Hand Crafted Character Artist Dolls: November 2010

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Cardiff Nativity-Final week!

The Cardiff Nativity is in its final stages of production. It opens on the 1st of December. So a frantic week lies ahead! Work has been constant over the last few weeks, to realise the designs for the production.The large puppets are almost finished.

Before the show opens I wanted to show a few more photo's of the large puppets, as they have developed considerably from the early stages.

Angel Gabriel & camel in the studio

Angel Gabriel Nearing completion. The puppet is over 7ft tall and will be operated by several puppeteers

Wide angle shot of the Angel in the studio

Showing the rear of the puppet, and construction of the wings

A sketch for the design of the Angel Wings

Sections of the Camel legs ready for jointing

Front legs of the Camel, jointed and ready to be furred

Things are moving very fast in the studio, and I hope to have a few more photos of the finished camel and Angel in the next few days.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Developing the framework/body structure for the larger puppets in the Cardiff Nativity.

Recently I've been developing the bodies for the larger puppets in the Cardiff Nativity production. Previously I've posted pictures of the pupet heads of the camel and the Angel Gabriel , as well as a working drawing for the Camel. The pictures below show the skeletal structure for the bodies of these puppets, and give an idea of the scale and stage presence that the puppets will have.

The Camel puppet. Development of the body structure. In the background you can see the working drawing for the camel design.

Camel puppet body development

The Angel Gabriel body structure is more complicated as it involves developing the mechanism for the large wings, including moving parts, to be animated by two puppeteers.

The underlining structure of the jointed wings of the Angel Gabriel, operated by rods.

Angel wings and camel puppet in the studio

Friday, November 12, 2010

Cardiff Nativity: Shepherd Boy, finished puppet head

To complete the trio of Shepherds, here are some photo's of the completed shepherds number 3, the Shepherd Boy. At present it is just the head of the boy, the rest of the puppet has yet to be assembled, but I shall post some more pics soon to show the whole puppet.

Work in progress: Angel Gabriel, Cardiff Nativity

Here are a some more images of work from the Cardiff Nativity. I've been working on a puppet head of the Angel Gabriel. The head has gone through some revision, which was necessary to develop a more otherworldly character. I decided I wanted a neutral expression, that would help create an aloofness, and hopefully a sense of serenity, and higher purpose.
Here are some photo's of the progress in desinging /making the head of the Angel Gabriel.It began with a basic clay sculpt for the head, which was used as a cast for the lighter paper form shown in the images below. This was then fabricated & painted to take on the finished look of the Angel Gabriel.