GARY J LOSH

More Swedbank

2011-12-01T15:26:00.001Z

More of Swedbank done at Aardman Commercials back in March.

This time i was able to do some of the character sculpts and clothing for the wolves as well as the usual modelmaking, flocking and airbrushing etc.

I had totally forgotten i had worked on these until i stumbled across the videos by accident. Unfortunately i couldn't find them in English but here are the Swedish versions...

Hotels.com 'High Flying'

2011-09-21T21:29:00.005+01:00

Here's another commercial i worked on at Aardman which appeared on their commercials channel recently.
I worked on this one just before the monstrous garden. It involved sculpting and molding the bodies and limbs for the lady as well as some airbrushing and hand painting elements of the model... Oh and a nice new pair of armatured hands for her too!

Little Tent Of Horrors..!

2011-08-05T13:06:00.017+01:00

At the Kendal Calling site we made the final touches to the finished monster's heads, assembling and painting the 10m vines and leaves. The vines were then inserted into the heads and spiraled together and a collar of leaves positioned on each head to cover the join.

The Monsters were then rigged in place and much to my suprise actually filled the space nicely..!

Monsters at Freak Street Studios Launch.

2011-07-23T00:17:00.000+01:00

The monsters displayed at the Freak Street Studios launch in Bedminster, 21-25 Nelson Parade.

Freak Street Studios is a new artist led cooperative representing a diverse collection of cutting edge fine artists and creatives. Having worked closely with Capacity and Art Space Life Space to obtain the space, they have over the last year been repairing and renovating the building. The space now includes several workshops and studios housed by blacksmiths, carpenters, painters, photographers, sculptors and printmakers as well as several exhibition spaces.

They are looking for artists to exhibit in the gallery and in the large window boxes as part of an ongoing programme from August till December 2011. (This is not a commercial gallery – experimental, installation based, performance art and mixed media work is much welcomed).

Please email or telephone 07875591839 for further info or email proposals to freakstreetstudios@gmail.com

Monstrous Garden

2011-07-15T16:33:00.008+01:00

This year myself and Sarah were asked to create a large central sculpture to be hung between the king poles of the Kaylied tent at Kendal Calling festival 2011.

The theme for the area was the Monstrous Garden, so with that in mind we decided to make a little shop of horrors inspired plant, which would hang down from the center of the tent and spread out over the crowd below.

I was going to blog about the build each day but as usual things got a bit hectic and i forgot.. Here are the pre Kendall build photos:

^Above are the Poly carves we did for the heads of the plant. The blocks measured about 1m square before they were carved down to varying dimensions. The teeth were carved out of blue foam instead of polystyrene as we felt the poly wouldn't be strong enough. They were scrimmed with muslin and flintbond fireproof pva before they were painted.

Arcadia 'Spiders' makeup

2011-07-10T22:02:00.005+01:00

I finally found a few closeups of the makeup i did for this years Arcadia Spectacular. Hopefully a few more will crop up on facebook..!

Below photos courtesy of Duchess Photographic

And here's another video too :D

Arcadia Spectacular 2011

2011-07-06T13:56:00.006+01:00

...And for this years Glastonbury festival.. The Arcadia Spectacular 2011

Ok.. so i dont have any pictures of what i actually did but there is this great video of the event and a whole bunch of others on youtube and the Arcadia site.

This time around i had no part in any of the build before the festival started, but instead was trying my hand at makeup, helping out a friend Inma Azorin, who's workload was gradually growing day by day. As it turned out Inma ended up mainly on the hair/wigs and myself and Sarah did all the airbrushing for the two shows which weren't rained off.

Photos to follow.. as soon as i track them down..!

Chicken or the Egg?

2011-07-05T10:39:00.002+01:00

Some how i mannaged to fit a weeks work helping Cat and Gary at Scarycat Studio, in between working at Aardman and Arcadia at Glastonbury festival.

