STOP MOTION BEN

RECENT WORK

From 2016 - 2017 I worked as an assistant animator at Aardman features on Nick Park's 'Early Man'.

My duties included; create and maintain countless mouthsets for puppets, create special one off mouths when the animators needed them, develop and create various animatable props, LAV assist, assist with the creation of still photo's for marketing and publicity, and small various sculpting and animation jobs.

I had the privilege of spending a few months here and there, helping create this poster which ended up being the first released poster in the UK.

I posed and prepped all the characters in the shot.

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Personel project Reggie puppet -WIP

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2013

Presentation puppet for Colin Jack

Character bust for Rondall Scott

Cigar Guy
Concept sculpt for a future puppet
Plastiline

Digital paint over

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Current work

For the past few months I have been working on a puppet that I have been commissioned to do.
This is all work in progress and I will update with photos when the puppet is finished in July - August.

Creating the body mould

Ali- fast cast poured

Ali - fast cast mould with wire armature in place for a test cast

Dragon Skin FX pro poured

Hands and feet moulds

Core replacement face pieces

Mold making

Resin casting

Original sculpt plus resin reproductions

Plastiline body sculpt

Ball and socket armature. Joints fabricated by John Wright & Animation Toolkit. Joints where then ground down to a smaller size to fit within the puppet body.

Update - Shoulder change after feedback from peers

Armature design

Very short video to show the client how effective the magnets are

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Various maquettes for a few different film projects

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Clyde

This is a character bust made from a shelved puppet.

Newplast Plasticine, Styrofoam, wire armature, various fabric

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2012

RALPH

Laika House challenge.

The challenge brief:

Missing from ParaNoraman

Create your own character from Norman's world that wasn't featured in the movie. It could be a ghost, missing zombie, or terrified Bilthe Hollow resident - any character that didn't make the final cut.

I made Ralph, he works at 'Lost Barks Animal Rescue.'

He has been missing since he accidentally ran over a dog (Bub) a couple of weeks ago. It is feared that he has been run out of the city by the Blithe Hollow stray canines

Super sculpey firm, wire armature, cushion foam and fabric

To see how I made him please click here MAKING RALPH

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ZOMBIEEEE

Stop motion animation puppet

I made this chap for Laika House's Creative challenge. It was a great excuse to make a new puppet.

Wire armature, super sculpey firm, bandage foam, airbrush and brush paint job and various bits and bobs for clothes

To see how I made this Zombie click here MAKING A ZOMBIE

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This character is part of a self directed study project.

The Inspector

Please click the pictures for a bigger view

Concept sculpt

Final Maquette

Digital Paint job

The puppet is currently in progress

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Morris Character Maquette study for a future puppet

Please click the picture to see it bigger

And a digital paint over

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Plasticine Maquette of Carl

This was a test to see how my own character designs translate to 3d for a future puppet build

The original design

Please click the picture to see it bigger

Also here is a digital paint over to give him a bit of colour

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Tree warrior puppet for stop motion screen projections for a large scale stage production of 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe'

Made from Silicone and Balsa wood. I designed this puppet based on the theater company's early concept designs of the warrior. It was sculpted out of balsa wood then sent to be cast in silicone by other members of the crew. Ball and socket armature was made by Wes from Animation toolkit. Then I seamed and finished the puppet of with more balsa wood.