Posted by Steve on Jul 27, 2010 in
Characters |
Frown Town is a patchwork quilt of secondhand garbage. Not only are the puppets physically constructed from used gear, but the characters and ideas that underpin it all are cobbled together from quirks and fragments collected elsewhere. Does that paint us as a pair of pernicious plagiarists? That depends on your poetics. T.S. Elliot, for one, has got our back: “The poet’s mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together.” True for poets, true for puppeteers. Read more…
Tags: Judy, Orly, Trey
Posted by Steve on May 10, 2010 in
Costumes,
Production,
Props |
As all things puppet plummet towards the finish line, we’re tackling all the little leftovers, from whittling and screen printing to stringing together rave bracelets and peacock pendants. Read more…
Tags: Costumes, James, Judy, Patches, Props, Screen Printing, Trey
Posted by Steve on Apr 15, 2010 in
Costumes,
Production,
Props |
Animal Scouts is all about being prepared. Thing is, when you’re camping in the scraggly copses of half-woods that creep up through the rubbish of a poisoned city, it behooves one to be prepared for a wider and some-would-say ignobler set of contingencies. They’d be wrong, mind you, on account’a ‘ignobler’ ain’t no kinda English, but then again ‘Grammar’ ain’t no kinda Animal Scout badge. Read more…
Tags: Costumes, Felt, Judy, Patches
Posted by Steve on Jan 22, 2010 in
Characters,
Production |
At long last the puppet children’s heads — hopefully the most time consuming element of production — are finished. From snot drips and braces to sunglasses and coonskin caps, the kids are primed to party from the neck up. Take a gander. Go on. Read more…
Tags: Chip Doogan, Chip McFavorite, Geer, James, Judy, Orly, Patches, Trey
Posted by Steve on Jan 14, 2010 in
Characters,
Production |
The focal point of most floppy-headed Muppety puppets is the mouth, so it was important to get ours right. This meant many arduous hours crafting realistic teeth and uvulas. Was it worth it? I don’t know. Probably. Read more…
Tags: Geer, James, Judy, Mouths, Patches, Trey
Posted by Andy on Dec 9, 2009 in
Characters,
Production |
Splendid Miss Swinehopper finally grew some hair. Read more…
Tags: Felt Hair, Judy
Posted by Steve on Nov 3, 2009 in
Characters,
Production |
Frown Town production’s been on hiatus this past week as I put together my Halloween costume. For one drunken evening I walked in the guise of his excellency Norton the First, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. Read more…
Tags: Emperor Norton, Judy
Posted by Steve on Oct 5, 2009 in
Characters,
Production |
From the inauspicious cushions of unwanted couches come the heads of eight unwanted children. Read more…
Tags: Chip Doogan, Chip McFavorite, Foam, Geer, James, Judy, Orly, Patches, Trey
Posted by Andy on Sep 9, 2009 in
Characters,
Design,
Production |
The transition from maquettes to foam heads looms. We need to scale up a huge amount while preserving the character design as much as possible and incorporating the changes we decided on from the maquettes. Everyone loves tracing, so I whipped up some big head templates to use as cut out guides. Read more…
Tags: Chip Doogan, Chip McFavorite, Geer, James, Judy, Orly, Patches, Phauntleroy, Trey
Posted by Andy on Aug 30, 2009 in
Characters,
Design,
Production |
To help with the foam head carving and to get a visceral feel for the concept art in three dimensions, I created little maquettes out of Sculpey. Read more…
Tags: Chip Doogan, Chip McFavorite, Geer, James, Judy, Maquettes, Orly, Patches, Phauntleroy, Trey