I didn't do much on this amazing chicken puppet for the DIREC TV's chicken and egg commercial but it was great to see the work which had already gone into it. I did the replacement chickens beaks and a nice pair of chicken wellies which can be seen at the end of the commercial as well as some other bits n bobs which i cant remember right now..!

Ice Cream

2011-07-04T16:45:00.007+01:00

... and anotherof Aardman's swedbank commercial 'Ice Cream'.

Involved some more maintenence of old puppets and making of new limbs and shoes as well as reworking of some of the armatures. A new character sculpt by Enty and some great costumes again by Lex and Graham. More foam latex flock and airbrushing moldmaking and casting... Enjoy..!

Hollywood

2011-07-03T16:19:00.004+01:00

Another Swedbank commercial i did at Aardman.

Reworking of old puppets, armatures and wigs, converting the squirrel and duck into hollywood characters Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost and Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards in Top Gun.

Swedbank 'Hollywood'

Eaten

2011-07-02T14:01:00.007+01:00

Hot Pockets Sideshots 'Eaten' commersial done at Aardman.

Myself and Sarah worked alone on this one creating the puppets from start to finish(not the props or sets).
It Involved fastcast bodies airbrushed and hand detailed with acrylics. Different food incerts were made for the mouths using various different techniques which were all covered in a clear two part apoxy resin tinted with acrylics to give a glossy sauce texture. The arms and legs were made in Silicone and airbrushed, speckled and hand detailed. The shoes were sculpted and cast in foam latex, then airbrushed and hand detailed using rubber inks..

Under the Oak Tree

2011-07-01T14:53:00.011+01:00

Swedbank commercial - Under the Oak Tree.

Another Aardman Comercials animation which was great to work on. Involved a lot of sculpting of limbs and shoes mould making and casting in foam latex and fastcat. I also got to do a lot of silver soldering making the ball and socket armatures for the puppets as well as the flocking and Airbrushing.

Included is the making of video below.

National Consumer Agency 'Heads'

2011-07-01T08:13:00.015+01:00

Here is the first animation i have worked on at Aardman commercials

The puppets consisted of silicone arms and legs set into generic solid fastcast bodies which were then detailed with a layer of sculpey firm clothing. They were hand painted and facial details added in plasticine.

More from Aardman to follow ;)

East Coast Trains Making Of Miniature Prices TV ads

2010-04-17T16:13:00.010+01:00

Below is the making of East Coast Trains miniature prices adverts video which I worked on at ScaryCat studios. All three adverts are included at the end of the video.

I worked mainly on the Yorkshire moors advert sculpting the green rambler and molding and casting him in fast cast resin. The casts were then repositioned into the poses needed for the replacement animation sequence. I also did the poses for the dad figure origionaly sculped by Carl.

Dad and Boy figures sculpted by Carl. Boy Posed by Sarah.

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus Sculpts for the Miniatures Sets

2010-03-29T02:33:00.013+01:00

It’s been a while since I've posted anything here but what can I say other than I'm forgetful...!

A while ago I promised you I’d post pictures of the work I did on Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus once it was out…. well... Its well and truly been out and gone but seeing as it’s to be released DVD today (29 Mar 2010) I thought I'd use this opportunity to redeem myself... So here it is...

In 2008 I started work on my first feature film at Mattes and Miniatures Visual Effects as a sculptor for the amazing scaled sets of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus along side the team of very talented people as follows:

Leigh Took, (model supervisor)
Dave Warren, (art director).

ModelMakers: Gary J Losh, Sarah Edwards, Wesley Harland, Christopher Michael Walker, Neil Damann, Bob Ballan, James Ballan, Simon Ford, Gary Morton, Fiona Barty, Joe White, Alex Walklate, Thomas Power, Samantha Cole, Katherine Pearl, Amanda Ward, Holly Blenkins, Rebecca Timons, Steve Scott, Andy Rolfe, Jason Chalmers, Peter Seymour-Howell, Melanie Thorpe, Sarah Clamp.

