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Ahoy! A UK-based paint maker is enjoying a “particularly swashbuckling mood” as it marks the launch of its first animated blockbuster.
For the past three years, HMG Paints, the country’s largest independent industrial paint manufacturer, has been involved in a rather unusual project: painting pirate puppets for Aardman Animation’s movie, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.
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Images: HMG Paints |
| HMG Paints were used to create the pirate puppets in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. |
HMG Paints announced the DVD release of the film Wednesday (Sept. 19), which, incidentally, was the 10th annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Paints for Pirates
The company supplied automotive vinyl acrylic and water-based acrylic systems for the seafaring project.
The paints—1K Vinyl Acrylic, PVC94, and LMP—met the film’s very specific demands for flexibility, durability and vibrant color, HMG said. The automotive vinyl acrylic’s flexibility and adhesion allowed easy application to plastic substrates, according to the company.
The water-based art and craft paint was supplied for its adhesion properties and as an alternative to the solvent-based paint offering.
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| A crew of 525 people worked on the film, including 70 model makers who used the paints to bring color and life to the 250 puppets created, the company said. |
The coatings were primarily used on the heads and mouths of the 250 puppets, the company said.
Animators use a vast number of puppet mouths during filming, interchanging them to create speech between characters.
The mouths, complete with teeth and tongue, are computer generated and printed on resin with a Rapid 3D Prototyping printer, the company noted. They are then manipulated and pre-posed in a number of expressions before being masked and painted.
And Now, for the Film
The film follows the escapades of the boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, Pirate Captain as he attempts to best bitter rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the coveted Pirate of the Year Award.
Along the way, the Pirate Captain and his rag-tag crew do battle with the pirate-hating Queen Victoria and team up with a young Charles Darwin but they never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!
The characters’ voices are provided by Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, and others.
Since 1930, HMG has manufactured paints and powder coatings to a huge array of commercial transport, automotive, decorative, general industrial and marine businesses, as well as other paint manufacturers worldwide.
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