Hi folks, I'm starting a new puppet venture, Joel is going to be a grandfather puppet, I'm trying to figure out how to make him old in years without him looking scary. I could use some pointers for his face right now since my son said he doesn't look human.   As you can see, I'm trying to play with fabric around his eyes. I'm having problems with the eyes not being exactly the same, so I figured if I add fabric on top of both they may end up more symmetrical. I was thinking about possibly countersinking the eyes into the skull too?

This is Joel


This is what his son looks like, not at all scary, Joel's 'grandson' is at the bottom, lol

hey rosie, I'd make him look a bit sleepy (that way you could play with the upper lids to make them more symmetrical)...add bags under the eyes and of course, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose ...ellen

how about unruly eyebrows?  those could help camouflage uneven eyes..

What did you use for the black around the eyes? That could be what is making him look a bit scary.  Can you get rid of it or make it not as bold.  esch had some good ideas. The glasses on the end of the nose would do a lot to add to his age I think.

I think you are on the right track with the eyelids.  On the lower covering you can add one more layer below it to make more of a bag.  That might help.  Actually once you move on to the hair you might be surprised how he ages. Make his hair grey. You might even want to make him balding in the front.

Thanks, Esch, great ideas, sooo....
Glasses at the end of his nose
Bushy eyebrows
Bags under his eyes

Shawn, lol, I added some of the gray whispy 'hair' I'll be using for his head, around his eyes, and yes that's when he started to look scary, so i can pull that out since it's not glued at all.
This is the yarn I plan on using for his hair (the silver half balls are what I'm using for the eyes)


And here's what his eyes looked like before I placed them on his face


Yes, I was thinking to have him balding in the front, too.

But what about how far his eyes stick out, is that ok? or should I countersink them into his skull?
What about a mustache?

This a good tutorial.......... adding facial features can make the face older
http://www.nicodemus.org/fursuit/puppet1.php

billy D.

Rosie, I just took a closer look at the son and grandson...maybe you'd want to pull the 3-D eyes off and go with flat eyes like them?  Might help make them all look related...

Going with the flat eye or counter sinking the eyes could help.  Normally when folks use eyes like this they are 1/2 of the ball and not the full ball. 

I'm using half a ball, I've now made the eyes look more similar, I may countersink them later today, not sure. Maybe the balls I'm using are too big.

Has anyone mentioned using smaller pupils? The size of the eye's pupil can be an indication of age. I made a grandfather for one of my puppets, and the only differences between the two were hair color and pupil size.

Sorry, Billy, I did visit the link you mentioned and read up on it, I just forgot to get back to you on it, lol...... I liked what they did with the chunks of foam, but I would have to cover that with fleece, I wonder if fleece would simply stretch to accommodate whatever is underneath it. Something I have to experiment with in the future.
Matt, have you got an example of the effect you mentioned? It would be interesting to see that something so simple would make a difference.
Shawn, the problem with my eyes is that they don't fall behind the boney area where a person's eyebrows are located, I'm wondering if I really need to sink them that far back, or is there license in puppetry where you can do what you like? A bit like the principles of cartoon characters or something.
I'll sleep on it and sort it in the am, I think   so tired today.