Guide to Puppet Building Resources
Instructional Puppet Building Videos
There are a number of instructional videos available on a wide variety of different puppet building subjects; everything from basic foam puppet construction to how to design and build your own radio controlled animatronic creatures. Videos are often a great way to learn puppet building techniques that are difficult to figure out from pictures and books alone.
Here's a few of the best and most popular puppet building videos available:
The Art of Special Make-up Effects Volume 3
VHS Colour, 1989, 1 hours aprox.
This in-depth video from Star Trek: Enterprise make-up effects artist Michael Burnett is intended to show more advanced make-up effects enthusiasts how to create a full head cable-controlled mechanical mask. The video covers each step in the process including design, making a full-head life cast, sculpture, underskull, mechanics, cable controls, moldmaking, foam rubber finish work and costuming. A follow along book is also available. Rating: not available |
Creating Custom Puppets with David Pannabecker
VHS Colour, 1998, 175 minutes aprox.
In this extremely detailed and informative video, David Pannabecker takes you step-by-step through the construction of one of his popular foam puppet characters in real-time. Almost three hours long, this video will show you just about everything you need to get started building foam hand and rod puppets. Available exclusively through Armslength Productions.
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The Foam Book Videos
VHS & DVD Colour, 1 1/2 hours aprox.
Two VHS videos (or one DVD) that serve as a companion to Grey Seal Puppet's popular puppet building book. The video(s) explain how to construct simple foam puppet heads using Grey Seal's unique puppet building techniques. Rating:
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From Sketch to Show: Patterning a Puppet
DVD Colour, 2006, 58 minutes aprox.
This new video on puppet design and patterning from puppet designer Dave Privett explains his six step process for turning sketches in to actual three dimensional puppets.
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 Making Lifelike Puppets with Noreen Young
DVD Colour, 2004, 90 minutes aprox.
A 90 minute DVD from Noreen Young, one of Canada's most acclaimed puppetry artists. Noreen explains how to make simple latex puppets, moving mouth foam puppets and puppet stages,and provides basic puppet manipulation tips. This DVD was exclusive to Lee Valley Tools and they no longer carry it, but a limited number of copies are available directly from Noreen Young Productions. Rating:
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Mechanics for SPFX Make-up and Mechanical Puppetry
VHS Colour, 1993, 1 1/2 hours aprox.
A basic instructional video on how to make mechanical elements ("mechs") like moving jaws, eyebrows, eyelids, winks and blinks. Covers basic tools and materials and where to get them. Includes several projects that can be easily made from components purchased at any hardware store. A good place to start if you're interested in building mechs or animatronic puppets.
Rating: Not available |
Videos are rated 1-5 out of 5
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