How does one "puppeteer"?

[Smoogle]

I was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback on how they have learned to puppeteer?

Do you think it would be noticeable if a person controlling a puppet has no experience?

How does one learn if they want to be self taught?

thanks in advance

P.S. I've also tried to find some puppeteers in toronto but have not been successful, are there any out there?

 

[doctort13]

Practice, practice, practice. Then practice some more.

Join Puppeteers Of America too.

Oh, I know there are Toronto puppet people. You need to keep looking behind the curtains.

 

[froggiegirl18]

I learned from Children's church pastors who did puppetry. They then recommended me to learn more from workshops so I attended OneWay Street festivals and Puppet Productions. Both have amazing puppeteers. This was where I learned the basics-advance skills(doing it for nine years). It takes a ton of practice. You can be self taught I think reading from a book somewhere that Jim Henson taught himself because he just wanted to be on television and saw that his local television studio needed puppeteers. There are books out there, but they are hard to find, because some are out of print. There are plenty of puppeteers on here that we can help you out just let us know what we can do.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

it was passed down by my parents seriously...my parents were puppeteers in puerto rico and around age 2 i just picked it up naturally...now im learning the building part but its been a good run

 

[Buck-Beaver]

The most important thing to do is pick up and puppet and perform. For your friends, for your family, in the mirror, doing shows at schools and birthday parties, whatever.

Grab a webcam, a puppet, and make a show. Just be creative. Even if you're worried you might not be very good at first, look at things like the Heather and Ben Show or Pancake Mountain or even Wonder Showzen. They're not very sophisticated puppetry on a technical level, but people still really enjoy watching them because they're creative and the people behind them have fun doing them.

The more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

 

[Iokitek]

I've also just started out puppeteering. And I'm not very good at it. But I just keep going at it. I'm already making my next puppet for the next idea. This one will have arms though unlike the previous ones. In case you want to know how to manipulate the arms there's abit on that here:

http://www.puppetproductions.com/5_basic_techniques_of_puppetry.htm

Hope it helps a little

 

[KNOCK A LOT]

I have also just started and you are right it is very hard to find training but I have found that the more you do it the better I think also if you think of your puppet as a real being with a personallity it helps I really love mine good luck knock a lot from tasmania

 

[Phantom]

I've been doing a series of articles on manipulation at puppetminister.com. Here's links to the first two:

http://www.puppetminister.com/articles/articlejan06

http://www.puppetminister.com/articles/articlefeb06

It's the classical basics that most beginners learn...but once you learn the basics, you get to break the rules.


*NOTE: It seems my web host is experiencing server problems (lousyrackin'frackin'noaccount...). I'll remove this note, when they get their stuff together.*

 

[doctort13]

If you are a parent, as I am, try performing in front of your child. I lip-sync along to CDs to practice mouth movements. Sometimes I just improv, and do a whole "show". My daughter LOVES it, and it helps me practice with glove puppets.

 

[Phantom]

Web site seems to be working now. No promises, though. I couldn't edit the other link and I'm not sure why. Oh well..*phantom says as he goes bobbing off*