I think Sesame Street Was An Early Influence On My Love of Stop Motion

Teeny Little Super Guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjvt6xqKwV8&feature=player_embedded

The King of Eight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4munc-VzFU&feature=player_embedded

New Stop Motion Armature and Animation

The story of my first professional grade "helping hands" puppet and latest animation.

Decided to start my own ball and socket armature rig around the end of last school year. Bought about 8 "helping hands" kits usually used for soldering, but have great ball-jointed parts that work perfectly for a stop motion armature. I was able to find a place online where they were only 3 bucks a kit. Had to replace the wing nuts with bolts and regular nuts, so the armature would be less bulky. Used a very thick wire for the arms and legs to connect between the joints. Completed the bottom half of the rig before realizing that I needed more of one specific piece to make the top half. Finally finished constructing the "helping hands" rig around the end of summer vacation. With a suggestion from a friend, I used seat cushion foam to make up his bulk and shape.
He's still super flexible even with all the foam padding on him.School starts up again and my new Digital Storytelling teacher has us all do a stop motion for our first assignment. Excitement! I quickly finish the robot puppet and construct a miniature shooting stage underneath my bed. The enclosure allows me to hang lights from above with no sweat and not worry about bumping my set as I stumble around in the dark at night. Went to Home Depot and found the perfect parts to construct the factory setting I wanted for the set. Still frame from the stop motion shoot. Realized that my heavy duty light box made the perfect fill light for the scene. Hung the light box upside down from the underside of my bed. Used a desk lamp on the left side for a simple key light. The assignment for my class was to focus on ritual and repetition, so I had the robot assembling other robots in an assembly line. There is no story to speak of yet, but I intend to give him human characteristics later on (checking his watch, clocking in for work, etc) I used Dragon Stop Motion to shoot the scene with a Canon Rebel XS connected to my computer. It allowed me to see what I was shooting on my monitor instead of having to check the camera's viewfinder every shot. Here's the final animation I submitted for class today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lemFr97WvOk
My teacher gave us another two weeks to add sound to the video and add additional scenes if we want. I will post an update soon.

The Bonnaroo Awards! 2009 edition

PS: Sorry it took so long :P

Best Theatrical Performance and Ziggy Stardust Impersonation
Of Montreal with the strange/amazing post-appocolyptic piggy play

Youngest Average Age of Crowd (estimated)
MGMT. (Average age had to be 16 or 17)

Worst Execution of a Great Idea.
Fuse's cell phone charging station. With only 30 slots for 30 different phones, somebody dropped the ball here.

Most Creative Corporate Sponsorship
Three way tie- State Farm's DJ Scratch Academy, Garnia Fructis's Hair Salon and Karaoke, and Butterfinger's Comedy Tent.

Biggest Let Down for Sound Quality
Tie- Yeah Yeah Yeah's at Which Stage and Animal Collective at Which Stage. (Coincidence?)

Worst Scheduling Conflict
Tie Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs Santigold, Animal Collective vs St. Vincent, Of Montreal vs Jenny Lewis vs Wilco vs Mars Volta vs Decemberists vs Elvis Costelo :*(

Most Awkward Crowd Moment
Tie- getting wedged against the guy in the Borat swimsuit costume at Girl Talk or getting stuck next to the drunk couple making bad sex jokes and talking about getting it on when MGMT starts.

Most Humbled Band
Phoenix, they played what had to be their biggest crowd yet. Granted, many of the people there were trying to get good spots for Crystal Castles and/or Girl Talk, but the band were in awe of the crowd nonetheless.

Best Planning Idea Ever
Getting in line before the gates open on Thursday. (ended up with a camping spot 10 minutes away from Centeroo)

Worst Planning Idea Ever
Tie- bringing a 20 year old leaky tent and packing dry food items in a cooler
(both were soaked for the rest of the trip after it rained for 30 minutes right after we got there and the cooler was invaded by ants)

Best Shows Overall

Janelle Monae, White Rabbits, Murs, The Knux, Santigold,

TV on the Radio, Pho enix, Girl Talk, Of Montreal, Wilco, Yeasayer, Andrew Bird, Band of Horses

See you next year Bonnarooo! :D

Bonnaroo 2009!

WE"RE GOIN BACK!

OH man oh man oh man.

I'm loving this life-sized stop motion

Sorry I'm late by Tomas Mankovsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgpRz3RHJMw

End of Year Update

You might have already seen some of these before:

For Painting 2-


For Conceptual Practices-

"Dust Bunny Priest Warns the Congregation of the Coming of Hoover."
Mixed Media
"Environmental Monster"
Collaboration with/photographed by Athena Torri
Mixed Media
"Self Portrait in Tape"
Packing tape and seran wrap

Personal Projects-"Yarn Monster"
Still from a stop motion in production"Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer bust"
Clay, wire, and aluminum foil
Christmas gift for Lindsey Gilbert

Steel ball and socket armature for new stop motion character

New Demo reel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQGF-EI7rAM

That should be everything

Happy Zombie Jesus Day!

