Character & Narrative- Week 6- Building the clothes

Week 6- 

Building the clothes

 Here are some of the many supplies needed for this project. Including; wire, fabrics, details for the females dress, sewing kit, glues, paints and set materials. This has all come to being about £60 which I knew it would not be cheap so this I was prepared for. As i bought this early on though, I have been able to plan with what i have to a certain extent, so i have a direction in which to design and build which has been helpful.

 As this is a book i have been reading for this project, I thought it would be good to look at how to make a proper armature but as the small pieces cost a lot just in pieces, I stuck with wire. This is how it was taught in the first year so it would be ok to use for this animation as it is still short at about 30-40 seconds. This shouldn't be long enough for it to cause the wire to snap, but if it does, I can try to repair it as best as possible.

These are the beginning wire frames of the female character. As she is wearing a dress, the legs were unnecessary but she still needed to stand. This is why she will be covered in foam on the base so it can keep the dress shape and not be too heavy. The body mass is also sculpted out of foam as well as the muscle being covered in paper mache as milliput was not needed to gain the effect of tough muscle between joints.

Adding a skirt to this wire frame added structure as well as stability. The first image shows the dress to not have as much as a curvature, so i added more of a mermaid style to the base as this was a modest shape to a dress in the late Victorian early 20th Century fashion. Foam was also very easy to use and carve, like whittling, you have to do it a little bit at a time till you can achieve the desired shape your looking for, which is something i've wanted to try for a while now, so this let me learn how to visualise what shape you want and keep carving until your happy.

This bottom design on the right, is a spare in case the first design does not work so doesn't let the fabric set the way I want it to on the base. This is all a learning experience and journey so it will be very interesting and fun to get going and add the materials and try to create a character i have designed, outfit and all. This means there may also be mistakes but it will all help in making me learn how to make small delicate things as I am quite heavy handed.

As my female character Belle is a skeleton, I wanted this to show through the outfit she was wearing, This is why when i designed the dress i had this cut out section that can show the chest plate, as well as the spine down the back. Its been very hard working on things so small as they are so delicate and finicky. Im slowly improving on working with my hands, so I think I just have to get into it and try my best to create the characters drawn.

After doing this with the female. The male character needed building. Using the same method as the female, the male is slightly taller and has a more built chest. This lets me have more room to build his clothing as his waist coat is going to be hard to cut out and sew correctly. Again the paper mache is in place of the muscles so the arm will not completely bend and he can have more structure.

 Pattern pieces have always confused me to this point when in life size designs so this was a real challenge for the characters dress. As she is so small, I needed the light fabric to fall down her body to create the tulip shape. But as there was so much fabric and it was too light, it would not fall. I added weights into the hem as well as mesh on top in hopes to weight in down before adding pleats to add more shape but it wouldn't work as i wanted it to so i had to leave this design and try again with a smaller pattern piece shape.

As i needed to work out the back plasticine for the spine before i went further with the clothing as they are under them, I designed this next. I was very happy with the way this turned out, as you can see it is a cartoon spine with notches and ribs. I was sad to cover most of it by the dress design but once adding all of the pieces together, I noticed that when the dress is on Belle, The rib shape comes through making her look more skeletal which was a happy accident.

 Attempting the skirt a second time, I used less fabric which created more of the shape i was going for. This was a good moment as i could finally see what the character was supposed to look like as she came together. It curves round the foam smoothly and comes out at the base so this is exactly what I had envisioned when i first started.

As a lot of my concentration has been on the female character, I started on the male character Vincent. As he is a zombie, the more green colour worked for his skin so it will be a big contrast in comparison to the skeleton colour. The trousers, like in the character sheets are a dark brown but i'm very proud with how they turned out as they fit perfectly, curve around his lower torso and have a fold at the front like a fly.

This was an incredibly difficult section of the outfit to do. As the top section had to go over her bust as well as round many curves, it made it difficult to sew onto her. I added darts into the bust so there isn't any fabric pulling out of shape. Then I measured up where the cut out section is before cutting it and placing it on the chest. After sewing, I pulled it all together and formed it to her as best as i could.

Then the lace material below was a perfect shape for the peplum design which split the middle and lower sections in half so it can look more complex overall. It is elasticated so i cut a small section and sewed it on a sewing machine before pulling it into the waist where it sits perfectly.

 This is the corset that was made by getting thicker white material and sewing it to a felt backing piece. After that, I worked out where the pattern pieces for the corset will sit on a torso. Instead of cutting out all of the individual elements, I found, if I just sew in the shapes, they will create a corset look overall without having to make it fragile by cutting it too much. When I was happy by the sewn shapes, I painted the white material to look older and have a more brown stained look to it to suggest age and being worn. This also adds to the skeleton effect as she could have been dead for a very long time.

 When they are both complete, they will look like a couple, at the moment her outfit is nearly complete compared to his so i need to do his shirt and waistcoat. But as I haven't been able to do the set yet, I might do those after his shirt so I can get some of the larger elements out the way. Overall she does look good when I think that i made everything so i am proud of this but Im still weary on time and time management.

 These are the pattern piece for his shirt, they are without the sleeves as i will sew them on last as to make it seem more like a real shirt. I wasn't sure of these shapes as I've never attempted male clothing before so its very much about experimenting and seeing which works best.

 I have pinned his shirt to him to look at the size and see if it is correct, this lets me try and get a more accurate result. After this base, i will add sleeves as well as a small collar and bow tie but i need the base done first.

 This was a failed attempt at doing his shirt. I pulled too much on one side so when i finished hand sewing one side, it had pulled and become too wonky and off centred. I have cut a new one and need to re-sew it to his torso and be more careful with the tricky shape.

As i need to start on the set i will complete more of the clothing next week.