Heather Dixon Wallwork's Blog, page 20

It's December

...Babes in Toyland season.

This week is the movie's 50th anniversary!  It was released Dec. 14th, 1961.  I realize I'm the only person who cares about this.  That will not stop me from watching over and over the World of Color Babes in Toyland Backstage Party that some blessed saint has uploaded onto YouTube.  On it you can watch the Forest of No Return trees sing to Walt Disney, see Tommy Sands do a bongo solo, and stare at Barnaby for hours.  I know I do!


...Barnaby then does a little dance that makes me kind of dizzy and, oddly, want to kiss things.  O_______O  You can watch the rest here.  Yurr yurr, I know I'm going to be the only one who clicks on that link.  I'm posting it anyway.  Gotta be me.

For the Toon Club topic, "Favorite Stories"

Princess Paper Dolls

Kid in candy shop time?  Ok!



I love me some big poofy dresses.  Here's how to play:

You'll need printable magnet sheets.  You can find some at Wal-Mart ($6 for 3 sheets) or an office supply store, or Amazon (5-pack for $8.50 or so).

Print

Cut

Dress her dress her dress her in her do-mi-do duds.
Magnet sheets are nice because you can layer them.

Originally ALL the outfits were going to be black, as per the Entwined story, but that was a whooooole lot of work for just a one-note joke, and I am nothing if not a lazy bum.  They're historically accurate though*, so now you can impress your friends with your knowledge of garibaldi blouses.  You're welcome.

*insofar as the medium allows. They are cartoons.


Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!  ^_^

Cream of the Crop, Tip of the Top

In case you haven't heard the news, you can read it here.

Plaza Pavilion is the perfect place for a Mary Poppins bakery!  I  am so excited  <3 <3

Costumez

 Well it's that time of year again.  You know, that time of year when you realize that Halloween is actually TOMORROW and you haven't got a costume yet, so you go to the store to look for a costume and what you actually find is a costumez.

You've seen costumez before.  You probably just thought the costume store got their shipment mixed up with Victoria's Secret.
 Fairiez costumez
 Devilz costumez

 Hermionez Grangerz costumez
[image error]  Cheerleaderz costumez  (That's not actually a costume!!)

 It's, like, all the stores will sell.  I'm very much against costumez.  And I would love to say it's for some noble moral reason, but it's not.  I'm opposed to costumez because I'M ANNOYED!!  WHY DO BOYS GET ALL THE AWESOME COSTUMES???!?!?

 However I've always believed in expressing my opinions in very peaceful and democratic ways.
 So this year, I've put a pretty awesome plan in action that will eliminate costumez altogether!!

It goes something like this:
[image error]  I discreetly hide somewhere at a costume party.
 When no one is paying attention...

I ATTACK!!!!
[image error]  RAAAAAWR!!!

EEEEEEP!!  (girl scream)
   scufflescufflescuffle

 ..in which...

The costumez undergoes FULL TRANSFORMATION!!! (Thanks to my awesome thrift-store shopping skillz.)


Because, see, if girls knew they could actually have, you know, real costumes, then maybe the stores would finally sell wookie suits in our size!  We must end the madnesz.  Starting with me.

[image error]
  [image error]  Yes.  Yes you can.
 Boys love a girl with a brain!
[image error]  I know it's shocking.


I've even put together a logo for the movement:
[image error]  I'm not sure it's overt enough i might need to add more blood.

...sorry mom.

