clay, which doesn't get hard and doesn't need to be stored to avoid drying out over night. As for stickiness, don't get Craftsmart clay. I tried this for the first time last week, and when I heated it to mix colours, I got a horrific gooey mess.
i hear this is the best clay for stopmotion! I will be trying to make a latex head hand and foot set soon as i wish to feature nut and bolt control of smile and forehead wrinkle, but will still pin move my eyes.
I've done two tutorials on puppet making. One one building a wire armature and another on building the body and head.
The movement are very reallistic. You are the best.
Thanks!
np i am just starting this stop motion stuff myself, my first attempt is my vid called twigs, i made that 1 month ago now, and now have made an elaborate rig, and for an armature i bought a "hero factory" which i have assembled just the basic parts to (resembling a $150 steel armature, for only $11.99. thanks for your info vids, they inspire many ideas!
Oh okay. Thank you very much for answering my question.
amazing tutorial! keep doing them, they are super useful!!
I'm glad I found this channel! I have always had a _huge_ problem with making head/eyebrow movements "flow", and I feel much more confident now...anyways, thanks a ton.
Frequently such mistakes aren't fixable. This is why animating stop motion is far more intense than computer. But sometimes mistakes can be fixed in photoshop. The problem on one frame can be covered over by copying the same part of the face over from a better frame.
When I make the eyes, I poke a hole in the middle. To move the eyes I stick a pin in the hole and slide the eyes around. When using doll eyes, the hole is in the white of the eyes, which I erase in the final animation using photoshop.
I work with lego animation, so I can't do much in terms of facial animation in camera (apart from cut outs, wich I don’t like the look of.), but I'll definitely implement the locking on point in my head movments. Thanks!
this is exactly the kind of video i was looking for. thanks a lot, im subscribing.
The hardest part for me is always the mouth.
Eyes I can handle. I use painted beads with holes in them, or baked sculpt eyes with holes in them.
Like, I'm making a stop motion with fantasy characters. Characters like the female troll and male orc characters I made have tusks that I can use as an advantage in order to animate the mouths better.
But for characters with smaller mouths like humans, elves and goblins, the mouths are pretty tricky.
U r a LEGEND MAN SICK !!!
Amazing! I wouldn't have the patience to recording, stop, change.. You know I just couldn't! But you, your fantastic!!
瞬きはそうしてるのか！
勉強になりますな〜
thanx so much. very inspiring!
I love your videos so much
It's not the camera that captures every frame, but the computer. I'm using Canon XL2 and GL2 for tutorials, but just because I have them on hand for a freelance video business and not specifically purchased for stop motion. These are patched into a computer running stop motion software like iStopmotion or DragonFrame.
you should defiantly do a tutorial it would be rly interesting to see the process of making the puppets.
2:55 I thought that noise was behind me had to double check make sure there's no murderers in my room
Hmmm... Tutorial DVD? Not a bad idea.
You should really make a course on Stop Motion, I'd buy it
Классное видео.
Bem, muito obrigado mesmo!
en verdad es maravilloso este hermoso arte del stop motion, mucha mucha paciencia hay que tener para que realmente salga todo muy real, con una fluidez y naturaleza sutil, una maravilla de video =)
great tutorial! thanks
good work
so cool
Love this video
I use van aken clay.
Craft stores like Michael's, or an art supply store. Also Amazon.com
thank you dear
Awesome!!! ..Thank you so much for sharing some insights about stopmotion.
But i always wonder when you have animated many characters interacting together with all the facial details, and then when you play the animation you find a mistake in 1 or 2 frames in the middle of the animation, how do you fix that?
Oh wait, it starts with Stop Motion Pro and then goes to Dragon. I confused it with another tutorial. Still just experimenting with different programs. Stop Motion Pro and DragonFrame offer different features.
I heard you can also drill a deep hole in the eye to put in a magnet which allows you to move the puppet's eye with the round end of a bolt!
Where do you get the clay because I usually do lego stop motions but I was wondering if I should try a clay stop motion great vids by the way
very cool!
Cool tutorial!!!
videopad from NCH, it has many features including chroma key (green screen) monkeyjam is great for collecting your still frames
.
...and MonkeyJam is free! Thanks for the info, Ron.
I'm seth.😀nice job on your videos man! I do stop motion too!!!!i have been watching you my whole life!!!! You rock!!!!!
Hey i do stop motion to and i love hes work i do animations on my channel if you what to chat just ask
Que programa usa usted??
Graciassss!!!!!
thanx so much!...one more question...which plasticine brand are you using? I've used koh-i-noor...they only had a couple of colors instore. It's pretty difficult to find plasticine here in amsterdam. just wanting to make sure i order the right stuff online.
doing my first steps on my channel.
Thanks!
hey Michael! great tutorial is this part of a series or larger tutorial dvd? if not, too bad, I am ready to buy all you know.
Muito bom mesmo!
excellent tutorial! but one question, why use the dragonframe in the second character?
This is irrelevant, but how feasible is it to combine clay animation with live video footage? It would be pretty simple to shoot against a green screen set I think. Compositing might be a little trickier, especially getting the lighting down. Michael, what do you think?
