Interview: Dell Stewart

(Image of Dell working at Harvest Workroom on her current residency)
Image Source: Harvest Workroom

It's been a while since we have done an interview here and I am very excited that our latest interview is with Dell Stewart as I have been a fan of her artwork and blog for a while. As mentioned in my previous post Dell is teaching a 4 day stop-motion workshop at Harvest Textiles from the 2nd - 5th April for teens. In addition to the workshop Dell is currently participating in a residency at Harvest Workroom working on experiments with printing which will be used in a handmade book and animation.  You will be able to view the animation at the Harvest Workroom window (510- 512 Lygon Street, East Brunswick) as it progresses over the residency. 


Dell amazes me with her ability to work so well across many artistic disciplines and also her genuine passion and support for other people's art, craft, design and animation (which you can see through her blog) is inspiring.


So here we go - a little conversation with Dell about her stop-motion work

1. Tell us a little about your arts/design background

I have been making things as long as I can remember. I studied Fine Art – Printmaking and Drawing – in Queensland. I then moved to Melbourne and later studied Animation and Interactive media at R.M.I.T. I have been exhibiting regularly since art school, everything from drawing, installation and photography to animation, clothing and textiles.

2. When did you first discover stop-motion animation?

I guess I sort of fell into animation. I remember discovering after effects on a friends computer and playing around with it, I was excited enough to think I could do some animation for my first exhibition in Melbourne at First Floor artist's and writer's space. This seems crazy to me now, and I get a rash just considering most editing and post production software now. Some rotoscoped drawn animation I did for an exhibition at Utopian Slumps in 2007, Dead to the World.

 

I later discovered stop motion at R.M.I.T. but at the time I was definitely more interested in drawing, both on paper and in the computer. Annemarie Szeleczky was doing her Masters at A.I.M. at the time, working with found objects on glass in layers under the camera, I do remember loving her multi-layered collages to music. Just through seeing so much animation during my time at A.I.M. and watching other students working on various projects opened up the possibilities for me.

3. Do you have any particular favourite stop-motion works or other artists that inspire you?

 Andrew Thomas Huang. Amazing!

Allison Schulnik's  Forest. and Mound. 

FOREST - Allison Schulnik from FIBRA on Vimeo.

Also Maricor/Maricar, PES  short and sweet, Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine and my beloved husband Adam Cruickshank!

Early on it'd have to be Terry Gilliam, maybe the first stop motion I ever saw?

4. What mediums do you like to work with to create your sets and characters?

Stop motion appeals to me for it's rich tactility. With better quality cameras and the ease of shooting on digital you can really capture the qualities of whatever you are working with. I'm inclined to work with paper cut-outs as I still love to paint and draw, and I love working with textiles – also other found bits and pieces – anything is possible! Fruit Salad.

I worked with Kate Matthews on an Artist's in Schools project at Wooranna Park Primary where they had a multi layered animation box for the purpose of animating easily with children. It was a fun project and we were delighted by the results, animating with paper cut-outs, rice and spices, photos and collage elements.

International Noses from Kate Matthews on Vimeo.

Smells and Memory from Kate Matthews on Vimeo.

Kate and I have since run school holiday animation workshops at Artplay working with paper cut-outs  and we would love to do more.

What Animal are you? (THURSDAY) from Dell Stewart on Vimeo.

What Animal are You? (SATURDAY) from Dell Stewart on Vimeo.

What Animal are You? (FRIDAY) from Dell Stewart on Vimeo.

What Animal are You? (WEDNESDAY) from Dell Stewart on Vimeo.

5. What has been your favourite stop-motion piece that you have worked on?

I didn't do any stop motion in this project (I was drawing) but 'It's Like That' by the Southern Ladies Animation Group. The puppets were incredible knitted birds, beautifully animated by Sharon Parker, Justine Wallace, Sophie Raymond, and Diana Ward.

Its Like That from Diana Ward on Vimeo.

6. Can you talk a little on the processes used and experience of making this stop-motion animation?

It was a collaborative process, an idea brought to the group by Nicole Mackinnon, that basically everyone felt needed to be told. 'It’s Like That' uses the voices of 3 refugee children held in mandatory detention under the Migration Act 1958. They were interviewed over the phone by ABC journalist Jacqueline Arias. Once the soundtrack was edited it was broken up into sections for each animator to work on, with the stop motion characters narrating and holding the story together. This story is sadly still as relevant today as it was in 2003. Watch it! I drew the firey rice.

And read about it:

http://aso.gov.au/titles/shorts/its-like-that/notes/

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/14/1068674377213.html

7. What are your future plans in animation? Do you have anything in the pipeline that you would like to talk about?

I'm currently doing a residency at Harvest Workroom  and I hope to do some more stop-motion workshops later this year, at both Craft Victoria and Harvest textiles. My own projects might be limited to some experiments to go along with music and a few elements for my exhibition at West Space  later in the year. 

Event: "Scrap Paper Animation" with Dell Stewart

(Image Source: Harvest Textiles)

There is a great stop-motion animation workshop being run by Dell Stewart at Harvest Textiles in Melbourne for the kids this school holidays (2-5 April). "Scrap Paper Animation" is part of a 4 day workshop series for 9 - 16 years of age and is an awesome opportunity to learn to use collage cutouts and printed paper elements to create sets and characters using a multi-layered glass set-up. Lucky Kids!

If you are interested in participating you can book here.

We are hoping to have more on Dell's work coming soon.

Event: ACMI presents William Kentridge Public Programs

(Image Source: ACMI)

I always wonder how time disappears so fast - feels like yesterday when we posted about the upcoming William Kentridge Exhibition Five Themes and now the time is almost upon us! The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has recently sent us some information on the upcoming public programs which will no doubt sell out quickly so if you are interested in getting in early here is the info:

William Kentridge: Public Programs

Programs held from 4 March until 27 May 2012

Coinciding with the exhibition William Kentridge: Five Themes (8 March to 27 May), one of the world’s leading contemporary artists – William Kentridge – will inspire and take part in a series of public programs presented by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image  (ACMI).

Nebula

Sunday 4 to Saturday 10 March, Opening times vary (Closed Wednesday 7 March)

Flinders Street Amphitheatre, Federation Square

Presented by Arts Access Victoria, Nebula is a revolution in inclusive design. It is Australia’s first portable and adaptive art space intentionally designed to meet the needs of artists with a disability. 

Located alongside ACMI, Nebula provides an accessible and functional space for artists to create work, conduct workshops, mount exhibitions and invite public engagement.

The Nebula studio will also showcase animations that have been inspired by the works of William Kentridge.

Visitors are invited to watch the artists as they work during Artists in Residence sessions, explore the gallery, and attend a talk with Nebula creators Andrew Maynard Architects.

General Gallery Access

Monday 5 March, 10am – 4pm

Saturday 10 March, 10am – 12pm

Free Admission. Drop in.

Artists in Residence

Sunday 4 March, 1pm – 4pm

Tuesday 6 March, 1pm – 4pm

Thursday 8 March, 1.30pm – 4pm

Friday 9 March, 1pm – 4pm

Free Admission. Drop in.

Public Talk with Nebula creators Andrew Maynard Architects

Monday 5 March, 4pm

Nebula, Flinders Street Amphitheatre, Federation Square

Join Andrew Maynard Architects as they discuss the creation of Australia’s first portable arts space for artists with a disability. Free Admission. Tickets available on the day from the ACMI Tickets & Information Desk.