Since it was Zombie Jesus Day (Easter) earlier, here's a neat little illustration I found comparing the "New Testament" Jesus to the often referenced "Modern Day" Jesus. Enjoy.
Image Credit: Tim Kreider -- http://www.thepaincomics.com

Amazing sculpture/installation by Jake and Dinos Chapman

As a sculptor, this work blows my mind. The first version of the work entitled "Hell" was lost in a fire back in 2000. As they rebuilt it, they renamed it "Fucking Hell." It is gorgeous in its execution. Must see to believe. Their website features a great walk through of the piece: http://www.jakeanddinoschapman.com/


Original article on BoingBoing

Painting a Day Series

Here is a selection of pieces for my painting class where we had to do one painting a day. Most of the stuff is not worth posting, but here's a few I think turned out ok. The first week, we were instructed to paint what we were comfortable with. So I decided to start with a series of Star Wars portraits.

My New Website is Live www.JeremyDFisher.com!

After months of pain and agony, my site is done. Its very simple and showcases my new love affair with woodgrain, Helvetica, and the color white. All of the links open in a sweet seudo popup that keeps you from having to go back and forth between pages. Also all the pictures, videos, and info automatically updates when I throw something on youtube or flickr. Less html headaches for me :)
Check it out and let me know if it works/what you think.
www.jeremydfisher.com

This animation made me really happy today

I just wish I had thought of it first!

"Animals," by Minilogue (dir: Kristofer Ström)

This short work is a music video he created for the Swedish electronica band Minilogue. The track is "Animals," and the video features colorful critter-blobs wreaking hyperfun havoc all over an urban real-life-scape.

More about the artist on BoingBoingTV

Happy Holldays :-D with some awesome cake wrecks

Thought this was pretty appropriate from Cake Wrecks:

Today's Wrecks speak for themselves. Or at least attempt to.

I find myself wishing this said "holladay", just so I could work in a lame Gwen Stefani reference. But since I'm just a girl (in the world), I guess I'll leave that up to you guys.



Now that's a stingy well-wisher.



What's worse: making this cake, or serving it to all your employees at the company Christmas party?


Ignorance can be beautiful. Unless of course this snowman is named "Happe", and belongs to someone named "Holidey".



"Mercy" is right; get a load of what Rudolf is holding!

[singing] "I'll have a POO Christmas, without youuuu..."



"Let it is snow"?


Careful; buying this cookie "cake" may enter you into a binding legal contract.

And lastly, an oddly emphatic proposal:


Christnos, you sly dog, you, I bet you get this cake for all the girls. [wink]

In case these failed to get the message across: Merry Christmas, all. May your day be sweet and utterly wreck-less .


Many thanks to holiday Wreckporters Jenn S., Irene D., Bergen W., Todd T., Abby C., Jennifer L., Jessica C., and Angela M.!

View Original Article

Animation Almost Ready To Go!

So I just got my Canon Rebel XS camera last night and have been playing with it all day today. I figured I would take some shots of where my animation is thus far. I have the environment almost done, its mostly green screen right now, but will be a full forest of trees when its completed in after effects.My yarn monster is all done, he took forever to cover in yarn, and now has a light up eye, that may or may not work in the filming :/ The green thing behind him is his rig that helps him stand, its covered in the same green material so I can remove it later in after effects.The trees look terrible right now, but soon they will be covered in the same yarn as the main monster. The piece of plywood I'm using for the floor will look like it continues forever into the distance once I do some fancy work in after effects. I'll post some of the storyboards soon so you have a better idea of whats it all means. I'm still working on the lighting right now too. I bought some cheap lamps and mounted them to the ceiling with some J hooks and old wire squares from a shelf I no longer use. I still need at least 2 more lamps to get sufficient lighting for the scene. I'll probably figure that out tonight.
I was hoping to have this all completed for the end of the semester, but it looks like I will have to present what I have and keep working on it over break.

New Stop Motion- Yarn Monster

So I'm really excited to almost be done with my stop-motion character. This will be my first foray into stop motion since high school and I'm ready to get behind the wheel again. My character, "yarn monster," is about 85% done right now. I just need to finish wrapping his stomach, legs, and head; then I'll be ready to animate. Here's a grainy pic of what I have so far.The metal behind him is the rig that will suspend him for animating, so I don't have to balance his weight on his two feet. It will give me a lot more freedom when I move him frame to frame. The rig will be covered in blue fabric so it can be edited out later.

