Puppets and armatures

I started off making armatures just as I always have, wire, foam and miliput, quite simple but effective:

I then covered the puppet in cotton wool and latex:

But I realised that the amount of animation I could do with these puppets were quite limited, also I felt that the simplistic creation and easily breakable armatures were a little amateurish for a full on animated film such as this.

I wanted this film to be the best thing that I have ever created so far.

So for this film I wanted to use some professional ball and socket armatures, I ordered a couple online, they were a bit pricey but I think that they will be worth it, the animation I can get out of them will be far more than I have ever been able to in the past.

So this was what I got for my £80 odd quid, some metal, some balls and some little bronze pieces.

With the help of a few fellow course mates I started building.

I now have a fully finished armature, it took a while to build but with a saw, some glue and the right tools these things are pretty simple to knock together, you just need to make sure you take your time and read the instructions.

I would say I am very happy with the way this first one has turned out, I hope that I am as satisfied with the second.

Next step for this puppet is foaming and bulking out the body, I will update again soon.