This week, Manny and his buddy, Toothbrush, watch Chomping Teeth wreak havoc on the world of candy.  

Lessons from this week: you can make a toothbrush stand up by drilling holes in the bottom and inserting neodymium magnets; the chattering teeth won't open up wide unless you cut out part of the back of the teeth; I can't resist eating my own props (particularly Jelly Bellies).

I hope the video helps you smile today!

Tom

I learned two important lessons in the video. First, don't use fruit that spoils quickly. Strawberries bleed when you move them, and bananas turn brown! Second, every item you introduce into the scene has to be moved. At one point, I had almost 50 items that all had to be moved with each shot. I won't do THAT again! 

The title of the video and painting is not, "Manny and the Strawberry," simply because Strawberry comes to life, and the word is now his proper name. For example, you wouldn't say, "Manny and the Tom," it would be, "Manny and Tom." Hence, "Manny and Strawberry." 

This was a fun painting and video to create. The music is uplifting, and the players in the scene are, well, different: Eiffel Tower, toilet paper, SWAT team....I hope it makes you smile!

This is our (Steve Jameson and I are making these videos) second attempt at creating a video combining my painting with some animation. With each video, we learn! One funny lesson from this video: don't wear long sleeves! If you watch my sleeve, it moves up and down comically throughout the video, and is a bit distracting. So, you can watch me paint, you can watch Manny (a stand-in for me really) try to golf, or you can watch my magic sleeve! Or, watch it three times to see all three!

The golf club is made from a piece of wire and some moulding clay. It was painted with acrylic bronze. For the grip, I used indoor/outdoor double-sided tape, which stuck well to Manny's hands. I originally painted small metal bearings to use as Manny's gold balls, but they were impossible to control. (I'm still missing three somewhere on the floor of the studio.) I made the ball from moulding clay and slightly flattened one side so they wouldn't really roll. The putting green is just foam core with a sloppily cut hole I painted black.

Next week we'll show you the dangers of using strawberries in an extended production.