Friday 8 June 2012

Stop Motion Tutorial: Build a Wire Armature

Want to try your hand at stop motion or clay character animation?  Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a wire armature for around $15.  This gets into how to make a puppet that will stand and walk.

Here is your shopping list:

Aluminum armature wire (from an art store or Amazon, not the hardware store)
Epoxy putty
T-nuts (1/32)
Wing nuts (1/32)
Bolts (1/32)
Washers
Pre-wrap
Cotton batting or foam
Aluminum foil or wood ball (something for the head)
Wipes (Epoxy putty gets messy)

I’ve taught this process at the Academy of Art, and if there is one consistency, it is that when students are cheap with the materials or stray from the process, things go wrong.  A challenge with stop motion animation is to hold to your vision while working within the physical limitations of tight-budgeted productions.  Compromise is always necessary.  The goal is to make a puppet that is easy to use while animating so your attention can go towards the performance and not the struggle against gravity.