Introduction
In this task I will be building my own puppet and explaining the process. Firstly, I researched puppets which Sophie taeuber created to use as a reference and to be inspired by her art. Below you can see the puppets which inspired me the most.
I like the hat and the makeup on this puppet model.
I liked how this puppet looked more like a person and is wearing a dress.
Puppet Build
In this section you will see a sequence of images which shows how I have created my puppet.
1: Add sphere
2: Adjust sphere shape
Make the sphere look more like a head by slightly moving it to add a chin.
3: Cut head in half
4: Add mirror modifier
Add a mirror modifier along the X axis. We are doing this because a body and face is normally identical to its other half.
5: Extrude Neck
Extrude the neck down the Z axis.
6: Create torso
Create the torso by extruding the neck down to where the torso should end and then extrude and scale along on the X axis to create the width of the body.
8: Loop tool - Circle
Open up the special menu whilst still selecting the bottom of the thighs, in the special menu move to loop tool and choose circle. This changes the bottom of the thighs to a more circle shape than the default shape which is more of a hexagon.
9: Finish Legs
Extrude down the Z axis until you have your total leg length, Go back and add more detail by making some parts of the legs thicker than others. Once the legs are finished simply just extrude the bottom of it along the Y axis to create feet.
10: Create arms
Extrude the arms out, similar technique as the legs.
11: Final body model
This is the finished body for the puppet.
12: Add a cylinder
This cylinder will be used to make the basic skirt shape.
13: Adjust cylinders shape
First, delete the top and bottom face and then scale out the bottom of the dress to create a shape which resembles a skirt.
14: Flatten models chest
To create the top I decided to flatten the models chest and then in edit mode I duplicated the chest and made the duplicated chest its own mesh by pressing CTRL P in edit mode. I found this technique easier to create the top rather than starting a new mesh.
15: Join the top and skirt together
In edit mode join up the top and the skirt so it looks like a dress.
16: Position the chest & Materials the body
Put the dress on the puppet and scale it out untill it fits. I also added a wood material to my puppet.
17: Cut off top of the head & Materials the dress
First cut of the top half of the head to prepare making the puppets hat. Once done add a material to the dress. I choose a purple material which I later added more detail such as blue stripes.
18: Create Puppets hat
Extrude and scale the puppets hat. I decided to mode a hat which looks more like a graduation hat than a round helmet like in the reference image above. I added the same material which I used for the dress.
19: Add detail
I decided to add the 'horns' which the puppet in the reference image uses. I materialised the horns and the puppets shoes blue and added eyes and bright, almost clownish makeup to the puppets face.
Made changes
I have made several adjustments to my puppet for example I have changed the style of her dress by using the sculpting tool within blender.
