Call me Geppetto. I made a lion puppet...for fun?

Hi! I’m Kayla Stark, an illustrator working primarily in the children’s publishing world. You’re reading “Odd Thoughts”, my blog/newsletter where I talk mostly about illustration, process, publishing, and anything else that’s tangentially related in my life. Join in! Everyone’s welcome!

I don’t like working in 3D.
I’m more at home on flat pages or screens.

BUT…earlier this year my friend Lauren forwarded an email to me. There was going to be a 3 day puppet building workshop at a local art college led by Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio. That actually sounded pretty fun, and I’ll sign up for anything once.

I learned of Chris’s (Red Nose Studio) work 6 or so years ago, it was different from anything else I saw at the time (and still is)!

All of Chris’s work is built by hand and photographed. These (above) are not digital—not even the backgrounds!

an excerpt from his bio

“I create 3D illustration and stop-motion animation with what is at arms reach here in the studio. Making my images come to life with textures, light and elbow grease. My illustrations and animations have been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, and HOW. The Society of Illustrators has awarded three golds and a silver medal for both illustrative and motion work. The stop-motion animated films have screened at various festivals including Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and Montreal Stop-Motion Film Festival. I have recently authored and illustrated the picture book BUILD! along with The Look Book, and have illustrated the children's books Here Comes The Garbage Barge, The Beginner’s Guide to Running Away From Home, The Secret Subway and Elvis is King!”

We were told to bring a character sketch and, like always, I wanted to make everything harder and come up with a whole NEW character. But, the weekend of the workshop snuck up on me (on top of the workshop I was also baking a birthday cake for my friend’s party that weekend1) and I ultimately decided to keep things simple and use LEON! I’m already super familiar with his shapes anyway!

I walked into class with zero expectations and one goal—
to find at least one thing I liked about working in 3D.

I am oversimplifying the process to an amazing degree here, but this was the gist (and order) of it:

1. Sculpey/Epoxy - for sculpting the head, hands/feet (with Sculpey, you sculpt your form and then bake it in the oven)

2. Wire - for making the wireframe “skeleton” of your character

3. Foam - for shaping/adding bulk to your character’s body (I burned the shit out of my fingers with hot glue at this stage, I knew it would happen…)

4. Sewing/Surface Stuff (fur, clothes, etc.) - This covers the foam. Most people sewed tiny garments for their characters, but I made a lion so I elected to needle felt his fur straight onto the foam. (I mixed different wool colors together to get the right color/variations)

5. Painting - first you gesso the head/hands/feet and then bring the character to life with gouache or acrylic paint. As with most painting processes, it’s all about layering.

6. Misc add ons - I made Leon’s glasses out of floral wire and super glued them to his muzzle. And last, but not least, I tied a little blue ribbon (scrap of fabric) around the end of his tail.

Most of the time Leon didn’t look like much…and I wondered if I should continue or start over.

But Chris did not lead us wrong.
It all came together in the end. (apply this to all forms of art)

Most, but not all, of the other attendees were students at the college. It was such a treat to be among them working for hours together in the studio. I miss that.

We got A LOT done in class—way more than I ever anticipated. But only a few people finished their puppet completely before the end of the workshop. The majority of us had to do the finishing touches at home.

I’m lucky to have space at my house where I could finish Leon. I stayed up late and worked sporadically over the next few days finishing his fur (needle felting); painting his face/feet (acrylic paint); styling his mane2; and adding the last little details.

Here’s a reel I made showing him off!

• Creating characters like this requires lots of space to spread out and lots of supplies. If you don’t have the space, it might be difficult (but not impossible).

• On the subject of space, I wondered “What do I do with this once it’s finished?”. It isn’t like a final illustration on paper—I can’t easily put it in a folder or drawer. Should I store it? Sell it? Show it in a gallery or art space?

• I love having him! I want to have puppets/models of all of my characters, but what for? Just to have? Little props? Use as a reference when drawing? I’d have to decide what I wanted to use them for if I’m going to dedicate the time and space.

• I was really trying to impress Brad (my husband) who is a potter, paints/builds miniatures, and works in 3D all the time. He said he was impressed and I believe he actually meant it. 😎

• You may have drawn an impossible shape. Accept it and adapt. This happened with Leon’s muzzle. It couldn’t be both long (in profile) and rounded off (in frontal) It made sense on paper, but it was impossible to recreate in a 3D world.

• You may have to choose a specific view or angle from which your character should be viewed—especially if you are wanting it to work in a specific composition/photo. It’s hard to make it work equally well, or to keep things consistent, at every angle. (i.e. Leon’s muzzle)

• Adapt as you go and keep an eye out for things you can repurpose for your character. For example, another student in class made Bigfoot (below) and I used her Bigfoot fur scraps to make Leon’s mane. It worked perfectly! Thanks Brooklyn!

Back to the initial goal, I’m happy to say I found MORE than one thing I liked about working in 3D! But the most surprising to me is that I really enjoyed building the wireframe skeleton.3 Who knew!? 🤷‍♀️

My opening line should change to:

I don’t didn’t like working in 3D. 😊

Thanks for reading! Do any of you typically work in 3D? Do you like it? Do you feel like a hoarder with how much supplies and space it needs? 😂

If you like this newsletter, if you find it helpful and choose to upgrade to a paid subscription, I am eternally grateful! Thank you! You won’t only be supporting me, you’ll effectively be sponsoring it for other readers too. It takes a lot of time and energy to build this into a valuable resource (especially the longer process and explanation posts).

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