Mighty Joe Young Reborn

8thWonderStudio · 11-16-2010, 01:27 PM

For the last several months, I have been involved in a project in which we are recreating a limited number of the 16” hero Mighty Joe Young stop-motion armatures. These incredible armatures have been precision CNC machined using exact blueprints from an original 16” Joe armature…..we even kept all the original materials the same. I have been designing and building professional armatures and sculpting for over 20 years. I have become so impressed by the sheer brilliance of this original design that it has motivated me to go one step further and create a complete animation puppet based on one of these armatures. Joe has always been my favorite stop-motion “actor”, perhaps because I saw him when I was very young (even before I saw Kong) and I’ve always wanted to animate a similar character.
I will be using the “buildup” technique of model construction (as opposed to casting a foam sculpture over the armature) in the hopes of capturing some of the magic that the original artists, O’Brien, Delgado, and Harryhausen, created over 60 years ago. There is very little reference for this process, but some of the surviving unskinned pictures of Delgado’s work are inspiring indeed. He created muscles that stretched and flexed, and although such a sophisticated design was ultimately not used for the final puppets (perhaps due to time constraints), I think he was on the right track.
I sculpted a 16” MJY garage kit several years ago (picture shown below) and although I was very happy with the body, I never thought I captured Joe’s facial character correctly. An original Joe Young skull, sculpted by Marcel himself and cast for these new armatures, has helped me figure out where I went wrong with my first Joe sculpture: the head was too big and wide. Not by much, but just enough to where it wasn’t really “Joe.” I’ll be redoing the GK sculpture as well as creating a full-blown animation puppet.
I’ll periodically post updates and in progress shots of the puppet as it progresses. I can’t wait to animate this guy. Below is a couple of pictures of the completed armature. The rib cage is a new design (the only element that is not original) and is completely removable.

Contec · 11-16-2010, 01:30 PM

Cool, I like looking at the "bones" of animation puppets.

JPolacchi · 11-16-2010, 02:16 PM

Stop-Motion animation and armature construction are a lost art indeed. I've some character designs I'd like to make into stop-motion puppets,but this is indeed an expensive hobby.Not everyone has(or can afford) the use of a CNC lathe/mill, let alone a conventional one.

apollo · 11-16-2010, 02:31 PM

What with Kong and now Joe it is a wonderful time to be a fan of stop-Mo!

Looking forward to your progress!

yodakiller1138 · 11-16-2010, 02:35 PM

Found the info! Real nice piece. A little rich for my blood. Wish I could afford one. I'd be on it.

n0regret5 · 11-16-2010, 03:09 PM

i've always been a HUGE fan of stop-motion, i'm subscribing to this thread :-)

kklloo · 11-16-2010, 04:06 PM

I would love to add this alongside the Kong, but the price may be a weeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit out of my budget =). Still, what a great piece. Joe Young was a favorite of mine when growing up and I actually liked it better than Kong in my younger years. I think Joe was more likeable to a younger audiences.

Sal

MooCriket · 11-16-2010, 05:35 PM

AWESOME!!! So nice to see this project. I actualy prefered him over Kong.

nick daring · 11-16-2010, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooCriket

AWESOME!!! So nice to see this project. I actualy prefered him over Kong.

Blasphemy!!

Totally sweet!

More pics please!!

Nick

8thWonderStudio · 11-16-2010, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MooCriket

AWESOME!!! So nice to see this project. I actualy prefered him over Kong.

......as do I, although the Kong fans will tar and feather us. MJY is certainly not a better film than KK, but Joe is a better designed ape. The armature is far superior to Kong....it's truly the holy grail for stop-motion design. Bob Burns loaned his 16" Joe to ILM for a short time so Tippett and St. Amand could study it in advance of designing the tauntaun armature.....that's how great it is.

Recreating the Joe armature has given me the opportunity to understand just how talented O'Brien and his crew really were. This is a superb design, and I cannot stop at just the armature. I've got to completely recreate Joe and bring him to life. It's truly a labor of love. The armatures have turned out even better than I had expected. I hope I can do the rest of it justice. Joe's aesthetics have even carried over into some of my other more realistic ape sculptures (as seen in the pic below) so I can't wait to get this guy in front of the animation camera.

nick daring · 11-17-2010, 08:14 PM

Grrrr.

Nick

8thWonderStudio · 11-18-2010, 12:45 AM

Great frames.....look at the detail in the lion. Amazing. Here are couple more of my favorites.

Colin Droidmilk · 11-18-2010, 02:30 AM

So you're going to animate him when he's finished? I'd love to see that...

8thWonderStudio · 11-18-2010, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin Droidmilk

So you're going to animate him when he's finished? I'd love to see that...

