hey guys, so i have a character I'm working on who is a baby, and i've thought of a few ways to emphasize the fact that he's a baby, his wardrobe, his hair, a belly button, but one thing i can't figure out is his eyes. should they be small and beady, or big with huge pupils, im just really lost. any suggestions would be wonderful,
Thank you!

I think they should be exaggerated. Babies eyes look bigger than they really are because there skull has not fully developed and there face is smaller in proportion to the head. I'm sure you have noticed cartoons. You could either use beady eyes or big ones depending on the expression you are trying yo reveal.

thanks billy, i know that if i do big eyes i won't do eyelids, but if i do big eyes, would just a black pupil do it justice? i don't really know how to paint colors on and i wouldn't want to mess it up :/ what about those small, kinda glassy looking eyes that i won from the SSpuppets raffle thingy, do you think those would work?

Sometimes you have to just build your character and then worry about features later. You can hold up different eyes on to the face of your character and sooner or later you will know when it is the right eyes, nose, or any other features you would like to ad. It does help to draw a picture as a guide to help you a long however I have done that and went the total opposite direction than the picture. So there are no set rules you just have to go with the flow as they say. I would like to see you create your own unique style in the way you build puppets. You are heading in the right direction by learning everything you can which by the way never stops. I am still learning and still consider my self a beginner in the puppet building process.

Billy

hmm, yeah i think thats a good idea. I guess i'll just build the featureless puppet, and then go from there. thanks billy! and your right, i never stop learning, especially from everyone here!!

I was looking closely the other day at the Muppet what knot puppets................... It amazes me how just three basic head shapes and different eyes and hair could create so many different unique characters. So the same thing applies with you.............. one basic head shape could be a baby or a adult just by changing the eyes and nose and adding hair whether a little or lot.

yeah, i am very inspired by the whatnots, just a blank puppet, and they can make it into any character they want!

I would personally suggest buying a package of ping pong balls to use for the eyes since they're cheap and are great for larger eyes. And if you happen to pick them up at Walmart, you could head over to the hardware area and pick up some felt sticky circles that are used for putting on the bottom of furniture. Then you could try different sizes of those on the ping pong balls and use a marker to create the pupil.

Pupil rules:

Large pupils=younger it will look.

Small pupils= older it will look.

 

Daryl H

yeah i figured that out thanks daryl, for the eyes i used just little self adhesive round felt pieces (used for furniture legs) and just stuck it right on, i like how it looks!