In Conversation with William Kentridge

Tuesday 6 March, 6.30pm

ACMI Cinemas

Join curator and art historian Mark Rosenthal in conversation with William Kentridge. An artist that has created a remarkable body of work ranging from drawings and films to prints, tapestries and sculptures, Kentridge’s work offers a fresh and distinctive glimpse of the daily lives of South Africans. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

Intermix: Nebula + Five Themes

Wednesday 7 March, 1pm

Flinders Street Amphitheatre, Federation Square

Enter Nebula – a dynamic portable arts space created for artists with a disability – and get animated. This hands-on workshop offers young folks 13 to 18 years old the opportunity to create a portion of a short film in collaboration with Nebula artists in the Nebula hub.

Inspired by the works of William Kentridge, the animations produced in this workshop will pay homage to the artist’s unique and distinctive techniques, and will be incorporated into an animated film created by Nebula to be released later in 2012.

Free admission but limited spots are available. Participants must register in advance via intermix@acmi.net.au

21^st Century Museums: SFMOMA ‘Looking Back/Looking Forward’

Thursday 8 March, 4pm

ACMI Cinemas

Neal Benezra, Director of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) – the first institution to exhibit William Kentridge: Five Themes – talks about the history of SFMOMA, its collections, exhibitions and architecture, and the museum’s future directions and expansion. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

Anti-Entropy: A Natural History of the Studio

Thursday 8 March, 6.30pm

ACMI Cinemas

A public lecture by William Kentridge, who will delve into the anti-entropic world of the artist’s studio and its ability to provide a safe place for productive stupidity. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

Video Garden: Art Day South Film Works

Thursday 8 March to Sunday 27 May

Video Garden, ACMI

Experience a collection of short films by artists with a disability from the Art Day South collective. Ranging from hand drawn animation to digital works made with custom software and motion tracking technology, the collection includes new works inspired by William Kentridge.

William Kentridge Curator Tours

Thursday 29 March, 2pm

Thursday 19 April, 2pm

Thursday 3 May, 2pm

Gallery 1, ACMI

ACMI Curator Sarah Tutton and Assistant Curator Ulanda Blair will share their perspectives on various works in the exhibition, exploring the five key themes found in William Kentridge’s work. Free with an exhibition ticket.

William Kentridge: Creative Animation

Saturday 28 April, 10am

Studio 2, ACMI

Inspired by the work of William Kentridge, this workshop will explore how hand drawn animation can be created from drawings and cut out images. Participants will put together backgrounds, design characters, and learn through step-by step-tutorials how to animate their work using desktop computers and stop motion software. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

On Apartheid

Wednesday 2 May, 6.30pm

ACMI Cinemas

Reflecting the themes of the William Kentridge exhibition, human rights lawyer and activist Andrea Durbach presents a screening of A Common Purpose and a discussion of her experience of Apartheid. Indigenous consultant Jason Eades will also explore some of Australia’s separatist practices of the past. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

William Kentridge: Degrees of Separation   

Sunday 27 May, 2pm

Studio 1, ACMI 

Three presentations from Prof Jill Bennet, Dr Anne Rutherford and curator Victoria Lynn will explore the work of William Kentridge – the themes of his work, the mediums he explores and his distinctive creative process - drawing from the speakers’ intimate knowledge of the artist’s work. Tickets on sale soon via acmi.net.au

William Kentridge: Five Themes premieres in Australia after travelling to San Francisco, New York, Paris, Vienna, Jerusalem and Moscow. The exhibition explores five key themes that have captivated Kentridge throughout his career.

Well known for his stop motion films of charcoal drawings, Kentridge’s multi-disciplinary approach will be showcased through over 60 works ranging from animations, drawings and prints to theatre models, sculptures and books.

Born in 1955 in South Africa, and continuing to reside in his hometown of Johannesburg, Kentridge is highly regarded for a body of work that reveals strong links to the social and political environment of his home country. Tackling issues of colonial oppression, reconciliation, and the transient nature of individual and shared memory, his work deftly combines the political with the poetic. 

William Kentridge: Five Themes is exhibited exclusively in Australia in Gallery 1 at ACMI from Thursday 8 March until Sunday 27 May, 2012. Tickets for the exhibition are on sale now via acmi.net.au

Christmas Competition Winner: Paraphernalia by Bridget O'Halloran

Paraphernalia from Bridget O'Halloran on Vimeo.

