Wise Old Twigman

Took found twig pieces into human limb form. Added layers of copper tape to the joint areas with masking tape to make it a puppet for slight gestures of life. Once formed, painted whole body with dark umber and iron oxide as a base for the deepest layer of wood. Left straggle pieces of root as tendons on his right thigh. Our vegetable nature glimpsed. Layers of gel medium with pumice added texture to the taped areas.
Painted top layers of wood with raw titanium matte, light gray, and camel beige until it read as twig wood. Twigman's head was made from a found tuft of grass that I'd preserved with layers of thin matte medium, leaving the fine roots as his beard. Another piece of root was added as a nose and two very tiny seed pods of some kind were added into voids made in the grass, completing an almost obvious face.

The voids in the grass were made by poking holes through and through the clump with a plastic wrapped stick, wired, and left to dry. Next day, sticks were removed leaving voids for the seeds. I considered keeping the seeds positionable for eye movement but decided that this puppet need only to turn his head and move lightly at the joints. His head was made to swivel by the installation of fitted pipe segments into the base of the head and the top of neck.
Making Twigman made me want to see him in action on the Halfland Macro Set. The studio is OUT OF ROOM so I brought the set pieces down and installed them in our living room on top of a built in bookcase, in front of a window. I raked the snail path set piece down a bit with wood blocks at the back so I could animate upstage more easily. Covered the window casing with tall grass and large flower modules. I'm considering letting the window show in the sky rather than creating a translucent backdrop there. The light is so good and somehow Halfland having the sky be a window may fit.

When I positioned Twigman on the large piece of broken wood on the ground, where he seemed made to sit, I found that he looked to be reading the large preserved leaf on his right. Which makes perfect sense.

For another brief sequence I'd like Twigman to be holding onto a large stem of a dandelion and turn his head to follow the snail as she passes behind. That might be a nice way to intro the evening segment of the series.

Comments

  1. Gosh, I'm watching you assembling all those single elements to something so strong and beautiful! Everything seems to fit in neatly, and the tiniest detail makes Halfland an even more perfectly rendered world…

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  2. Thanks, you guys! I believe that while I've been building Halfland, the fashion of blogs has erupted and now subsided. And that you three stalwart friends are the last in the world to follow this project! Bless you!

    It's so exciting to have all the previous builds BE DONE and at the ready for shooting.

    The scenes will be brief. The animation non-ambitious. Just enough life to make the place feel real. I love it so much. And you for being there. Thank you.

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  3. I'm still here! I'm following too! I just don't get to read blogs every day. I love the texture on your twig man, and when I saw the picture of your macro set, I immediately started wondering if there was a window in my house where I could build something like that. I don't want to make a movie, I just want to stare at it, it's so pretty.

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    Replies
    1. Hiya, Tea Rose! Glad you're here too!

      I never thought of it as decorative, but you're right! It does look cool now that I look at it like that. It's like a sort of indoor window box look.

      Thanks for letting me know you check in on the olde tyme blog. I think mobile apps have replaced blogs now, right? What do you read/do instead of read blogs now?

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