Puppetry

[John Steffens]

Well, I have been into puppets and the Muppets for a long time now.

I really want to get started on making my own puppets and see where I can go with them.

I'm going to get the foam book.
Also going to start drawing some plans for my future muppets.

I'm curious to know, does anybody have any pics of their creations?
can someone give any pointers for first timers?

also does this foam book have the plans to make the mouth plates and everything?
like bodies and the sticks that attach to the arms?

Then what about putting clothes on your character?
Do you have to start learning a sewing machine?

lastly,
where's the best place you've found accerories?
Glasses, eyes...etc

 

[Fozzie Bear]

John Steffens--

You can see my character creations at www.midsouthcartoonists.com in the photo gallery. The main one you'll see is Muley the Mule, who is my main character.

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me directly at FozzieMup@aol.com or just ask them here.

Hobby stores carry tons of things to use for accessories; then there's always second hand shops (clothing and glasses etc).

Eyes? I use ping pong balls cut down, felt, whatever I feel works for that character...even plastic spoon ladels. But NEVER those googly-eyes that are plastic. I hate those. Well, I did use it on one puppet cause that's kind of his personality...just nutty.

Knowledge of a sewing machine is a good idea, but you can also make short short short stitches by hand that work as well.

I never owned the foam book. Wish I did. Someone want to make a donation?

There's another whole thread about mouth plates in the forum; arm rods? The new Muley I will be making this week will have 4 arms, 2 with built-in rods in his hands, and another set without rods at all.

Hope that helps, email me if you need to.
FOZ

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You can see examples of some of our puppets at omlemedia.com and over at OMCS

Some good places on the web for puppet building info are The Puppetry Homepage and Puppetbuilder.com.

Good luck!

 

[puppetguy]

I've been a professional puppeteer for over 12 years and have had a passion for the art since I was 2. Like Matt, I went to the University of Connecticut for some higher education. But, unlike Matt, I went there for my MA. I design and build my puppets as well as write (adapt) the material for all my productions. Most of what I perform are touring shows, but I have also done some television work.

Check out my work at my website: www.allhandsproductions.com

 

[John Steffens]

I'm curious about your guys' puppet character design.

Do you find it better to sketch or draw your designs?
or do you prefer to create as you go along?

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I do everything beginning with either an extremely well-rounded idea in my head so I know how it will look from all angles or from sketches now. Originally, the puppet characters all are made based on my cartoon characters, so I have the sketch work already done. I would suggest that you work from sketches in the beginning, break your sketches down into "sections" to see how you'll fit the puppet together, then build build build!!

FOZ

 

[puppetguy]

>Do you find it better to sketch or draw your designs?
>or do you prefer to create as you go along?

I do a bit of both...Everything I build starts as a sketch, but during the building process, sometimes wonderful discoveries can be made that I hadn't thought of when drawing. That's what is great about building your own puppets: you're free to change the whole design during the course of a build if you wish. No rules!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Originally posted by John Steffens
Do you find it better to sketch or draw your designs?
or do you prefer to create as you go along?

We usually sketch out ideas, at least roughly. I am by no means an accomplished artist so my personal drawings tend to be either fairly crude, or computer rendered (I don't do computer renderings very often though). All I try to do is convey a basic idea of what the character should look like. Some of the more talented builders I work with do awesome, full realized conceptual art that nails the character head-on. I admire that and wish I could do it.

On important projects, or when we are building for clients with big budgets, we will use the sketch as the basis for a clay model of the puppet and the puppet builder will work from that.

Sometimes, simply as a creative exercise I will build a puppet with no drawing and just a vague idea of what I want. That's kind of neat, almost like sculpture, where you slowly let the creation reveal itself to you.

It's fun to experiment with different approaches, but it's usually best to work in the way that makes you feel the most comfortable. There is no one right way to build a puppet.

I hope some of these random thoughts are useful!

 

[fishbone]

hmmm...

hey, does anybody 28 or older remember the show hot fudge?or something fudge,bacck in mass it used to come after slim good body,he had some crazy puppets too...