Oh yeah.....This armature is just too good to not animate!

BrundelFly · 11-19-2010, 10:14 AM

Love Mighty Joe.

So many memories watching that as a kid.

I have a LIFECAST of what I was told was M J himself.

8thWonderStudio · 11-19-2010, 12:09 PM

Yep...that's the real deal. Dave Allen made mold of the face of the Joe puppet that eventually ended up in London. He gave me casting of it many years ago.

Drwatson58 · 11-19-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrundelFly

Love Mighty Joe.

So many memories watching that as a kid.

I have a LIFECAST of what I was told was M J himself.

I got one of those too. I saw someguy on ebay selling them awhile back as lifecast off King Kong model...at $20 a pop.

BrundelFly · 11-21-2010, 11:33 AM

I love your Display!

I never thought about Painting it....what a great Idea. Be fun to put eyes in it..etc.

Drwatson58 · 11-21-2010, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8thWonderStudio

Yep...that's the real deal. Dave Allen made mold of the face of the Joe puppet that eventually ended up in London. He gave me casting of it many years ago.

Love your MJY armature....still debating

nick daring · 12-09-2010, 12:58 PM

Found this today.

Pic of Bob Burns MJY Armature!

Nick

kklloo · 12-09-2010, 02:21 PM

That's hot!

Sal

8thWonderStudio · 11-20-2011, 01:49 PM

A brief update: Last March I was lucky enough to visit Ray Harryhausen at his home in London and surprise him with Mighty Joe Young armature #1. It was the culmination of a life long dream to do so. Ray and Tony Dalton have included the armature in their new book "Ray Harryhausen's Film Fantasy Scraobook" and armature #2 is being offered at auction by Christie's of London on November 23. Ray finally has his own Joe!

Mighty Joe Young (1949) | Popular Culture & Entertainment Auction</li> | props, Memorabilia | Christie's

robn1 · 11-20-2011, 05:40 PM

Oh wow, that's so cool! Ray is a master and a legend, and you did a great job on the Joe armature

8thWonderStudio · 11-20-2011, 10:01 PM

Thanks...it was a year long labor of love but it was worth every minute just to see Ray's reaction.

nick daring · 11-20-2011, 10:04 PM

Bravo. good sir!

Very jealous.

Did he have anything interesting to say about your replica?

Nick

		Replica Props	Screen Used Props	Replica Costumes	Sculpture and Makeup	General Modeling	Studio Scale Models	Movie Discussion
	Collaborate, create, and collect at the internet's largest community dedicated to props, costumes and models.

11-16-2010, 02:16 PM	#3
JPolacchi Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,389	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Stop-Motion animation and armature construction are a lost art indeed. I've some character designs I'd like to make into stop-motion puppets,but this is indeed an expensive hobby.Not everyone has(or can afford) the use of a CNC lathe/mill, let alone a conventional one.

11-16-2010, 02:31 PM	#4
apollo Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 14,728	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn What with Kong and now Joe it is a wonderful time to be a fan of stop-Mo! Looking forward to your progress!

11-16-2010, 02:35 PM	#5
yodakiller1138 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Brooksville, Florida Posts: 1,644	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Found the info! Real nice piece. A little rich for my blood. Wish I could afford one. I'd be on it. Last edited by yodakiller1138; 11-16-2010 at 02:56 PM.

11-16-2010, 03:09 PM	#6
n0regret5 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Brizzy, land of everything poisonous Posts: 302	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn i've always been a HUGE fan of stop-motion, i'm subscribing to this thread :-)

11-16-2010, 01:27 PM	#1
8thWonderStudio Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	Mighty Joe Young Reborn For the last several months, I have been involved in a project in which we are recreating a limited number of the 16” hero Mighty Joe Young stop-motion armatures. These incredible armatures have been precision CNC machined using *exact* blueprints from an original 16” Joe armature…..we even kept all the original materials the same. I have been designing and building professional armatures and sculpting for over 20 years. I have become so impressed by the sheer brilliance of this original design that it has motivated me to go one step further and create a complete animation puppet based on one of these armatures. Joe has always been my favorite stop-motion “actor”, perhaps because I saw him when I was very young (even before I saw Kong) and I’ve always wanted to animate a similar character. I will be using the “buildup” technique of model construction (as opposed to casting a foam sculpture over the armature) in the hopes of capturing some of the magic that the original artists, O’Brien, Delgado, and Harryhausen, created over 60 years ago. There is very little reference for this process, but some of the surviving unskinned pictures of Delgado’s work are inspiring indeed. He created muscles that stretched and flexed, and although such a sophisticated design was ultimately not used for the final puppets (perhaps due to time constraints), I think he was on the right track. I sculpted a 16” MJY garage kit several years ago (picture shown below) and although I was very happy with the body, I never thought I captured Joe’s facial character correctly. An *original Joe Young skull*, sculpted by Marcel himself and cast for these new armatures, has helped me figure out where I went wrong with my first Joe sculpture: the head was too big and wide. Not by much, but just enough to where it wasn’t really “Joe.” I’ll be redoing the GK sculpture as well as creating a full-blown animation puppet. I’ll periodically post updates and in progress shots of the puppet as it progresses. I can’t wait to animate this guy. Below is a couple of pictures of the completed armature. The rib cage is a new design (the only element that is not original) and is completely removable. Attached Thumbnails

