Here is a photographic trip through the building process of the Chummy and Champ puppet for Big Beak Pictures:

You can also find Chummy and Champ on Facebook.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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Last year I had the privilege of working with Big Beak Pictures in Malaysia to build four puppets for their children’s pilot called Chummy and Champ. You can watch a behind the scenes video of the show here.

Below are the characters from the show:

First is Champ the energetic orangutan.

Next is Chummy the happy Sun Bear.

Here is wise old Captain the sea turtle.

And this is the laughing and protective Big Beak.

Big Beak Pictures has just wrapped up filming the pilot for the show and will soon begin shopping it around internationally. You can follow their blog for more information.

I really hope Chummy and Champ will be aired here in the U.S. I’d love to see the characters in action.

In another post, I’ll show a bit of the building process for the puppet characters.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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The guys over at The Kids Music Underground have put up a video of the intro for their new pilot, and it includes some glimpses of the puppets in action. Check it out:
Kids Music Underground–Pilot Intro
They also now have a page dedicated to the puppet characters

Tags: Projects, Puppet People, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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In recent weeks, I’ve been busy being a new Dad and loving every moment of it. Now I’m back to the studio working on some fun puppet projects which I can’t share just yet, but stay tuned…

I’d also like to congratulate John Carlin and the Kid’s Music Underground on their new TV pilot which will include three of Thistledown’s puppets. Below is an excerpt from John explaining the show’s concept:

“We’re just putting the finishing touches on a kids’ television show pilot that we’ll be shopping to the networks. In each episode, my character comes to the aid of a child guest by traveling to a distant culture and learning about its people, food, customs and music,” Mr. Carlin explained, “with the help of three pretty amazing character puppets. We shot the majority of it in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival in 2009.”

Sounds fun and I can’t wait to check it out.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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Last Friday, my little man Titus came into the world. I can’t wait until he can build puppets with Daddy.

Tags: General Stuff, Puppet People, Thistledown Stuff by Philip
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Here is the third puppet that I built for The Kids Music Underground. She’s an Anime style catgirl named Yuki. What I like about this character is the funky, colorful design and the varying textures in her outfit.

Her tail is flexible and attached to her back with monofilament. This allows the tail to wag and wiggle when she moves.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People by Philip
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Here’s the second puppet that I made for The Kid’s Music Underground. The idea was a cubist painting come to life. The intial idea was to have him be flat (like a foam finger), but that presented challenges with movement. I’m really pleased with the three dimensional outcome.

One of the cool features of this puppet is the movable eyes. They are what give this puppet it’s expression.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People by Philip
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This past summer I was approached by the guys from The Kids Music Underground in New York City to build some puppets for their new show. The group makes really fun music for kids and travels around the city teaching and putting on live shows.

What intrigued me was the really eclectic mix of characters they had in mind, including a koala with dredlocks, a Cubist (think: the painting style) bull, and an anime style catgirl. Usually the challenging projects end up becoming the fun and rewarding projects, and that was definitely the case here. How was it challenging, you ask? Well…how, for instance, do you turn a Picasso-like painting of a bull into a believable three-dimensional object? I think we figured it out.

I want to spend the next couple of posts giving you a closer look at the puppets, including some pics from production. Up first will be the Koala. He’s the laid back, easy going one of the bunch:

I absolutely love this guy’s color and texture.

Tags: Projects, Puppet People by Philip
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I recently had a chat with Zack Buchman, the creative force behind Furry Puppet Studio, and asked him some questions about his company and his puppet design process.  I really respect his work and his devotion to his art.  He’s also a fellow judge on this year’s Puppet Contest by Project Puppet.  Here is the third and final installment of the interview:

PH: What has been your favorite puppet project so far?

ZB: It’s difficult to name one favorite, because there were so many great ones over the years.  Many of my clients actually became good friends, which gives a project a whole new dimension.  One of them is Spencer Halpin, the director of “Mortal Kombat”.  We bonded immediately and every business meeting after that felt like a date!

My favorite projects are when I am asked to design a whole cast of characters.  This kind of scenario is typically where a designer gets the freedom to leave his artistic signature.

PH: What has been your most challenging project?

ZB: We are very experienced in building sophisticated puppets so what usually challenges us the most is not the acutal fabrication, but designing a really good character.

One recent character that comes to mind is the Blue Viking.  There is lots of detail in this creature, yet his expression and composition are still so simple and clear.  I have many stories to tell about the process of creating him; as with many of my characters, it all started in a strange dream.  I feel so lucky I can take creatures I meet in my dreams and bring them to the real world.  A huge catastrophe occurred when I  was working on his helmet, the metal powder I was using just spread all over the studio, covering everything, including me.  Everything was covered in a thin layer of silver–my studio looked like a music video from the 80’s.  Luckily all of the puppets were well packed and protected and no real damage was caused.

PH:  Do you have any big, exciting projects in the works that you can tell me about?

ZB: We are not allowed to disclose details about most of the projects we’re involved in until they’re released.  One exciting project I am allowed to talk about involves a huge hay monster and a cast of awesom barnyard characters, with lots of mechanical features.  Stay tuned!

PH: What does the future hold for Furry Puppet?  Where would you like to go with your work and what would you like to accomplish in the world of puppetry that you haven’t yet?

ZB: We would like to keep creating with as much freedom as we have now, building worlds and bringing life to foam in our own distinctive style.

To summarize, we want to push the envelope even more, set new standards for the puppet industry and bring puppets back to the mainstream.

Tags: Puppet People by Philip
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I recently had a chat with Zack Buchman, the creative force behind Furry Puppet Studio, and asked him some questions about his company and his puppet design process.  I really respect his work and his devotion to his art.  He’s also a fellow judge on this year’s Puppet Contest by Project Puppet.  Here is part two of the interview:

PH: Character design is the most important element of puppet building.  Take me through your design process.  What are your main considerations when it comes to designing and building a puppet?

ZB: The first and most important part of my creative process is, well, doodling.  I basically sit down and just draw whatever creatures come to mind.  Later, when I’ve gained some distance, I look back at the pages I filled and start searching for the characters that best express the look my client is asking for.

I review and discuss with the client, and together we try to analyze what it is about that sketch that we like so much.  We start the process from there; always trying to preserve the original essence of the doodle we both liked.

There are many considerations to the process of designing a puppet.  You have to make it all make sense in the 3-D space, which sometimes is not a simple task.  All the characters have to look good together as a cast, not individually.  Another challenging task in the design process is making the character look interesting and appealing from all angles.  Also, making a puppet with a strong, defined expression, yet will also allow the puppeteer to express a wide variety of feelings is not an easy feat.

PH: What materials do you prefer to work with and why?

ZB: I love working with materials I’ve never worked with before–experimenting with them, trying to find new ways to get the most out of them.  We are ordering, on a regular basis, new fabrics from many different suppliers, hoping to find new jewels.  New York is packed with the best supply stores in the country.  Every time a new material is making its way onto the market, we’re the first to try it out.

An interesting thing we’ve found over the years is that we like our fleece to be manufactured in a certain way.  We’ve found a factory overseas that was willing to work with us on creating our “dream fleece”.  Today most of the fleece we’re using is being produced and manufactured specifically for us.

Tags: Puppet People by Philip
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