The Chip and Dale Animation Cel Project

[singhcr]

Time to show some major progress in my project over the last two years (time flies!)

8-2-19

I finally sourced a nice level, thick wood board and cut it to length with the help of my father.



[url=https://flic.kr/p/2j8cauf]

[singhcr]

9-1-19

I built my animation table in a CAD program first so I could get everything to fit. With limited tools, how do I make sure the holes I drill line up? I just print out the baseboard part on a plotter and tape it to the board, of course!





I just use a spring loaded punch to mark the holes....

[singhcr]

9-19-19

Then I use my drill mount to get a nice level hole. I have a drill press but this board is way too big for that.





[url=https://flic.kr/p/2j8cdJ1]

We have holes! Repeat on the other side.

[singhcr]

How do I attach metal pieces to wood you ask? With threaded inserts of course! You can't tap threads into wood (and plastic can be, but often strips out) but you can drill a slightly undersized hole and use what are called knife thread inserts. The external thread cuts into the softwood and stays in place as you screw it into the hole with a special bit. Now I have M6x1.0mm threads like I would on a metal plate that I can use to bolt the frame to.





Screwed in.

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[singhcr]

9-21-19
Assembling frame

Here you can see me using the triangular brackets to hold the vertical posts to the base board.

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This is a slotted aluminum square tube framing, 30x30mm. It's also called T-slotted framing and the great thing about this stuff is that it's modular. You can screw pieces together to make frames and all sorts of things, and move it around too as opposed to a rigid welded frame.

Here, you can see the little threaded metal strip I slid into the tube track. That is what the bolts thread into, and once it tightens to the point where the bolt is pressing up on the tube, it's tight.

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Here you see two of the strips that will go onto the vertical tubing, and the other sides will be bolted to the base board.



This bracket allows me to put another tube at a 90 degree angle, making a horizontal post. I can loosen this whenever I want to adjust the height of the horizontal. In this case, it's a horizontal brace for stiffness of the vertical posts.



Vertical frame is complete.

[singhcr]

1-1-19
Happy New Year!

I bought some copy stand lights that have high color accuracy and diffuse light, and placed them at a 45 degree angle to avoid reflections on the cel.

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Let's add my camera mount. We have something pretty damn close to an animation stand, but we're not done yet. We still need a shadowboard, and animation peg bar and glass platen, but the next step in the process is to record a video of myself painting the background and foreground. For that, we just need the shadowboard.

I am really really happy with how this turned out. The camera can be moved in X and Y, and the height adjusted too. The lights are adjustable as well.

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[singhcr]

More to come!

[singhcr]

I am finally working on the background cel! Gouache was used for backgrounds from the 1940s onwards for the vast majority of animated productions, although Japanese studios sometimes used a different variant. It's yet another skill to pick up, as I have never worked with this paint before and it's very different from cel paint.

[Chipster-roo]

Great to see more progress!  Building the table was a lengthy process, but it is finely crafted and should make further painting easier.

What do you plan to paint as the background?

[singhcr]

Great to see more progress!  Building the table was a lengthy process, but it is finely crafted and should make further painting easier.

What do you plan to paint as the background?

Thanks! There are some things to add still like the pegbar and the glass/linkages for compressing the cel and background for final photography, but the table is far enough along where painting can commence.

I am planning a background where Chip and Dale are sitting on a tree trunk sharing their peanuts, with leaves and such in the background.

Here is a rough pencil sketch, which I scanned into the computer and added some additional detail which I can show later once it is done. But you can get an idea of what it looks like.

[singhcr]

Hard to believe this project has been going on for 5 years now to get from foreground cel painting in 2015 to background painting today in the final days of 2020. In one way it's frustrating, but in another it's good to see that I haven't given up and the project is still progressing despite all the personal struggles over that time.

Through coming out which entailed all sorts of trials from suicide to losing my church, friends, and family to a breakup and two layoffs and of course the pandemic, the dream soldiers on. Sometimes it is fun, other times it brings up bad memories. But I can see the end of the tunnel and I don't want to give up!

[MeadowRabbit]

Sorry to hear you've had some rough times of late. What a load of progress you've made on this! So much work put in!

[singhcr]

Thank you, I appreciate your comforting words and support

 

[Acacia Heartstrings]

There is more passion in this project than I would have imagined. And right now I'm watching the entire Rescue Rangers series, because I love Chip and Dale x3   

[MeadowRabbit]

I'm wearing Chip 'n' Dale socks at the moment! Just had to add that in. XP