Make Clay Animation Characters
Clay animation characters have an endearing homemade quality to them that seems to make people smile. Clay animation has been used for decades to create lovable animated characters on the big screen as well as television. Characters such as Wallace and Gromit and the California Raisins have been remembered for years. Creating these characters can be done very simply with a limited amount of clay, and you are free to add as many extra details as you see fit.
Instructions
1. Roll out two balls of clay for your simple clay animation character. Make a small ball about a fourth of the size of your palm for the head. Roll out another ball about half the size of your palm for the body. Knead the clay thoroughly to make sure that it is pliable and easy to shape.
2. Roll the head section of the clay into a tight, smooth ball. Do this by placing the ball in the palm of your hand and use a circular motion to create the smoothest ball you can.
3. Place the body section in between your palms and move your hands back and forth to create a cylinderlike shape. Make the top of the cylinder thinner than the base by applying more pressure to the top.
4. Place the round head of the character on top of the body that you have created. Pinch off three small pieces of clay and roll these in your hands like you did with the head. These will create the eyes and nose. Push the two eyes into the front of the head near the top. Push the nose into the face just below and between the eyes. Using a toothpick, create the pupils on the clay character's eyes by making a small dot in the center of the eye.
5. Create the nostrils on the nose by pressing the toothpick up into the bottom of the nose and rolling the toothpick around. Cut a smile into the character using an Xacto knife. Run a curved line across the face just under the nose with the knife to create the smile. Add dimples with toothpick pokes at the left and right sides of the smile with your toothpick.
6. Roll out two small cone shapes and place these on the left and right sides of the body to create arms. Roll out two small flat squares about half the size of the eyeballs to create eyelids. Lay these over the top of each eye.
7. Pose your character in a well lighted area and place a digital camera in front of the character. You can create animation with the character by moving the character slightly, snapping a picture and then moving the character a little more. These photos can be imported into a program like iMovie or Movie Magic and animated by rapidly displaying one image after another.
