2nd Anniversary Celebration - How far we've come... Projects

As we celebrate OptimisticPenguin.com's 2nd anniversary, I decided to get nostalgic and take a look at how far we've come since those early days. This time we will look at what projects were done over the last 2 years.

There was of course the Figma Stop Motion animation. I had my first hand at this using Miku and creating a little music video, although most of the piece is looped and is a bit jerky. However I set my heights higher next time and made another music video, but this time more elaborate using a large number of figures, sequences and two dance routines, and this time I used 15 shots per second making the animation a bit more smooth.

Another project which seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition is the end of year figures twelve days of Christmas.

Where each day leading up to Christmas the figures give you a wonderful gift, from hand guns and pop idols to rounds of sake and tasty treats. I wonder what wonderful things they will give you all this Christmas!

Another project which has been an ongoing one is the famous figure cafe. From a humble beginning as no more than a table top with some decorations the cafe has since come a miniature in its own right. 

The cafe has seen a number of changes, from new wallpaper and fitting to relocation and actually having its own door way!

I've always been rather handy with paper and scissors and I used these skills create Cafe Rock, the first name which the cafe was given.

Now during all this time Mikuru has been the wonderful owner of the cafe and has taken great care to make sure the cafe was a happening place where all the figures want to be. 

However due to the events of a certain holiday Mikuru retired from the acting biz and so the cafe was dismantled, but not forgotten, instead I used my masterful skills to create a more permanent and easy to access cafe. 

With the help of mytinyworld.co.uk I purchased a proper doll house door and window for the cafe, and with some ingeniousness I used Popsicle-sticks and Kebab-skewers to create skirting board and railings.   

The new cafe was snapped up by the sassy Tsuyura-san and dubbed Cafe Mode, due to its mix of modern furniture. The cafe has since thrived and its open plan has allowed me to get in there and capture the action and happenings of cafe life in a new way. 

However things are always changing and adapting. Due to some structural issues with the cafe it is likely I will renovate it again soon and perhaps build another version of it from more robust material than cardboard.