Move On Over To MAD LAB!

This, dead reader, is the final entry for this blog. It's been quite a ride, hasn't it?

It all started with a massive tome of an entry, about Barnaby, way back in 2008.

And who can forget all the puppet making postings I did, like THIS one?

And of course, there was a call to arms to resist the continued decline of film making, which can be read here.


Yes, we have a lot of memories- you, me, and walsh-o-matic.

But the time has come to shut it down. I certainly won't be  TAKING it down cause there really is a heap of content here, and I think the puppet-making stuff is especially useful. But my energy has to go somewhere other than this blog. And that other place is:

More specifically, it's my new production company called MAD LAB PRODUCTIONS. 

It's a company whose purpose is to focus on the creation of animation. And more specifically, animation in the genres of SCI-FI, HORROR, AND COMEDY (and any combo of the 3 that tickle our fancy). Geri Bertolo is my partner in this. Geri has a brain that is stewed in more cartoon craziness than just about anyone I know, and together we're making some pretty neat stuff...

We have a production blog, that can be found here, and we're very active in general online, through Facebook and Twitter, and YouTube, all of which you can access via our website page. I really hope you'll subscribe to us on YouTube. The more subscribers we have, the more we know we have an active audience that wants to see more animation, and the more inspired we'll be.

So I hope you'll make the move (if you happen to still be haunting this blog), over to Mad Lab. If you like the honesty, integrity and (upon occasion) fun sense of humour from this blog, I personally 10000% assure you that you'll be happy with the work Mad Lab is doing.

Thank you very much for reading and commenting in this little corner of the internet over the past 4 years. Hope to see you (and hear from you!) over in the Lab...

The MAD LAB, that is!!!! (you can cue crazy laughter here, and flashes of electricity... )

One final comment: I apologize for how ugly this blog currently is (this one, not the Mad Lab blog!) Blogger has some very strange ideas when it comes to "user friendly", and as such I cannot, with sinking hours and hours of my life into it, figure out how to make this blog NOT look horrible. Sorry about that.

But I assure you, Mad Lab's blog looks nicer! Come on, give it a click.

Cute Toy Truck

On topic of making toys, I made this for my son over the Christmas holidays. It's not from the toy book I just posted, I just "winged it".

It was very fun (and super easy) to make. I just used scrap wood, some dowel, and some store-bought wooden wheels (got the wheels at Michael's Craft). The tools I used were a drill press (to make the holes for the axle, and the hole for the exhaust pipe), a vice, a coping saw, and some sandpaper.

I used professional wood glue to glue the cab piece on to the body, and I used 2 sizes of dowel- one for the axles themselves, and one for the exhaust pipe. The most fun was the paint job. I just used acrylic paint (didn't bother priming the wood, just went for it), and used a hair dryer to speed up drying so I could get multiple coats done.

When it was all finished I used two coats of an acrylic gloss finish, to protect and give it that "new truck" shine. My son's been playing with it for about a week now, and if it can stand up to a week of his bashing and crashing, I consider it a success.

It was really fun giving it to him at the breakfast table that morning- I love the feeling of making him happy with something I made myself. That being said, I also enjoy playing car racing games with him on the PS3!

Book On Making Old Fashioned Toys

I have a little shop out in my garage, as well as a small work room in the basement. I enjoy working away on projects, sometimes for myself, and sometimes for my son. I recently came across this book:

It's got a lot of fun projects, that really are simple, and charming. If you've ever wondered how to make a Balancing Man, a Skyhook, or a Floating Ball, then this is the book for you. It's laid out very nicely too, with a nice mix of historical illustrations of the toys and games, as well as more modern but tasteful illustrations of how to make the stuff. Well, I'm off to make a Bullroarer, wish me luck. If you are in Canada, you can buy it here.

Ben Whitehouse- Stop Motion Artist

I've just discovered the work (and blog) of UK stop motion junkie, Ben Whitehouse.

You can see his great work here.

He does extremely charming and appealing work, with lots of "how to" stuff to boot.

Enjoy!

NEW Mad Monster Party Book

I'm back, after taking an extended break from the land of bloggin'.

Facebook, through its ability to post info and links so quickly, has been the place I've been posting stuff lately. But a blog allows for a more in-depth look into topics, and I've started to miss that a bit.

And, when I look back at all my entries- gosh darn it, I've got quite a bit of information here, including interviews and profiles of all kinds of things, so I want to continue to nurture that.

