With university finally finnished after 4 hard years of academia I am officially free!!! After the struggles of animating the Guido armature, I have decided to treat myself to a professionally built practice armature which I shall use to… well… practice animating! After looking around the internet I stumbled across John Wright model making. John has created a armature, puppet and prop studio that also sells ultra high quality ball and socket joints. He has worked on some fantastic projects including aardmans features ‘The Pirates’ and ‘Wallace and Gromit’. His website can be found HERE
After hearing the prices Mackinnon & Saunders charge per puppet I was worried his armatures would also be waaaaay above my budget. To my surprise… NO! For the modest sum of about £500 I was able to specify exactly what I wanted!!! To anyone out there who thinks “bloody hell, that’s an expensive armature” well… Yes, it is expensive but here’s why it’s worth it.
1. The armature joints are exeptional quality. Not only will they last forever but they will also make animating so much more enjoyable and fluid.
2. To buy the joints/metal/ equipment to make my own would only be £50 cheaper, however the quality of craftsmanship would not be nearly as accurate.
3. The armature can be taken apart and re-configured… endless possibilities.
4. I want to focus on what I do best… ANIMATING! Having someone else build this for me so the second I get back from holidays I can start animating… priceless 🙂
Here is an image of the puppet he designed to my specifications…
I can’t wait to receive the finnished article! Many thanks to John who has been extremely helpful and accomodated all my design requests without hesitation.
John Wright Model Making can be found HERE
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