How Monstrous!

How monstrous indeed? I'm not quoting Shakespeare*, I'm referring to the upcoming celebration of all things horror and beastly... Monsterpalooza.

Self described as the place to "celebrate the art of monsters and movie magic ...with over 250 vendors, a monster museum, special guests, makeup demos, presentations and more..." Monsterpalooza is a place I've been meaning to visit since I moved to LA. This year I'm excited to be there as a vendor! It's at the Pasadena Convention Center here in California on the weekend of 13-15th April. If you make it over there then you must stop by my table and say hi! Godzilla Aisle, Table 111.

Director Guillermo del Toro (who just won an Oscar as Best Director for The Shape of Water) referred to Monsterpalooza as "the monster convention I dreamt could be possible as a kid".
Others have described it as the "best horror convention of all".

Fun, right?! Plus Rick Baker and Elvira will be there, so what's not to love?

I'll be premiering my Hortense figurines at Monsterpalooza, and you can also see many of my witches and some spooky miniature set pieces on display there.

See you there!

*Who cannot want the thought how monstrous
It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
To kill their gracious father? Damnèd fact!

- Macbeth, Shakespeare

A Strange Dog, a Flood and a Man...

A strange dog, a flood and a man walk into a bar....

...no, not really. This Welsh proverb sounds like a joke at first glance. I like it and since this blog post is about something Welsh, I include it.

"Three things it is best to avoid - 

a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise."

~ Welsh proverb.

If you're disappointed and wanted a joke, scroll to the end of this post for my standard joke I tell in pubs. Few enjoy it as much as me.

This post is about my design process and how I arrive at something I am happy with.

Almost two years ago I designed and sculpted a Welsh witch character called Mabyn Mossback for 'Good Witches Bad Witches'  and showed her here on this blog. 

This was the initial sketch.

I had to include a sheep because Wales and sheep are inextricably linked. I had the sheep led by a leek on a string (naturally) and gave her a traditional Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. Also, she's knitting. I was never convinced this was the right design though...

Here's her sheep.

So a year later (April 2016) I found time to sketch her again - still riding her white ram and dressed mostly the same. This time I added an umbrella and a mushroom to her hat. It still wasn't right for 'Good Witches Bad Witches' so I shelved her again and worked on others.

This was the watercolour sketch.

This year I sold her since she never quite belonged to the 'Good Witches Bad Witches' world.... she was detailed and nicely made, but the design didn't work for me. I re-imagined her, this time without the leek on the string... and this time I suddenly realised that of course her ram had to be black, not white. I kept (but changed) the Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. I kept the umbrella. But this time, I designed her not riding the ram, but sitting in a modest cart, pulled by the ram. The cart is carved like a Welsh love spoon. Balls of wool sit packed up at the back of her cart. 

Here's the design...

And here it is as a better sketch...

Check back at this blog soon as I'll share images of the new sculpted maquette... the finished Mabyn Mossback (Welsh witch) and then in a few weeks there will be a video all about making her at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here. Please subscribe to the channel if you're interested in watching me work and stay tuned for tutorials to be added this year as well (that is, if interest is there!)

A glimpse at her and her ram...

And finally, my joke.

Two chemists walk into a bar. Bartender asks "What can I get you?"

The first chemist says, "I'll have a glass of H2O."
The second chemist says, " I'll have H2O too."

The second chemist dies.        tall tales productions, caroline mcfarlane-watts, cs mcfarlane-watts, animation, stop-motion, scale models, miniature models, miniaturist, concept maquette, maquette sculpting, sculpting figures, character design, laika, tim burton design, aardman, miniature characters, mackinnon saunders, peter lord

Hooked!

Last post was about this new character maquette - Captain J. Hook, sculpted in 1:12 scale miniature by hand using polymer clay.

There's a new video for you up on the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here, so you can learn (in just 60 seconds) how this character was created from initial sketches to the final piece. It's not an in-depth tutorial, but it gives a fun insight to the process which I hope you will enjoy. If you like any of the content at the YouTube Channel, then be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss updates. There will be many tutorials coming soon (they've been shot already and are getting edited as we speak).

WATCH HOW IT'S DONE!

Maquette sculpting and Painting video...

And here is a video from the exhibition opening night at Center Stage Gallery, Burbank.

Photos of the exhibition...

tall tales productions, stop-motion animation exhibition, laika gallery, laika exhibition, laika display, laika exhibition universal studios, tim burton gallery show lacma, laika gallery show, concept maquettes, stop motion maquettes, Guillermo del Toro, Guillermo del Toro art show, Guillermo del Toro gallery show lacma, los angeles, disney artists show, caroline mcfarlane-watts

My Little China Girl

It's about time I gave you another witch character for Good Witches Bad Witches ™, don't you think?! 

Here is my latest witch. Just finished her the other day. Her name is Yinying Gu and she's from Guilin, China. Her familiar (witch's pet) is a pug called Sudu, and she carries mynah birds on her back. Her elaborate hairdo displays a bone and tarantula hair ornament. Her long witchy robes are my take on a hanfu, and her wide belt holds her golden bird cage to her hunched back. Her Ming pot has a dragon pattern under a crackle glaze finish.   

Another 1:12 scale sculpture handmade by myself, she stands at less than 5 inches tall. Breaking with tradition, I have only put a few development photos below as you'll be able to see more, learn more about how she was made and about the character herself by purchasing a copy of my book 'The Art of Good Witches Bad Witches' which is out this summer.

I thought someone would probably want to buy a pug, so I actually made two and have made one available for purchase at my webshop here. There's only one, so don't miss out! I ship everywhere.