 Anyways, all I need now is to be invited to some Halloween parties!  You too could have a piece of this:

  [image error]

Cinemagraphs

I've had a couple people ask how I did the current header, so here's a (quick) recipe:
Vintage photo, w/pieces painted over in photoshop, so they won't interrupt the animation. Which one is creepier?  You decide.
I filmed my 17-yr old sister sitting very still & doing Creepy Eyes.  Import .mov into after effects. Animate a mask around the eyes as they blink.  (Add a little feather to the edges)
[image error] Desaturate, superimpose over the top of the vintage pic.
Render as gif
Ta dumm [image error] Here is an in-depth tutorial.  If you don't know after effects, you can do it in just in photoshop, too.
My first attempt, with my older sis & her new baby.  Is it nice to have a lot of sisters?  Why yes.  Yes it is.
So far these are my first and only tries at cinemagraphs, but the looping & composing was surprising easy (took maybe 90 minutes or so.)  I think if I do more of this stuff it would have to be a collaboration, as I'm not a great photographer.  But boy it sure was fun.
One day I'll figure out how to make them as gorgeous as this. 

I like me MORE Mustache Twirlers!

 Now that it's Halloween season, remember last year's post?  Here's the sequel: 

7 More Awesome Villains You've Never Even Heard Of!

I really like villains.  i don't know why....probably because I'm surrounded by all you namby-pamby goody-two-shoes.  Here we go!

1.    Barnaby Barnicle


I kind of have a thang for Barnabies.  In this 1986 Babes in Toyland (starring a very young Drew Barrymore), he pals around with his buddiez Mack and Zack, stealing cookies and inciting Toyland Terror.  But really all he wants is love.

Anything else you need to know is here:
I wish I lived in a bowling ball.


2.  Fegan Floop

Fegan Floop from "Spy Kids" takes undercover agents and turns them into fooglies--putty-like creatures of their former selves.  But really all he wants to do is write children's shows.  I sympathize with this guy.  And also love his theme song (written by Danny Elfman).



Here's a cabbage patch kid as a fooglie.
I bet you're so glad you visited the blog today!



3.  The Prognoviach, from "Condorman"

Hailing from Eastern Europe, the Prognoviach are highly trained assassins-in-cars.  Expect high-speed car chases through winding canyon roads, synchronized driving, and falling over cliffs in a big flaming ball of fire.  Each one of these baddies is "a dedicated killer."  Definitely not something you want to see in your rear-view mirror.


Unless you have a Condorman car.  Then you're ok.

My nephew adores Condorman, so my sister made him the Prognoviach for his birthday.  Lucky kid!
Each one of those cakes is a dedicated killer.

4.  Clockwork Droids, from Doctor Who


The ominous ticking clues you in: these guys are hiding in your room.  And they want pieces of you.
Now go break every clock in your house.  You'll feel safer.

5.  Lina Lamont


Actually you've probably heard of Lina.  She can't sing, she can't dance, she can't act....she does however have a pretty neat voice.  It's my secret wish to have a "Talk Like Lina Lamont" Day.  It'll be filled with words like, "Dope" and "Darn tootin'!" and "Whatsa matter with my voice??"  When I've taken over Canamerica that's the first thing I'm going to do.



6.  Vogons

The micro-managing bureaucrats from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."  Don't try to get any paperwork done with them, and DON'T listen to their poetry.  It's almost as bad as mine.


7.  Princess Mombi
[image error] If Princess Mombi from "Return to Oz" didn't give you nightmares, then her Wheelers did.  If the Wheelers didn't...then you're lying.  This movie still freaks me out.  I'm totally watching it this Halloween.
You can re-enact this scene with Barbie Doll heads.  I always did.  (Yes, my childhood was awesome)

Kids vs. Kids

Last week, my aunt related a story to me:

Her 6 month old was sleeping in the swing and her 2-year old was watching Dinosaur Train with a bowl of pretzels and she figured that now was a pretty good time to sneak away and take a 90-second shower.

45 seconds in, and she heard a giant crash.
She ran out to discover this:

(Baby was ok)

Anyway, it got me thinking about kids and babies and stuff.

If you were lucky, after the stork delivered you, you opened your eyes to a scene like this:
 If you were luckier, however--and I was!--your very first vista was this:
 You were a younger sibling!


 This makes growing up an adventure, because kids that age only sort their life interactions into two categories:
 Toys and Not Toys.

And babies make the BEST toys!  They make noises and move and stuff.  They're better than matches!