And what better way is there to come back to this blog then by showcasing a brand new book that is sure to appeal to ANY fan of puppets, monsters, and generally cool stuff:

MAD MONSTER PARTY, by Rick Goldschmidt. It's a great tribute to the memorable Rankin-Bass stop motion feature from 1967. Rick has filled the book with lots of great photos and press images, the script from the film, music and lyrics from the songs, and all kinds of neat stuff that I'd never seen before. It's a must for fans.


You can order the book directly from Rick Goldschmidt here.

Proud Teacher Moments

When I started formally teaching about 5 years ago, I couldn't have known that part of the satisfaction of that job would be seeing the success former students go on to achieve.

So here's another "proud teacher moment."

Annecy is a huge festival, VERY hard to get into, and a student I worked very closely with has made it in. I'm so proud!

Read all about Carla Veldman's accomplishment here.

Stay Inspired

I'm finding it really hard to post on my blog lately. Life has sort of moved me into the direction of living in the world, but not blogging about it.

I've got lots of exciting stuff happening in terms of animation projects, but it's hard to find time to tend to everything (this blog being one of those things that is suffering a bit).

And life stuff (non-animation) is throwing massive stuff my way, as well...

If you follow this, or if you check in semi-regularly, I really do thank you. I'll keep trying to update things.

In the meantime, go learn more about and/or watch more of this guy's stuff, preferably with a little kid:




No matter what, go out and make something you love, with your own two hands, and show it to someone. Preferably someone you love.

Kevin Parry and Tim Burton

I had a super proud teacher moment last week.

Tim Burton has a major show (of his art in general) opening in Toronto. He was in town to promote it.

Kevin Parry graduated from Sheridan's Animation program last year, with his short film The Arctic Circle.

Kevin and his film were selected (along with other student films from around the Toronto area) to show his film to Burton and have a conversation around it.

Burton honestly digs his film, it's really nice to see.

Tim Burton on The Arctic Circle and Stop-Motion Animation from Kevin Parry on Vimeo.

More Exposure For My Zombie Flick

Happy to discover that Canadian Animation Resources has profiled my 30 seconds of zombie-ness.

You can read the wee article (and watch the movie again) here.

"Medium Hard Puppet Making"

Today I did a lecture on "medium hard puppet making".

"Easy puppet making" is taking a bit of epoxy and mixing it with armature wire.

"Medium hard puppet making" is still pretty easy (with practice), doesn't require any power tools, and gives you quite nice results.

"Hard"- cutting your own aluminum armatures (need a few power tools, and quite a bit of precision)

"Silly Hard"- making stainless steel ball-and-socket armatures (good ones). Why bother unless you're planning to be a pro puppet maker? Or are just really into metal work. If you need a ball and socket armature, buy it.

Anyway, here's a few pics of a semi-finished puppet:






And here's two images of the how-to: drawing him to scale, then on another piece of paper "light box" him around his edges, and then use that to draw in your armature of wire and epoxy, and make that armature (always working to scale)...

Movember

The month of November is Prostate Awareness Month, aka Movember.

My friend Mike Weiss made this very appropriate video a few months ago, not specifically for Movember, but it sure works!

Enjoy (and get your prostate checked, if you have one- only you know for sure).

Beardimation from DeliciousNougat on Vimeo.

Fangoria Digs My Film

Super pleased that world-renowned horror magazine Fangoria did a flattering piece on my stop motion zombie film. This magazine (in case you don't know) has been around for years, has been a huge inspiration for countless filmmakers, and is known around the globe.

You can read the piece and watch the film here.

Such great exposure, it's really encouraging for me. It really makes me want to keep working on my own stuff...

Thanks, Fango!

Happy Halloween!!!

Here's the holiday, from our home...

Halloween 2010 from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

A Halloween Visitor

Cooked up a new addition to my Halloween decorations. I call this guy "The Creeper" cause he likes to creep up behind you and go "Boo!" Then he runs away into the night, giggling. What a creep.

I bought a hard foam skull, added paper mache, some plastic eyes, a paint job, and a wig.







And here he is properly lit and staged...



And here's a little video (I use some music called "Haunted Nursery" by Midnight Syndicate).

The Creeper from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Rise of The Living Corpse

My zombie film continues to spread across the horror film festival landscape.

It will be playing as part of the Dark Carnival Film Festival, in Bloomington, Indiana.

I hadn't posted it online at first, so that it retained a bit of an "exclusive" nature for traditional (terrestrial?) film festivals. Now that the film has played around a bit, AND since it's Halloween, I've decided to make it public.

I hope you enjoy it, it sure was fun to make. Zombie puppets are WAY too much fun to make.

