Like any other creative process it begins with an idea and a sketch. The image to the left is my first concept drawing of the zombie Lou, who is now the mascot for THE LETTER Z. The basic idea for the show was cemented by this point so I knew stylistically what I was going for. I knew that we wanted this fictional world and its inhabitants to resemble Sesame Street so I started with one of my favorite characters from the show, Guy Smiley. Guy was in the back of my mind as I was designing Lou. I didn't want to make a replica. I wanted to create my own character with his own design and aesthetic but use that iconic shape as a jumping off point. The next thing I had to think about was what would zombie-ism look like on a puppet. At one point I thought it would be fun to have bare foam exposed under any torn puppet flesh. After a few trials and errors I found a combination of exposed foam under torn cloth to be to unclear. It muddied the look of the puppet. I eventually settled on the idea of white fleece to represent the skeletal structure underneath. Another important part of the design to me was finding ways to create negative space on the puppet. I wanted cheek bones and eye sockets to look hollow and ribs to seem like flesh was barely covering them, so I began experimenting with layering the underlying structure. This proved to be a delicate balancing act. I wanted to add depth without adding too much bulk to the body and head. I eventually found a method that allowed that to work and began construction. The image to the right was a really exciting point in the construction of the puppet as well as for THE LETTER Z production in general. As I stood back and look at what I had, I began to feel confident that we would be able to design and build the monsters we would need to make this project visually striking. I was searching to find the right balance of cute puppet with terrifying monster. I know that it sounds silly, but a lot of the success of the show would ride on whether or not we could create something that could be legitimately scary, and this early point in the build made me feel like it was possible. I also was beginning to build the arms and hands. Something that I was excited about was trying to recreate the stilted movement of the zombies in movies. I eventually found that if I used really stiff materials with very lose joints I could get the erratic movement that I was looking for. It would also make the work easier for the puppeteers. Something I think a lot of builders forget about is what we are making will be used by someone and we need to make it as easy as possible for them to work with. The image to the left is a "close to final" version of Lou the Zombie. I am happy with the final project and I think it turned out close to how I envisioned it from the concept phase. He is a relatively straightforward puppet in comparison to some of the other pieces we use on THE LETTER Z. The project took roughly 35 to 40 hours, including design work and testing concepts. Stay tuned for updates on the design and execution process for THE LETTER Z on this blog in the category called The Road to Z. I plan to cover everything from building to shooting the show on this blog. I hope you join us going forward. - David
1 Comment
11/11/2022 06:50:48 pm
Front side garden company laugh day. Information yard miss chair them. Issue affect field as require seat hold authority.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |