At Aardman Animations they have built glittering careers on bringing Plasticine to life. DAVID WHETSTONE explains how you can learn the tricks of the trade
COMMERCIAL production of Plasticine, the invention of a West Country art teacher called William Harbutt, began in 1900.
For much of the 20th Century, it was no more than an engaging play material. Children love it and so do parents, even if it has a tendency to get ground into the carpet and go hard.
But in 1972 along came Aardman Animations and exciting new frontiers opened up for the humble modelling clay.
A shape-shifting Plasticine character called Morph became a TV star after making the first of many appearances in 1977.
When Nick Park joined Aardman Animations in 1985 and created Creature Comforts, the way was cleared for world domination by a cheese-loving Lancashire inventor and his uncannily clever pooch, Wallace & Gromit.
A wizard in the ways of Plasticine, Park has now been nominated for six Oscars and won four of them – for Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
How does he do it? How do any of the Aardman animators do it?
Well, at Newcastle’s Life Science Centre next month there’s a chance to find out from expert Aardman model-maker Jim Parkyn who will be hosting a series of workshops for children aged seven and over.
His appearance on January 21 will mark the finale of the exhibition Wallace and Gromit Present... A World of Cracking Ideas which has been an attraction at the Life Science Centre since April. It is due to close on January 22.
Jim Parkyn is senior model maker at Aardman and responsible for favourites including the slugs, the dog in a fez, the donkeys and the sleepy tortoise in Creature Comforts as well as much of Shaun the Sheep and the new Pirates feature film.
“Anybody can make a model,” says Jim, “but it’s the little tweaks that make it a character.
“In the model-making class we’ll make it easy by breaking it right down into basic shapes that fit together.”
Looking back, he says: “I started proper model-making at school, inspired by things I saw in rock pools and at the zoo.
“I was inspired by the creative Saturday morning television shows at that time like Going Live. Model animation like Morph, which was featured on Vision On, was a huge influence.
“Trapdoor, a tale of creatures that lived under a trapdoor in a basement, created by Terry Brain in about 1984, made me come to realise that I could actually make a career out of the thing I loved doing the most and, funnily enough, I now work alongside Terry which is a huge privilege.”
Good preparation, he says, is the key to success.
“The clay has to be warm and in the workshop we’ll be warming it up by hand to make it flexible and workable and then everything we’ll do will be by hand, no tools required.
“It’s amazing the different effects that can be created by fingers and nails.
“You’ll be able to take your model home and experiment even further.”
Jim conducts workshops regularly but says: “Every time I see something different. When we are making Gromits everyone puts something in of their own personality and creates their own accessories. My favourite was a Gromit iPhone.”
Model-making sessions with Jim on Saturday, January 21, will be included in the normal admission price but tickets must be booked and paid for in advance on 0191 243 8223. The booking office reopens on January 3.