We picked up lighting and camera equipment today! Also tested puppets, fabricated, and shot a little reference footage. Kickstarter money comes in this week--AND ZEN ZE REAL FUN BEGINSSS

tiny guitar

tiny guitar in the making

I made the body and neck with a block of wood, a coping saw, and sandpaper

...almost sanded my own thumbnail off, but it's for the greater good. 

Jenelle

This is Jenelle Pearring, the cinematographer for Corduroy Cactus! We met working at NYFA and bonded over life-drawing at 3rd Ward. She is always on set and works incredibly hard, not to mention being full of creative ideas and good humor. We're both so excited to bring this story to life and see what comes out of our first collaboration!

Check out her REEL here!

everything looks worse before it looks better

Cowboy with a haircut and his new hands! 

Moustache progress--where I end up with hair glued to my fingers. Hair was harvested from a Bratz doll)

BY THE WAY. If you enjoy watching people make stuff, you should also check out my best friend Raz Khashoggi's blog for her thesis film at the Corcoran! it's good stuff, mann.

Give a Moustache to the Cactus in YOUR life!

Step 1: build a moustache armature

Step 2: cut sculpey moldmaker around the armature 

Step 3: freshly baked moustaches!

Back in NYC

Pouring candle wax on the desert

Alien replacement mouths and the unfinished cowboy puppet wearing a little wig. He needs a haircut. And a face. 

CORDUROY CACTUS IS FULLY FUNDED!!!

Going into this, I was nervous about crowdsourcing and had no idea what to expect, but the result was incredible! So many friends and family members and friends of family members and family members of friends reached out and donated or passed on the word about my page. Every notification of a new backer was so exciting--the most rewarding thing about fundraising for me is receiving support in my work from people who I personally know and like! So thank you everyone, EVERYONE.

Here's a cactus hug!

Aaaaand...now back to work :D

If I had a penny for every time I've made a gif, I'd have one penny!

Here's my first experiment with stratacut animation for the trip sequence. The process is basically building up a roll of clay and then slicing it up a little at a time. For my next test, I will get better slicing wire...and I might try it with wax. My experimental animation professor says it works better because it isn't as melty and soft.

A pile of the discarded slices

Also, another huge thank you to everyone who has donated to the film so far. Seven days left and we are already 70% to our goal! If you haven't seen the kickstarter yet, please check it out:

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

And this is my website, if you would like to check out some of my other animation:

cargocollective.com/aaricanorth

Snow Day

I spent today inside, hiding from the cold and working on this spaceship. It still needs more buildup and some wire to help hold the petals in shape, but I'm really happy with the texture--kind of the same gross bumpy skin as the alien. Jenelle and I talked about putting LED lights in the ship--the latex is pretty translucent so I think it'll glow nicely even from the outside. By the way, the mechanics of this spaceship are pretty mysterious, even to me. Apparently, it's a giant floating egg that runs on light.

Also, a huge thank you to my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends for all the tools and materials I received as gifts, as well as the generous donations and shares of my Kickstarter page! If my arms were longer, I would hug you all. 

Fundraising is going well. I have raised 28% of the money I need so far and have 10 days left, so please consider putting in a small donation if you like what you see on here, or tell your friends! (also, if you want to see more of my work before making a donation, my website is cargocollective.com/aaricanorth)

And here is the Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/corduroycactus/corduroy-cactus