My stop-motion puppets are based on the idea that character creation is a journey of discovery.
Making them is an intuitive process and I never produce any drawn designs for the projects-
the characters are born out of the chosen materials and necessary functionality.
I tend to use recycled, found or restricted materials. In many ways the armature (which is usually hidden in animation) actually becomes part of the puppet design.
This is my puppet evolution so far;
1- Bitz the whippet my first project made from random toolbox stuff,
2- The Hairwoof half way between dog and human, made from wood & wool
3- Paper Airman and old man made from old wine corks (developed into a 10 min short film)
4- Jim Henson Tribute My friend Jamie made the Mini-Kermit and I made and animated the Jim.
5-IT CAME FROM WITHIN THE TIN! A halloween tale about a spider made from beads
6-Foldz The Whippet I designed an origami dog which I attempted to animate 'folding itself'
7-A christmas Post-It I designed an origami deer which I attempted to animate 'folding itself'
8-BITZ! The short film I revisited my original project 'Bitz' to improve the puppet use what I have learnt
9- Kirigami Halloween Spider I designed another origami model which I tried to animate being folded
10- 'The Whibbits' This is the next stage in the 'Bitz' project. 2 dog puppets interacting in short episodes
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Yes, they are rough, unpolished and unashamedly homemade… But isn’t that the charm?