We would like to announce that the winner of our Christmas Competition is Bridget O'Halloran with her short film Paraphernalia. We were all totally amazed at Bridget's effort so well done! We look forward to seeing more stop motions from her in the Future. 

Inspiration: New Gotye Music Video Clip - Somebody That I Used to Know

Most of you have probably already heard or seen this new music video clip for Gotye 'Somebody That I Used to Know featuring Kimbra but I had to share it again anyway! Animated using Stop-motion, it is directed, produced and edited by Natasha Pincus with body art by Emma Hack - beautiful idea.

I was so sad to read in the paper today that Sarah Watt passed away. She was an amazing Australian film maker and animator and I had only just finished reading her interview in the book 'The Divided Heart' by Rachel Powers which was so inspiring for artist mothers. 

Such a tragedy.

Call for Entries: Christmas Competition

*UPDATED INFORMATION IN RED!

I have been thinking on this for a long time and have finally decided to have our first stop-motion animation competition for all our readers as a thanks for all your support and also to have a bit of fun! The idea will be for entrants to create a stop-motion animation up to a minute based on the theme "Hearts Desire" which can be interpreted anyway you like. The winners will be judged by our guest judges (yet to be announced).  Malcolm Turner and Helen Gibbins of the Melbourne International Animation Festival (which I am so excited about!). We recently interviewed Malcolm about the MIAF festival this year here if you want to check it out.

Malcolm and Helen have kindly offered ONE free Festival Pass to MIAF 2012 to go into our prize pool. This prize will unfortunately only be open to Australian residents (unless you can let me know if you want to fly over for it!) but all our other prizes will be open to international entries.

First prize will be a copy of  a great book called Basics Animation 04 - Stop-motion by Barry Purves (below). and there will also be some runner up prizes to be announced at a later date.

Part of the runner up prizes will be a copy of Mad Monser Party (1968) a Halloween themed children's film created by the Rankin/Bass animation house and written by Mad magazine's creator Harvey Kurtzman (with Len Korobin). 

I found out about Mad Monster Party through this article at Dangerous Minds which also has a great little clip from the film to watch.

Also a copy of the DVD Lotte Reiniger's Fairy Tales whom I discovered through our interview with Isobel Knowles. Lotte Reiniger was an amazing papercut artist/animator from Germany starting her work around 1922. Click here to watch a sample of her work from the film Papageno from 1935

There will be more details to come but here is a basic guideline for entries are:

• The competition will be open to all our subscribers through the blog and Facebook and is for people of all skill levels.
• Entries Close  Sunday 11th December 2011.
• If you are interested in entering please make a comment in the post below or on our facebook page to sign up.
• Your stop-motion animation can be made from anything - paper, textiles, plasticine, photographs, everyday objects etc - use your imagination.
• Your animation can be anywhere up to 1 minute as long as you address the theme 'Hearts Desire'
• Entries should be emailed to thecreativehaven@hotmail.com and should include a link to your video (through youtube, vimeo or whoever else you might use) and a short description on how you have addressed the theme 'Hearts Desire'.
• All entries will be screened on The Creative Haven blog and facebook page for people to see, the top entries will be judged by our Malcolm Turner and Helen Gibbins who will accordingly choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
• There are a variety of stop-motion softwares you can trial such as Dragon Stopmotion,  Stopmotion Pro, Stop Motion Maker or any other editing software like Premier Pro.

The idea is to have fun doing it, sharing it and hopefully win a great Christmas present in the process! So sign up now!

Screening: It's a Jungle In Here - Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine

(Image Source: Melbourne Festival)

Thankfully, here is another great animation event in Melbourne that I won't miss (especially after being away for the Shaun Tan talk, Adam Elliot talk and the Peter and the Wolf Screening!)

