Lemon man
initial ideas from pixel drawings and sketches surrounding 6 memos + emotions originally represented “sour� as an emotion, or grumpy/sad
initial ideas + pattern designing
idea for a sewn character, so the work surrounding him all relates to this as he was not drawn much before hand
plans for how to make his head (the white on yellow) thinking of sewing it, bleaching it, then finally decided to
trying to figure out how to bring the character truly “alive�
poseable so that i could pose them in photos, perhaps stop motion animate them, or maybe make some videos with them. this meant figuring out how to give them “bones�
the wire was solid enough to work but had sharp edges, so wrapping it in yarn helped make it feel
the ideas for the character to exist in a quarantined world like we are right now began emerging from the initial photos of his finished form
the clothes were real baby clothes, with velcro sewn along the back as to allow them to be removed if wanted (due to the large head getting in the way)
Apple man
apple man began with some doodles of a character to compliment lemon man- the problem being, his weird long limbs made him look super creepy, despite being fairly similar to lemon man. this is where the decision to play up on this creepiness was truly
looking at the characters as a whole, thinking about emotions and a cohesive design of characters that some what relate.
at this point i was realising worm fit with apple and lemon, whilst oppy and pem where separate.
playing with facial features, trying to decide what looks best and what is easiest to replicate by sewing.
more body type experimenting for both characters thinking of new characters to add but ultimately not due to time constraints.
pattern plans + colour tests for stalk/leaf that can’t be bought.
bones and first body test
before head and adding velcro
at crit- before stalk was added dying shorts to create a more cohesive, complete and simple colour scheme.
shorts done, adding stalk final step.
- upon arrival of quarantine Videosmany initial ideas were lost.
- with three fully sewn characters and two unable to be finished, i decided to try animating or recording an outcome
- originally wanted to take photos of them within the uni photo studios, with large scale collaged/drawn backgrounds, which would create pages for book/s.
- these photos would also be edited for the characters to have faces that would
the plan for the videos was to make apple and lemon seem “creepy”, as there general look came across as such already, and now they were these strange characters with no discernible home or features. the idea was inspired by “dont hug me I’m scared”, and due to the size of the characters and lack of available tools, the videos ended up being recorded, not stop motion animated as any
the videos use white thread instead of fishing line to move the characters around, and are done in front of an eerie plain white wall, with window and single chairs.
the ideas behind the videos are that the characters are stuck in quarantine, like us, in a place they cannot escape from. the world is visible, audible, but inaccessible. its supposed to give off weird vibes, and leave viewers perhaps concerned or confused.
audio used was recorded from my windows during quarantine, and mashed together for a weirder experience. From where i am, you can hear bells chiming, crows, wind, and occasionally a single car.
it also, in some cases, could be relatable, as the videos go on in a series to depict a life where nothing ever changes, and no one can get out.
im debating taking it further and composing a short eerie sound track but as is, the sound of basically nothing is sort of unnerving.
some screenshots from videos
many parts have been spliced together so that failed shoots can still be used
some videos use more experimental edits, such as this one where i’ve tried to replicate an animated style like one i might use in animations later.