The Thrift Creeper
I found this guy on Instagram a while ago, and I think his channel was called something like, BlackMothSociety.
His whole thing was, he'd go to different thrift shops, buy small clay models, and he would break them down and rebuild them as aliens, with some of their original features and characteristics.
The thing I love about the things he creates is, they're always terrifyingly ugly, but they're so vibrant.
I love the use of colour, which gives them a sort of cartoon style, which I think works really well with the grotesque detailing.
The whole idea of his Instagram videos were great, and I binge watched them when I found the channel first, and since then I have patiently waited for new videos to release.
I learn by watching, and since his videos are silent, it is kind of good for me to just focus on what he's doing, as opposed to get distracted by what he's saying, as I watch.
Tips, and Tricks
While I may like to watch, and learn by just watching. I realised that he had some invaluable tips and tricks in his longer form YouTube video.
One of which was the use of Isopropyl alcohol to remove finger prints, and smooth out the model before purposely adding in the detail you want.
I never thought, or heard of this before, and the next thing I'll be buying is a bottle of the stuff to use in future creations.
Another one he mentioned was to harden the eyeballs of each creation, before including them to the piece. This way, you want mess them up during the build, and you wont end up leaving finger prints in them.
One thing I've wanted for a while is a pasta maker, to flatten and work with the clay. I think there are a few new tools I need for the belt, and as I learn to use each one, I'll be able to do much more with any of my future endeavors.
Filming My Own Videos
I spent about €180 or €230 on a piece of film equipment around a year ago. It was essentially a large square, over head bar that you can mount your camera, lights, and even a backdrop onto.
While I was filming for a while, I fell out of it, because time was not on my side, and as well as that, I just wasn't able to get good enough angles with the camera, but that can be alleviated by buying an arm I could mount on the stand to then move freely to get better shots of the process of building these things.
It's a fairly long process, and while working, the idea of stopping to move the camera around was also a nightmare. So, I'm thinking a maybe doing it multi-cam is a good way to go too.