We recently interviewed the amazingly creative Isobel Knowles here about her work. She had mentioned in the interview a new collaboration with Van Sowerwine (another amazing animator) on the animation It's a Jungle in Here. The animation will start screening this week as part of the Melbourne Festival at Screen Space  and run from the 14th to the 29th October - so if your in town get along to check it out if you can!

Here are some details about the work from the Melbourne Festival website:

IT'S A JUNGLE IN HERE

How would you react if someone started behaving inappropriately, or aggressively? Do you try to pretend it isn't happening, or protest and take action?

This is the question posed by It's a jungle in here, an interactive installation artwork that inserts two people into a simulated environment and has them both create and respond to a series of increasingly unsettling encounters.

As the participants find themselves forced into the role of attacker and victim, a live feed of each participant's face is mapped onto the animated characters, channelling the tensions brought forth as the social compact begins to collapse.

Part psychodrama, part multimedia marvel, It's a jungle in here is a confronting tour of the fragile rules that organise our public lives.

Event: Desert Island Flicks - Shaun Tan

(Image Source: provided by ACMI)

Although this isn't stop-motion related - it is Australian and awesome so had to pass on the news from Australian Centre for the Moving Image.   So much great stuff happening at the moment! Details from ACMI below:


Desert Island Flicks October event
Castaway with Shaun Tan Unclassified 15+

Join artist, author and filmmaker Shaun Tan as he discusses his five favourite films in ACMI’s popular Desert Island Flicks event this October. Shaun grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and currently works in Melbourne. His books, including The Rabbits, The Red Tree, Tales From Outer Suburbia and the acclaimed graphic novel The Arrival, have been widely translated and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Shaun has worked as a feature film concept artist on films such as Pixar's Wall-E, and wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning animated short The Lost Thing. In 2011, he received the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Sweden for his body of work.

Join this Oscar-winning animator, author and illustrator as he talks through his most cherished cinematic moments. Desert Island Flicks presents a ‘who’s who’ of cinema, television, literature, sport, politics, art, science and culture, revealing their insights and personal stories into the films that moved them and why. 

Presented in ACMI’s intimate Studio 1 space each month, the event is a mix of key clips from the subject’s top 5 films in dispersed with chat, led by a host. By journeying through films in this way, the event often reveals fascinating biographical information, career influences and the philosophical insights of the guest of the moment.

Dates Tue 4 Oct 2011, 7pm
Location Studio 1
Admission Full $15 Concession $12 ACMI Member $11

Opportunity: Lunch with Adam Elliot at Stables at Stones

(Image Source: Provided by Stables at Stones)

It must be the warm weather and the hint of spring as here is another great event to get along to for all you stop-motion animation lovers. We received the following information from Lucy at Stones of the Yarra Valley today.

STABLES AT STONES PRESENTS

LUNCH WITH ADAM ELLIOT

Sunday, October 16

The Stables at Stones of the Yarra Valley is delighted to announce an exciting series of informal lunches featuring some Australia's most well-loved personalities. 

Our inaugural lunch in the gorgeous surrounds of The Stables on Sunday, October 16 will feature Academy-Award winning director and claymation producer, Adam Elliot. Over the course of the afternoon, Adam will have a chat about his career to date and answer a few questions to an intimate audience of just 50 guests. 

(Image Source: Provided by Stables at Stones)

Raised on an Outback shrimp farm by a retired acrobatic clown father and a hairdressing mother, Adam developed a truly unique style of storytelling through his fantastical use of the humble medium, plasticine. With such beautifully poignant, quirky films as Harvie Krumpet and Mary and Max to his name and a swag of international accolades including an Oscar, Adam has a fascinating story to tell.

Date: Sunday, 16 October, 2011

Time: 12pm – 3pm

Cost: $75 per head - three-course lunch, including an informal chat and Q&A with Adam Elliot

Bookings 03 97390 900 or email: info@stonesoftheyarravalley.com

www.stonesoftheyarravalley.com

Screening: Peter and The Wolf with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at ACMI

Some great news from ACMI about an awesome stop-motion screening. See details below!

