Thursday, September 29, 2011

BABY PROJECT 7

Today I started to clothe the baby brother puppet. He will be wearing a diaper and T-shirtABOVE - shows his diaper , made from cotton with wadding inside to give a puffy look to the diaper.
ABOVE - After patterning his T-shirt design I have made a spiderman designed T-shirt very similar to the original sketch that Eric drew. Still needs the ribbing around the top of the T-shirt and the spider logo in the middle of the T-shirt - but I actually really like it. I made the T-shirt slightly shorter at the front to show a little of the puppets tummy

Last Ebay puppet ( for a while)


I came across this design I drew a while ago, and have decided to make it into an Ebay puppet. Originally I wanted to use him for a webshow - but since then I have designed other characters. Im not sure why I wanted him to have four arms , but the idea has grown on me. Hopefully I will start him soon and show you all the finished puppet. Have a great day

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

RED MONSTER


Check out my latest Ebay creation. He is a rod arm monster puppet. His hands and snout have been made from dyed reticulated foam and a shaggy red fur body. CLICK HERE to bid on him.

Have a great day

Sunday, September 25, 2011

PUPPET EYES

I get asked a lot about where I get my eyes from for my puppets, the answer is there is no one place to buy puppet eyes. I have seen a few half dome eyes for sale over the years on the internet , but to be they have a "plastic" look to them - maybe its the shine of them. All of my eyes are custom made for each puppet, I use any plastic sphere or dome I can find from everyday products - I have even used a certain area of a juice container to help create the eye shape I was after. Lets say we want a half dome eye similar to kermit the Frogs eyes - Once you find the size you are after ( lets say for this example we are using a ping pong ball)
1) Cut the ping pong ball slightly larger than half ( so you will need a ball for each eye, not one ball cut in half)

2) Lightly sand the dome with the finest sandpaper you can buy, also sand off any logos etc
that the ping pong ball may have.

3) Once both are sanded, give them a light spray of undercoat to help with any inperfections
4) once the undercoat is dry give it another light sand - usually with a wet n dry sandpaper

5) Apply the second coat of undercoat, I always find the lighter the coat the better the end result will be.

6) Lightly sand once again, wipe the eye with a damp cloth to remove any dust from the sanding.

7) Apply a coat of either satin or flat white paint, once dry repeat.

Then you should have a fantastic pair of puppet eyes. This is meant for everyday puppets - puppets which will be used under either theatre lights or TV studio lights are treated differently to stop the whiteness of the eyes blowing out on screen, but that is a much more invloved process .

ABOVE - some of the eyes built for the production of Avenue Q that I worked on in 2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

BABY PROJECT 6

Latest update for the baby brother puppet. All limbs have been finished and attached.ABOVE - Legs are attached to body using doll joints, allows the puppet to either sit or stand. The legs are made from sheet foam and covered with antron, the toes are posable - made the same as hands with a wire armature inside.
ABOVE - the arms have been connected to the body by the internal support, just needs the antron to be hand sewn. At this point the head is just sitting on the body to see if all the proportions are correct.
ABOVE - finally all parts are sewn together, starting to look like a baby.
ABOVE - Puppet is now finished ( apart from his clothing ) Eyes have been glued on , eyebrows and tongue have been attached. Now moving on to the clothing. His tuft of hair at the back is longer than it shows in the photo - I think the bright light behind his head has blown out the hair.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

LOOSE JAW MONSTER

Here is the latest puppet for Ebay from Jarrod Boutcher Puppets. He is a glove hand puppet , with an extremely loose jaw ( kind of like Oscar the grouch) very flexible. He has a carved foam tongue and custom built eyes. He is super light and super fun to operate.

Check him out CLICK HERE

Have a great day!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

BABY PROJECT 5

Quick update on baby boyABOVE - shows the hand pattern and the antron fleece hand all stitched up
ABOVE - Playing around with the placement of the nose surrounded by a gaggle of body parts :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

BABY PROJECT 4

More updates for baby boy puppet.ABOVE - shows the pattern and fleece feet once they are sewn together ready to be placed over the foam structure.
ABOVE - are the arms with the antron fleece skin stitched on.
ABOVE - a pile of parts ready to be put together.
ABOVE - Is the head covered and stitched. ears have been added.
ABOVE - A foam carved tongue has been added into the mouth.

BABY PROJECT 3

Next are the babies arms. Below are the patterns for the foam structure, because he is a baby I have given him plumper looking arms .BELOW - the foam glued together with a string through the middle which will be attached to the hand at one end and the body on the other to sop the arms from stretching once they are all put together.
Sorry this is a shorter post than usual - I have a few more updates to add but the photos are still in my camera, so hopefully I will add more in the coming days.
Have a great day

Saturday, September 17, 2011

BABY PROJECT 2

Here are a few updates of the baby puppet project.
ABOVE - Closed cell foam skull because he will have an eyebrow mech inside , it just helps to keep the head shape better.
ABOVE - mouth plate and lower jaw attached ( lower jaw is carved foam) also the eyebrow mech has been connected to the inside of his head. Currently has black electrical tape on the eye brow mech so I can position everything correctly.
ABOVE - The dyed antron fleece pattern cut for the head. made it all in one piece to minimise the seams.
ABOVE - foam cheeks were added and skin stretched over skull ready to be hand stitched on.

Next update will show hands and arms and maybe more work on the head. Have a great day

Friday, September 16, 2011

TREKKIE CONSTRUCTION

I have added some photos of the recent construction of the trekkie geek.




ABOVE AND BELOW - Antron head and hands - closed cell foam body to help keep his shape.
BELOW - Working from my original sketch, I always find that my initial sketches has a certain character and spirit that I try and keep while I'm building them.


PROJECT PUPPET CONTEST 2011

All you budding puppet builders here is the latest competition from project puppet. All the details can be found here at www.puppetcontest.com . All entries must be entered before 15th October 2011. There are $400USD dollars worth of prizes so get your creative juices flowing and enter now. This is a great opportunity for newer puppet builders to get their work seen by the puppet community - and I have returned as a judge , and I can't wait to see all the great designs. Turn on the Time Machine and may the most creative win .

BABY PROJECT


Hi everyone, I have recently started a project with a fellow artist Eric Scales. Eric is one of the best character artists I have seen and really love checking out his work - you can check it out here
ERIC SCALES SKETCHBOOK . We decided to work together on a project and create a puppet from one of Erics designs. The design is a baby boy - full body . I left the design up to Eric and as you can see in the sketches he sent he is quite a character. He will have two removable arm rods, entry will be from the back of the body and he will have an eyebrow mech which will enable him to go from cute to angry like any real child :)


Monday, September 12, 2011

STAR TREKKING




Here is my latest Ebay puppet, hope you like him. He is a self obsessed Star Trek fan who has just returned from the San Diego Comic Con . CLICK HERE to go to the listing and see a short video

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

DENVER the DOG


Hi everyone CLICK HERE to see Denver the Dog on Ebay