UKNOWN SPECIES: BURRUNJORS AND LIVING DINOSAURS

Hello, once again!

Forgive me if my posts are far and few between, I don't often get chances to blog. Anyway, I have some updates on Kyoryu, as well as a new project, Unknown species.

Needless to say, casting was revolutionary for my work. It gave much more detail to my monsters and effects. However, my plaster was soon used up, so I took fellow animator Richard Svensson's advice and buy a more effective plaster: a dental plaster called cast&paint perfect. After several misshaps, a truly horrifying plaster spill (what is it with the Duah and plaster spills, anyway?), and using up almost all my plaster, I built my first two plaster molds, which were extreme successes.

I sculpted the chest piece for the Duah, which casted beautifully, and wrapped it across his chest. With a proper paint-job, it should look truly frightening.

However, Kyoryu is in development hell, considering it's lagging production and problematic work, and on hold for another project on my plate: UNKNOWN SPECIES.

I love cryptids. The idea of mysterious animals which may or may not exist hiding in secluded areas across the planet has always intrigued me, ever since I first read about them in Roland Smith's awesome Cryptid Hunters series, a big inspiration for UNKNOWN SPECIES. I also love technothrillers, with plowing through JURASSIC PARK and FRAGMENT to see the hard biology used to create some really scary monsters. So why not combine the two?

The series focuses on adventurer Julie Challenger's experiences in UNKNOWN, a sprawling, bizarre corporation devoted to the capture of cryptids, capturing their numbers in secret to allow them to live on long after they fade out in the wild. However, Cryptids are a varied bunch, and not all of them are safe to study. I've already got the script for the pilot written down, which got great applause to those who read it. A si-fi technothriller/horror comedy, the show is heavy on hard biology, and I studied tons of theories on proposed identities to Cryptids to give biologically plausible identities to the show's creatures. For the pilot, since I love dinosaurs, I decided my first cryptid should be the Burrunjor, a predatory mystery reptile from Australia said to be a living dinosaur. Based off a scary short story I did years ago, the Burrunjors are truly menacing predator, and I wanted to reflect that in the design.

Being biologically plausible, I wanted it to seem like the Burrunjors evolved from a smaller, opportunistic predator that survived the meteorite crash and the rise of mammals. So, he has a craning neck, large arms with claws, and a primitive jaw, similar to the allosaurs and other early giant theropods. The armature was fairly simple, but my Burrunjor, Oatmeal, is the most complex puppet I have ever worked on.

My first cast of the Burrunjor was tattered and torn, due to improper plaster mixing and not enough latex. So, finally taking a moment to plan, I sculpted and casted a new head, to great success. He even has NOSTRILS!!!

To build a lip, I wrapped the excess latex around a wire, stuffed it with foam, then wrapped it around the head.

I wasn't happy with the crocodilian look, though, so I added some skin from the previous cast and gave him a nose job. I also added avian eyes, giving him a piercing stare.

It took me quite some time to get the head right. I wanted it to be a unique dinosaur species, but still be recognizable as a dinosaur.

At last, I made the skin. Using bumpy, scaly matts, I rubbed the tinfoil sheet over it to cast the skin texture. It didn't work as well as I hoped, but he still looks good.

I also added the feathers and teeth, art supplies I gained last Christmas. The teeth were a pain, considering positioning them right so the jaw could properly close. I then cut off the ends of toothpicks, and glued them to his back to create a spine. Adds a whole level of realism.

Finally, after much pain, I got to the paint job. Again, the project should be as realistic as possible, so I took pictures of monitor lizards off the internet and used them for his paint job. Finally, I cannibalised an old puppet's bolt holes to use on Oatmeal.

Oatmeal is my most realistic puppet to date, and only one of the cryptids I plan to show in unknown species.

Some Cryptid face sculpts.

Considering how hard long it takes to work on these projects, I'm sure I'll post some test animation for when animation starts.

Speaking of that, clips of Antediluvian will be shown on the blog soon, if I can work around the glitches. The film is finished, and it has some cool, B-movie style monster scenes I want to show.

Thanks for reading, please comment.

Kelston Hubler

THE DUAH: ON CRYPTIDS AND KAIJU

Boy, have I been busy!

Not only is Antediluvian finished (in rough draft form), but many new projects can now take the spot light! However, before I elaborate, I must discuss my most recent puppet for my kaiju flick, Kyoryu: the Duah.