This photo just made my day

If there is any photo that can accurately represent what the past 8 years have been like, its this one. I'm 99.9% sure that Bush has no idea what the hand signal called "the shocker" (nsfw) means, which makes it even more precious. Then again, it could just be the Arizona State University pitchfork, a reference to the Arizona State Sun Devils. But that idea isn't nearly as entertaining.

"If You Believe" by Jeremy Fisher

If you haven't made up your mind yet on who to vote for (where have you been the last 2 years?!) than I present to you this list of my final argument as to why you should vote for Obama come November 4th.

If you believe we have lost our focus on the war on terror by invading Iraq...

If you believe that health care should be a citizen's right rather than a privilege for those who can afford it...

If you believe that it is important for the American image to be respected abroad...

If you believe that the most progress is made by sitting down with foreign leaders who we disagree with rather than giving the cold shoulder...

If you believe that a woman has a right to choose...

If you believe that there is no real or fake America, that there is only the United States of America...

If you believe that the wealthiest Americans do not deserve the biggest tax breaks...

If you believe we need to regain our standing as the leaders in technology, medicine, and science...

If you believe that companies should receive tax brakes when they keep jobs here instead of outsourcing them..

If you believe the best way to reduce the amount of abortions is to promote abstinence, birth control, and increasing the support for woman who want to keep their baby...

If you believe the solution to our energy crisis is not as simple as "drill baby drill" but requires a fresh focus in alternative fuels...

If you believe our president should know how to send an e-mail...

If you believe that Social Security should be protected and not privatized...

If you believe that No Child Left Behind has left many students behind and needs to be reformed...

If you believe that every student should be able to afford tuition for school if they have the drive and determination...

If you believe the next president should end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home...

...then you should join me in voting for Barack Obama on November 4th.

For more info on Obama's stances on the issues: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Find your polling location here: http://www.voteforchange.com/

Birth of John McCain Animation

While John McCain claims to be his own man, he is merely the latest in a series of right-wing politicians trying to win your vote using the same failed Republican ideals. See who John McCain's "friends" he always refers to are...

read more | digg story

Last Minute Halloween Costume Decision

Ok, so Halloween is fast approaching and I am stuck between two really cool ideas for my costume. Originally I was going to be the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, but that idea was dashed after I realized how hard it would be to assemble the costume this late in the game. So now I'm stuck between two awesome ideas for a costume: Dexter Morgan the Serial Killer or Doug Funny as Quailman.

With the Dexter costume, I would be wearing his thermal shirt with some blood splatter, leather gloves, cargo pants, and boots. Possible accessories: fake knife, black trash bag with body parts, police badge laminate, amputated foot, fake syringe.

With the Qailman costume, I would have the belt, towel cape, converses, and shorts with underwear overtop.

So I would love to hear your input as to which to go with.

Make It Work!

Hey guys I'm back!
Since Project Runway just started up a new season last week, I decided to bust out the clay, wire, and tin foil and sculpt a bust of the show's fashion guru: Tim Gunn. I based the look off a caricature Lindsey did last year. I still might add a suit jacket to finish him off.

Right now I'm working on a Dexter bust. I was originally going to try another caricatured look, but I couldn't get down his features in the drawing. So I'm doing a straight realistic sculpt this time. I should have something to show in a week or two...
In the meantime, let me know what you think of Mr. Gunn. :)

21 years and counting

So today is officially my 21st. I guess this is the last big birthday before my 50th. (unless you count being able to rent a car at 24).

Besides the obvious new privilege of drinking and going to over 21 clubs/ bars, here's some other happenings over the past month or so.

-Bought a 98 Monte Carlo dubbed "Monte." Its red and its a speed demon.

-Got a job (finally!) at Circuit City. I really like it there so far. I was worried at first about not knowing every mineute detail about laptops, computers, cameras, car audio, etc. but I'm learning slowly but surely. I really like working with customers and its the best feeling when you help someone find exactly what they are looking for. The guys I work with are great so far too.

-Saw M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening last night. In my opinion, it was good, not great. It had some really freaky parts that were not for the squimesh, but it failed in my book due to never fully explaining why these horrifying occurrences were taking place. Go see it though if you're a fan of gory death sequences...there's a lot of them.

-Went to Tampa with Lindsey to see Obama deliver a speech. If you get a chance, definitely see him live. Although we were in the nosebleed section, it was still really special.

Tonight to celebrate the big 2-1, Lindsey is taking me out to Ybor and Tampa to go window shoppin and checking out the sights. Should be fun. :)