Like a baby chic punching a hole through its shell, this kind of stuff makes babies stronger.   If a younger-sibling baby lives past the first 3 months of it's life, that's a pretty good sign it'll live to puberty.
I myself have made a noble contribution to this theory.  When I was 3 or 4, I remember my mom's friend had come to visit with her newborn.  I think the novelty of my two younger siblings had worn off, so I was super excited to hold the thing.  I washed my hands and sat in a big chair and was pretty much ready for some great baby bonding time.
 After 3 minutes or so, the novelty wore off.
 I wanted to stop holding her, but interrupting the grown-ups did not seem like a good idea.
 So I came up with this really awesome idea!*

I'd been to the park earlier that week and remembered the slide and thought it would be a lot of fun if I could make myself a human slide!  I would put my legs at an incline and point my toes and it would be so much FUN!


*it didn't occur to me to just set the baby down.  Common sense was never my forte.

Here's how it happened in my head:
 Wee!

Um.  Here's how it happened in real life:


 The grown-ups weren't real happy about that.
 But it DID prove me right!  This stuff makes babies stronger.  And the baby?  She grew up just fine.

I think.  I mean, she did ask me to be her friend on facebook, so...she's mentally sound I think.  Or is she??
Anyway, the moral of this story is:  Kids, let the world be your playground.  It makes you stronger.

...Which is exactly what I told my aunt.
 (I don't think she appreciated it)

I've always wanted to do this

...it certainly can't make elevator silences more awkward than they already are.

Delsarte prt 3!

Time for round 3?  Ok!

Part 1 and Part 2 are here.

In the book, Delsarte studies colors from stained glass windows, colors from India & Biblical tradition, and even Aztec painting, and splits the 3 primary colors into head/heart/body. 
 
 Heart is a cinch.  Red.  I never would have considered blue powerful or yellow enlightening, but it is surprising to see how it all fits.  Some iconic pics:
   Yellow was especially surprising to me, since it doesn't strike me as a smart color.  But light bulbs pop up over a character's head when they get an idea and kings wear yellow crowns, so it makes sense.

The secondary colors are a mix of these.  Purple is considered an immature color--is it because there's no head color in it?  Brown is considered down-to-earth, which is just a dark version of orange.  I don't know as much as I wish I knew about color, but our perceptions of it seem to match Delsarte's.  (Color though is so wibbly-wobbly...desaturated blue can mean something completely different than a zingy blue.)

WHITE and BLACK are iconic of course.  White is pure and inspirational, whereas black symbolizes darkness and evil.   Thank you Mr. Phantom :)
 I will never get tired of this picture
Ok!  Practical application time!  Keeping Delsarte poses & gestures & colors in mind, take a look at these Disney princesses below and see if you can peg which one is:
1)  The most romantic
2)  The most powerful
3)  The most willful
4)  The hardest to relate to

You have 5 seconds.

****

 Got your guesses?  Ok!

Most romantic goes to:
 Briar Rose!   Check out the huge contrast in her heart zone.  Not only that, but her hair flows to the heart zone, her dress's hem and sleeves flow to the heart part of her body zone, and one hand is in the heart zone (& her feet are in heart position, I believe.)  Totally romantic...which completely matches her character too.
Most powerful: Pocahontas.  She is in complete body stance--splayed gesture, her hair flows past her heart zone to the body zone, and her hem ends in the body zone too.  (She also has a shoulderband you can't see in the body zone that adds more contrast.)  I think the yellow dress and necklace offsets this a little, but she is definitely a vital.

