So continuing with my personal challenge mentioned in my intro post I am now tasked to build a wall mounted creature. In truth I have no wall real or fake to do exactly what was done on Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge so I've opted to try something different yet still wall bound.

Here's the plan: Using a decently sized stretched canvas I plan on attempting to remember anything I've learned about painting to do a nice castle/throne room background. Nothing too flashy as I still want the character(puppet) to be the main point.

Then using linen textured drawing paper I found within my stash of sketch books, I will in essence build a shadow puppet minus the shadow painting this in the same fashion as the background to make it in theory appear as one piece at initial glancing.

Rods for this puppet will be fed through carefully made holes in the canvas so that it can in theory sit on the thrown and specifically designed movements can be made from the back.

In theory it seems sound and I have a solid image in my head beyond what I have described. I'm just starting the ground work today but I'm sure the painting alone is going to take me a little while so feel free to make suggestions. I'll be sure to post more as it actually starts to (hopefully) come together.

I really love your creativity when it comes to making the challenge fit your circumstance and what you have available to you. I get the feeling that if you where on the show you would go a long way! 

The one thought I had when you described how you would be manipulating the puppet, is that it will be restrictive in it's movement. Now I have no idea if this would work, but I wounder if you could use small magnets to move it. I know you can buy sheets of "magnets" that are used for making frig magnets. What if you backed your puppet with that then put magnets on the end of rods to "connect" and move your puppet through the canvas. Does that make sense to you? 

Oh this is a great idea. I was worried about the movements being restrictive but hoped to capture certain key movements to make it feel more free than it is if that makes sense. I will have to get my hands on some magnets because if that works well enough that would be much better! Thanks Shawn!

Make sure you get earth magnets - fridge or strip magnets wont be strong eniugh to carry the weight of the puppet.

I don't know Na, in this case it may be that earth magnets would be to strong. You need to have enough "give" between the magnets so that they can slide across the canvas.

Pulled some cheap magnets off the fridge for a quick test while letting paint dry (better than watching it dry). The magnets held and worked but there was definitely a speed restriction. Anything faster than a steady crawl and they disconnect. Overall the magnet concept will work wonderfully it's just going to be a matter of finding that middle ground in magnet strength.

I don't know Na, in this case it may be that earth magnets would be to strong. You need to have enough "give" between the magnets so that they can slide across the canvas.

Actually been there, done that. At uni we had a wooden table-top which was for a miniature city. We had painted a road, and used toy cars on it. Below the table myself and another puppeteer hid, using a large round earth magnet on a stick to 'drive' the cars. Under each car was a small piece of strip magnet. (A track was drawn on the underside of the table so we knew where to point the magnet) If you didn't hold the magnet as directly close to the table, the car wouldn't move. Speed-wise, with practice, we had the cars zipping around our track about as fast as they would go around an electric track. I have no doubt it still required some modification, but we found that earth magnets were the only thing that worked in an impressive manner.

I think experimentation is the key here. Another thought I had was I wonder if "smoothness" of the surface will be an issue. A painted canvas can be rough and if there was a way to smooth that out it may help. My first thought would be a clear finish on top of the artwork like varnish or something but I don't know.

Yes, experimentation would be useful. I agree that smoothness would help. If you move the magnet at a steady rate, but the puppet goes over a bump, then the magnets could disconnect and the puppet either goes in the wrong direction or stops entirely - and of course you can't get the connection back without destroying the effect. I should also mention that the steady rate of movement might be key. I can remember a few times we tried to change the speed of the cars as they were moving and found it to be harder to control.

The problem with this method is that the control is entirely indirect, moreso than rods or strings. You might not be able to see what you're doing so it's important to 'feel' your way through the movement.

Well that part is done.

I won't go down in history as a master painter but not too shabby. It will serve my purposes nicely.

Now to start building the actual character. I am hoping I can get the magnet thing to work. That way as a display piece I can hang it like a real painting and remove the character all together from time to time haha. Plus it gives me the option to make new characters down the road to invade the painting. I'll invest more into that once I get all the pieces made.
Thanks for the feedback thus far~!