CHANTALE RENEE

Molding & Casting

Molding & Casting

About a week ago, myself and 16 other artists signed up for a 3-day Molding & Casting workshop, offered by Festival Stop Motion Montréal. The workshop was held at Sial in Laval, QC, where they ever-so generously supplied us with the space and materials we needed in order to experiment. If you're a stop-motion nerd like me, it was a serious candy store. I jumped on this opportunity to improve my puppet making. Everything has to be planned out: from the mechanics of movement, t

December's Animation / 2016

December's Animation / 2016

Is everyone feeling like they're dying too? What a year it was! Full of dramatic entrances and exits, shocking tales and testing times. It's important to reflect on the year we've had though. It may have been a really bad one- but there have been worse ones, and the best ones? They're up next. I love this comic by Drew Dernavich. He's a featured cartoonist in The New Yorker's December issue of Best Cartoons of 2016, which has now become a household tradition during the Holida

November's Animation

November's Animation

I love nature and solitude In November, we seem to need quiet time. This year our little getaway was no exception. Total tranquility in the middle of not much going on. It's hard to disconnect from the frenzy of the big city. And let go of your phone. Everywhere I go, I grab a little piece of nature to take home with me. Don't know why... I have a thing for dried flowers... there is beauty in the death of a living thing. My most prized picking is a tiny poppy pod that I pick

October's Animation

October's Animation

October is a difficult month for me. It is one of my favourite months, but one that brings joy and sadness all at once... all the feels. It's funny how a time of year can make you feel, the same way, every year. This year, October also brought a lot of work and distractions my way, which I am thankful for. But of course, that meant very little time for this animation. October to me is colour, the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack and the smell of candle lit pumpkins. Oh go

September's Animation

September's Animation

September was a major moon month. As the fall crept in over some intense full moons, it really felt like there was a shift in the universe. Toronto also got to experience the sensory voyage that was In/Future down at Ontario Place. Amazing exhibits showcased works exploring time and space. It couldn't have come at a better moment. The inspiration for this month was vibrant. Everything fell hand-in-hand for September's plan. When I first began doing this animation challenge, E

August's Animation

August's Animation

Oh, August. You HOT, HOT sun of a month. Now don't get me wrong... The height of summer is pretty great- but if you're a gardener like me, and it doesn't rain for days, you start to worry. And then when it finally does, there's a giant sigh of relief. For August's animation, I knew I wanted to animated things from a different angle. I looked into ordering a rostrum tripod online, but after doing a bit of research, I figured it would be pretty easy to make one. Luckily I had

July's Animation

July's Animation

I've probably mentioned this before, but I think hands are fascinating. For some odd reason, they really inspire me, often. For July, I knew I wanted to build a shadow box. Of course the word shadow led to puppets! Shadow puppets!! They just bring me back to being a kid. With flashlights, in tents or forts, it felt really cool when someone showed you how to make that 'shadow bunny'. I began to trace a bunch of different hand shapes. I didn't really storyboard anything out- I

June's Animation

June's Animation

Ahhh Summer! Nothin' but BBQs, everyday. Naturally, for June, I made a hot dog puppet. Being in the 6th month, I'm finding it pretty easy to be inspired or think of a concept that can fit within "30 days". Of course, I'm terrible with deadlines (why I set up this project in the first place) but I am dealing with it. I pile up quite a few things up until the very last minute. Then, the deadline becomes pressurized and I just HAVE TO DO IT. That's my process, I guess. I'm doing

May's Animation

May's Animation

For my birthday in April, I received a handful of beautiful bouquets. I love flowers, and I didn't want to see these go to waste, so I pressed them, on purpose of course. I wanted to animate pressed flowers for May because Spring is finally here!! After very little research (a youtube video or two) I learned that you have to press flowers in their "prime". I enjoyed them for a couple days and then laid the prettiest ones to rest on newspaper between two heavy books. Then you

March's Animation

March's Animation

So there I was, in the dead of February, thinking: I need to learn a new skill. I looked up 'felting kits' on Amazon.ca and decided to watch youtube videos on how to felt small things. On the subway and even during down times at work, I poked away in excitement. Felting is relatively easy, and in this case, it was pretty inexpensive ($30 with shipping). A friend of mine is in the process of opening a brewery (halo) and they came into my work one day looking for bees for a pho

February's Animation

February's Animation

Maybe it's because I wish I was laying in the desert sun? Or maybe it's because we've been really into nature documentaries on Netflix? Reptiles are just so, so fascinating. I mean, look at this guy. The details! For February's animation, I knew I wanted to sculpt a chameleon. I also knew I wanted to animate it's eyes to a disco song. I started by using a small block of wood, some foil and some armature wire. I layered on some sculpey and used my grand-father's awls for textu

Animation Challenge

Animation Challenge

With every new year comes a set of new goals on the ol' vision board. Most of them get crossed off as they're never completetly unattainable. It's usually something like "Stretch" or "Breathe" or "Stop saying yes all the time." For 2016, I am challenging myself to create one animation per month. That means 12 short stop motion animations within the year. My 2016 is turning out to be entirely about discipline. For January, I was inspired by this photograph: Gerry Mulligan (19

Puppet Hands

Puppet Hands

When it comes to puppet making, I have an obsession with hands... TINY HANDS! Prague really had it down to a science. I distinctly remember our visit to Jaroslav Bezdek's studio. Our class had crammed into his quirky bachelor apartment to learn about latex hands. He was a very skilled man, with a "secret" recipe. We witnessed two hands come to life and got to make a pair of our own, but never have I been able to achieve that same concoction. Here is one of my favorite Czech a

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