( Don't want to see advertising between posts? Register for free and become a member of our community! )
RPF Sponsors

11-16-2010, 01:30 PM	#2
Contec Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 2,838	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Cool, I like looking at the "bones" of animation puppets.

11-16-2010, 04:06 PM	#7
kklloo Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 34	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn I would love to add this alongside the Kong, but the price may be a weeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit out of my budget =). Still, what a great piece. Joe Young was a favorite of mine when growing up and I actually liked it better than Kong in my younger years. I think Joe was more likeable to a younger audiences. Sal

11-16-2010, 05:35 PM	#8
MooCriket Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Baltimore MD Posts: 5,825	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn AWESOME!!! So nice to see this project. I actualy prefered him over Kong.

11-17-2010, 08:14 PM	#11
nick daring Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Austin TX Posts: 2,232	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Grrrr. Nick Attached Thumbnails

11-18-2010, 12:45 AM	#12
8thWonderStudio Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Great frames.....look at the detail in the lion. Amazing. Here are couple more of my favorites. Attached Thumbnails

11-18-2010, 02:30 AM	#13
Colin Droidmilk Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Greece Posts: 1,313	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn So you're going to animate him when he's finished? I'd love to see that...

11-19-2010, 10:14 AM	#15
BrundelFly Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2,576	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Love Mighty Joe. So many memories watching that as a kid. I have a LIFECAST of what I was told was M J himself.

11-19-2010, 12:09 PM	#16
8thWonderStudio Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Yep...that's the real deal. Dave Allen made mold of the face of the Joe puppet that eventually ended up in London. He gave me casting of it many years ago. Attached Thumbnails

11-21-2010, 11:33 AM	#18
BrundelFly Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2,576	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn I love your Display! I never thought about Painting it....what a great Idea. Be fun to put eyes in it..etc.

12-09-2010, 12:58 PM	#20
nick daring Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Austin TX Posts: 2,232	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Found this today. Pic of Bob Burns MJY Armature! Nick

12-09-2010, 02:21 PM	#21
kklloo Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 34	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn That's hot! Sal

11-20-2011, 01:49 PM	#22
8thWonderStudio Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn A brief update: Last March I was lucky enough to visit Ray Harryhausen at his home in London and surprise him with Mighty Joe Young armature #1. It was the culmination of a life long dream to do so. Ray and Tony Dalton have included the armature in their new book "Ray Harryhausen's Film Fantasy Scraobook" and armature #2 is being offered at auction by Christie's of London on November 23. Ray finally has his own Joe! Mighty Joe Young (1949) \| Popular Culture & Entertainment Auction</li> \| props, Memorabilia \| Christie's Attached Thumbnails

11-20-2011, 05:40 PM	#23
robn1 Shat happens Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Snow Camp, NC Posts: 1,824	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Oh wow, that's so cool! Ray is a master and a legend, and you did a great job on the Joe armature

11-20-2011, 10:01 PM	#24
8thWonderStudio Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Thanks...it was a year long labor of love but it was worth every minute just to see Ray's reaction.

11-20-2011, 10:04 PM	#25
nick daring Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Austin TX Posts: 2,232	Re: Mighty Joe Young Reborn Bravo. good sir! Very jealous. Did he have anything interesting to say about your replica? Nick

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Tomb Raider Reborn	TheLadyNerd	Replica Movie Costumes	116	04-26-2012 03:36 PM
Ray meets Mighty Joe...again!	8thWonderStudio	Studio Scale Models	14	03-08-2011 11:50 PM
How young is too young to go to the movies alone w/ friends?	Guri	Entertainment and Movie Forum	25	06-07-2010 08:33 PM
Joe Viskocil and Joe Johnston rig an X Wing	phase pistol	Studio Scale Models	19	04-20-2009 02:47 PM
my ROTJ LUKE STUNT reborn	stormpath	Replica Movie Props	28	10-28-2006 10:00 AM