55 Great Websites To Download Free Sound Effects

Here's a link to a blog post that just came out from Hongkiat.com that gives 55 places to get sound effects. I posted a few sites on here before, but 55 gives you a lot more variety. If you're in the need for some sound effects, check it out, or just save the link for later.

55 Great Websites To Download Free Sound Effects

A Cut Back In Posts

In light of the last post, I too have thought about what projects I should continue to do and how I should manage my time better for these things. I have decided that one way to give myself more time would be to stop posting so much on here. This is partially because I don't have the opportunity to do as much research as I like to for various reasons and that I've run out of posts. If I were to spend the time that I would noramlly spend researching for the blog on other things, I would be able to complete them a lot faster and concentrate on them more. I won't cut back on posts altogether, however, and will be posting updates now and then of my progress and things that I'm thinking about.

Right now I'm a little behind schedule because of a lack in access to the internet in large periods of time without distraction. I need the internet to research various things to gather some links and material for the new site. The new month is coming up soon so I'll have to think about how I'm going to reschedule things a little and what I'm exactly going to work on. That's all for now, I'll have more coming later.

Website Update

So, what new is going to come with the site. Well, the first and most obvious thing will be the design. I hope to make it even better than the one that I had shared before. I want the site to look sleek, sophisticated, and professional while still being easy to use. Here are the rest of the elements.

Blog
Before I wasn’t planning on redesigning the blog, but now I have decided to, unsatisfied by the current design. The content of the blog will pretty much stay the same, but I’m going to try to remove some clutter that is currently up there. I hope to also get my own domain name and hosting which will allow me to switch my blog over to that and use the Word Press (More customizable than Blogger) system to run that.

The Store
I wasn’t so sure about the store before, but now I’m pretty sure that I’m going to include it in the site. Instead of selling things personally, however (at least at first), I will be selling/linking to various items from different sites that I think will be beneficial to the users of my site. I will also be designing various products and shirts to sell through one of the websites available on the web. I want these things to help you.

The Front Page
Before the front page was a place to share a little introduction and the site news. Now, I’m going to put a blog feed, ads and links to various places in the site, and various other tidbits that I’m not quite certain of yet onto the front page. One thing I might put up may be random tip box. I still have yet to finalize these things and come up with a solid design.

The Tutorials
My ideas for the tutorials will be pretty much the same. I will be hosting the tutorials that I have written as well as linking or displaying some of the better blog articles I have written. Something new however that I am planning to do is to allow users to give us their own tutorials to put on the site. It will increase the amount of information and make the site a better learning experience.

The Videos and Photo Gallery
I am still keeping my personal videos as well as the photo gallery on the site because that is what the site was mainly intended for. If things change and the site seems to be more of a learning place, I may separate the things.

Resources
This will be a place to go to learn more about the art of stop motion animation and clay animation. I will try to keep the number of links down and make them more quality. Other good links I will post about on my blog or I may make another page for them.

About Us
The about us page will be rewritten to be more up to date.

The Change
So how is Kramer Klaymation changing? Well, I really want to make it a place for the user to be able to learn and have access to materials about stop motion animation(preferably claymation). I will also be trying my best to get a domain and hosting for the site. People say those things are cheap, but they aren’t for me so I may need to ask for donations before I can get the site hosted. This will let me get rid of those annoying Bravehost ads and put ones that are more relevant up. I will hopefully be able to keep the site going through donations, purchases through the store, and clicking of ads, but it won’t happen if I don’t get enough traffic. This is where you guys will come in, I really need you to help share the word when the new site is out, to favorite the site, advertise it, and use it. Any money I make will help keep me motivated in trying to make it better as well as keeping it online. I also want the user to give feedback and to interact with the site: what to change, how to make things better, and what new things they would like to see. Once all this work is done, I’ll be able to pump out a few more tutorials that I want to write so things should stay fresh.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to continue to keep you updated. I don’t have a planned release date yet since I’m unsure of how long the design and coding processes will take.

This is my second blog post about the new update to my site, if you would like to see the older out dated on, click here.