Due to a hard drive failure I no longer have any photos of the sculpting or molding process for much of what I did for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, however, I did manage to go back and take photos of some of the final models. For a detailed account of more of what went on at Mattes and Miniatures please check out Chris’ blog >>Here<<

The first task I was given was to sculpt some of the scaled carvings and detailed architrave for the piano cave sequence. Most of the sculptures I did for this section were done in Plastiline the first of which was a lion sculpt.

I also sculpted an Atlas type parnassus figure for the 4 columns holding up the ceiling of the piano cave. I worked along side Sarah Edwards who sculpted the elephant and turtles on which my figure knelt. Again a more detailed account of her work can be found on her blog >>Here<<

Sadly the piano cave sequence was cut from the cinema release.

One of the pieces which were not cut from the film was the giant elephant sculptures of the monastery. It was also the largest and most fun to do. Again I worked with Sarah on this one co sculpting and molding it together.

We started with a solid metal frame for stability, on which we blocked out a rough elephant shape out of polystyrene and chicken wire. We then laid over a 1 ½ inch layer of clay and sculpted in a more detailed elephant shape.

Once we where happy with the shape we started on the aged and distressed brick work covering most of the top half of the elephant, blending into a cliff face carving the lower down the sculpt we went. For the minute brick detail, thin sheets of tiny bricks were cast in resin, broken up and then set into clay in various patches.

The whole sculpture was molded in silicon with a two part fibre glass jacket and with a little struggle eventually pulled out 3 copies in fibreglass.

Once complete they were handed over to the ‘temple crew’ who set them into the base of the their amazing looking temple.

A plaster cast was also made of the elephant and Wesley Harland's Parnassus monk sculpture (pictured above and below right)which were hacked up for the desert scene.

Working on this film was truly one of my favorite jobs ive had so far... Mattes and Miniatures may be bitterly cold in the winter but whats loosing a few digits to frost bite when your having this much fun!

More to follow... The deleted War Fair Miniatures.

Specsavers - Making of Postman Pat Commercial

2009-09-12T16:57:00.006+01:00

For anyone who is interested heres a making of video for the Specsavers Postman Pat Commercial. Its better quality than the video in the first post and includes the full Commercial at the end.

I did well to dodge the camera that day.. just a quick shot of my hands sanding shoes! :/

Postman Pat - Specsavers Advert

2009-09-04T17:30:00.017+01:00

Back in June I was asked to return to ScaryCat Studios to continue work on the Violent Veg e-cards. I turned up expecting quite a lot of work like the first time around but it seemed to consist of only touch ups and a bit of set dressing (the food counter in "Medley of Fruit"). Thinking it was going to be a short contract I was Glad to find out that I was in fact filling time while they waited for a Specsavers job featuring Postman Pat and a host of other characters to be confirmed. Luckily for me it did and the next day I was asked to start the job of sculpting the heads of the characters Ted Glen, Reverend Timms, Alf Thompson and Granny Dryden who's head I later butchered and re sculpted into Miss Goggins.

Due to the simplicity and smooth finish of the heads it was decided that the the simplest, if not the dustiest, way to sculpt them would be by carving a rough head shape out of Plastazote foam over which a thin layer of Car Body Filler was applied. Once hardened it was quickly dremeled down, sanded smooth and symmetrical and primed. The heads were then molded and cast in Fast Cast resin with the K&S fixtures in place for the armatures.

The hand armatures above were simple twisted wire with threaded beeds at the finger tips and K&S tube at the wrists. they were then put into the fabric glove and padded out.

I also acted as Greendale's village hairdresser applying and styling the hair of Postman Pat, PC Selby, Miss Hubbard, Alf Thompson, Ted Glen, Miss Goggins and Reverend Timms.

