Paper Nuptials

As inspired by the beautifully detailed work of Brittney Lee, I have created this card for a day to remember forever - Kelly and Greg's Wedding.

Congratulations Kelly & Greg!

Kelly, my cousin and best friend, married her Prince, Greg, on October 17, 2013.  It was a very sweet ceremony outside by the Rancocas Creek around sunset.  The couple gathered close family members for the very special marriage.  Kelly wore a light pink dress, and Greg wore his navy uniform as a friend of the family married them. Everyone was so happy and excited for them to begin their wonderful lives together.

For such a special moment in their lives, I wanted to create a card that would capture the moment.  Despite the size of this wedding, there were a lot of nice details that have a lot of meaning.  I wanted to try to incorporate as much as possible.

Here's How I Created This Piece:

Tools Needed

Sketch, Cut-Out, & Color

Glue together layers

The vail Kelly wore was made by hand.  We held a family and friends craft night, and created the flower and vail piece by piece.  The beads in the center of the flower were beads from our great grandmother.  I glued one on the paper version to add a nice touch and depth to the piece.  The paper vail was actually a fine tool fabric cut to fit.

Fine Details

Fine Details

Actual Flower

I tried to mimic some of the techniques Brittney Lee uses in her pieces like having different depths rather than just flat pieces of paper.  I also added the tree to fill some of the outside of the piece so your eye has more movement and it centers around the couple nicely.  And in the hole in the tree I wrote the date (10-17-13).

In all, I loved creating this paper art.  It was time consuming, and very delicate but I found that using the exacto knife and a mix between color pencils, markers, and paint pens, I could really create what I was picturing.  I had a lot of control over the elements, but I did have to re-create or practice a lot of them multiple times.  It's definitely an art form that needs patience.


I hope you enjoyed my version of paper art.. if you give it a try please share your work.

Come back next weekend for some more Artspiration!

-Moni

Paper Art

Who said paper has to be so flat?  There are tons of options for creating with paper beyond what you may have ever thought.  Have a look at what one artist has done to push the boundaries.

Brittney Lee is an artist from California whose medium consists of paper, paper, and more paper (well, maybe a little glitter and paint too).  Her whimsical style, and creative touches make her pieces stand out of the crowd. touch your heart, and leave you feeling good.

I came across Brittney Lee's blog a few years back, and have found so much inspiration from her whimsical characters.  They all scream love and happiness in a cute way.  I found her work to be so inspirational because of the fullness of each of her pieces.  Every detail, and every inch of the canvas is perfectly planned and beautifully executed.

Brittney Lee's multi-dimensional paper art has an amazing amount of detail.  She layers paper upon paper to give you something to look at that you could stare at for days.  She is an illustrator, and you can clearly see her style is fine-tuned. What I find to be most inspiring, is the actual layout of the piece, and the pose in which each character assumes.  Her pieces are all so lively, and interesting to look at.

Brittney Lee has achieved and been a part of many things.  Check out the book she illustrated, entitled Tangled: A Dazzling Day, based on Disney's Tangled.

If you want to purchase a print of one of Brittney Lee's artwork, check out her Etsy page: britsketch

Join me later for my version of this artspiration!

-Moni

A Super Stop Motion

My Stop Motion:

Here's my version of stop motion animation.  I used the free app to take the consecutive pictures, and imovie to add the sound effects. This was so much fun.  Enjoy!

My Inspiration: 

The App:

I used "Stop Motion Studio" to take the photos for this stop motion video.  My favorite part of this app is that it has an opacity control.  This allows you to see the last picture you took, and adjust it so you can see what you are about to shoot at the same time.  Because stop motion is basically creating each frame one photo at a time, this option helps to easily create a more seamless animation. This app made stop motion very easy to create because it puts the photos together into a video for you.  So, give it a try! ( This was one very memorable night lol).

To create this Superman stop motion animation, I put 167 photos together, 2 songs, and 3 different sound effects.  It took 30 minutes to decide on a story, 80 minutes to arrange props and take each photograph, and 110 minutes to add special effects, audio, and fine-tune adjustments for finalization.  I used 5 pillows, 3 watches, 3 clocks, and 1 very amazing boyfriend to create this film.  I hope you enjoyed it =) because I loved creating it.

Check It Out:

Here's my very first stop motion animation: Adventures of Rudy .  I created this in Fall 2012-13 for a video class.  

Stop motion allows you so much control with every shot and every movement... the options are endless.  If you want to share something you've created, or a stop motion animation you have found to be inspiring please share it with me.

Join me next weekend for some more Artspiration!

- Moni

Stop-Motion Animation

Have you ever seen your toys come to life, or watched the world seem to paint itself?  Well, it may not be possible in real life, but stop-motion gives you the opportunity to create things straight from your imagination.

What is stop-motion?

Stop motion is an animation technique.  It is a series of photographs of an object moved frame by frame in small increments of time.  These frames are then played together as a video, making objects appear to move on their own. This technique is so much fun because it allows you to manipulate props limitlessly.

When did this begin?

Stop-motion has been around almost as long as actual film.  One of the earliest uses of stop-motion animation was by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton (1897) in "The Humpty Dumpty Circus."

Stop-motion began by animating static objects and later involved clay, called "clay-mation."  You may have seen this kind of animation in the california raisons commercials, or if you've ever watched the cartoon Gumby.  This type of stop-motion uses plasticine, a non-drying clay that is easily malleable and retains shape well.

Stop-motion animators have utilized a wide range of props. One of the most iconic examples of puppetry stop-motion is King Kong (1933). People are commonly used as the props in stop-motion animations as well called pixilation.  This is a live-action form of stop-motion using live actors being posed and manipulated rather than objects. Many commercials cleverly use pixilation, like the new kindle commercial series.

Stop-motion lends itself to a lot of creativity.  Currently, movies are using this technique mixed with basic 3D film techniques to create impressive films like Coraline (2009). 

Stop-motion is utilized in many categories including movies, music videos, commercials, and TV shows. 

How can I do this?

It's fairly simple, and a lot of fun:

1. Come up with a great visual story

2. Set up your camera in a stable place

3. Take pictures, making minor adjustments to the props between each shot

4. Play the frames together

If you don't have a movie program like imovie, or Adobe Premiere Pro, you can download the

Stop Motion Studio app FREE! this weekend from the app store. 

Welcome

Welcome to my Weekend Artspiration blog

I wish to inspire you to notice the art around you, learn more about it, and create!  

You don’t need to be a talented artist… you just need to have an open mind. Every week I will choose something that has inspired me.  I will include some artists, as well as examples of every-day pieces that you may have never noticed.  I hope to open your world to what art is – the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.  “Art” means something different to everyone, but in the end it’s about how a piece can move and inspire you. 

I encourage you to participate by explaining how a piece in the topic translates to you,  sharing anything that you have created, or sharing any art that has inspired you.

So, join me every weekend for a little artspiration!

- Moni