Getting Organized

Recently, I've decided to get even more organized by getting myself a calendar and schedule system. Basically, I've printed out a calendar and have written different things to do on different days. Normally, I just do what I feel like and often times that means getting not much work done. This way, I'll be getting things that need to be done, done, and I'll waste less time. For the calendar this month, it's mainly reserved for gathering information for the updated website. Next month I haven't scheduled out yet, but I think it's going to be for the 'The Hole' animatic and for web design and coding. Hopefully this will work and that I'll be able to stay ahead of or on schedule. The only thing that would keep me back is probably school work, but I think I've given myself plenty of time to do the things I need to do. Later sometime I'm going to post another(old one here) overview of what the new site will have. Most of it is the same, but I think I've become a little more ambitious in what I'm trying to accomplish so there are a couple more updates.

A Little More Work Done

This past week I got a tiny bit of work done on "The Hole" animatic. I pretty much finished up section 1 of 10. If I really pushed myself and stopped wasting time on doing other things, I would probably be able to finish the whole thing in two or three weeks, even with school going on. I really need to try hard to get things finished soon so that I'll be able to finish this thing before going off to college.

I also think about the website every few days and how I wish that I could get it done. It will take lots of work just finding and compiling the new stuff I want to put on it and the design is not even done yet. Some how, I'll have to also convert all my tutorials in to html/css format which is not an easy task since I don't know css, there are quite a few to get done, and I'm not sure if I'd have to completely redesign them or if I could use the same basic layout as the image files for the web. To anybody out there reading this, don't design your tutorials as an image file if you're going to put it on the web. You'll end up having to do twice the work if you want to convert it to html. Recently, I've been thinking about a new blog design. I've been subscribing to different blogs to get ideas on how to make it better and as a result, I've decided that the current design is not good enough for my standards. Although it looks okay, it's not very professional or original looking. With the new design, I'll have to tie it into the new site design somehow, I'm still not sure if I want it to look a little different or not. I'll also probably be chaning over to Wordpress eventually because I think you can do things more to your liking with it. I haven't come up with anything solid yet, hopefully I will soon.

Too much stuff needs to be done. I need to set up a schedule or something for myself where I work on each of these for at least 30 mins a day or something if I want to finish them soon.

Nofby's Corner

One blog I've been keeping close track of lately is called Nofby's Corner. It's done by a guy by the name of Seamus Jennings who enjoys both music and stop motion animation. On his blog, he posts updates about the projects he has been working on as well as other things that he would like to share. What I'm keeping my eye on mainly at his blog though, is the project he's working on. Right now, he's mainly been creating different set pieces and props and I'm loving the style. It's all new and interesting to look at, but you can tell you don't need a huge budget to make something like that. It's the perfect scenario, awesome style without a huge budget. Each time I see a new piece, it looks awesome. I can't wait until the final film is out. If you would like to check it out as well, the link is below. I've also included another blog of his in the list.

Nofby's Corner Blog
Nofby's Corner Tips and Tricks Blog

Javan Ivey

Javan Ivey is an animator and director that has done some pretty interesting stuff. You can see some of the stuff he's done on his site (link below). Here's a quote from the site of a description of him and his work.

Javan Ivey uses multiple animation techniques as tools to create visually engaging films in new and unusual ways. Using stop motion, traditional drawn and digital techniques, all tools become equal, and the importance becomes stressed in how they are used to effectively convey ideas. There is an effort to present concepts of simple beauty and different points of view in a subtle and tangible way. This is executed with an experimental sensibility, like that of David Daniels, Daniel Greaves and Norman McLaren. Javan strives to present his viewers with something they haven't seen before, while still retaining a sense of story.

Aesthetically, He maintains a hand-made quality to the majority of his work. Where possible, he involves processes that allow him to physically manipulate the medium in order to lend the final product a sense of tangibility. Hand-cut paper elements are a recurring example of this. Even digitally, every effort is made to ground the work in the physical world with texture, lighting or content.

His work reflects an understanding of the technical processes of animation, and reveals an almost obsessive attention to detail and function. Always curious about how things work, he tries to find interesting ways of integrating and creating the illusion of movement. Javan is most happy solving the simplest of problems with the most complex of creative engineering solutions in order to further the idea of animation as an art form.

