Monday was Shoonie’s birthday! In commemoration of her 2 decades on this planet, I broke taboo and made…a Pikachu!
Hm? What’s that? This ISN’T a Pikachu?
…oh. It’s a Mimikyu!
This little guy was a bit tricky to get just right. As pictured to the left, it turns out Mimikyu’s black body underneath has the same spiky pattern as the bottom of its costume. I thought that was merely shadow, but after looking at its model in Sun, it turns out that is not the case. You’ll also notice it doesn’t sit flat, but rather rocks a bit. The weight created by its head and tail leaning to one side doesn’t help either. After doing a bit of research, I may have found a way to keep the base laying flat. Once the shop reopens, I will make and sell a new Mimikyu according to these strategies.
This cutie has been widely received among my classmates. It’s very well behaved too; it quietly listens to music while I work.
Sometimes it joins me for tea.
This Mimikyu is Canadian made. So Canadian, in fact, that it sat and watched hockey with my roommate.
Poor Mimikyu. It just wants to be loved. Maybe it will find a friend in No-Face.
With only 2 weeks left of school, things are getting hectic. While I’m glad to have gotten a chance to sit down and make plushies again, I must also focus on the plethora of assignments that are due in the coming week. Perhaps I will share the completed ones here at the end of the semester!
Which Pokemon should be next? Or should Mimikyu get an alternate costume? Comment below!
Before we begin, allow me to take a moment for some shameless self-promotion: I now have Facebook and Instagram pages! Yeah, I know, 5 years late, but better late than never. Follow for plushies, as well as crafts and miscellaneous artwork that won’t necessarily be featured on this blog. Etsy shop is expected to reopen by May 1, 2019!
These count as one post because they are from the same movie.
We watched Spirited Away in our History of Animation class last week. I’ve watched it quite a lot in the past. We watched it when Hatter’s friend came to visit, but No-Face and Sootsprite didn’t want to see their namesakes.
At first, No-Face’s mask turned out too small. It made the purple designs look like blush. No-Face’s mask is an oblong shape, and therefore needed to be made with an oval shape. I am working on a round 2 No-Face plush. Hopefully it will turn out better.
Size relative to a mouse
Dry shampoo
Remember that scene at Zeniba’s house, when No-Face was knitting? In Japan, they have a No-Face who knits. In Canada, we have a crocheted No-Face.
The soot sprite is made from leftover black fluff. Recycling level: crafty.
I’ve been experimenting with felt needles lately. To make the details on No-Face’s mask, I felted some bits of fluff to his face. To think, I used to glue and sew felt onto things… maybe I’ll make my own goomba plush, and felt the eyes directly onto the plush.
Today in class, the soot sprite wanted to drink coffee. But he needed a little help.
Ne ne~ (8)
And then we travelled to Wonderland, to meet the cat-No-Face and cat-Sootsprite.
Riding the GO train
Let’s see what No-Face (Nofie) and Sootsprite (Sootsie) think of their namesakes…
Nofie with the soot sprite
As I type this, Nofie is jumping around with his namesake. I did not put cat nip in the doll, so I’m not sure why he’s doing that. And just now, he picked it up in his front paws and threw it against the bedroom door like a pro-wrestler. “Mom” is pleased that he’s enjoying the toy. Good thing this was a prototype No-Face, because it is covered in dust now.
Sootsprite is watching his brother. Earlier, he was hesitating to go play with the toys. I told him he needs to go ask his brother nicely for the toys, not just stare awkwardly. So then I threw the No-Face doll, and it spun around like a top. The cats seem to like the No-Face a bit better than the soot sprite.
Like the jingle bell balls before it, the soot sprite toy has vanished under the couch. The cats tried licking the soot sprite, and both went “pleh pleh pleh.”
Did you know…. the bath house was actually based on a location in Taiwan? Toni from the PepperToni Pizza is from Taiwan, and thought the environments looked familiar. I would love to visit this location. Maybe Toni will take us?
Since I watched this movie for the first time at age 12, I’ve had a fascination with the attention to environment and character development present in Miyazaki’s works. When I first watched Spirited Away, it began with a long intro by John Lasseter, pointing out the detail of Chihiro putting on her shoes “like a real little girl.” Years later, my teachers would point out the finer details of the shine in eyes, breeze blowing through grass, and yes, character behaviours. These are all things one must pay attention to when animating. You can tell a lot about a character or environment by how it behaves. When something bad happens, Chihiro curls in a ball like a little girl. When she feeds Haku the medicine, she pulls his mouth open like a dog. You don’t think of things until you watch behind the scenes, or fun facts about the movies. But if you want to create believable, interesting animations, you must take notes of little nods like these.
I often like to sit back and wonder, “how do they come up with these things?” Who else could have come up with No-Face, or thought to personify the dust that comes from burnt objects? That’s why I long to be an animator, and to create my own works. I want to create, animate, and make the world plush.
What Studio Ghibli plushie should be next? Comment below!
Val's Crafts 