Fundraising Time

Hello hello! The end of January (and the first day of my shoot) are coming up fast, and to get the final items necessary for this shoot, I unfortunately need money. If you've enjoyed the updates on here so far and want to help make the film a reality, I would greatly appreciate a donation or a share.

Happy New Year, people who read this!

Here is the link to my kickstarter, where you can find more information about me and the film, as well as how to donate:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/corduroycactus/corduroy-cactus

Recording Session!

Here are some photos of the first recording session with my sound and music team!

Me! 

Josh Lawson playing the musical saw, which will be the Alien's voice in the film.

Hollie Bennet, my sound designer, setting up before the next take.

Josh again, and Ian Arnold, my composer.

Me with Aaron Kuhn, who wrote the cowboy's song for the opening of the film,
and is recording additional guitar for the score.

de cactus

An army of cacti! Thanks to Madeline Wall for sewing.

Random Sculpture...

...that I made while watching TV. 

Just a first test for the claymation trip sequence I'll be shooting in the spring.

Old Days of Yore

I got my order from Old Days of Yore in the mail! Check out their site www.olddaysofyore.com if you like miniatures and westerns. Really impressive stuff. They also have a shop on Etsy which is where I found them.

Tiny hat, gun, and holster. So tiny, so detailed.

Also, here is the beginning of my spaceship. It's meant to be very organic-looking, with a similar texture/color to the alien. It will be egg-shaped and peel open in layers. I built up the round base with paper mache around a balloon. I cut out petals from aluminum wire (that holds its shape when bent) and am currently in the process of covering the thing with cotton buildup and latex. 

TINY LEATHER PANTS

Angela Juarez's latest demonstration of pure awesomeness. Ugh so great.

Edible Sunset

Here's a photo of the sunset from work yesterday, taken by the talented Lexi Phillips! My avant-garde theory professor said on the first day of class that nobody will ever make anything as aesthetically beautiful as a sunset. Nevertheless, I'm inspired to paint my backdrops now and see if I can get close.

(also on the far left side, that's the statue of liberty. PRETTY GREAT, RIGHT?)

Ze Latest In Fabrication

TINY SHIRT. by Angela Juarez, who is making TINY CLOTHES for my characters.

Here is my Alien without a mouth, in a sock! She is in a sock while the epoxy on her head dries. My professor recommended using a copper brillo-pad type thing...(it's called a Chore Boy. I just googled it and apparently its uses are twofold: scouring dishes, and smoking crack...but the internet is WRONG. There is a third use, and it is alien hair).

Her eyes are clay painted with black nail polish, her body is cotton buildup.

Here she is with one of the replacement mouths (I put plastic wrap between the mouthpiece and the head so it's less messy to switch them, then just blend the clay around the seams)

Here's the latest in desert colors...I'm starting to like it.

Here my Alien is surrounded by skulls made by Maria Stamatakos

Lighting Test

Here are a few shots from the lighting test Jenelle and I did a little while ago, experimenting with creating sunlight. The film goes from sunrise to sunset, so we want to plan the sun's positioning for every shot. The cardboard cutouts are all to scale.

I need to get rid of my bed (also I took this picture with my elbow on the dragon keypad. SNEAKY)

Antihero

A charcoal sketch of Boyd Crowder's forehead (from Justified, which you should all watch immediately)

More preproduction!

Building! Building stuff! I'm building a desert in my room. It still needs color, but it's coming along nicely. I got this awesome acrylic medium called Crackle Paste by Golden that dries cracked which adds a lot of texture to the ground. Most of the brush was built up with spray foam and fake flowers and the grassy area is fake fur. It is soooo soft.

       

Also here is a picture of my DP Jenelle taking a picture of the set:

 

Preproduction!

Here's some concept art I did for my thesis! Cacti...cacti everywhere.

RIP 3rd Ward

I'm really sad that 3rd Ward has closed its doors. I started going to Drink and Draw there over the summer and was going every Wednesday until it went bankrupt. The models were great and it was such a good atmosphere for relaxing and getting in the zone...I'll really miss it. Here is some of my better life-drawing from my time there. I got really into pastel pencils for a while.