Hello hello! My name is Kaho and I’m a freelance animator/illustrator. I love everything animation but my biggest passion is stop motion. I love making animation that are tangible and full of fun textures. You can follow my work on Instagram @kahoanimation 🙂
I’m always looking for new mediums/materials to make stop motion with, so I’ve always wanted to learn how to use laser cutting machines. I’m also interested in someday making a set for my stop motion film, so I knew wood shop would be useful too. But I was always afraid of sharp things and machines that make loud noises, so I never learned to use the big tools.
My very talented illustrator friend Hanna Lee Joshi was a resident, and I went to see her presentation at the meet up. I was super inspired by the women makers that I applied for the residency as soon as I got home that night. And I’m so glad I did!
We took the CNC class, Woodshop 101, Laser cutting class, and the lathe 101. CNC was a little overwhelming, so I wanted to use it right after the workshop to remember the process. I got a lot of help from Arianne, one of the awesome fabricators. That was maybe the coolest thing about the MakerLabs-everyone (especially the women <3) data-preserve-html-node=”true” were super nice and helpful.
Here’s the plant hanger I made using the CNC.
Photos of other things I made:
I knew that I wanted to make one animation using the tools during my residency. I also wanted to try using a material I’ve never used before. I decided to make a stop motion for Punanimation directory, since punanimation is a community of women/trans/none-binary folks in animation too and it seemed like a project on theme.
First I planned out the animation in After Effects. My idea was that the small shapes are women and it shows us coming together to form one big triangle (which is Punanimation’s logo). Then I decided that I wanted some shapes to be wood, some to be transparent acrylic and some white acrylic. I used laser cutter to cut out all the shapes and then I painted and animated them in my studio.
I love that I could use different materials and I think it really added unique textures to the animation!
Not related to animation, but I did end up using the table saw and mitre saw by myself, and I was super proud! The awesome women instructors of the workshop really helped me get over my fear of big tools, and I’m super grateful. Seeing other women handle badass tools made me think that I can do it too. (Representations, am I right?!)
I can’t wait to keep learning new tools and make more tedious and fun stop motion!
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