In Kyoryu's world, the kaiju (known collectively as "Serpents"), are complete mysteries. Nobody knows why they exist or even how they could support their weight. However, almost all of them resemble mythical monsters from across the globe, making many believe they are the first sign of the apocalypse. Though this isn't exactly the main plot of Kyoryu, it's still heavily relevant. The Duah, or Ropen, is based off a flying demon reported by the native tribes of Papua, New Guinea. Described like a lizard with bat wings, a long beak full of teeth, and a long tail, as well as bioluminescence. A living pterosaur that evolved over the milenia? An unknown species of bat? A hoax? Anyway, it's a cool legend, and it would make a cool kaiju. When sculpting Kyoyu, I used a sketch of a flying beast for the basis of the sculpt and made the head.

Like all reports of living Pterosaurs, a very common theory is that it's an unidentified species of giant bat, a theory endorsed by famous cryptozoologist Ivan T. Sanderson. I decided not to remove the bat nose from the sculpt to indicate the Duah could be both Bat and Pterodactyl. It's not a natural creature anyway, and it looked strange.

however, disaster struck. The plaster was incredibly poor and I could only save half the sculpt, losing the crest and using the latex cast off it to build his neck. Even worse, his eyes aren't straight!

My mistake was sticking the armature inside the latex cast and filling it up with hot glue. Not only did one eye sort of sink into the skull, but I couldn't fix it! Despite this, it at least looked okay when I added teeth.

In fact, it was easier to add teeth than it ever was before. The roof of the mouth was hot glue, so I melted it and stuck the teeth in the holes! I also like the two teeth at the very tip of the lower jaw. It gives purpose to the distended lower jaw and looks more bat-like.

I then used black sculpey to sculpt obsidian plated growing off his back, which I glued to the spine. So far, the Duah looks truly amazing.

The third creature in the film is the parasite, hanging off Kyoryu's stomach. He is not stop motion, but the first of many parasites that will be in a truly disturbing scene. While I'm working on how to build the other parasites, this one is built to be hand held, and if successful, will make a truly memorable scene. I cut the teeth off the original sculpt for the head, and casted it. It came out perfectly. Then, I simply poked holes through the top where teeth should be, shoved toothpicks up them, and glued them in place.

I have to say, this is a truly awesome head. It looks wonderfully creepy and will only look creepier with a paint job!

However, Kyoryu is not the only project on my plate. I have scripts for a cartoon, an idea for a future film, and a fantasy world I will write some short stories on. However, that is for another time.

Thank you for reading. Please comment.

Kelston Hubler

WHERE I'VE BEEN....

Hello, the, like five people who read my blog!

You may have noticed I've been silent for about two months now.I had lots of stuff to do, not to mention a trip to Maui. Cool place, has great green screen backdrops. I have good news and bad news. The good news is, Antediluvian is still in production and has one shot and a couple narrations left to complete. The bad news, my earlier project, Much to Fear about summer, has been scrapped for now. It was a great idea, and I applaud my script writer for making a fantastic script, but I don't have the time or resources to make it. Even worse, the computer had a data overload, and the completed animation was one of the unfinished projects I had to sacrifice to save Antediluvian. Still, surviving footage will be reused, many of the puppets made for the film are under use by Antediluvian, and I still have the script. Maybe another time...

Anyway, onto Antediluvian. I only have two shots left, of a character in makeup. His role is undisclosed, but he needed a bat-like nose. I have never tried makeup before. I knew how to do it, but wasn't exactly sure. Originally, I was going to use a foam prosthetic for the nose dipped in latex, but it didn't look real and didn't fit. So, quickly, I had to develop a latex prosthetic...

Recently, I bought some Monster Clay off Amazon, a high-grade casting clay. Before, most characters with high detailed faces had to have plasticine faces. I was experimenting with this stuff, and learning from several casting videos, I decided to try it.

I sculpted the nose piece, and built a wall of crude plasticine out of it, made from old plasticine models.

Then, I poured a crude grade plaster of Paris inside. It dried in a couple hours, then I peeled away the wall to get the cast.

This part I was worried about the most, considering this wasn't the strongest plaster, but I peeled away the clay and got a perfect cast. Finally, I painted the latex, let it bake in the summer heat, and peel off the prosthetic.

Not a work of art, but still proud of it!

However, I still have some troubles. The schedule for makeup and attaching the beard and nosepiece is still up for debate, not to mention the troubles of removing spirit gum. Fortunately, I have more than one film on my plate, which I will talk about in my next post...

Hope you enjoyed it. Please comment.

Kelston Hubler.