Wow! Awesome stuff! Can't wait to see what you do next.

I am not really sure that simple is the correct word.  I tend to make everything very realistic and detailed. I struggle more with clean simple lines. The kind that you very often see in cartoons.  Both truly take talent in my opinion and some are able to easily switch between the two where I think for some of us it is more difficult.  I am pretty much self taught and wonder if I had gone through art school and learned more of the basics if it would be easier for me.

Shawn, I'm self taught as well and I relate very much to what you are saying. I often wonder how things might have gone differently had I had formal art training. I work with some astonishingly talented artists and I do see the difference the art education has given them. Yes, I am a bit jealous.
When I use the term "simple" it is by way of comparison to the very intricate sculpted, molded, machined, mechanized and very expensive animatronic puppets I'm more used to. I didn't mean to suggest that the style of puppet usually dealt with here on this site was any easier in an artistic way. Creating a great character, even with all the possible resources available and using whatever amount of expertise and money available still comes down to artistic ideas and decisions. I sincerely hope I didn't offend anyone with my clumsy wording.
Chris

Chris,
I had the pleasure of meeting a makeup artist named Gino Crognale. He did a haunted house here locally some years ago and brought a bunch of really cool pieces. One of them was even Norman Bates mother

I often thought that the skills one learns in that field would be freaking awesome if used in this medium. And you are proving that correct. Would really be interested to see some of your work start to finish. I am loving this thread

Thanks!

Hmmm... I didn't mean to start a discussion on the issue of simplicity... I just enjoyed the absurdness of the idea that simple is harder. (There was no offense, I just have an odd sense of humour)

I guess though I can see how minimalism is harder, because then you're purposefully restricting yourself to a certain set of standards rather than adding everything you can think of.

Anyway, someone coming from a background such as yours (creatures, special fx) is ideal for puppetry. You're certainly ahead of me in so many ways.

Oh I don't think anyone took offense at this. We love getting into deep discussions about things around here.

We are so glad you are here.  You bring a whole new perspective to the type of puppets we (out of the box puppets), not to speak for everyone, have been able to create.  I would love to learn the style you have shown us so far, so no offense taken.

I am always amazed at the variety of gifts and talents that everyone has and how each of us are working together to put the pieces together so to speak to develope those skills.

Let me just say...a bit star struck that you created the gremlins.  They freaked me out when I saw the movie, but also was very interested in how they had such personality.  I've always been a kid at heart that gets throughtly involved in the believability of a story, but with an engineers mind that wanted to take everything a part to see how it worked. Hard for me to watch anything these days without drooling over the puppets. Okay...to much information. LOL

Julie

Glad I wasn't misinterpreted. You never know on the internet how statements can be taken and I certainly do not wish to insult anyone in any way.
Simplicity is the real challenge in designing characters, I think. In my profession, I've seen incredibly complex and beautifully executed designs that ultimately failed because they weren't what I call "readable". If the audience doesn't "get" the character almost immediately, I believe that it's much more effort to work it out of the character to educate the viewer. And the key to readability is simplicity. It doesn't matter if the character is a pink fur sock puppet or a million dollar animatronic dinosaur; the essence of the character must be simple enough to understand immediately so the audience can pay attention to the story. Does that make any sense?
Gremlins. The only real puppet movie I ever did. I've always loved puppets, since I was a kid, but never got the chance to do as much as I wanted. The great thing about Gremlins was that the original script had them as characterless monsters; really just a horror movie. But we did have fun with them.
Chris

They evolved, though. And they were very "readable". I guess they are better known here then the muppets, if you can believe that.

You are right about the internet and how it can be easy to misinterpret what some one is saying.  I like to think that because we have such an international membership here that we tend to try and read carefully what people are typing and realize that often their first language is not English.