MAGIC - Creating Puppets

Creating the puppets was something I chose to focus on as it is something that I want to practice and I decided to make the cat and mouse out of felt because I used it in a previous project and the puppet turned out really nicely. In my previous responsive briefs I used digital, so I felt it was more beneficial to create a challenging animation for my last brief including the build of a puppet.

First I began by measuring our the wire, using my puppet plan.

Then I put the armature together.

I then used masking tape to secure parts of the armature and bulk out the arms and legs so that they bent in the right place.

 

Next I glued sponge all over the armature.

All sponged up!

Then I began felting.

Basic layer before little details were put on, and after this I also glued on some eyes and decided to add a little moon on Cleo's forehead to keep in with the theme of magic.

AND... here is the final puppet!

Overall, I think my little puppet turned out well! I really like how cute he looks and I feel that he didn't really need a hat or costume in the end and this would have just complicated the animation, especially with the little time I have left with all my deadlines coming up. The only criticism I have with the puppet is that I should have made the tail longer, I feel like it's a bit short and stumpy, but this is simply a learning curve and I am still learning how to build puppets. I had never made a puppet with a tail before, so I didn't know how long to make the wire but we live and learn! 

Finally, this is a really quick few images of the mouse being made, which was really simple.

And the cheese will just be a little blob of yellow plasticine, which I'm not too worried about right now, as long as the main two puppets are ready to animate!