Again it was a nice job to work on and a talented crew to work with at the ScaryCat Studio.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 2009 Trailer

2009-08-16T14:18:00.015+01:00

A quick update on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus due for release in the UK on 16th October 2009.

Here is an official trailer, finally released for your viewing pleasure.

Looks good to me.. i cant wait.

Violent Veg

2009-08-13T20:33:00.012+01:00

I'm Back, my festival season is officially over.. BOOO! and again I find myself promising to go to Burning Man next year... but this time I mean it!

I have a lot of saving to do so, if you have any work out there, don't be shy.

I'm Currently back at ScaryCat Studios polishing up BAF Awards for the Bradford Animation Festival and working on the new animated Tatty Teddy Christmas e-cards. As its only August Ill refrain from putting any of the pictures up until its a more suitable time. For now here are a few pictures of the Violent Veg e-cards I worked on earlyer in the year. I worked mainly on the props and sets for the various animations but also did some minor work on the puppets.

The e-cards are finally online and the animations can be viewed >>Here<<

You will also find some animated Tatty Teddy e-cards there, I didn't work on any of these, however they will give you an idea of what I'm working on at the moment.

...enjoy...

Goat Juice and Dumplings!

2009-07-22T12:21:00.013+01:00

I’ve been living in a field for a week getting my hands dirty building a dodgy instillation hidden behind a public proof window in the middle of a field come rain or shine… It must be that time of year again!

Working for Shangri La at Glastonbury festival was pretty good this year. Myself and Sarah were given an idea, a pile of junk, a lot of freedom and two days to make it happen. The idea was to create a fake shop front situated in “Piss alley” one of the grimy alleyways of the neon metropolis which was Shangri La.

Inspired by the likes of Bladerunner, Shangri La took on the role of Big Brother in the self-proclaimed futuristic paradise run by an administration that is dedicated to the unceasing pursuit of perfect, regime-sanctioned 24hr pleasure. It is headed by a deeply corrupt local Mayor who watches over the authorized entertainment mega-plex of Club Dada, the mega light shows of the Hub, the Hotel and Spa, the Café, Bar and Circus, but also those damned uncontrollable alleyways which contain all manner of human detritus, rave-scum and rebel nano-states.

Our shop was to resemble a dodgy futuristic fast food takeaway / Thai market aptly named “Catch it, Kill it, Eat it” where (you guessed it) anything could be caught, killed and eaten.

The structure of the building was a simple stud wall box with a hole cut out for the Perspex window. We decorated interior with numerous over crowded cages tightly packed stacked and hanging from every corner. Microwaves were set into the back wall and a deep fat fryer set into the counter. We even managed to make an insect vending machine, but didn’t get a decent photo! Any empty spaces were filled as best we could with plastic trays of various creatures and old boxes in an attempt to make the place look a little more crowded and everything was given a lick of paint and made to look rusty, greasy and unhygienic. To finish off the shop a couple of Green neon lights and a red oriental solar lantern were added.

Unfortunately the “Catch it, Kill it, Eat it” neon sign intended for the shop front was put up in the wrong place so we ended up with “Goat Juice and Dumplings”!
The project was loads of fun to do from start to finish. If only we were told a few days in advance we could have achieved so much more… but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I can’t wait until next year.

Thanx again Netty!

The Wolfman 2009

2009-06-04T22:22:00.013+01:00

Joe Johnston's upcoming horror / thriller The Wolfman aka The Wolf Man, starring Benicio del Toro as Lawrence Talbot (the wolfman) and Anthony Hopkins as Sir John Talbot (Lawrence's father), is a remake of the 1941 classic of the same name.

Set in the late 1880s, the film keeps the plot line of the original, with Lawrence Talbot meeting his father following the death of his brother. The film details events during Lawrence's past that led to his estrangement from his father (which includes Gwen), and the setting is expanded from Blackmore (now identified as the village from the original) to London. The official synopsis states Talbot was traumatized by his mother's death as a child, while Gwen Conliffe is his brother's fiancee. Following his brother's disappearance, Talbot hunts a murderer, which turns out to be a werewolf, and the curse is passed on.