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra present:

Peter and the Wolf (2006) (unclassified all ages)

A collaboration celebrating music and film this school holidays

Tuesday 4 until Thursday 6 October 2011

This school holidays, from 4 until 6 October, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) combine to present the film Peter and the Wolf, with Prokofiev’s magical music played live in the cinema by the MSO. Each event will also include a discussion of the animation style and main musical themes used in the film.

Peter and the Wolf, produced by BreakThru Films, is the Academy Award®-winning new animated film version of Prokofiev’s children's classic and is directed by the extraordinary animation talent, Suzie Templeton.

“My desire was to create a film, which works on many levels for both children and adults, exploring our fear of and fascination with the wild beast, and witnessing a young boy discover his own strength and integrity,” Suzie Templeton said.

Peter and the Wolf has been a window into the world of orchestral music for millions who have learned to recognise the distinct sounds of instruments associated with the story’s characters, and to appreciate the way in which characters can also be identified by clearly defined themes.

Twenty-seven musicians, conducted by MSO Principal Trombone Brett Kelly, will help bring Templeton's beautiful animation to life, with sections of the Orchestra representing different characters in the film. "Prokofiev’s remarkable music is already a great favourite, but combined with such wonderful animation it is sure to leave young people spell-bound and transported to a world both familiar, and very surprising,” Brett Kelly said.

Peter and the Wolf was made using stop-frame model animation, with state-of-the-art stills cameras. The film received its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall and has had many orchestral screenings worldwide, including a premiere performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, attended by more than 9,000 people, and a special screening at Warsaw Castle.

Nominated for a BAFTA® and a Royal Television Society Award, the film won the Rose D’Or for Best Arts Program and collected the top two prizes at the world’s biggest animation festival, Annecy. In February 2008, Peter and the Wolf was awarded the Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film.

“When it comes to combining live performance and film in our cinemas, this is by far our most ambitious collaboration,” enthused ACMI Head of Film Programs Richard Sowada. “It’s rare to strike a balance between a film of such high quality, state of the art presentation and sublime accompaniment. A collaboration on this scale is really something special.”

The season of Peter and the Wolf runs 4-6 October at ACMI in Melbourne. For more information please visit www.acmi.net.au or www.mso.com.au. Tickets start from $15 and can be purchased through the ACMI website or via Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.au or 136 100.

Call for Entries: Collaboration with Daniel Louie - Post Graduate Choreographers VCA

I recently received an email from Daniel Louie from the Postgraduate Choreographers of the Victorian College of Arts looking for people interested in a project he is coordinating which could potentially incorporate elements of stop-motion animation. 

If you are interested here are the details - he needs a response as soon as possible as the project will be presented in November.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm putting a call out to anyone interested in working on a project that investigates the relationship between architecture, animation and live art/dance. 

Animation required will likely be short, looped material projected onto various surfaces of a building. Possible approaches could include working with stop-motion, photo collage, sketches, or working with light & shadow, to name a few.

The work will be highly collaborative and I will work in with your schedule. Presentation outcome in first week of November.

Feel free to contact me via  email at d.louie@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

Interview: Isobel Knowles

Isobel Knowles Showreel June 2011 from Isobel Knowles on Vimeo.

I first discovered Isobel Knowles when I went to a Craft Victoria talk called Make It, Design It, Fund It a couple of years ago. An Experimenta catalogue was circulated and flicking through stumbled upon Isobel's amazing artwork with Van Sowerwine called You Were In My Dream. I was really interested in stop-motion at the time and had experimented with using it in my own artworks but couldn't believe the amazing conceptual use of the medium in their work. This was also long before I dreamed of starting this blog so I can't believe I am here right now interviewing Isobel about her work and in particular the work that inspired me so much!

I think I had inspiration overload reading about Isobel's inspirations - so many great new people to find out about. If you would like to see more of Isobel's work you can go to her website here or her Vimeo channel here.

