Dorian Gray - Done!

Animation is done, though in my haste to finish I rushed the de-aging of the portrait, only ending up with about 2 seconds of footage when i really wanted it to be a slow process....much more difficult than I anticipated....que sera sera...I'm not done with the editing or effects but I cobbled together a preliminary "draft" to send along with my submission to Art-in-a-Box....the box is done, sealed up in plexiglass and (hopefully) ready for exhibition. I'll post the completed clip in a week or so, I need a little break from this. And I know just how I'll spend the break...the Lady Julianna, suffering some insomnia due to the pregnancy, went out and invested in World of Warcraft, a massive multiplayer online role playing game which I've started playing also....I can totally see how people can lose themselves in a game like this :)

Dorian Gray - Filming....

Filming is under way, I hope to be done with it tonight but if not, I am going to send the submission in without a copy of the animation, which shouldn't be a problem considering the box is the star as far as the exhibition goes...

Dorian Gray - Dusty

Finished webbing the set, dusty too....tomorrow and Wed I animate and Thurs I send off my submission.

Dorian Gray - Bits and Bobs

Here are the last few bits of the set, didn't get to dust and web up yesterday, will tackle that between today and tomorrow.

The little lamp actually works, a little battery operated light that comes on when you twist the bottom. A knife for to stab the painting. A wall sconce. And the second outer collage.

A (Corrupt) Picture of Dorian Gray

This was probably the most difficult part of the process so far, the miniature portrait of Dorian old and bloodied and corrupt.

Today I will assemble the final side of the box, finish the second collage, dust everything up, and add the cobwebs. Then I will be ready to animate! (I've got storyboards done too :)

Dorian Gray - Side Collage

Continuing my box....One side will feature the window, the opposite side will be a piece of plexiglass so the inside can be viewed.....the remaining two outer sides will be collages using printed pages of Oscar Wilde's novel. Here is a pic of the first collage:

Dorian Gray - Two Walls and a Floor

Three parts assembled, my room has two walls and a floor. I will dirty and dust up the set after it is done and assembled, including cobwebbing from wall to wall and fixture to fixture. The deadline for the "Art-in-a-box" show is july 15, but there is a late deadline of July 30, which is where I will probably fall. If I shoot for the 30th, I may be able to finish the animation in time too.

Dorian Gray - The Puppet

Basic twisted wire armature, epoxy clay bones, sculpey head baked, wrapped upholstry foam buildup, neck and hands latexed, painted, clothed, topped with hair (hairline painted on then topped with some glued-on doll's hair). Meet Dorian Gray.

Dorian Gray - Fireplace & Mantle

Finished up the fireplace with a brick hearth and some black acrylic paint to add a sooty look.

Dorian Gray - The Tapestry

A piece of linen painted with the image described in the book, a faded king and queen playing chess in a garden....hung on a wooden dowel and embellished with beading bits and golden thread.


I've been working on the puppet of Dorian Gray also, but I'm waiting to post until he's finished so I can do a sort of time lapse .gif of his creation...

Dorian Gray - Wall with Window

I took one of my "walls", cut out a space for the window about 7 x 9" and popped in a scrap piece of plexiglass cut to size. I used metallic Tulip paint to draw the lines on the Tudor style window. I wallpapered the inside with scrapbooking paper and added the decorative window frame, then hot-glued on some plaster castings from my brick mold for the outer wall, painted up with dark and light grey acrylic paints. The window is "dirtied" by painting on a thin watery layer of white acrylic paint that I wiped off of each pane after it dried.

Dorian Gray - Bookcase & Weathered Rug

I got a lot done yesterday, stained the wood furniture and weathered the rug using thinned out black acrylic paint. Also cut up various materials (scraps of mat board and card board and balsa wood) to make the school books for the bookcase. Today I tackle one wall and Tudor window...

Dorian Gray - Beginnings of a Room

To start off my box-set, I pulled six vinyl tiles from a box I had laying around. They look like granite so I thought they'd make a nice basis for a Victorian room. I stuck them to a big piece of foam core, then cut each one out. My box will be 12"x12"x12".

In the novel, this room is sort of like Mrs. Havershams place in Great Expectations, worn and weathered, dusty, old, and unkempt. Sparse of furniture, not visited by house guests or servants, which is why Dorian decides to hide away his portrait here. If you are unfamiliar with the story, it features a young man known for his beauty. When he has his portrait painted, he becomes struck by his own good looks, and his sudden mortality. He will grow old while the portrait will remain young and beautiful forever. He says that he would give his soul for it to be the other way around, and so it is. As he ages, he remains handsome and spry while his portrait becomes bent, withered, and corrupted, reflecting his soul, and eventual madness.

The room contains a table and chair, a trunk, mantle, and bookcase, a rug, a tapestry, and the portrait hidden behind a curtain. I got to work on the rug first, googled some patterns for a round rug until I found one that I liked. Then I tweaked it in photoshop, printed it out, and transferred it to a screen (embroidery hoop and nylon mesh).

Once I had blocked out the negative space with some glue, I printed the pattern in gold onto a piece of suede scrap mat that I had cut to size. The mat is a bit bright, but I knew I would be weathering it, staining it (probably with coffee), so I went a bit brighter that I wanted the finished product to be.

Next I added a little fringe to the edge using some yarn out of my "fabric drawer" (Ive done some serious organizing lately, trying to clean up shop to get ready for baby-proofing, but that is a post for another day :)

I also tweaked some store-bought wood items to make the table, bookcase, and mantle. Today I stain the wood items and weather the rug.