Jimmy Picker has uploaded more of his animation to his YouTube channel at jimmypicker.
Calgary Cable TV / FM made a documentary of the workshop. Alan Ferguson rescued the VHS EP copy of the video for Quickdraw by copying it to DVD, and Mr. Picker is letting us share it via the Web. The video runs 20 minutes. Mr. Picker shows how he makes his clay figures - without armatures - and the class create their own characters and animate them on 16mm film.
This video was part of Calgary Cable TV / FM's Art Through a Cable series. You'll see some of Quickdraw's early history and get claymation tips from Jimmy. His show-and-tell starts at about 3 minutes 40 seconds. If you're into claymation, you'll find a wealth of insight here.
Starting at about 14 minutes in, you'll get some idea of what it was like to shoot animation on 16mm film. After shooting, the film had to be processed - which was usually an overnight operation, at least. Not at all like animating with digital technology. In particular, my program StopMotion Station (a free trial is available at StopMotion-Software.com) lets you see the camera's image all the time, play your animation at any time, delete bad frames, and generally have a lot more control of your shooting than you have with a film camera.
