Crabman: A Journey into Stop Motion

Role: Fabricator, Animator

During my capstone project I was fascinated by the process and techniques of the two Stop Motion films in my class. I signed up for Stop Mo 1 and began learning to build and animate a character for a short scene. 

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My character concept was a gentleman fiddler crab from a bygone era. I was excited to explore the anatomy and asymmetry of crabs combined with the costuming possibilities of a victorian gentleman.

The final character combines a body cast in foam, a head and eyes cast in plastic, and mouthparts sculpted from pro-poxy over wire armatures. The eye stalks and mouth parts plug into the skull, allowing for separate animation. Vacu-formed shells over the eyes created a glossy effect for maximum soulfulness.