Wednesday, February 11, 2009

stop motion animation thrives! so sayeth Ubatuber!

Jeffrey Roche, better known online by his handle Ubatuber, is an independent stop-motion animator based out of New Orleans that's been turning out some amazing stuff. its really humbling to see the quality of amateur work coming out in the medium right now!



i showed his production logo yesterday made from "a real potato, with paper replacement eyes glued to earring posts" and "the planet...a styrofoam ball sawed in half and covered with clay, which I textured with a toothbrush"

without even getting into his animation, his paintings alone qualify him at the top of his artistic game



but no, he's got to be a master of sculpture and animation as well! here's his first foam latex puppet that has incredible detail:



what perhaps is astonishing about the whole thing -- he's come to stop motion only since 2005. other than some flicker here or there on his earlier stuff, you can't tell he's a relative newcomer to stop motion from his atmospheric reel:


Stop Motion Reel from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

most of his films are set where he lives, New Orleans, and this gives them a very unique and personal quality that most other stop motion work fails to achieve. his currently in production "Unearthed" can be seen in the first two parts on Vimeo -- the scene with the mime taking off his makeup is worth the price of a click alone!


Unearthed - Parts One & Two from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

his first stop motion short, made back in 2006 for a website contest, is the aptly titled "Pandora at the DMV".


Pandora at the DMV from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

and finally, a pair of POV Bigfoot-type monster sightings...fear....THE MOSSMAN!

The Mossman from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

the mossman puppet is perfectly textured.

watch out, or you'll step into a haunted PUNKIN PATCH


Punkin Patch 101308 from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

he's been working on a longer piece of stop motion (Jenny Greenteeth) for years, so be sure to check out his progress regularly here.

No comments:

Post a Comment