Tauro Tauro Animation

In February of 2010 I was drawing a lot of mystical bulls. I was doing a self-made residency of sorts in Northern Saskatchewan and I came up with an idea for a stop motion photobooth animation using the imagery. Fast forward to May 2012, I shot the photos for the animation at the Auto-Photo Warehouse during a visit to Montreal.  Over the last year I edited it in my free time, and finally two months ago I asked Aaron Read, an incredible multi-disciplinary artist, to score the animation with his dreamy sounds. 

It's been four years in the making and Tauro Tauro is finally finished! I've submitted it to a couple of film festivals, but honestly, I don't know if that's the best route for it. (It is a very experimental and niche little film.) So, pending on the success or failure of those submissions, I may just post the full video online for anyone to enjoy. For now, here's the poster!

And for anyone in Edmonton, my animation LaCuna is playing at the Edmonton International Film Festival this Sunday at 1pm at Empire Theatres downtown.

Animation Preparation

I leave on my Photobooth Expedition in 17 days, on top of getting things ready for the convention and mailing out the donor’s perks, I’m also finishing the props for the stop motion animation I’ll be shooting in the Auto Photo warehouse. (For more info about this you can see this blog post.)

Yesterday I made three paper masks and I tested them out in a booth today. I’m happy with how they turned out. These paper masks are secondary characters in the storyline, with the silkscreened fabric and crocheted heads below as the central characters. Those mask photos were taken by Lindsay Duncan.

I still have many smaller puppets to make. I've been doing a lot of illustrations lately so having something physical to work on has been a nice break.

Next Photobooth Animation in the Works

In 2010 myself and friend, Pamela Norrish made Coast to Coast to Coast, a stop motion animation shot entirely in a photobooth. Ever since then I’ve been planning my next photobooth animation and very slowly working away on it.

Shooting a short film in a photobooth has many challenges, among them include the space issue (you have to fit a couple people, puppets and props into a small booth), the timing issue (with 2.5 seconds between frames), the cost issue (it works out to a $1 per shot) and the public issue (using a booth in a mall or bus depot means you’re dealing with curious passer-bys.)

Additionally, Halifax only has three photobooths and they’re serviced by the owner of the booths himself so the quality of the photos are often inconsistent or they’re just plain out-of-order. So, for this next animation I dream of going to Montreal and shooting in the city with the most photobooths per capita.

I’ve just finished the main costumes for the animation. The Whyte Bull head is constructed from fabric I silkscreened and the Commonplace Bull head is entirely crocheted, I also silkscreened a celestial background. I took a set of test strips with both heads and I’m pretty happy with the results. I still have to make a few more puppets and props but the bulk of the construction work is done. I hope to shoot the animation this summer!

Bull Headed

I thought I'd share some quick illustrations and a paper mask + photostrip I made in the fall of 2010. I made these while I was thinking about a large art installation and animation I would like to make someday. Along the same lines, this past fall I revived the mythical bull imagery in this set of illustrations.

Recently I've been thinking about this project again and I'll share some of my recent inventions here soon.

Honing the Portfolio

Eek! It’s been almost a month since my last post. Time operates so differently when you’re in University. I certainly miss that bubble of time I had to work all on my personal projects while I was freelancing this past year. There are a few assignments though, particularly in my illustration course that I’m so excited to work on so I can have them as new gems in my portfolio.

September zoomed by and I have a handful of new portfolio pieces, from school assignments and from client work to show for it. I’ll post a new completed project every day for the next few days. This project is called Whyte Bull. It’s based on a Greek Myth about the origin of the Minotaur. The drawings are meant to show points in the story but not tell the full story, so the imagery may be a tad confusing without existing knowledge of the myth.



Let me know what you think, click to enlarge any pieces.