I did some doodles and a sculpt today that I thought I'd share.

This first one is a butler guy. I thought a butler charecter with a Thunderbirds style moving mouth would be fun, perhaps eyes that would occasionally open when he is startled. The muppet show would do this sometimes with its characters, hidden or closed eyes that would suddenly pop open, very dramatic when timed thoughtfully. I was thinking he could be a rod marionette a little like one that Marc Parrett showed me at his workshop. A metal rod coming out from the head with controls for the mouth and eyes, and the legs and arms on strings. One arm holding a tray, the other a towel. Making this guy would be a big job but hey, it costs nothing to sketch it down for later. I'd need to look into 'waiter outfits' a little more..

I'm a little excited about this idea, just because I'm curious to see how it would look. There's also a possibility to create a whole little world for it to fit into which always sucks me in! I had the idea looking through my drawer of plumbing parts. I've got a huge soft spot for diving suits, hazmat equipment and eskimos and this mole guy kinda fits in there somewhere. I figured it would be a fun gimmick to make it seem like he travels down a big tube to get into the suit. The head and arms would be concealed in their respective tubes and just pop out. I'm not 100% sure what sort of puppet it would be, I think I need to know more about what the character wants to do so I'll sit on it a bit. I like how he looks a bit architectural as well, might play with that more if I do more doodles for this idea. He's a bit like Mogera.

Following on the 'characters with big pointy noses' theme I did this little sculpt as well. I haven't done much straight sculpting in a while so I aught to get back in practice a bit. I'm not sure Super Sculpey is the best material for doing puppets, its pretty heavy and brittle, but if I come up with something I really want to use I can always make a cast in resin.