Feedback on my puppets

[blemker]

Hey all, I read and absorb but rarely have a chance to post pictures of my puppets. It seems I have tons of heads but few finished puppets. I'm always looking for new techniques to design -- I've been using the "carve a small block then cut a pattern" and just recently tried the wedge method.

Anyway, I'd love input and thoughts. These are all older puppets and I'm getting back to having some free time to devote to new ideas. I'm having a major creative block trying to get rectangular head like Rod from Ave Q -- nothing I do seems to get the correct result. Any suggestions?

http://www.geocities.com/blemker/dbdesigns2.html

Thanks all,

Doug

 

[That Announcer]

Wow, they look great! I especially like the green guy in the top left corner.

A suggestion for your new sculpt: It looks like a Guy Smiley sculpt with some minor alterations would do the job there.

 

[MrsPepper]

I like the bottom-left girl, she seems like she has alot of personality. Very cool. ^_^ If I knew anything at all aboout building puppets I'd critique, but I don't. At all. So my opinion is strictly a viewer's opinion.

 

[Phantom]

Very nice.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

They look great! Hope I can get to that standard.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

How odd. I just opened the pics, closed the screen, and now the link won't let me back in again.

What I DID see they looked great. The throat at the back of the head looked a little thick (I think), but sometimes that's just unavoidable. One thing I have found out was sewing a neck seperate from the head (attaching it after the head is completed) helps hide that. I did that with Frankie Steinatra (one of my characters) and it turned out great.

 

[erniebert1234ss]

wow blemker, they look GREAT! I see that you've experimented with vacuuform eyeballs! I may need to do that!

BJ

 

[Ryan]

You're definitley getting your own style, and I like it. Very nice work. One suggestion on the arm rods though. This is they way the Muppets (and almost all pro puppet companies) do arm rods, and it seems to work great. It adds a lot of wrist movement and the rod becomes a lot more stable. Plus, the insertion of the rod is invisible to the viewer. (please excuse the typo in the picture)

Nice work!

 

[FISH'N'WOLFE]

This is the method I use, which works extremely well and creates a nice removable rod. Personally, it's what I would recommend.

 

[Iokitek]

Yeah I actually don't get that part of your tutorial Andrew. With the thinner and thicker tubing and the what needs to go where and stuff. The pictures don't help me alot either. I'll try to explain though.

I think I understand that I need to slide the thinner armrod tubing into the thicker tubing inserted in the hands. But what am I supposed to solder to what? And where does all that need to go? If I just stick the thinner tubing into the thicker tubing and let go of the armrod then it'll just fall out. And if I solder the armrod to the copper wiring in the arms then it's not exactly removable anymore. And don't you mean copper wiring in the hands? or is that the same thing as the wiring in the arms to you? All I really see when I look at the picture of your armrod is a rod with a handle and some (thin?)brass tubing sticking out. And the other is a hand with a bit of (thick?)brass tubing inserted into it. And I can read your tutorial and look at the pictures all I want. But I can't make sense out of it and see what everything does or where it goes.

Oh now I also notice that the thinner tubes are also cut to pieces of 1 inch. I thought the armrod itself was made out of that. Now I'm really confused... No I totally don't get it anymore Please explain.