33 Comments
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Martina Aiko's avatar

This is amazing! I would watch a whole movie of Gilmore or Butternut (or both?!)

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James Burks's avatar

I hope I can make it happen. Thanks for watching.

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Lisa Chow's avatar

LOOOOVE. This is amazing and I want to see more.

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks.

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Maggie Summers's avatar

Your characters are wonderful and stop motion is fascinating. Maybe this will lead to something new as it relates to job hunting. Best wishes for success!

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks! I'm sure something will come up.

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Matthew Schofield's avatar

Look at you, last year you were all like "I have a Substack but I don't use it much" and now you're just nailing it!

TEACH ME, MASTER!!

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James Burks's avatar

Haha. I wouldn’t consider myself a master. I don’t always feel like I have something worth saying. But sometimes I do.

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Joshua Smeaton's avatar

Have you considered a YouTube channel? A process/vlog channel dedicated to felt character building, animating them, and behind the scenes could be an option.

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James Burks's avatar

I have thought about it. But I’ve also found that filming and editing those types of videos is a lot of work. It almost takes more time than it does to make whatever I’m making. But I might give it a go at some point.

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John Tommervik's avatar

Epic. When Gilmore ate that mushroom I expected the whole set to turn all psychedelic! 😂 Thanks for sharing the process and the behind the scenes. I love the river/rapids set and how it looks when animated with stop motion.

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Amy Makechnie's avatar

Wow, I love how you just went ALL IN with the creative process even with the fear of "where will this go?" and "will this make me any money?" I have this feeling all the time and it stifles me in a big way. So...I'm so impressed. Thanks for the inspiration this morning.

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James Burks's avatar

Glad I could provide some inspiration. My wife says I’m all or nothing, which is true. There was a point where I took a deep dive into learning and performing close-up magic with cards. It then inspired me to do an online webcomic about a magician and his talking rabbit. This led me to table at San Diego Comic-Con, where I’d one year meet a friend of a literary agent who bought my new book idea (Gabby & Gator) and gave it to the agent, who offered to represent me, and this kicked off my publishing career. We’ve been working together for the last 15 years. So don’t be afraid to dive into these random ideas because you never know where they might take you.

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Nuno Alexandre Vieira's avatar

Awsome!!!

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks!

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Rich's avatar

I would definitely watch a show or movie animated with these adorable, felt characters of yours.

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James Burks's avatar

Hopefully, I can make that happen.

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Jens K Styve's avatar

Impressive and inspiring!

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks!

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Bing's avatar

Clever idea with the magnets!

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks!

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Bing's avatar

This is all wonderful! There must be a future for all these amusing ideas & characters. Thanks for sharing your progress! At least you can teach these steps to others if that interests you (Skillshare?). I’d pay you for a tutorial on how to use wire armature with the felted creations. The animation, composition and storytelling seems seamless too. I’m so glad I found your posts : ) Very encouraging.

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James Burks's avatar

Thanks for reading. Maybe one day, I’ll do some form of teaching.

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Katherine's avatar

I just want to say that these are amazing little videos! They are delightful and I can't wait to see more. The characters are really well made- absolutely incredible!

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James Burks's avatar

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed them.

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Saviour Pirotta's avatar

A brilliant, uplifting read. The characters look incredible. Voices next.

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Ryan Summers's avatar

It is awesome to see how fast you went from one stop-mo puppet to Gilmore fully decked out with a set!

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Nidhi Chanani's avatar

This is the best thing I've read all day. I love how your hot dog cart idea snowballed into this beautiful creative outlet. I'm so so inspired!! Well done and I hope you find wild success with whatever you do next :)

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