Coraline at Comic-Con 2009

I wish I could have attended this years Comic-Con, but just didn't have the funds or the time off. It would have been a real treat as Henry Selick was there, as well as Chris Turnham, Terri Hatcher, Neil Gaiman, Keith David and Chris Butler (who knows how many others). All these people would have been a real treat to meet and have sign my Coraline poster. But to top the cake, Neca came out with an exclusive Coraline Doll with Star Spangled Sweater as well as a limited edition lithograph. You can find both on eBay.com.

Coraline Costumes

In my wife and I's search for the most near perfect off the rack clothes for a Coraline costume, this is some of what we found...

Dragonfly Hair clip
RVCA Yellow Raincoat
Samsung Cell Phone (need to paint pink)
Pajama Pants
Orange Striped Shirt No.1
Orange Striped Shirt No.2
Star Sweater
Skeleton Hand Motorcycle Gloves
Yellow Rain Boots
Coraline's shoes
Pink skirt
Green Striped tights
Puffer Vest No.1
Puffer Vest No.2
Puffer Vest No.3
Jean Jacket No.1

I'll add more as I find them...

Coraline's Military Hat Full Size Prop

Since seeing Coraline the first time, I loved the hat that she wore. The production notes referred to it as a 'Military Hat'. Since then I have been searching for the same hat to add to my collection. On the web there have been a few like minded people who where also searching for a similar hat. One hat is this one, another is a chauffeur hat from amazon. There is a variety to choose from on Amazon, the police hat, and the limo driver one are too of the best ones but not quite right. Then I got some inside info from Stephen Bodin's blog, the graphic designer who worked on Coraline. He said that it was he was put in charge for finding the hat. He said he found it online from a private school in Japan. It is from a boys school uniform. With a little more help from Stephen, I was able to find this Hat (pictured). It is officially called a 'Gakuseibou'. If you watch the special Features on the Blu-Ray, apparently Henry bought a similar hat for his daughter. However he could never get her to wear it, but he could get Coraline to wear it. I just love this hat in the film, and think it works great. Now I just have to make the flame pin for the front.

Tim Burton's Coraline?

Is it just me or does anyone else cringe when they read and hear others say that 'Coraline' was done by Tim Burton?

I think the confusion stems from the slogan 'From the Director of The Nightmare Before Christmas - Coraline. Especially since it's Titled "Tim Burton's, The Nightmare Before Christmas".
Well let's go over it. Tim Burton wrote and produced The Nightmare Before Christmas, and asked a good friend of his, Henry Selick to direct it. It was Disney that decided to put Tim's Name on the Title the way it is to help with sales.

That said, when it says "From the Director of The Nightmare Before Christmas" they are referring to Henry, and NOT Tim. In fact, Tim Burton is not credited for Coraline at all. So hopefully that clears up the confusion.

Pink Palace Blueprints Take 2

Ok, as promised I made another ruff draft blueprints for the 1st floor of the Pink Palace. Since watching the special features on the Blu-Ray of Coraline, it seems that the design of each room was intended to feel off kilter, so I am not crazy. The model of the Pink Palace does not match the scale nor the window layout of each room. But that's OK. Now my drawing isn't to scale, but it is a close representation of where each room is and how the house is laid out. It is more closely based on the the Other Pink Palace as it was intended to be straighter and larger then the real world Pink Palace.

Coraline Storyboard Replicas

I just couldn't help myself. It's the weird things that I like. Well, this is no exception. I used two separate borders for the storyboards used by Laika for the film Coraline, traced them in MicroStation, printed them out on some card stock, and finally cut them to size. I have no idea what the actual size of the original storyboards are, so I based their size/scale on The Nightmare Before Christmas Original storyboard that I do have. The art of the one that I made for myself was drawn by Graham Annable.

Wybie Welder's Mask Step 1

Step 1 to making Wybie's Welders mask, is... Buy a Welder's Mask. Did some quick eBay searching and found an inexpensive mask that had ruffly the same look that I needed. It will undergo some modifications in shape. I think the tricky part is really getting the 90 teeth sprocket and the lenses. Oh not to mention the crank on the side to rotate the lenses. I traced the skull detail in AutoCAD so I can print it full scale and use it as a template for painting the mask. Updates as I go.