Fabulous!

All thoughtful good comments in recent posts, thought I'd bring some of it more up front. The Fabio comments were rough to take because that's the last vibe I'd want to evoke with yanu. But I DO SEE the similarity Mike and Nick mention, as you can see by my quickie 1/2L. good sport romance-novel cover.

The Fabio Factor: Nick H. gave some fantastic detail on his thought process in having realistic nudity in his film, L'Animateur (my favorite of his great works so far.) He also quite rightly mentioned how the photo-realistic illustration style used on the last two Yanu "sketches" didn't fit with the other art for the film. I've gotten better at Photoshop since earlier sketches (it's been a decade long interim!) and am finding that making these quick sketches, by cobbling together free stock images grabbed off of Google image search or low res comps off of stock photo sites, gives me, a person who can. not. draw. the chance to visualize how my characters look before I go to build them in three-D. There's no way Yanu will be built to look that photo realistic--I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I'm sure that by the time the main pupps are built, they'll all carry the exact same level of hand-crafted, rusticity that I'm established in the set so far, the props, and the supporting cast of puppets.

Art vs. Animation: Sven quite correctly brought forward the idea of how art is free to show nudity and how important that is to do. There are larger perspectives on humanity than any one society's conventions should overrule. However, I still wonder how animation fits into art, I guess, that's the bugaboo in me. Like Ben, who seems more naturally shy about nude puppets says, I feel there should be some modesty maintained in stop motion because I can't see kids not being attracted to it. Adult Swim, et al aside, I guess I do have a strong association with this medium that we all love being kid friendly. I said it. It isn't because I'm a fraid of raising ire in people, I will stand behind what I do, it's just a niggle I've got to sort out.

More Actual Notes!
A. This is exactly the barrel I'll be making for the cottage porch that Rana will grab to go fetch Kyra from the stream.
B. This was an ad for dishes that I thought was close to the Teacup Roses idea. I think the chinaware should have bright red roses painted on like this.
C. There was a Smiling Lizard character in Halfland at one point. He was deleted so I could keep the puppet/prop list more manageable. But seeing this image (on Cuteoverload.com the other day) makes me think of adding him back in!
D. I'll be hot-gluing debris like leaves, twigs, dirt, moss, etc. firmly all around the tree roots on the landscape sets. You'll think you're outside! Oy!
E. There will be lace, literally floral lace, spider-webs on the cottage porch that will have cut crystal beads like dewdrops (sketched above). I bought the beads yesterday at Ritual Adornments, such fun.
F. I ran across this doll making tool for making uniform fingernails in clay sculpture. I never would have thought of its shape but think it's brilliant. On the Kyra sculpt I used tiny pieces of vellum card stock cut into fingernail shapes.

Cheers!