I started building a new puppet today and like many of the look-a-like puppets I have built over the years, this one started with a lot of research. A friend of mine asked for a generic ewok type puppet, so I spent the last few days looking over hundreds of stills from RETURN OF THE JEDI. Before I can create a puppet that can be recognized as one of my own I have to know the source material inside and out. Once I have a strong sense of what the original thing is I can put my own twist on it. I am always looking to find the right balance of the original concept with my particular style and taste. After what felt like a year of attempts I finally came up with a design and pattern I am happy with and stated cutting fur! (see my final concept art to the left) I have always thought of my final sketch as my road map when building a puppet. I don't often vary from my finalized drawing. For one thing, it can upset the customer if the design they signed off on doesn't match the puppet they receive. Also, once you start building you can get hopelessly lost and end up with a huge mess. Whenever I teach puppet building I always stress to my students the importance of a solid design. You can erase a bad pencil line more easily than you can remove a bad decision on a nearly complete puppet. I have always been amazed by artists who can sit down and just start building and by the end of the process have a fully cohesive piece of art. One of the most amazing artists I have had the pleasure of working with once told me that I just needed more practice and then time and experience would guide my hand. I am pretty sure that I could build puppets for 100 years and never reach that point. If I am building a puppet that looks like someone or something I try to find as many photos as I can. Then I will often draw three to four concept drawings before finding one that I am happy with. It is not just about creating something that looks like the source material, it's also about capturing the essence of the subject. Just like with my look-a-like puppets it was incredibly important for me to create something that strongly resembles the intrinsic nature of Stuart Freeborn's design of the ewoks. Between two other custom jobs and THE LETTER Z build being in full swing it will be several weeks before this little guy gets made. I'll keep you up to date on his progress!
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David Mort
These are the stories of my journey as a puppet builder. Some will be about my life and the role puppets have played in it and some will be about a project I am working on. I hope you enjoy my musing about life, love and puppets! Archives
May 2014
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