Puppet for a sci-fi show I'm doing

[hoggworks]

Hey all,

I thought I'd post pictures of a build I'm doing for a puppet for a character named Catarel for a show I'm building called the Pilkington. Catarel is a robot with a giant sphere for her head, and a slender body. This is a sketch of what I want her to look like:

I debated a variety of ways to make her head, which should look like she's got a surveillance camera as her face. I started just making a half-sphere out of foam, but that's tricky to get right. I was considering doing something with a pepakura sphere pattern I found, but while the resin/bondo stuff is pretty cool, I'm less enamoured of pepakura as I was before I tried to build anything with it.

I was thinking of using some Worbla or building a new Vacuum form table, but I'd need to have a perfect circle as the base shape, and that's the tricky part. Luckily, I found a 10" styrofoam ball at Michael's (craft shop), so I'll be using that.

Given the texture of the styrfoam I'll want to smooth it out, so I'm stealing the technique of someone on these forums who is making a great Iron Man costume out of foam and am glueing the sphere to seal it before applying some resin to smooth it out. This is what it looks like presently:

The blue band is meant to be the lip, as though the front (which I'll make black) could be raised up to reveal a camera. I'll put more resin on one side of the band than the other in order to sell the illusion.

Anyway, it'll take me several days to get enough coats of glue completed, but when I do I'll post more pictures.

 

[tgreco]

interesting project

can't wait to see where this goes

 

[metal wood]

do not I repeat do not plug this into a networked system!!!
cool work

 

[Yellowjacket]

I like the design. It has the virtue of being unique and interesting. I look forward to the finish

 

[hoggworks]

Minor updates! I carved out the main body shape, though it might be a little too thick, so I might redo it. Am going to mull that as I move on to the other pieces.

 

[hoggworks]

I got some time today to work on the foam body some more. I got the pieces carved and sanded to my satisfaction (at least for right now).

Pieces of her hand:


Her arm and hand:


Her whole body, incredibly roughly:


Her neck, with space carved for lights that will either be always on or be on when she's talking, depending on my energy:


Next I've got to coat the foam in glue a bunch, then start to coating it. Then I'll need to figure out the best way to attach the limbs in a way that will allow movement.

 

[hoggworks]

Today I got a hot knife and I built a new version of the puppet's body. I'd never used a hot knife before: it was slow, but nice and the results were good. Definitely worth the $30 I spent (I got a craft version, rather than the pro that was available). The new one came out really well, and looks just like the concept art. As a plus, it doesn't look stupid in three dimensions!

It's much more slender and elegant than my initial version. What do you think?

 

[Ruddigger]

Giant sphere for a head, sure sounds like (Karl) Pilkington to me.

 

[WarPig]

Looking good! How much movement will she need? Will her hands need to move? Depending on how animated she needs to be, you could use small servos, or rig her as a traditional marionette.

Instead of a styrofoam ball, you may have been able to use an acrylic sphere (orhalf-spheres). That would have allowed you paint the inside (leaving the exterior to look like a lens), and you'd have the option of adding illumination in the head as well.

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[SofaKing01]

I'm looking forward to seeing this.

 

[Apollo]

Love the design!!

Can't wait to see her finished!!

 

[hoggworks]

Thanks!

WarPig, I hadn't thought of that. I might have to look into the cost of one. I hadn't imagined illuminating the inside of her, given that the front of her dome is meant to be like the plastic covering security cameras. As far as movement goes, her head needs to swivel, which I'll do at the joint where the neck will connect to the body, and attach her head to neck fairly rigidly.

I'll be aiming for slight movement of arms, mostly up and down, nothing terribly articulated, and I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to connect the limbs, as yet.

I just looked through some hollow ball listings, and that's pretty tempting. I might do that, but I'll probably end up doing the first head myself to see if I can get it to look good enough.

 

[WarPig]

If you do try an acrylic dome, you could paint the back half black, and "mist coat" the front - just enough to give the illusion of opacity, but allow light to be seen.

 

[hoggworks]

That's true! We'll see how the foam-based helmet turns out.

 

[crackerjazz]

Hi hoggworks, I'm following this - great design! What kind of glue are you applying to the surface - and what type/brand of resin will you be using to coat it with?

 

[Harish]

Looking good. Keep on it and post progress pics!!

 

[hoggworks]

Thanks!

I'm just using regular white glue to seal it, and am going to try some Smooth On for it. It looks good here:
XRobots.co.uk - Plastic coating your Plastazote / EVA / Polystyrene foam / cardboard props and costumes

So I figured I'd give it a try.

 

[crackerjazz]

Thanks for the info, Hoggworks! : )