We have all heard of stop motion, right? The technique used to make Morph, Pingu and of course our loveable heroes Wallace & Gromit. 'Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence'. 'Thanks Wiki!'

I remember liking Playdough from an early age, and not just to eat, I used to make my own people and figures. But, it wasn’t until I saw the Plasticine characters on TV where I got the urge to create my own. 

So that’s what I did – and I never stopped! 

I have been replicating characters such as Donkey (Shrek), Bender (Futurama), Wile E. Coyote (Loony tunes) and Bob, the jelly like substance from the film 'Monster vs. Aliens'. 

However, as much as I wanted to animate them I never have, mostly because they are so fragile.  Characters, such as Wallace & Gromit, are built with Armatures in them; 'a framework around which the sculpture is built. This framework provides structure and stability, especially when a plastic material such as wax or clay is being used as the medium' - another thanks to Wiki!' 

To animate my models I would need something strong enough to support the model and has hinges to move the limbs realistically, so I went away to do some research...

I found the answer in 'Meccano'. With this I should be able to create a figure with supportive arms and legs, a fully functional skeleton for my model.

I am going to build and animate a model using Meccano as the skeleton. Now I just need to find some Meccano, maybe ebay or a car boot sale, and start brain storming a character. 

Hit me back in a couple of weeks for an update on how I am doing....

Watch this space.