Thesis Film Puppet

  Wow so it has been forever since this blog was updated, but I figured it's time I start up again, and what better way to do so then by making a huge post on my 4th year films puppet! So without further ado... here it is! about 90% complete that is... Still needs finger nails and some dry brushing on the hands/back of the head.

I need to give a LOT of credit to the amazing blogs of Nathan and Joshua Flynn, as they posted some incredibly detailed tutorials/progress posts that I followed for most aspects of the puppet, with some variations to fit my films needs. Instead of walking you through my process you should head over here: http://nathan-flynn.blogspot.ca/2011/03/character-armatures.html#.UrXls_RDvHR if you're looking to make one of these bad boys yourself. I'm just going to toss in some of my advice based on issues I came across.

Here you can see the laying out of all the pieces for the armature, in order to get the k&S tubing to slot together, hammer tiny bumps into the larger pieces and they will fit nice and securely, just don't over do it or the smaller pieces won't fit inside at all.

 Here it is after assembling everything and securing all pieces with epoxy. To get the wire to sit nicely, I found that putting some epoxy putty inside the tube, then inserting the wire, then sealing it with crazy glue worked great. Epoxy adhesive works really well too.

 I wish I took a picture of the puppet bulked up with upholstery foam, but here are the beginning stages of bulking. polyurethane foam is used for more solid pieces (ribs and hips). It's a very good thing I made all these pieces replaceable too, as it turned out that the legs and anles of this puppet weren't strong enough to support his body when one foot was hovering off the ground, so I had to whip up some new ones. Once you get the hang of it making replacement parts can be done pretty fast too, I was able to make an extra set of legs, feet, arms, and 3 sets of hands within a day.

A shoe. Yet to be polished/painted. These new feet have two magnets in them for extra support, one in the heel and one in the toe, with a joint in between for hopefully more realistic walks.

So there it is, I'm going to be updating this blog frequently with all things film related, and probably go into more detailed posts about this guys head and clothing. I've got a whole phone full of photos, it's time they saw the light of day.