Here are some resources for going into greater depth in stop motion animation, armature/puppet making, set building, and more:
Guides
Books
Puppets/Armatures/Pose Figures
You can use all kinds of things to build stop motion characters -- clay, foam and wire, LEGOs, action figures, you name it! If you want to do more dynamic or fluid animation, you'll want a character with a high degree of freedom on more joints than your average action figure.
- StickyBones are highly poseable figures with magnetic feet and palms for extremely dynamic positions that hold their poses well (can be pre-ordered now, shipping in December)
- Stop Motion Store sells metal jointed and flexible wire-based armatures meant to be built inside of puppets
Software
- Stop Motion Studio and Pro for iOS, mac os, Android, and Windows
- iStopMotion for iPad or mac os
- Dragonframe for Windows, mac os, or Ubuntu Linux (this is pro grade software, but they offer a discounted price for students, so may be worth trying the 30 day free trial if you get really into stop motion!)
Behind the Scenes
Some of the best stop motion animation being created is from Laika Studios. Here's a wonderful look behind the scenes on one of their full-scale features, ParaNorman.
Films
Here are some places to watch examples of stop motion animation, including commercial work, TV and feature films, and fan-made LEGO brick films:
This guide only scratches the surface of the rich, limitless world of stop motion animation. We hope it inspires you to take your first steps and start animating!
Page last edited March 08, 2024
Text editor powered by tinymce.