Walk cycles are hard! I’ve been practicing them for months now.

All animation in this video was done by me. I also painted the squirrel and built and painted the bench.

Lighting - Jennifer Harris

Cloudscape, Flowers, laser cutting - Randy Zubieta

Ernest Puppet - Anneke Schoneveld

A workspace with a computer monitor, keyboard, and a foam green mat holding a paper robot cutout. There is a tripod with a light, a green YETI tumbler, and a cardboard box in the background.

Humble beginnings with a downshooter setup for my knight walk cycle.

A photography setup in a room with a whiteboard, two umbrella lights, and a blue background paper. The whiteboard has handwritten notes and a list of video game titles with prices. There are books, storage boxes, and electronic equipment on the shelves beneath the setup.

The downshooter setup was quickly upgraded.

A cluttered artist's workspace with cutout painted figurines, a miniature bench, and various art supplies, including paint jars, brushes, a painter's palette, and gloves.

Airbrushing the laser cut figures provided by Randy. The bench was made by combining 3d printing with popsicle sticks. The popsicle sticks were whittled a little bit to make the edges look worn.

A miniature wooden park bench model on a work table surrounded by model-making supplies, with silhouette cutouts and foam blocks in the background.

A quick stain with some thinned oil paints adds a patina to the popsicle sticks! Now they look more like cherry than whatever popsicle sticks are made of.

A hand covered in black paint with a small cut on the finger, raised in front of a small artistic model of a park bench on a circular platform, with silhouettes of people and trees in the background.

You can use your hand to mask off parts of a model if you’re in a pinch!

Felt puppet of an elderly man with dark skin, white hair, and a kind expression, wearing a plaid shirt, a green knitted sweater, and beige pants, sitting on a metal bench with a blue sky and white clouds background.

An attempt to give Ernest a mouth while setting up the shot, good thing Jennifer was there to help!

A person holding a small, painted wooden squirrel figure with black paint on fingers, surrounded by paintbrushes and paint-stained objects on a black circular surface.
A man with glasses, a red bandana, and a black t-shirt standing in a photography studio with a blue sky backdrop, studio lights, and a small character on a table as part of a photoshoot setup.

I am more proud of this squirrel than I should be! I really like how the volumes turned out.

I drilled into it underneath to add magnets so it can stand on its own during the shot.

Setting up to shoot Ernest for the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts commercial.

A woman in a gray beanie and plaid shirt working with a small puppet or figurine in a photography studio. Studio equipment, including softbox lights, backdrop, and a large black diffuser, is visible.

Jennifer trying her best to give Ernest the mouth he deserves. She also gave the lighting direction for this shot!

Look at those clamps though! Learning!

A person with curly hair, glasses, and a red bandana smiling behind a scene with a puppet of an elderly person with dark skin, grey hair, green sweater, beige pants, and orange shoes, standing near a small bench on a perforated table, lit by a bright light on a stand against a blue sky backdrop with clouds.

Clamping down Randy’s awesome backdrop, aint nothing moving on this set that isn’t supposed to!

Except the flowers…. they moved a lot. Live and learn.