Tell us a little about your arts/design background

I was one of those kids who would draw and draw. I chose art in school wherever I could and started animating in my final year of high school. I went on to study Media Arts at RMIT where I got into making animations for installation in galleries and made a few short films as well. I started collaborating with Van Sowerwine at university and we have had a productive working relationship ever since.

(Image of Clara from the short film Clara (c) Film Camp, Directed by Van Sowerine .)

I made a music video for Architecture in Helsinki just after I graduated and during the production of it they asked me to join in and play trumpet with them. It was such a great experience but at the same time it was tricky leading a double creative life. I was shooting a short film, Clara, with Van and recording with Architecture in Helsinki at the same time and it was a difficult balance. The band took over and became a full time occupation for a couple of years. I had a great time and fell into making music videos because of all these music connections I was making. It was a lot of fun!

After I left the band I spent time overseas trading music videos for accommodation. When I came back to Melbourne I decided I wanted to do animation full time. I have managed to strike a good balance between artistic projects and commissioned work and I'm enjoying it immensely!

When did you first discover stop-motion animation?

Sesame Street! I loved that show to death. All those different vignettes made by incredibly talented animation artists!

I discovered stop-motion for myself when I started making animations in high school. The first few were pretty silly but for my graduating project I made an 8 minute alphabet with 26 different styles of animation to teach myself a broad range of techniques. There was a lot of stop-motion in there. Clay, cut-paper, objects, wire sculpture. I had a lot of fun with it.

ABC from Isobel Knowles on Vimeo.

Do you have any particular favourite stop-motion works or other artists that inspire you?

(Image still from Lotte Reiniger's Papageno 1935)

So many! Lotte Reiniger is my all time favourite paper cut animator. Suzy Templeton's Dog and her version of Peter and the Wolf are really beautiful puppet films. I loved Sinna Mann by Anita Killi. David Daniels stratacut animations are mind-melting. Yuri Norstein's Hedgehog in the Fog has the most beautifully made 2d puppets. Jan Svankmejer wins for amazing concepts. I love kids shows like Towser, Magic Roundabout, Gumby and Spanish cartoon Capelito. Fantastic Mr Fox was a very exciting addition to the animated feature film world.

(Image still from the children's series The Magic Roundabout)

(Image still from Yuri Norstein's Hedgehog in the Fog)

What mediums do you like to work with to create your sets and characters?

Anything really! You Were In My Dream had a lot of real tree branches which I loved the look of. Feathers, dried flowers, dried leaves. We tried to use as much natural material as possible and interspersed that with model making and craft supplies. I also love using cardboard. I recently made a factory set out of shoeboxes and felt. It was pretty free-form - just hacking away at cardboard with minimal precision, doing all measurements by eye. Van and I continued that lo-fi cardboard aesthetic with our new work that's in production now.

(Image of Isobel animating her factory in her collaboration with Cat Rabbit. Image source via Cat Rabbit's Website)

(Image still of a beautiful paper cut bird from You Were in My Dreams)

What has been your favourite stop-motion piece that you have worked on?

You Were In My Dream installation documentation from Isobel Knowles on Vimeo.

It's hard - like choosing a favourite child! I really enjoyed shooting You Were In My Dream. It was a collaboration with Van and I love working together with her on something big. I really loved animating the character transforming into various animals and the set was so pretty to look at all day long. But Clara was such a great project to work on too. We had decent funding so we got to use a lot of high-end equipment. We also shot it on 16mm and it was always such a rush at the end of each week when we'd take our roll of film off to be developed and watch the rushes from the week before.

Can you talk a little on the processes used and experience of making this stop-motion animation? 

I'll talk about You Were In My Dream since it's the most recent.

We originally wanted to make a 3d puppet animation like the ones we'd done together before but because of the animation needing to incorporate a live video feed of a face onto the animated character's face we decided that a 2d puppet would work better. We still wanted the sense of depth though so we made these giant sets full of the things I mentioned above and added a sheet of perspex with the cut paper 2d characters and sets to the top of that. I was really happy with how it looked in the end.