Great animations by the way!
Well I Have Used It In The Past But If It Gets To Close To Your Light It Melts And It Does Not Dry Out But Its Kind Of Oily And Gets Lots Of Glares
amazing
Can you tell me how you desper your hand
wow....you'd have to be a very patient person to do this. I cannot do this.
Gracias por responderrr!!!!!!!!!!!!
Una subcripcion
tell me what software you use to put the movie together
What do you use to create the eye balls? How do you make them move so easily?
What kind of clay do you use to make your characters with armatures?
What camera do you use to capture every frame of your animation?
how do you get the eyes to move
nice
excellent advice Michael. I've made an Aardman style animation on my channel with full clay and we had so much trouble with the blinks, especially offsetting them. Do you usually shoot on 2's then emphasize facial animation by doing them on ones? or do you shoot on ones the whole way through?
hi Michael, how to make the eyeball moves smoothly? when i move the eyeball, it sticks a bit to the clay . tq
I add a tiny bit of Vaseline between the back of the eyes and the clay.
Great! What material you use for the characters?
Faces are Van Aken clay, bodies are built up with with cotton batting. There is more in my tutorial on making an armature.
with animated guy is it just clay you use? Or do you use Plasticine? And can you paint on top of it?
Van aken brand modeling clay.
What clay do you use?
van aken
Good Video! :)
Which dough are you using?
nice tips...but what ,not being a native english speaker, do you you mean when you say "off setting a blink"
Haven't tried it. Anybody else try it?
Good Video!
Which clay are you using?
Van Aken. Can get it at craft stores like Michael's.
How does the eyes of your character move so easily, without peeling it off and putting it in a new position??
There's a small hole in the eye so the eye can be moved around easily with a pin.
What softwere is that and is it free to download
I used Stop Motion Pro in the first first part and DragonFrame in the second. Both are professional programs with limited demo versions that are free to download but have a watermark and/or a limited number of frames per scene. I'm not up-to-date on free options, but I think a little googling will find you some stop motion programs you can download.
Michael Parks wow well if i manage to make a film or clip with that softwere then you will be the firts to see 😊
How did your eyes?
Is CodiForm Clay Good Or Have You Never Heard Of It
what type of armature can I use for this? and what do I put under the clay in the face?
You can use a wire armature as well as a ball-and-socket armature for something like this, so long as it's strong enough to hold up the head. I make the "skull" out of either a wooden ball or shaped aluminum foil.
Thanks!
How does the clay not dry
Plasticine clay (I use Van Aken) doesn't dry.
I think many stop motion artist should convert to 3D modeling they don't what there missing. the only thing i can see about stop motion is that you can actually feel the characters physically and work with them head on other than that i see nothing more perhaps i,m wrong still i will try this 1 day just to see.
Michael Parks how did you get in to stopmotiom
+Roosevelt Escalante I just picked up an 8mm movie camera and started animating stuff. Then took some classes in college.
Hey Michael great tutorial, i was wondering how you stop the eyebrow dark brown mixing with the lighter face color, using black clay for eyebrows soils the rest of the face quite quickly, do you find this happens? Is it to do with room temp or is black just a bad choice, if you get my drift?
I do find this happens, and for some reason black is especially messy. I stick to dark brown, but even then the colors can mix easily. One approach is to not press the brows any harder than you have to into the forehead and remove and reposition them for each move instead of trying to slide them. And even then you will find that you need to completely replace the brows and clean the forehead clay. It's just a drawback to using clay on clay.
Michael Parks Thanks Michael took your advice and had much better results cheers!
Michael Parks Can you realize a puppet with the appearance of Nora of lisvender?
greast vids im working on a stop motion carechter called the pyro from tf2
hi! ...I wanted to ask what techniques are used or where can I find more information for scenarios with full moon and stars...thanks
Soy el unico que se le hace atractivo michael parks?, nosé si es su voz o su inteligencia
Hi! please you can tell me about the software that you use in this example? where I can to grab it? Thanks...!
Gabriel Padilla I used Stop Motion Pro in the first first part and DragonFrame in the second. Both are professional programs with limited demo versions that are free to download from their website.
Michael Parks Thank you friend! I'll try to find these programs! By the way, congratulations on youtube channel! I learned a lot!
is this Van Akens Clay Ur used for these figures? i have the same clay, but Sculpey III clay that can be baked i have noted, I don't know if and when you bake it will it be as hard as a Clay Pot? unmovable?
Yes, that's Van Aken clay, and Sculpey III is unmovable when it is baked.
hey i have a question: how do you keep the figures from breaking and falling apart? is there some kind of skeleton inside or what? good word tho
Yes, they have either a ball-and-socket or wire armature. My tutorial on Making an Armature gets into how it's done
Johnny Five: The escape
Its plasticine ?
Yes, Van Aken
Michael Parks thanks !
Michael Parks ok and where i can buy this little clothes ?
I use doll clothes from a toy store, department store, or ebay.
Michael Parks ok thanks
it seems like Jesus would have your voice.