Here's the link. I've specifically linked to the page where his demo reel is.

Javan Ivey's Website

Anim8 Stop Motion

Here's a stop motion animation social community called Anim8 Stop Motion. On the site it gives this description of what it's about:

In our opinion stop motion is a way in which to explore and push your imagination to the limits. It doesn’t matter if you use clay, puppets, toys or what ever objects affection you can conjure up to animate. Stop Motion is a great way to tell a story or to just have some fun be you young, old, professional or amateur.

With Anim8 Stop Motion we wanted to create a place where everyone interested in this timeless art could come learn, aspire, showcase and meet other like-minded people. More than anything else we just wanted you to have some good old-fashioned fun.

With this in mind we hope you all enjoy the site and can’t wait to see what you and your imagination can create.

Best wishes

The Anim8 Team

That pretty much sums it up, if you would like to view it or join, just click the link below.

Anim8 Stop Motion

Clay Animation Tutorials

Majed Elass over at his site, Clay Animation Tutorials, has some nice video tutorials to learn from. So far he has three done: "How To Make Replacement Mouths", "How To Make A 6 Inch Armature Tutorial", and "How To Keep Your Puppets Standing With Out a Tie down Tutorial!" (These link directly to their video page and not to the site). They're pretty well done and are a good way to learn something new. The site also has a blog, photos, store, and a featured video page. They are updated from time to time, depending on how busy he is. I've linked to both the site and his Stop Motion Magic page below.

Clay Animation Tutorials
Stop Motion Magic Page

Vince Backeberg's FAQ on Claymation

Here's a nice FAQ done by Vince Backeberg about clay animation. It's got some nice information on it. The link is below.

Vince Backeberg Claymation FAQ

Animate Clay

Animate Clay is one of the most well known sites out there about clay animation, probably being that it's at the top of Google, but also because it has some good information. The site was created and is run by a man by the name of Marc Spess. It was one of the fist sites I ever visited and the articles there are a good place to learn. On the site is a blog where he shares different stop motion news from time to time, a forum, a store, links, a gallery, and more. One of the best resources on the site is the forum which I've been a part of since April 6, 2006. The message boards have helped me greatly in my journey of learning claymation in that I could ask questions, get feed back, and read about what others were doing. The links are also a nice resource as well as the articles.

In the store he runs, different materials are available as well as some video tutorials. I suggest purchasing the videos if you are serious about clay animation as they are a good way to learn about sculpting, animating, and other topics. Showing, as is done in the tutorials, is an easier way to learn than reading a book or online.

Anyways, go check out the site yourself if you haven't already seen it (you may have come to this blog from that site), and if you have, go reread and look through the forums to learn more about clay animation.

Animate Clay

Zombie Pirates

Zombie Pirates is probably one of the nicest clay animation blogs out there. It's done by Marc Spess, owner of Stop Motion Magic and Animate Clay, and is his project to make a quality series done in clay animation about Zombie Pirates. I believe he started the project in 2004. On the blog, he gives updates time to time as he has time to work on the project. There are also pages talking about the project, as well as lots of pictures and stuff. It's a good place to learn just by viewing images. While you're there, also make sure you check some of the older posts to see how the project has come over the years. I'll let you check out the rest yourself.

Zombie Pirates

Pandu Mangal: Indian Produced Claymation

Here's an interesting site I came across while surfing the web. It's about a claymation or something of the sort done in India. I'm not sure about all the details, but that's what the site is for. On it, you can also check out a little of the production process and see images of the process they went through to create the commercial. It's pretty interesting to see.

Pandu Mangal Site

Flickr Groups: Claymation & Stop Motion

When browsing around Flickr, a photo site that I use (and highly recommend), I found a number of groups on it that deal with stop motion animation, claymation, and other things related to the topics. They are a pools of photos where different people submit their images into the pool so that there is one place with a bunch of photos of the same topic. There is also video available on Flickr now so there is a group on that as well. If you would like to view them, just check out the links below. It may be a good way to learn or get inspiration through observation. You can even contribute to them if you have a Flickr account. The names of the links pretty much correspond to what kinds of photos you'll see in the groups.