(Source: Wikipedia)

It is scheduled for release November 6, 2009.

I worked on the miniatures for this one... that's if you can call a 1:3 scale replica of Chatsworth house a miniature at 50ft wide and 18ft tall!

Sculpting at Mattes and Miniatures Visual Effects wasn't so cold this time around. I was working on the film during May/June and had just got back from Rocket Festival in Granada. The workshop was opened up to the sun and we were able to enjoy our lunch at the bank of the Thames ... a welcome change indeed!

As usual i cant post the pics yet.. i know.. I'm sorry! once its released ill have em up here.. sit tight. For now, if you have amazing eyesight, you can see it for all of 2 seconds on fire in the dodgy bootleg trailer >>here<<

Peculiar Such Thing

2009-06-02T22:31:00.039+01:00

2004's Annecy Animation Festival Selected Short: Peculiar Such Thing, by James Cleland. was based on Virginia Hamiltons short story The Peculiar Such Thing and inspired by Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is a tale of a lumberjack who gets more than he bargained for!
I worked on this animation during the second year of my degree at The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. I worked mostly on the construction of the lumberjack's hut, the design of which required wall panels to be removed to allow camera access. The log pile and most of the small scale props were sculpted in a 50/50 mix of Super Sculpey and Cernit Polymer Clay.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

2009-06-01T22:49:00.021+01:00

I’ve been a Terry Gilliam fan since I was a nipper. He’s probably one of the main reasons I do what I do now, so you can imagine my excitement and disbelief when I was told I had a job on The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I still don’t quite believe my luck especially as it was my first film and to top it off I got to meet him too... joy!

The work was done at the freezing cold Mattes and Miniatures Visual Effects, working with Sarah Edwards and Wesley Harland as the sculpting and moulding department. 50% of the time was spent without heating and electricity as the fuses kept blowing but you get used to it... and it was a good excuse for a tea break!

Unfortunately I’m unable to post any pictures of my work just yet but they’ll be up once the film is released. For now we have this little gem found on YouTube showing the elephants at the base of the monastery by myself and Sarah. Stay tuned to see more of what we did soon. The film is due to be released 22 May 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival. Fingers crossed I get a credit this time...

Thanx for the link Chris.

BBQ Peperami Advert

2009-05-31T01:45:00.037+01:00

A few months back I was working at ScaryCat Studios in Bristol. I initially went down to work on props and sets for a series of Violent Veg animated shorts but while I was there they also got me working on the new BBQ Peperami advert. Between myself, Sarah and Lex we produced two sets of thirty two mouths for the stop-frame sequence, forty large and twenty four small. Each one was sculpted in Milliput onto shaped acrylic then cast in fast cast resin and hand painted.

I'm heading back down to ScaryCat Studios next week to continue work on Violent Veg. Hopefully Ill be able to post pictures of that later next month.

Angels and Demons

2009-05-28T22:45:00.032+01:00

So here i am.. Its taken me a while to get around to doing this but I'm blogging at last! and hopefully ill keep it up.. Ill be using this place to post stuff I'm working on, things i find interesting or inspiring etc.. and maybe even some stuff I'm getting up to.. who knows?? lets see what happens!

Due to the recent release of Ron Howard's Angels and Demons I thought that would be the best place to start blogging. Ill try to post some of my older stuff through the week but for now here is some of the work i did on the film. The work was done at Mattes and Miniatures Visual Effects in Bray Studios with co workers and friends Sarah Edward, Chris Walker and Wesley Harland.

Santa Maria della Vittoria (St. Mary of the Victory) Ceiling detail.

The cherubs and most of the smaller details were sculpted in plastiline, silicone molded and cast in fast cast resin. The large reliefs below were sculpted in clay then layed up in fibreglass.