Most willful:

 Rapunzel.  Convex gesture (very willful) hand on hip (sensual) (Delsarte thought a gesture like this was "vulgar") Purple, which has no head color in it.  (She does have her feet on a head position, which gives her a sassier tone.)
Hardest to relate to:
Mulan, because her armor is masking her form.  So, in Delsarte world she is less readable and relatable.
Which segues into the last Delsarte design stuff this will cover.  Which is: the more the form of the character is shown, the more sympathetic, vulnerable, and relatable they will be.
Han Solo has some wicked good Delsarte design.  Lots of contrast in his heart zone, and because you can see his form, you can read and empathize with him pretty easily.
 At the other end of the scale, this picture of Lady Gaga.  She's masked her face, form, and head, and so the audience is distanced emotionally from her.
 Like a mask, the character's clothes & shape can alienate the audience from the character.  With the Delsarte theory it makes sense why big poofy dresses are considered so romantic--because they distance the person from the body/power zone and focus on the form in the heart zone.

 And it makes sense now why melodramatic villains had capes--it covered their form and distanced them from the audience (and if he's wearing black, you know he's super bad)


*****
So that's Delsarte in a cup.  Lots to take in and a lot of it is speculation.  It seems like Delsarte went out of fashion because the system was being used as shortcuts, instead of actual figuring out the character.  At any rate, I do think it's good for the animation/design person to know, because more information is always better than less.*
To end on a happy note, here's an excerpt from the book.
You brought me this wreath?  How it smells of the woods!

More gesture funs (Delsarte prt 2)

Time for round two!  You lucky kids.
So the last blog post had the body split up the Delsarte way.  Head, heart, & body  (or, as a commenter before had mentioned, mental, moral, & vital.)  Head, torso, limbs--each with three more splits of the same.  And, in those  sections, there are even more divisions!
The eyes, for example, are split: head in pupil, iris is heart, and white is body.  (There are also divisions for the nose, mouth, around the eyes, etc...it's a crash course so we can't get in to all of that.  But you can always read the google book.)

Hands (the head part of the body section) also have three parts:  palm = body, back = heart, side = head.

 So, it makes sense why holding the back of your hand to your forehead = romantic faint (heart to head) vs. palm of hand to head (more logical--do you have a fever?)

The power & movement behind the head/heart/body divisions also had those three parts.  The more powerful and convex  is body, the least powerful, more head = concave, and the happy middle is the heart.
 Delsarte took all these movements & pieces and created exercises and gestures that symbolized the characters' emotions & desires.

Here's a (rough) Delsarte gesture lineup:
 
1)  Romeo, with a convex gesture, legs splayed, left hand in body area, comes off as mostly passionate and sensual.  It's softened by his hat & feather, giving interest in the heart & head zone, as well as his right hand (giving him a more soliloquy feel.)

 2)  2 is strongly romantic, with both hands in the heart zone, and the hair ending in the heart zone as well.  Her arms are bent in more of a head way (Arms out = body, arms square = heart, and arms acute = head) which tempers the romantic with concave shyness (concave, head).

3)   This guy is a mix of all three parts.  His legs are in a head position, left hand in the head zone, but with one hand in the heart zone and both arms in heart gesture.  The belt or whatever that is adds contrast in the body zone, giving him a bit of a physical/sensuality

4) GOLLUM

 ^^ These examples are really terrible.  You're welcome.


 Ok so below we have our good friend the 1925 phantom, and then a Charlie Chaplin film.

 The tone of these two pictures are strikingly different.  Beyond the phantom trying to get Christine to Do It His Way & Charlie is giving the girl something, you can figure out why the emotions are so different using Delsarte.

 The logic part of the Phantom, with dark rings around his eyes, makes him look eccentric.  His gesture is splayed, which is very physical and forceful, and his hands are in the heart zone (almost in the head zone) making him look forceful, in love & complete fruit loops.  Staging and values help that out, where he's a dark figure towering over poor will-less, frightened (eyes and splayed fingers) & very romantic-feeling (both hands in heart zone) Christine.
Both of these characters are on equal standing--heart and head.  Both of them are in concave, less willful gestures.  Charlie has one hand in head, one hand in heart.  The girl's cupped hand = less force, hand in heart zone, a concave gesture of kneeling (a 90 degree heart gesture, leaning towards head).  Her left hand is in the body zone, but with the back out.  So the picture has a very romantically sweet feel to it.

Next time:  Colors and applications!