Please spread it around via all those social network thingies...

Rise of The Living Corpse from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

First Animation with Nate

Shot this earlier today. The music is by The Heavy.

Nate's First Animation from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Hand Puppet Fun

I shot this early last summer. Great fun, figuring out how to direct Nate in a way he could handle (being just 2 years old), AND manage a puppet and shoot at the same time!

A Day In The Life of Nate and Lion from Chris Walsh on Vimeo.

Another Festival

Happy to report I just got word that my zombie film "Rise of The Living Corpse" has just been accepted to another festival. This one is the Maelstrom International Fantastic Festival, in Seattle.

I'm now 5 for 6 on festivals I've heard back from... it's the best average I've ever had on a short film, to be honest. Funny how you learn as you go (and keep learning). From this high percentage of acceptances at horror festivals (as opposed to animation festivals) it makes me think of the age-old saying: "Give 'em what they want."

It seems that what "they" want is my horror films (not that this short is truly a horror film in any graphic sense, it's actually totally G-rated). And if "they" are wanting that, perhaps that is what I should keep giving them.

It's an interesting approach for an indie animator to consider- create genre or niche films that appeal to a specific audience, but do it in animation.

Anything to be different, I guess.

My New Animated Films

This past spring, I finished two stop motion shorts.

The first is called True Family Story, and I've blogged about it quite a bit since I started it nearly two years ago. I'm proud of it, especially the pacing and tone, both of which I feel are light and energetic.

I've only had the energy to send to exactly ONE festival, and that's Ottawa. They turned it down.

I will send it to more fests just as soon as I can gather the energy. It's my own fault- all this energy spent to create the film... then no energy left to send it out there. But it's a solid little film (despite what the Ottawa fest thinks), and I think it will have a pretty good shelf life, so I'll get it out there asap.

Here's a couple of pics of the DVD jacket. The jacket was largely designed by the every-talented Carla Veldman, who was a remarkable assistant through the entire production.






The second little film is called Rise of The Living Corpse. Who doesn't like zombies? Who doesn't like zombie stop motion films?

It's just 30 seconds long, and for THIS film I've actually sent it out to quite a few festivals. It's interesting- because it's a genre film (horror, obviously) that sort of "doubles" the number of fests I can reasonably send it to: horror fests, and animation fests.

And- since most horror fests get live action stuff, and "serious" stuff at that, a 30 second animated comedy stands out to programmers. As a result, I'm happy to say that of the 5 festivals I've heard back from so far, it's been accepted at 4 (with Toronto's After Dark Festival being the silly monkeys that turned it down).

The wise festivals so far include: Fantastic Fest in Austin, Oklahoma Horror Film Festival, Fright Night Festival in Kentucky, and the Chicago Horror Film Festival.

Oh, Ottawa also turned THIS film down as well.

Here's a few pics of the DVD (again, with design tackled by Carla Veldman).





I'm being pretty stingy on posting clips from either film. I kind of like the idea of being exclusive for a little while, with the films only going to fests. I'll post clips (and perhaps eventually the whole films) in the future.

I'll also probably look for some formal distribution, not to make money through, but in my experience it just adds to one's professional reputation to have a 3rd party handle the film.

Or- I'll keep them to myself for distribution and promote it myself exclusively so I can use the films to push my own "brand".

Time will tell...

Back In Action

It's been ages since I've posted. A lot has been going on in the "real world" that has found me with no time or energy for the virtual world.

The main thing has been moving my family to a new town. Essentially, the past six months of our lives have been taken up by "moving" in some way- looking for a new home, buying a new home, prepping our old home to sell, then selling that old home, then moving into our new home.

The past two months have been especially intense. Once we got possession of the new house, we had some pretty major renovations to tackle, while also packing to move out of the old house. Then once into the new house, it's been madness just trying get some boxes unpacked and live a semi-normal life.

The good news is that the move has truly been "life-changing" in a very real (and very positive) way. We love our new home, our new hood, our new town, and it's SO good for our son. He now has heaps of grass to run on, parks and fields to play in, a stellar library to get smart in, and his very own PLAY ROOM. That is, a room dedicated to (you guessed it) playing. It's a room he'll be able to grow with, a room to be himself, to have fun, to just be a kid.

And personally, I'm really looking forward to this winter, when I plan to do some fun mural monsters for him.

My son isn't the only one with play space. I also get my "own room". And for lack of a better name I'll call it my studio.



The little room is humble, it's a mess for now, but it's big enough to "make stuff" in, and that's enough.