Tell me honestly...what do you think?

[KuhioAvenue]

Hi Muppet Central Forum post-ers!

I'm new at puppet making so I'm looking for feedback on my work. Here are some sample videos of my puppet building & puppeteering of characters...

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I'm currently auctioning the chameleon & sloth puppets on ebay to make some room in my wardrobe (currently being taken up by these guys) so they can be yours if you like 'em? They're listed with a link in the Puppets For Sale forum.​

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Thanks,​

MK​

 

[scandell]

Here is my review:
Puppets 8/10 (10 being perfect, so 8 is a great score)
Voices 2/10 (it may be the audio quality, but your voice sounds the same throughout the first three characters, I think you need to add some voice inflection and alter the pitch of your voice a tad more.) You need to be more strict with your voice. Do not get lazy with the voice for even a second! Your regular voice is peeking out too often)

Just my opinion though.

 

[muppetperson]

Great puppets and I thought the voices were different.A couple of areas where you talked but didnt move the mouth.Duck down more, so you cant be seen.Overall, great stuff.

 

[Animal31]

Love the Flory Monster puppet, what a great looking character!!!

 

[aaronmojo]

I think the puppets are super cute, which is a good thing. The voices are, eh, "okay," but the puppet design and building looks great.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

Okay here goes...
Your puppet eye line is off at times- try to get a monitor when you perform or have someone look and tell you when your eyeline is good. Basically, if the puppet is talking to the audience (camera) he should be looking directly at the camera.

You also have floppy head syndrome- when you talk with your puppet the bottom jaw should be moving more than the top of the head (your four fingers) shouldn't move as much. When you talk you should be punctuating the syllables with your thumb. I recommend not worrying too much on voices yet and focus more on lip sync.

Hide your real head when you perform

You also have what I use to suffer from... and that is when you perform your puppeteering arm to your hand tenses right up- the puppet should be "fluid" meaning your wrist should be relaxed and be much like a neck...if you aren't relaxed it shows in the puppet. It is hard to explain but I recommend conscientiously taking note when you tense up when you perform and try to curb it. It is a bad habit to get rid of but one that will make your puppetry less stressful on your body and the puppet more fluid. To test your "stress" simply have your puppet walk from point A to B the neck should have a natural "Bob or bounce" to it. You puppets necks are very tight. I also recommend shaking your arm out and focus on relaxing it before putting a puppet on-it helps me out a lot.

Use the arm rods. There is a fine line between using the arm rods too much - having your puppet waving their arms all over the place and not moving them at all. Remember that your puppet is to be a "breathing living being" and when they are talking or reacting they should be doing the appropriate arm movements to demonstrate that. For example, when your sloth character is singing- one hand could be poised on his chest and the other reaching out to the sky as he belts out the tunes. I know you had the other puppet on your hand at the time but you can still hold the sloths rods with the other puppets mouth as you perform. Little subtle movements can create the audience to believe the puppet is real and that's what you want.

Hope this helps some.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

I dont think they were trying to be mean. You asked for your opinion, and they gave it. You do an excellent job with puppet making, (believe me, I'm horrible at it!) Don't give up! Puppetry shouldn't be a task, but fun!

 

[KuhioAvenue]

Thanks Casey. I think its my similar feeling that i'm not great at it combined with lengthy critiques of my work (that i wasn't expecting to be so lengthy in the negatives) that've made me feel even more like i'm bordering on craptastic at this whole puppet gig. How do i close this post now? Think i can do without the negatives now...

 

[Gerbert]

Okay..
All honesty,

Your puppetry needs just a little work..
Work on your lipsync,
Get a webcam,
and practice Monitor Puppetry..

Now,
On your Puppet Design,
That chameleon dude was AWESOME in design, and character,
Reminds me alot of Pepe.. A ladies man.. Err.. Prawn..

Your sloth,
Is amazing, personality wise AND design wise..

Your Flory monster is REALLY close in design to Trekkie Monster,
but beside's that, He's a awesome character, too..
Loved that Oreo's joke.

Now, That surfer puppet,
Is downright AWESOME..
I don't recall seeing alot of Surfer puppets ANYWHERE..
This is a first,
And the idea of making him outta a BEACH TOWEL is even MORE awesome..
I didn't notice at first..
xD

Please man,
Nobodies perfect at this.
Don't give up,
We're just trying to help you.
I'm in it for the fun,
and I'm not the only one..
Do me, and all of Muppet Central a favor,

PRACTICE, MAN.

Thanks.

 

[downunderbatman]

Hey Bud,

Wow, your puppets are really cool. I love the design of all of them. I've just finished making a kermit puppet for my son, and know how much work goes into learning to build on your first attempt, and I think you've done an outstanding job building the puppets.

I'm not a puppeteer, I just have fun with my little boy playing around with different puppets, so I won't comment on your performance with the puppet too much, but I know my son would light up if you did any of those performances in front of him so from my perspective you've achieved a great outcome. I'm sure with practice you will get even better, it's interesting going back and looking at the early footage of some of the muppet/sesame street characters and there is a huge difference in the way the characters are operated earlier to later. You can see it a lot particularly looking through Jim Henson in early days to just before his death. His kermit puppeteering and voice were so much cleaner and more fluid later than they were earlier.

I think it's a little quick judging you on your performance and voice so early as most puppeteers spend a long time developing the character's personality, voice, movements etc, so I think as a first go you've done a fantastic job. Can't wait to see how these characters develop over time.

If you enjoy doing this, and are doing it for fun, then take the criticisms, learn from them and keep having fun. It's like anything, you can have fun, but the more you learn the more fun you will end up having.

I always ask for comments when I make something, because to be honest, there isn't anything anyone on this board could tell me that would be any worse than what I have already told myself. The difference here is that you have a great opportunity to learn from those who do this professionally. What a great opportunity. These are people who have spent years studying, and learning how to do this. It's experience and guidance you can't buy. It's fantastic having these types of forums, and I for one, am eager to take all criticism on board so that each puppet is better than my previous.

Good luck and keep up the great work.

Greg