File puptcrit/puptcrit.0707, message 118


From: =?Windows-1252?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:23:55 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] More About John Brown Sculpture DVD series


Hi all. I have had the chance to borrow a collegue's set of John Brown Sculpture DVD produced by The Gnomon Workshop.

I already own volume #2 (character maquette), but can't afford the other 4 dvds just yet, so the loan was a real godsend.
WOW.

I feel that often in our field of puppetry, we can get away with "less than impressive technically" modelings of our characters.
-Maybe because we can get away with it (some people do the same basic forms for their entire careers).
-Maybe because of the long tradition of self-thought puppetry artists without easy access to academic art teachings.
-Maybe because Theatre is magic and even the crudest forms can take lfight into imagination.
-Maybe because there is still a perception that puppetry is for kids, and "everybody knows" that you can get away with cheap things to please kids, right? (i'm being observant and sarcastic at the same time.

Well, despite all those tendencies, I still see marvelous technical achievements in the field of puppetry. Thank you Internet!

I think it is necessary to always strive for a better technical level, so that our medium of Puppetyr can even better convey what message we wish to communicate. For this purpose, constant training and actual work is necessary.

Here is one source of marvelous advancement:

Sculpture with John Brown. (5 disk DVD set originally, now an exciting #6 has been released)
If you are in need of more technical instruction on modeling clay into wonderfully accurate characters, you need this series.
Don't rent it, don't borrow it, buy it all in one shot. It may seem a bit steep at first for a set of 5 DVD, but it's worth many times the price.
An actual sculpture class will cost you much more, and there's no guarantee it will be as good.
At least a DVD series can be watched as many times as you need it.
I find that I Learn exponentially fast by watching a DVD, compared to trying to comprehend an instructional book.

Right now I have no time to watch it attentively, but playing the series in the background while I work, and peeking a glance when i can, already shows me things I never even thought were possible to do with clay. Each viewing changes my way of approaching forms and textures.
I've been waiting for such a ressource for two decades!


John Brown is a skilled sculptor who works for the film and toy industries. These fields require high levels of technical precision, and smart uses of the tools of the trade, which are surprisingly few for such range of possibilities.  On the DVD, you will see proven techniques and so many easy tricks that can save you hundreds of hours of work. His approach is simple and efficient. He encourages us to always base our sculpts on nature, to use sufficient reference materials, and to study anatomy. 

The quality of the videos is good, you can see all the details, even at full screen on a computer screen.

To get Sculpture With John Brown, got to the Analog section on the website:
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/

And make sure to visit John Brown's website, which had an exciting announcement about volume #6!
http://www.figuresandfocus.com/




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