Sorry,
I posted this in the wrong section yesterday... I am pretty new to posting here
Here is a work in progress of a puppet I am working on..
http://puppetsandgore.com/puppets.html
Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated!
Damien

I saw your post over in the other section and i think that he is absolutely fantastic, what is he going to be made from eventually?? and how big is the head?? either way its an awesome puppet, you are very skilled!!
Ben.

Agreed. In eigther section!

Well to be fair Damien I think that when Pixar created that character he reminded me of either another actor or cartoon that I was never able to place. I can understand your desire to keep your creation separate and unique, but I doubt you need worry much about that. As you continue to layer on detail and shape the character towards your own unique vision I'm sure the differences will be evident.

Hi!
Thanks for the kind words..
Ben - In answer to your questions - he is going to have a silicone and/or foam latex skin. I am still trying to decide on that.. If I go all silicone; he will last a lot longer. If I go all Foam latex - his skin will degrade very quickly and will have to be replaced frequently.. but foam latex is much lighter too. So we will see as I get to that stage.
He will also have a plastic 'under-skull' that will incorporate some animatronics.
His head is a little bit smaller than an average human head.. I actually used a child's skull as a form to build on top of (just to clarify - it is a FAKE PLASTIC child's skull)
Thanks again and I look forward to meeting all of you in this forum!!
Damien

Thanks for the encouraging words Puppetainer!
I am definitely not wanting to have my character look like something else.. That is kind of the point of us being able to create our own puppets, right? To make something original..
I understand that there my be some comparison to similar characters though.. we are probably all in danger of that happening with our puppets.
Mine is a cartoon-y old man with exaggerated features.. as is that Geri character; so in that alone - there may be comparison.
You are right that the added layers of detail and especially the puppet's actual personality and character will hopefully distance my creation from others..  
Originally and creativity are the best (and often times) the toughest part of our art.
Day 7 of the progress is up on my web site..
http://puppetsandgore.com/puppets.html
and tomorrow will be a big sculpting day - so more to come!!
Damien

Is the difference in weight really that much in something this size?  I've never used silicone before although I have worked "around" it in theater. Worked on "Shrek" and dressed the title character so saw his makeup process each night. I was really impressed with the elasticity of silicone and it seemed to be very durable.

I went ahead and merged your two threads into one here in the Puppet Projects area. Really your topic would have fit either. We aren't really that picky around here where things are really.

Also in regards to looking like the pixar character, I don't really think you have anything to worry about. I think they look nothing alike unless I am mistaken on the character that was referenced. http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/up/c1.html

Thanks for putting all of the posts together.. it will avoid confusion for sure
Sorry again about the original mis-post..
The character that people were comparing it to is actually Geri.. I just found this link from the link you had above:
http://www.pixar.com/shorts/gg/index.html
Now that I see this picture especially, there are definitely some similarities.. Like I said in an earlier post; Just the fact that they are both old men with exaggerated features will draw comparisons right there..
My initial inspiration for my old man was kind of a mix between the actors 'Patrick Crenshaw'

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsC/23918.gif

and  'Carl "Oldie" Olsen' from the old Conan O'Brien Show..

http://www.craigcalman.com/images/Preston.jpg

Perhaps they had inspired the folks at pixar as well (?)
I will still separate the similarities as much as possible... Any feedback or advice along the way from you all would be greatly appreciated!
In regards to the weight of silicone.. It will definitely make a difference. Foam latex is basically a sponge - so it's weight is quite negligable..
Silicone, on the other hand, is a very dense material and when you are holding that thing up for several minutes (along with the added weight of the under structure/animatronic components) - it can certainly be a strain.
But yes, Silicone is much more durable and it moves in a much more skin like fashion.
I am leaning towards silicone - but it is still up in the air.
THanks again for following the process. I just added Day 8's progress. Starting to add skin texture - which is very time consuming
Again - it can be viewed at:
http://puppetsandgore.com/puppets.html
Later!
Damien

He is so cool! As for the weight: In the Rod- and Table top- Figure Book of Fettig I found the use of a "Faulenzer" (I can't get a video, picture (I could scan it from the book if you like) or even a translation that satisfys me- since literally it means "lazy person"). Basicly it is a rod standing on the ground or fixed to your belt which takes the weight of the puppet. But for a ventriloquist puppet this would have to be redesigned if it works at all....