Enjoy the photos!

tim burton, stop motion, caroline mcfarlane watts, spooky, nightmare before christmas, laika, coraline, halloween, witches, sculpture, dreamworks, mckinnon saunders

The Flying Dutchwoman

Yes, finally, a new witch!

The latest character for 'Good Witches Bad Witches', brought to you by Tall Tales Productions is a Dutch witch! I asked you all (my beloved blog / Facebook / Instagram followers) which witch to do next, and you asked for a Dutch one, so here she is. I am just sorry I took longer to complete her, but when I blog about the recent miniature set build commissions we were working on over at Tall Tales, then I hope you'll understand!

I enjoy creating each new witch because I love other cultures, other customs and learning about the other lives people lead. The Netherlands for instance, is a marvelous place and incredibly inspiring for character creation. You may think "Holland = clogs, tallest people in the world and great cheese" but there's so much more to know than that. I tried to incorporate some interesting elements without merely relying on boring stereotypes.

This miniature hand-sculpted witch rides a broom-bike because 31% of the people of the Netherlands have a bicycle as their main mode of transport. She's tall (6 inches standing up), has dark blonde hair and pale skin, a play on a Dutch bonnet / hat, tulip designs on her skirt, orange incorporated in her clothing (the colour of the Dutch royal family) and her familiar (witch's pet) is a Netherlands dwarf rabbit.

Her features are sharp to suggest that when she rides that bike she goes tearing through Holland like concord.

If you enjoy my witches please see more at the website, and to be involved and see behind the scenes you can become a fan of the Facebook page here and also, don't forget to see past witches already created for 'Good Witches Bad Witches' (the following being, English witch, Scottish witch, Welsh witch, Irish witch, French witch, German witch, Italian witch, American / Texan witch).

A note to my Dutch friends.....

De Nederlandse heks

Lieve Nederlandse vrienden en fans, ik presenteer u... De Nederlandse heks!
Ze maakt deel uit van mijn 'witches from around the globe' serie - 'Good Witches Bad Witches' (gebaseerd op het geïllustreerde kinderboek en in ontwikkeling als film met miniaturen). Net als mijn andere heksen is ze een grappig stereotype en is het helemaal niet mijn bedoeling om de Nederlander te beledigen. Omarm haar met humor, zoals ze bedoeld is.

Ze is door mij gecreëerd en is ongeveer 1 inch schaal (ze is circa 15cm hoog).
Natuurlijk heb ik haar een fiets gegeven, maar weigerde haar klompen aan te doen. Ze is een moderne heks en ik wil niet zo ouderwets zijn!
Mocht je geïnteresseerd zijn in het project kan je mijn andere heksen hier vinden op mijn blog en hier op mijn website.
Voor support kan je hier mijn Facebook page liken of mij hier volgen op Instagram.

Don't mention the War

First of all, I am sorry this post is a week late...  busy week. Secondly, I'd like to point out as I issue my German witch that I love Germans. I adore so much of German culture - heck I wouldn't be who I am or do what I do if I didn't grow up on Brothers Grimm and all kinds of German folklore and fairytales. And German food, German desserts... not to mention Wagner, Beethoven and Kraftwerk! So, now that I have got that off my chest, may I introduce you to my latest witch and hope that it causes no offense. Last witch was French, and now this is die deutsche Hexe.

PS The title of this post is a line from one of my favourite episodes of Fawlty Towers called 'The Germans' in which John Cleese's character - Basil Fawlty (an innkeeper, for those not familiar with the show) hosts German guests and to their distress he keeps mentioning the war. One of the Germans asks him to stop talking about the war,. The following exchange is:
Fawlty: Me? You started it!
German: We did not start it.
Fawlty: Yes you did, you invaded Poland.

See this clip here on Youtube.

Years after this episode aired (and was very well received), John Cleese was approached by a German fan who simply said "Don't mention the war!"

My German witch is the largest (at least the tallest) character I have made because I was inspired by large Wagnerian opera singers. I was frustrated with her design because I really don't want my witches to seem like they come from another era, so I had vetoed traditional dress but then I didn't know what the heck to dress her in! The red hood is a homage to Grimm fairytale 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I had fun plaiting (braiding) her hair and making the Bentheim black pied (German breed) pig. Take a look at the 'making of' photos and let me know what you think.

Sadly it will be a few weeks before I can create another witch for 'Good Witches Bad Witches' as I have some magazine features and other deadlines.... but stay tuned as I will post other work here and at the Facebook page!

And here's a note for my German friends....

Liebe Freunde in Deutschland,
hier habe ich eine Nachricht für Euch…..

Durch meine anglo-sächsischen Wurzeln verbinden uns viele Gemeinsamkeiten.
Ich liebe deutsches Essen, die deutschen Märchen und Sagen zum Beispiel der Gebrüder Grimm beeindrucken mich und nicht zu vergessen die Musik von Wagner, Beethoven und auch Kraftwerk.

Als Künstlerin arbeite ich an einem projekt "Good Witches Bad Witches“ und modellierte dafür Hexen aus der ganzen Welt. So sind bereits englische, schottische, französische, italienische Hexen und solche aus weiteren Ländern entstanden.
Und diese ist nun die deutsche Hexe.
Ich stellte sie aus Fimo Material und Draht her. Sie sollte ein bisschen gruselig aussehen, doch hoffe ich, Sie akzeptieren sie mit Humor und Witz.

Für Ihr Interesse an meinen Arbeiten möchte ich mich sehr bedanken. Wenn Sie mehr darüber erfahren möchten, so können Sie hier auf meine Facebook Seite, mein Instagram oder auf Twitter gehen.

Vielen Dank!

the German witch, Good Witches Bad Witches, miniature witch, Laika, Caroline McFarlane-Watts