The mouth of a hand/rod puppet is very important.  It’s the area that takes the most abuse.  This is a shot from inside one mouth that is in progress–looking at another gaping puppet beyond.

Tags: The Artful Puppet by Philip
No Comments »

I like this shot of Mr. Scrooge from below the work table. It also gives an “audience-eye” view of the puppet’s head. I like to examine every puppet that I build this way. I’ll walk all the way around the room and try to see them from every angle.

Tags: The Artful Puppet by Philip
No Comments »

This is a cat puppet that I’m making. I like how the eyes are so glassy and stand out in stark contrast to the texture of the fur. Of course in this shot, the fur is barely visible.

Tags: The Artful Puppet by Philip
No Comments »

I’ve started to do something recently that has been a lot of fun.  During the process of building a puppet, I will take some black and white images from different vantage points just to have a fresh perspective on the art of puppet building.  They aren’t fantastic, but I’m really happy with some of the images.  I like to take something that I have looked at a hundred times or more, and observe it from a different angle–in different lighting–and watch it come to life again. 

I’ll start posting some of these photos here on the blog very soon.

Tags: The Artful Puppet by Philip
1 Comment »

I was recently contacted by Norman Schneider of Figurenschneider in Bielefeld, Germany. He is a very talented puppet builder (his puppets are very expressive and unique) and I want to take a moment and say a bit about him and his company.

Norman says that he has been fascinated by puppets since he was a child and his early inspiration came from shows such as The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and various Disney films. In 1992 he took a practical course at the Bienfelder Theatre Company and spent six years as a permanent member of the theater building and performing puppets.

Norman has been involved in various German television programs for children including Käptn Blaubär (Captain Bluebear), Haselhörnchen (The Hazel Squirrels), etc. As he was working on these shows, he was also receiving his first custom puppet orders.

Norman has been able to take his childhood passion and turn it into a successful career. So go check out his website and get inspired!  Congratulations, Norman and keep up the amazing work!

Tags: Puppet People by Philip
No Comments »