(Image still from the artwork You Were In My Dreams in use by Isobel and Van. You can see how their faces are projected into the stop-motion animation!)

(Image of a character in the process of being animated with the blank face which allowed for the projection of the viewers face to be placed there later when in use)

Our setup consisted of a custom animation bench which held the camera perpendicular to the set and had a tracking system for the set to travel left and right. The sets were 120mm long which gave us roughly three screens in length. It was important for the forest to feel quite big and like the character could run around and explore a large area. We had one set for the forest floor and one for the tree tops. We used a digital SLR connected to the computer and used Dragon Stop-Motion to capture and play back the animation. We had to use Flash for the interactive element.

(Image of Isobel on the right and Van on the left hard at work on the project)

The animation took a really long time. A lot longer than we'd expected. Van had just had a baby so I think we may have spent too much time tickling little toes! We animated about fifteen minutes worth of footage and because it's interactive and non-linear, people generally see two or three minutes at the most. It was important to the work, though to create a seemingly endless world of possibility. In addition to the fifteen minutes of stop-motion we had to animate a digital mask for the video to sit on top of the character's face. For every frame in the stop-motion we had to do a frame in Flash! So looking back it was an awful lot of work. Of course you never realise this before you begin!

(Image of a frog being animated bit by bit with a pair of tweezers!)

(Image of some of the many characters they would have cut out)

We were working to vague storyboards but most of it was on the fly editing decisions. Because we were shooting on a flat plane, though, we really only had the choice between long shot or closeup. I think this made it more manageable to shoot without a proper storyboard.

(Image of the final artwork being exhibited)

Do you think there is a resurgence in stop-motion animation in the recent years?

I think with digital cameras becoming cheaper and better, stop-motion has become more viable again. Consumer digital cameras are perfect stop motion tools so it's easy for anyone to try which is always a good breeding ground for new and exciting work.

After years of animation becoming predominantly digital and the 3d motion graphics developing into the default animated style, I think people are excited to see stop-motion again. There's still something very magical about an inanimate object moving around like it's alive that you just can't achieve in any other medium.

Do you prefer working on collaborations with other artists/clients or do you prefer creating from ideas of your own?

I like both worlds equally. I prefer spending the bulk of my time realising my own creative ideas but I love being able to make something that serves a purpose. It's like fitting a jigsaw together. Having constraints makes it exciting to find a solution for the challenge. It's also nice to be part of a creative community in this way. I've been very lucky with clients though, and pretty much find myself working for and with friends most of the time.

(Image Still from Isobels collaboration with Cat Rabbit. Source via Cat Rabbit's Website)

What are your future plans in animation? Do you have any exciting collaborations, artworks or music videos in the pipeline that you would like to talk about?

(Image still from a test animation on My Good Half . Isobel's collaboration with Anna Jeffries)

I'm working on a new artwork with my friend and collaborator Van Sowerwine. It's an interactive animation that is semi-stop-motion. The backgrounds are shot to camera and the characters are being done digitally. It's looking pretty good so far! We built a train interior and set up two enormous lazy susans with sets on them. The sets are cardboard renditions of garages, back fences and houses. Corrugated cardboard really does look like corrugated iron, especially when you do some texta tagging! We're exhibiting it in the Melbourne International Arts Festival at Screen Space in October so look out for it!

I'm also planning to do some more work with the wonderful Cat Rabbit which will be a delight I'm sure.

And a new collaboration is on the horizon with director, Anna Jeffries, who has written a script about some siamese twins from 16th Century Scotland. Hopefully that will get off the ground early next year.

I like how things have been developing so far and I'm sure finding it easy to keep busy animating! I'd love to do more short film work and maybe go work somewhere overseas for a while. Maybe Poland or Estonia. Seems like a girl like me could learn a thing or two from Eastern Europe!