A Muppet Puppet Builder's Portfolio

[mikebackstage]

Sorry this is kind of random but, there's been one thing that i could never figure out...and that is how do the lips on sertin muppet/puppet characters work? Like in the storyteller episode of "death and the soldier", the devils lips moved like crazy! and I've always been fond of the movment and was wondering how it worked. the lip movements are completely seperate from the mouth movment and it's awesome! add's so much expression!!!

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

Sorry this is kind of random but, there's been one thing that i could never figure out...and that is how do the lips on sertin muppet/puppet characters work? Like in the storyteller episode of "death and the soldier", the devils lips moved like crazy! and I've always been fond of the movment and was wondering how it worked. the lip movements are completely seperate from the mouth movment and it's awesome! add's so much expression!!!

I think it would either be computer for that...or they sped up the film like they did in little shop of horrors...

 

[ravagefrackle]

Sorry this is kind of random but, there's been one thing that i could never figure out...and that is how do the lips on sertin muppet/puppet characters work? Like in the storyteller episode of "death and the soldier", the devils lips moved like crazy! and I've always been fond of the movment and was wondering how it worked. the lip movements are completely seperate from the mouth movment and it's awesome! add's so much expression!!!

its a wire rig inside the lip, those puppets were for the most part hand puppets with elaborate cable controls(some were alos radio controlled)
but basicly by pulling and pushing diferent cables from outside the puppet they were able to make the lip area move around,

again this is not my area of expertise but that is pretty much how it was done in the late Eighties(no CG back then), and it was pretty much done in realtime with actors and puppets in the same shots.

 

[ravagefrackle]

Added some recent work photos again, seems like they changed some things at MSN, they used to have small display boxes for different photo albums, now u have to click the arrow on top of the picture window to get a drop down box,

just a few new characters from the last few months from different clients, not some of my favorite puppets , but sometimes you are only as good as your source materials, and one of them will be going through a major overhall in the near future.

 

[PatrickPuppet]

Ravagefrackle,

I just checked out your online portfolio, excellent work. I especially like the green Frackle, I've had the opportunity to perform him and he works great. I noticed you built some of the puppets for Mopatops Shop and other shows designed by Ed Eyth. I recently conducted an interview with Ed for my Puppet Design blog. If your interested you can check it out, you might find his thoughts on character design interesting.

http://swazzle.com/blogs/puppetdesign.html

Keep up the good work.

Patrick

 

[ravagefrackle]

thanks Patrick, ive been checking your site out quite abit , actually been sending people thier when they ask me design questions , its a great learning tool for the beginners out thier,

glad you like the Frackle i built ,also good to know he's getting used and not just sitting in a storgae box , he was one of many puppets i built to keep my creativity flowing since building numerous Bear heads for the parks and live shows could get very tedious,

keep up the good work yourself, have been enjoying the different posts and interviews you have been putting up thier , as well as your design work for the different swazzle shows.

 

[RoloCorgi]

Ravagefrackle, you may be the only person on earth who can answer a burning question I've had for years: why was there the change in Bear's eyebrow/eyelid flaps in the later seasons? They were fluffy in the beginning, but not later, so that the two flaps looked more distinct. I always missed the way they looked originally, because since they serve as both eyelids and eyebrows, the fluff helped them look like both at the same time. Was that a purposeful change?

I can't tell you how exciting it is to be able to ask that!

 

[ravagefrackle]

Ravagefrackle, you may be the only person on earth who can answer a burning question I've had for years: why was there the change in Bear's eyebrow/eyelid flaps in the later seasons? They were fluffy in the beginning, but not later, so that the two flaps looked more distinct. I always missed the way they looked originally, because since they serve as both eyelids and eyebrows, the fluff helped them look like both at the same time. Was that a purposeful change?

I can't tell you how exciting it is to be able to ask that!

well nothing was changed on him on purpose, i didnt work on TV bear until the last 2 seasons, i imagine it had morfe do do with wear and tear , when i built the new Bear head for the last two seasons of the show, we were trying to match the esablished bear which had seen quite abit of use, since the new bear we were duilding was going to be used as a back up, since one was older, we had to distress the new head to look older so they matched up, so if one had less fluffy brows they both would have head them,
keep in mind thier is lots of things that affect the look of a puppet afetr years of use, performers and wranglers hands touching , thge sweat from the pupeteers hand, and just the dust and dirt from being in a stuff studio.
hope that answers your question

 

[ravagefrackle]

wow what a awful lot of Typos in that one, i must have been drunk or somthing

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Or, if you're like me and always in a hurry, you may have just typed and didn't think about the typos. Or is it "typoes." I never got that one straight!