Moving Eyebrows

[thatonekid]

hey guys, i'm making an old man puppet and i think it's going to turn out pretty cool. anyways i'm wanting to make it so that he doesn't have any eyes, just eyebrows, and i want to make these eyebrows move so that he can show more emotion.
i allready have something that i think will work but i'm sure there's better way then what i'm planning.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

As always, there are a number of threads here discussing various types of mechs (moving eyes, eyebrows, blinking, etc.) but the best guide to making this kind of thing is "Figure Making Can Be Fun?!?!" by Michael Brose. It's actually written with Vent dolls in mind, but you can adapt the designs for foam hand and rod puppets.

Michael has a web site where you see some of his designs for free and order the book online at http://www.puppetsandprops.com/home.html

 

[Iokitek]

Armslength Tutorials

Here are some blinking eye tutorials that might help:
http://www.puppet-planet.com/Build_Your_Own.htm
It has three eye tutorials. Using eyebrows for eyelids.

Actually I'm thinking of building an old man puppet myself with this kind of design. It's going to be a king or an emperor then. Sitting on a throne with one hand on his staff/scepter/whatever. And the other arm is going to have an armrod so he can bash his fist down or shake it in anger. Stuff like that. So I'll have to be able to move the mouth and blink the eyes with one hand and operate the arm with the other. But I was also thinking of maybe putting a foot pedal for the arm in the throne since it only move up and down. leaves me with more hands to operate the puppet. Anyway...

Let me know how it works out for you.

 

[thatonekid]

buck this site is EXACTLY what i was looking for. like dead on.
i'll have to change the pattern a little since i'm making a foam based puppet but it's still perfect.




you the man buck

oh and good luck on your king puppet iokitek

 

[Iokitek]

Thanks

and good luck to you too ofcourse

 

[thatonekid]

well i'm trying out the eyebrows i made right now and i'm very pleased wit hhow the ytruned out but i can't seem to come up with a way to make the eyebrows frown.
i can either make them so that they frown or raise, not both.
so i'm not sewing the head together until i'm sure there's no way to get the eyebrows to frown and raise.

 

[Show and Tell]

I believe it can be done kid, but I think your talking about making it really complex to both build and operate. I have a theory as to how it could work if anyone is interested. Takes a bit of engineering.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You really have to have a lot of patience if you want to get in to mechs. I've noticed here over the years that when people are just getting started they have tons of enthusiasm - which is great - but they want to do everything all at once. It takes years to learn how to do all this stuff properly.

That said, if you want to make a puppet frown search the archives for "Bert eyebrow" - we've discussed this before here. I think someone may have even made a diagram or linked to one.

I know some of the newer members may get tired of hearing this but you should really search the forum before posting - you'll get answers quicker. There's an incredible amount of puppet building information archived here. If you're still stumped after trying a few searches then ask away!

 

[Iokitek]

Hey that's me

I have tons of enthousiasm and ideas. So many that it'll indeed take me years to teach msyelf all that stuff. So I've decided to take a step back and start building more simple things first. You have to start somewhere.

About searching the forum. For some of us English is not our first language. I don't think my English is that bad but I still find myself having problems understanding explanations sometimes. Or to explain to others what I mean exactly without being missunderstood. Now imagine having to go through an entire forum when you're new and your english isn't that good. You don't even know what's important to read or not. And if you read as slow as I do it's not a pleasant experience. It's easier then to just ask the question again. If someone else knows where the relevant information can be found then they can always put up a link to that thread. Or not.

I noticed that if you tell people to search the forums that they will leave. No matter what subject the forum is about. Because they just don't have the time or patience for that. They just drop by for their quick question and leave. Am I making sense?

Although I've also found that I'll just have to take my time and study the entire forum since there really is alot of info I need on here. Indeed more than any individual can give in just one thread.

 

[thatonekid]

well i'll admit i didn't do that much research before posting this thread.
but i couldn't find anything like the eyebrows i'm wanting to make,everything else was eyebrows that moved differently then what i wanted.
and also i didn't know you could search like that until just now(hehe) i was just scrolling through all the puppetry threads.