Dennis Jones

Jousting Peeps

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Dennis

Some felt that Sir Rocky Raccoon of Black Mountain Hill took unfair advantage of the rather loose jousting rules at the tournament…

Turtle Tank

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Dennis

2 Comments

General Moture’s surprise attack from the woods was truly a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, riding a turtle for the surprise attack was not a great idea.

Oxymoron

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Dennis

3 Comments

Here we have a floppy eared… uhm… dog?… kind of a guy riding some sort of… uhm… ox looking creature. That dog is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer (if you know what I mean) …he truly is an oxymoron.

Building A Better Hedge Knight: Part 4

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Dennis

14 Comments

My stop-motion hedge knight, Sir Duncan The Tall, is now pretty much complete. His head and mouth can move as well as his legs, arms and fingers.

He still needs a few props, so I build him a sword out of Sculpey and a shield out of balsa wood.

I also make him a massive pair of shoulder pads just in case the Kansas City Chiefs decide to take him with their first pick in this years NFL Draft.

Ok, this guy is pretty much ready to make his big screen, stop-motion film debut.

Building A Better Hedge Knight: Part 3

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Dennis

Building A Better Hedge Knight: Part 2

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Dennis

Building A Better Hedge Knight: Part 1

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Dennis

4 Comments

I created my last stop-motion puppet with an armature of pencils and tape and while it was somewhat successful, it now seems to be pretty brittle. I really wanted to refine some of those ideas… so I built another one. Using a modeling compound called Super Sculpey I sculpted the top part of the head on an aluminum wire and the bottom jaw on another. Hypothetically I can then move the mouth around a bit and make this guy talk on camera.

I wanted to build a sturdier armature, so I bought a medium sized wooden dowel rod, cut it to the correct sizes and drilled holes into the end of each piece. I insert a fairly thick piece of aluminum wire into the holes to connect the dowels together and create a moveable frame. I cover all the aluminum wire joints with hot glue, which will accomplish several things. It will keep the wire from eventually breaking from heavy use, makes the wire joints a bit more rigid and permanently connects the wires and the wooden dowel together.

This guy is big, so in order to keep the weight down I cut up chunks of foam to create the body mass. I also add some really soft foam to the knee and elbow joints.

Finally I wrap the arms and legs with some scrap material (old socks) and then sew some more scrap material (a really fine green sweater I rocked during the 90’s) over the entire thing to keep all that other stuff in place. This gives me a solid base to start creating on.

Tomorrow we build some feet…

FIFA World Cup Soccer Fever

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Dennis

1 Comment

So what happens when a smelly chicken runs over and picks up the soccer ball in the middle of a World Cup soccer game? …the foul smelling fowl commits a foul.

Sparticus Maximus Squirrelicus

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Dennis

5 Comments

A month ago when I started working on initial ideas for this new board game, my client/art director told me he was having an epic battle with squirrels in his backyard. They had taken over and were daring him to do something about it… an ongoing, ferocious military conflict! I immediately sketched this picture and sent it to him in an email entitled “Squirrel Warning!” I told him the sqirrels in his backyard had pooled their money together and hired this enforcer to come and settle the score with him…

…and that is how this picture made it into the board game.

March Madness

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Dennis

2 Comments

Here’s a little process video for March Madness. I’m sure there is a dunk of some sort in this players immediate future…

Vikings

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Dennis

3 Comments

The History Channel has a new tv series called Vikings and after watching an episode or two I have come to the conclusion that those viking guys were some pretty rough customers, although not quite as bad as a couple of hockey defensemen I have run into… literally… but viking boats were really cool with all the colorful round shields hanging off their sides and that was my inspiration for this new board game picture… although these fellows don’t seem nearly as ferocious as the typical, run-of-the-mill viking is on that tv show.

Hammer Throw

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Dennis

3 Comments

I always thought the hammer throw was a… uhm… to say the least… unique?… sporting event. I’m pretty sure this fellow gold medaled in the 1492 Medieval Summer Olympics in it.

A Good Pencil Sharpener

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Dennis

1 Comment

Hey, there’s nothing more interesting than some good pencil sharpener talk on a Friday afternoon, right?

Over the years I have worn out half-a-gazillion electric pencil sharpeners. Recently I bought several new ones… well… what I should say is, I kept buying different brands and taking them back and trying other brands because none of them would put a decent point on a pencil. The point the new electrics put on a pencil officially became the new standard for what a fully dull pencil should look like…

…so I gave up on electric pencil sharpeners altogether and decided to go low-tech. I bought a Kum (hand-held) Long Point Sharpener. I have found it to be most excellent. It is a two step system. The first hole sharpens only the wood and the second hole puts a great point on the pencil.

I thought I would miss the convenience of an electric pencil sharpener, but I have quickly gotten used to sharpening pencils by hand… plus I can take this sharpener with me anywhere I go.