A while back, I mentioned that we are working on a new live show based on a comic strip we did several years ago. I thought I’d take a minute to talk a little bit about that strip. It’s called “BULL” and I worked on it with my good friend Alex Lucas. In Alex’s words, this is the concept in a nutshell:

“Imagine a Bull whose one goal in life is to leave the farm and live among the ‘intellectuals’ of the city. Imagine a Pig who is an obsessive neat-freak. Imagine a Rooster who wears a power suit and drinks Starbucks. In this selection of the comic strip entitled BULL, the reader is given a glimpse into a world where the characters don’t belong. It’s a strange view of life on a farm, which consists mainly of a desire to live life OFF the farm. BULL parallels modern life and the way we all wish we were somewhere else. Just like the animals in this comic strip, we all look toward someone or something else and wish we were THAT, when in truth THAT isn’t any better than THIS. In short, these aren’t just farm animals … they’re us.”

Alex did the writing and I did the drawing. We worked for several months to develop about seven or eight weeks worth of material and sent them to all of the major syndicates. It was a leap, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained. I think we heard back from all but one of them… they declined. Oh well. I still am in love the characters. When you work on something for that long, you really get attached to it. We both felt that there was so much potential for further development, and it seemed like the time was right to bring the characters to three-dimensional life. 

The script is nearly finished and I’ve begun building the puppets.   I’ll post some images once I get the visuals worked out a bit more.  In the meantime, here are the characters in their two-dimensional states:

And just in case anyone is interested, Alex and I published all of the comics into a book called A Bunch of Bull that you can buy here.

Tags: Bull: Roanoke, Projects, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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The Touched By A Child Foundation is a non-profit counseling agency that was started by the McVicker family in Nevada City, CA. They actually use puppets and plays to address the particular issues that arise in foster families.

I was recently contacted by the mother, Kathy McVicker. She told me that they started the business after they had birthed 7 chilren and then adopted 11 children (Wow!) and discovered how lost and abandoned children are in the foster system. She said that “many grow up in foster care and when they are 18 they turn out to live a life they aren’t prepared for. As a result, there are children really hurting and struggling, not knowing where they belong. And the flip side to all of this…many families who take these children in have a very hard time dealing with the many, many issues that these kids are dealing with…even when they are adopted.”

So her husband went back to school, after being an Electrical contractor for 25 years, to get his license as a Marriage and Family therapist.  Kathy has been homeschooling the kids for over 25 years and started using drama to give the kids a chance to express themselves.  They started performing for friends and family, but now they’ve gotten a bit more serious and now put on dinner theater productions at a historic hotel under the name Touched By A Child Dine and Shine Theater.  They encourage families to bring their kids our for dinner and watch a puppet show with music and a good moral lesson. 

Kathy and her husband have suddenly become heroes of mine.  I have a heart for children, especially children that have to face adversity so early in life.  I applaud their efforts and hope that they continue in their amazing, and often difficult work.  I know that they will make a tremendously positive impact in the lives of a lot of young people.  And who knows what some of those kids will go on to do?

To read a little more about a couple of their performances, you can look here or here.

Tags: Puppet People by Philip
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It’s been a while, but I finally uploaded a new video to YouTube. It’s my homage to the classic Star Trek tv series. I’ve been watching the Original Series in the small amounts of spare time that I’ve had, and it inspired me to send my puppets to space. I plan on doing several of these and the first one was just a test to play with the colors and sounds. I even made the uniforms to look like the original series.

I used my Big Billy Goat for the captain. He has the look. And I made sure his uniform was tight to show off his muscles.

This is the Mr. Toad puppet that I entered in last year’s Project Puppet contest. He doesn’t actually show up in this first video, but he’ll definitely be in the next. It’s been fun to actually give him a role.

Stay tuned for more Star Trip videos!

Tags: Projects by Philip
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