What characters have you created?

[Fozzie Bear]

paradox

BIG WORD! OW! OWwooowooowooo!

 

[FreddytheFrog]

chracater personality

i know my puppet was created after my pet frog had died his name was freddy and that who i based it on a happy go lucky frog who loved everything around him boy do i miss him but at least now i captrued him in a way ill never lose him

 

[SgtPepper]

I've invented a puppet character by the name of Jerry... obviously based on Jerry Garcia.

 

[scarylarrywolf]

When I was 10 and first discovered puppetry I went all out and mass-produced characters; that gave me a lot of experience and taught me a lot in the area of building puppets, but I really had no idea how to create a character. So about 3 years ago it struck me that it was probably important to create actual personalities for my puppets, and I did a bunch of thinking.

Since I had made so many puppets (mostly felt scraps glued together) I decided to pick the best looking ones, remake them, and give them lives of their own.

"Scary" Larry started out being the typical wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, but he has become the direct opposite -- he's now a wolf trying to rid himself of the "big bad" stereotype, yet held back by inate tendencies to be greedy and selfish and chase after the occassional sheep. He exemplifies a lot of my philosophy on human nature that way... except for the sheep part...

My other characters include Pithair -- a caveman with no sense of modern, conventional living; Bruster the Rooster -- a chicken with the brains of Ed Norton ("The Honeymooners"); Buck Sheep -- a rich, pompous fella; and Pelton the Beaver, who is kind of a whimsical nature-lover. He's still in re-construction and development.

Well, that's it for my clan so far, but I'm working on creating a cast for a puppet film I'm hoping to do sometime in my years at college...

 

[Buck-Beaver]

It's been great to read this stuff about developing characters....I've been spending an inorindate amount of time trying to work out what I'm going to do with a character called Big Bear, who's the main villain in Bear Town. I've shot two slightly amateurish versions of this before and I never got a really good handle on Big Bear - how he should talk, react to other characters, etc. He always seemed to come across as either too "heavy" a villain or not serious enough. His voice is also very gruff and very hard on my throat. There's a short clip of me doing him in this video from `96.

I originally envisioned Big Bear being something like Pacino's Big Boy Caprice (the similar name was just a coincidence) in "Dick Tracy" - but for us mere mortals that sort of over-the-top-scenery-chewing performance is difficult to pull off so I've spent hours over the past few months playing around with one of my old Big Bear puppets (I'm building a new one) trying to figure out what I should do with him as a character.

Eventually I found myself practicing doing little things like flipping a silver dollar (shades of TwoFace from the Batman comics?), lighting a (fake) cigar, and trying to put him in intimidating poses. I love fiddling around with puppets and developing little physical tics and mannerisms like that. They can add a lot to character, or in this case help you figure out who the character is. I figured out eventually the trick to making Big Bear work was to make him more of a presence; to have him say as little as possible, talk only when he has to (and then very short, direct sentances) to make him appear more threatening and let his character be defined by what he didn't do, rather than what he actually does.

I also doing characters like Scarry Larry (a wolf trying not to be "big and bad") - playing the character totally against what you would expect. Whenever I can I try to figure out what the obvious thing to do with a character would be and then I figure out what the opposite of that would be. It's always nice to give an audience something original.

 

[biblebetty]

Four years ago I was asked to be on a church puppet team, which I am still there and loving it!!! I was asked to be bible betty, a little girl with a dog named st. bernard. I had been a daycare lady at an elementary school for 4 yrs, Well first I gave her a lisp, then I remembered what children liked and the way they reacted to things. I made her six years old, and love food. her favorite was gummy bears. I had been involved with pupperty for 20yrs, and what I learn is when you give a puppet a history you give them life and they become very real to the children and adults who watch your shows. I also built a 5ft by 2ft whale for a Jonah show in October and three talking gift boxes for a show called the "Greatest Gift" where the gifts argue over who is the greatest gift. this was a christmas show.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I performed a turtle we called Speedy in children's church, and the kids later said I sounded like Gonzo, a voice I cannot recreate by trying. It was a one-shot character, so I took the church's turtle puppet and changed him up a little bit, put a small football helmet on his head and a sweater vest.

 

[biblebetty]

Hi everybody,
well, about four years ago I was asked to join a church puppet team. They are called the straight up puppet team and i'm still with them today. I was ask to perform as a little girl named Bible Betty. So, being a daycare lady for 3yrs I knew what kids liked and how they reacted to drifferent things that come into their lives. I made her character the age of six, with a lisp, and loved gummy bears. She has a dog named St. Bernard. Her father is a pastor and mother is a daycare lady. She always runs into problems but family to school (from a child's view) I also have a 11 yr old son so I ask him about ideas. I have learned from 20yrs of puppetry that if you give the puppet an idenity, history, family, likes, dislikes, believes. you give the puppet a life and the children believe they are real too. I also have builded a 5ft by 2ft whale named snoozer, and 3 gift puppets who argue who is the greatest gift on christmas. It has be a real blessing to go to jails durning visiting day and perform for the children of a women's prison. We performed at an old church for the homeless and for the low income families that can't afford gifts for their children, and for senior homes. It give them an excuse to invite their families to see them and the puppet show. They really love the drifferent charaters and the songs. I hope you all realize what a wonderful way to share your talent and love with these children and there parents.