Yes! A Christmas-themed post in time for Christmas! I was super excited when artist/animator Dave Pryor asked me to recreate the alien from his animated video of The Fountains of Wayne song I Want an Alien For Christmas (if you haven’t seen the video, here it is). I love the song. I love Dave’s animated short. Let’s do this!
Dave asked for a clear display post to levitate the alien and his ship — you know, to make it look like it was hovering. Sounded fun, but it was a challenge finding something that would work.
After some searching online and in craft stores, I found clear, acrylic donut stands that I thought would work. They’re just tall, mostly transparent posts with a sturdy base. Good. The weird part was taken care of. After an energy-packed snack of about a dozen donuts, it was time to buckle down and felt the character.
I started with a wire armature for both the alien (now named Dart, according to Dave) and the ship. For some strange reason, I took NO photos of the ship in progress (?!?) but the process is essentially the same as the alien: wire, covered in core wool, and built up into the proper shape.
Once I get the figure pretty close to the finished shape, I can start needling in the color. There are only so many colors of wool people offer when you’re ordering for projects like this. Luckily, someone had this very alien green.
More needling, more color.
This little guy has a recessed mouth, so I had to cut that out and start shaping it. He looks pretty shocked about the whole ordeal.
I ordered a few different sets of plastic eyes to get the size right. Dave thought the ones I started with were a little small, so I was glad to have some larger eyes on hand.
After more back and forth with Dave, the eyes were moved a little farther apart. Most people are pretty particular about their designs, and I don’t blame them. So I’m happy to try to get as close as possible with my 3D re-creations.
Annnnnd here’s the finished alien and his ship, zooming in from parts unknown.
As a bonus (that I didn’t reveal to Dave until I sent him his feltie), Dart can come completely out of his spaceship, and his arms, legs, and antennae are poseable because of the wire armature. That way he can disembark and go on some adventures around Dave’s house.
You can find illustrator/animator Dave Pryor’s work on Instagram: @DavePryor72
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