Wallace and Gromit
STOP-MOTION animation
1:12 Scale Doll House Miniatures
Plasticine
Stop-Motion Video

Stop Motion Works

I had visited Stop Motion Works before in the past, but I hadn't realized how much information the site had to offer until a couple days ago. At a first glance at the site, the site seems to have a pretty outdated design(in my taste), but in this case, that isn't bad at all. What the site does lack in looks, however, it does make up in good information. On the site, you'll find links to a gallery, an About page, an FAQ page, a Library, Links, and a store. There are a lot of good resources or links to other resources on the site to learn about stop motion animation. So check the site out for yourself, see what you think of it.

Since the site doesn't seem to have the best link system, make sure you check out their site map as well to make sure you didn't miss anything you might be interested in. I personally missed seeing some links and and stuff while checking out the site.


Stop Motion Works

Darkmatters Blog

Here's a blog called Darkmatters from one Dark Strider at Stopmotionanimation.com. He seems to have been doing stop motion for a quite a while and knows quite a bit from it. If you want to read just what he's been up to or find some nice resources and links and such, just visit his blog. There's not much else to say, you'll just have to explore it yourself. The link is below. I also listed his main website too.

Darkmatters
Dark Strider Website

Stop Motion Animation Dot Com

If you haven't already visited it, Stopmotionanimation.com is a must to see if you're into stop motion animation. The site has a nice handbook, tutorials teaching a variety of topics stop motion related, as well as a forum and a nice list of links. You can learn a lot from the site. If your done reading the handbook, go into the forum and read some older posts. There is a ton of information in there collected in conversations between people. If you need help or an idea on how to do something, just join the forum(its free) and ask. There is a nice knowledgeable group of users that will happily answer your question. So go check it out if you haven't already, if you have, go look through it some more to learn something interesting.

Stopmotionanimation.com
The Handbook
Links

Now that I've introduced the site, I'll probably post some of the user's own websites and blogs that use the forum from time to time. Thanks for reading.

The Clay Animation Station

Here's one of the first clay animation websites I ever found, being that it is near the top of Google. Aside from it being outdated and the not so good design of the site, there's some nice information on it. You can view a nice animation created by the makers of the site and see a little bit of how they created it. There are also short guides on basic ways of how to start animating and creating your own claymation as well as some history and more. The link to the site is below.

The Clay Animation Station

Also be sure to check out their "About This Site" page to learn more about it.

Wallace and Gromit Website

After the last post, think I'll stay on the theme of Wallace and Gromit for at least a couple more blog posts. Hopefully you won't mind.

If you want to learn about Wallace and Gromit, the best place to probably go is to the official website. Over the past few months (perhaps longer), the site has gotten a redesign and new elements have been added to it. They've created more of a community atmosphere by adding a forum, a gallery, and contests, as well as other things to the site. Of course there's some clips from some of the Wallace and Gromit shorts and the movie as well as a little info about it. So if you want to soak up some information about Wallace and Gromit or just join in a chat on the forums, go visit the site.

Wallace and Gromit Official Website

The Wallace and Gromit stuff, by the way, I think would probably be my favorite in terms of animated films(The movie ranks pretty high in favorite movies as well). The stories are great and funny, the animation is superb, the character design is original and unique, and the set work is awesome. If you want to learn a little about claymation, just watch some of the stuff Nick Park along with Aardman have created. You can even see how they've improved over the years with quality. If you've never watched any of them, you definitely should get your hands on a copy of some of their work or check out their stuff on the web site.

Working on the Web Site Again

I took a break from doing claymation stuff for a couple of days, but now I'm starting to work on some stuff again. Today I worked a little bit more on the photo gallery page design. Something isn't right with it right now, looks wise, so I don't think it's quite finished. What I'm probably going to do is design all the pages and then try to get my brother to make them look better somehow or help redesign certain things if he is willing to. I don't know when I'm going to start messing around with the tutorial again. Something went wrong the last time I was working with it and I'll have to figure a way around it or try it again to see if it works.