Make a Buildup Puppet

This shows the process of making a generic stop motion puppet body to use with interchangeable heads.
You will probably have to watch it at least twice - once to read the captions, once to just watch the process - I try to keep these short and not too boring, but they can end up flicking by too fast.
This uses armature wire, so no metal machining required. It is all directly built up on the armature with epoxy putty, upholstery foam, spray glue and liquid latex, so there is no mouldmaking and casting involved. It could be fitted with a head cast in foam latex or silicone, a rigid material like Sculpey, or something like the direct build-up head shown which is made from wire, epoxy, cut foam and latex. I'll do a tutorial on making heads later.
See my Tiedowns tutorial if you want to see how the foot blocks were made. I used a bandsaw to cut the aluminium, but you could go with a simpler option like a loop in the wire for a foot, with a nut epoxied into place.
If you can't get 3M #74, 76, or 90 spray glue, use contact cement. Do NOT use 3M #77, or spray glues made for lightly tacking paper, they don't work.
If you can't cut or drill a block of wood, go with a block of putty for the chest. You could embed a bit of tube if you want to fit removable heads to it.
There is always another way if you are working with limited tools - this is just how I do it.
Thanks to Kevin MacLeod at www.Incompetech.com for sharing his music!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• stop motion
• puppet making
• latex
• wire armature
• animation
• tutorial
• how-to
• StopmoNick

[09lealily]

could you please make a coraline puppet

[StopmoNick]

@09lealily

Great film, but the puppets are not my style - a bit too slick. Also, done with computer 3d printed replacement faces for the different expressions. Anyway for me there's usually not much point in making copies of already existing (and copyrighted) puppets.

[VCubestudios]

Hey, Quick question. How would one go about makin' a puppet of a big cat? like say, a tiger or a lion.

[StopmoNick]

@VCubestudios

For any quadruped -

Tiedowns on all 4 feet. Armature and foam buildup the same, except to fit the lion anatomy. I NEARLY made a lion once but the film didn't get funded so never finished it. I sculpted it in plasticine and was going to make a plaster mould and cast in foam latex. Short body fur was going to be flocking, mane was going to be wool from a sheep skin.

Sorry about the delay - best place to ask questions is at StopmotionAnimation dott comm.

[Whetzell]

what are you applying the latex with? The hands I'm making look like burn victims hands!

[salahhassan7]

thank you

[y0utuve]

you are awesome!! thanks for the tutorial!! =D

[StudPuppetsInc]

Very very cool.

[rossiover]

Thank you for making these videos, they are extremely helpful. Cheers!

[Loveparonramen]

Love your videos, THANK YOU SO MUCH I'm so gonna make a puppet now! 8D

[qdinh1977]

Wow Nick. You are amazingly talented. Your technique is simple (and probably better on the wallet) but yet so high in quality artistically and technically! Thank you for sharing your skills.

[vividbijou]

This is absolutely fantastic!

I've watched MANY how-to videos on building stop motion puppets, and this exceeds them all!

Thank you so much for your contribution to the animation community! :)

[enbcart]

Brilliant thank you so much! Loved that high five at the end by the way.

[StopmoNick]

@stopmotionheaven

I used to twist the wire more, but recently I seem to get better results with less twisting. I especially like the thicker wires side-by-side in the knee joints so they bend forward and backward more easily without stretching any wires that wold be on the outside of the curve. But if more twisting works for you, stick with it!