Stitched Up

I might majorly regret even considering this when I'm facing my deadline and severe sleep deprivation, but I was finding myself feeling slightly underwhelmed with my current project. I guess it felt like I was playing it safe because I was sticking to the mediums I know, traditional drawing tools, and I really want this animation to stand out, for both myself and Claire House. The more eyecatching and engaging it is, the better it will work as an advert.

Animation has been around for decades and is so prevalent now that I think it's important to play around with materials and reinvent their use in order to surprise people. I've always loved incorporating stitch into illustration (one day it might be nice to collaborate with a textiles artist to create some stitched designs, but that's a future project). Last year I created a stitched stop-motion set, featuring patchwork fields and fluffy clouds, and I really appreciate the miniature knitwear used in animations such as Coraline and The Clangers. There's something homely and recognisable in using stitching and fabrics within art.
The Whitworth recently had an exhibition featuring feminist artists, many of which use textiles and stitch as their medium of choice to tackle traditional notions of womanhood, craft and art. I'm obviously not tackling any of these issues in my moving image piece, but there was something really engaging about seeing cross-stich samples and quilts presented as art that has stuck with me.

I thought it would be a a nice touch to incorporate stitch into my frames, using the threads to add weight to lines and give the piece more texture. I think this will draw the viewer in more as well because it's a medium that is largely unexplored within animation. It's something most people won't have seen.

I've found some shakey-camera attempts at stop-motion with stitch on youtube, but in the professional field I could only find a handful of embroidered animations. The three of the professional examples I found have used digitised images put through as files to a digital embroidery machine. I would just be using my sewing machine to highlight certain linework in each frame, rather than stitching the whole image as is done in these examples. I love the blend of traditional and modern in the style of these embroidered animations, especially the zoetrope on a turntable; reinventing one of the earliest animated forms in a new and exciting way...