Claymation
- clay animation
- stop motion clay
- plasticine
Modelling clay reshaped by hand, so the surface carries every fingerprint.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
Clay records every touch, so the surface is a history of the hands that made it. That evidence is what makes the material feel alive before anything moves, and it is the one thing a rendered imitation never has.
How it works
Figures are modelled in soft plasticine over a simple armature and photographed on a small built set with real studio light. Fingerprints and thumb marks are left in. The surface is matte, which makes the light soft and the form easy to read. The lens gives a real shallow depth of field, because the set is small and the camera is close.
When to use it
Use it when a character should feel warm, physical and slightly imperfect. Avoid it for anything sleek, because clay cannot hold a hard edge or a clean line.
Told apart from its neighbours
Clay Render is a lighting trick on a computer model, with no fingerprints and no real depth of field. Plastic Toy is glossy, symmetrical and moulded. Puppet Animation uses fabric and a built armature rather than a modelled surface.
Where it is used
It carries an advertisement, a title card, a product shot and any character that should read as made rather than generated.
- Stop motion features and shorts
- Advertising and music videos
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<character>, claymation style, modelled from soft plasticine with visible fingerprints and thumb marks pressed into every surface, slightly uneven lumpy forms that are not quite symmetrical, a matte surface with no gloss that catches soft studio light, thin tool marks where the clay was cut, a real photographic depth of field with the background falling soft, standing on a small built set
What goes wrong
A glossy smooth cartoon figure comes back. Three clauses fix it: fingerprints pressed into the surface, matte with no gloss, and forms that are not quite symmetrical.
Leave out
a smooth polished surface, perfect symmetry, gloss, digital cleanliness, a flat background, sharp focus everywhere
Watch for
Fingerprints are the entry. Without them the model returns a smooth plastic toy, which is a different material and a different style entirely.
Questions
Draw it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
