The Extra Mile for the Squirrels

Dear Reader,

The other night a good friend suggested that our title card for the kits simply must have squirrels on it ... I balked. That card took a while to set up. And then the squirrels got wind of the idea.

Now, I go to look at the fish tank and they are there. I sit to work on my computer and they are there.

And so I'm relenting. Today we're reshooting the title card. Again!

Can't wait to share it with you though :)

Chin chin

Ruthless Whims

The Waiting is Almost Over ...

Dear Reader,

It's a maxim of life that all good things come to those who wait. Very soon you too can have your own crafted squirrel :)

As you can see here, the craft table is now being put to fantastic use! We're dotting our "i"s and crossing our "t"s and Squirrel King Squirrel Kits are on the verge of coming to you.

Stay tuned!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration: Re-imagining Reality

Dear Reader,

One of the underpinning tenets for the aesthetic of The Squirrel King is that if the audience recognizes the representation of reality for what it's supposed to be, then that's a viable representation for us.


Photographer Brock Davis has taken a similar philosophy and run with it.

It's all part of the mixing media thing, like Paul's cork car, that is so dear to our hearts!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration: Beard Tricks

Dear Reader,

Stop motion is such a fun way to be silly. Hope this piece I stumbled across puts a smile on your face too:


Great work Ben Garvin.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Day for Night Pick Ups

Dear Reader,

We recently shot a couple of pick up shots to slip into the first five minute episode for which we've now seen an assembly edit!

Filling in little gaps that emerge in the edit is always a fun thing, and revisiting a location from some time back was kind of beautifully nostalgic :)

It was also a fun reminder of how much Alien One has grown over the shoot. Thinking of the original scout at this location a year ago she looked much smaller! That's her in the white now! We actually had her running the sound!

Great work with the core team. Can't wait to see it cut in :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Squirrels In Yosemite!

Dear Reader,

We're back, from an amazing family vacation to Yosemite! Squirrels and all :)

As you know, our mini-stunt squirrels love some wild rapids. Well this trip was no different. Check out the bark surfboard churning up the white water!

Of course Yosemite also has sequoias ...

That would be big ... big trees :)

To give you a sense of the scale, here's the Aliens climbing to the top of an old stump.

We saw a 2700 year old tree!

Time, scale, everything was grand!! The Squirrel King aesthetic is predicated on human marveling at scale and this trip underscored that appreciation.

Oh, and the mini-squirrels were delighted to find two-foot long pine cones!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration: Life is Not Zero Sum

Dear Reader,

Sometimes it takes a kid President to sum things up nicely. Happily I stumbled across this message the other day:


A good reminder that life is not a zero sum game. Create, expand, make more, go forth wonderful people!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Cat Shelter Comes to Life

Dear Reader,

In the wonderful world of The Squirrel King, there are birds on the walls, and pom-poms hanging from the ceiling in the cat shelter. And the whole thing has a loving warm glow.

The thing is, that the `cages' were small, well small-ish. Fortunately, I had the Aliens to help put the whole structure together!

Today we shoot what will hopefully be the last pick up shots for the first five minute episode ...

Chin chin

Ruthless Whims

Going to the Birds

Dear Reader,

So as it happened, the gently hyped cat shelter insert shoot didn't transpire last week. Luckily it was so much for the better - well the betterment of the cat shelter ... which will now have walls filled with birds :)

The Aliens and I carefully carved potatoes to create bird-components.

We then put the new craft table to very good use, printing birds that will soar on the walls of the shelter.

It was a lot of fun to get back to some good old crafting!

With some luck the shoot will happen this week.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Inspiration: Non Newtonian Fluid

Dear Reader,

Lately we've been thinking a lot about the World of Dreams (that place we all go when we sleep). A large part of The Squirrel King story that's yet to be written takes place there, specifically, the second half of the first season. A lot of that is now well fleshed out, but there are plentiful places for interesting details.

Anyway, the other day Justus came across this wonderful piece of visual physics. We're not sure how it will fit in, but as you can see it's calling out to be put in a movie like The Squirrel King :)


Now that's a naturally beautiful monster of some sort!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims