I’ve been thinking about recombining some of my imagery in different ways. Here’s one combination I think works incredibly well. The foreground is bubbles, water and light, while the background is an animated chalk drawing on blue paper.
“I finished my journey and arrived under a table.”
A still from my current animation project.
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A drop expanded to a dribble. The craft was leaking. Having just shorted out, the telephone line was dead. There’s no communication with the surface. The silent line should be signal enough for the crew to respond to the emergency at hand. A sinking feeling in my stomach told me the sphere was rising … So was the water. At this depth it is 20 minutes to the surface. Looking at my watch, then at the rising water, I quickly answered my most pressing question. Will I drown before I reach the surface? The mathematics suggest a negative outcome.
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Beebe and his Bathysphere on deck of the Ready
My love for animated gifs has been rekindled! Here is a tiny looping sequence from my current animation project. It features Dr. William Beebe and his diving apparatus, the Bathysphere. Soon we’ll dangle the Bathysphere on a slender steel cable into the black abysmal ocean.
No Comments on Rocking SphereHere is a test of the wave system I’ve devised for long shots of the tug Ready upon the sea. The waves are cylinders plastered with spiral ridges. When rotated frame by frame the structures take on a screwy wave-like motion, abstracting yet still describing “the motion of the ocean.” The following animated gif loop is a test without lighting or final paint. The ship also needs its second boom attached so it can lift the bathysphere into the briny sea.
This mysterious clip “activates” forthcoming animated sequences. “… And there was darkness on the face of the deep.”
The former H.M.S. Ready was the vessel used as a platform for the bathysphere descents. Due to the tug’s retrofitting for the bathysphere, another ship, Beebe’s faithful Gladisfen, was called in for towing duty. For the sake of time, yet woe to historical accuracy, I’m eliminating the Gladisfen from the scene and letting the Ready propel itself into action.
This model is actually a bas-relief sculpture. The ship is flat on the back making it ideal for animating the contour diving scene on a layered animation table.
Dollhouse lighting! I’ve been having trouble lighting the puppets from the inside of the bathysphere set. The discovery of bulbs described as GOW and GOR (grain of wheat and grain of rice) allow for setting up actual 3-point lighting inside small, confined spaces. I hollowed out a plastic toy flashlight and put in a GOR bulb. Puppet Beebe can now illuminate his instruments more realistically.
Thanks to Shelley D. for the lighting tutorial!
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A coat of ultramarine blue will camouflage my intrusive incursion into the deep. I will slip in undetected and observe what nature hides from the air breathing world. I will be the first man to reach the depths only dead men have reached.
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“She’s birthed of fire and true to your specifications, sir” the engineer said, as a bead of sweat cleaned a streak down his sooty brow.
“If the calculations are true,” said I, “She’ll hold back the entire weight of the ocean.”
“That she will. I guarantee by Hades forge you’ll get to Hell and back. The only weak spot in the plans is your nerve.”
Here we see the rear entry portal of the bathysphere from the inside. The sphere is cast from a basketball. Plasticine was then molded to form detailed protrusions.
The exterior hatch bolts were cast in plaster from mold impressions of a bolt head in plasticine.
