A short time ago, comic creator and artist Jim Allen contacted me about bringing one of his characters to life in the form of a three dimensional puppet. I was more than excited to do so. Jim was able to offer me great art to work from, including several other tidbits about the character that helped shape the finished product. I actually used quite a few new techniques in the process of this build. One of the tricks I used was carving a solid piece of foam into his nose shape. The nose was too big for my vacuum forming machine to handle, so I carved it from foam and covered it with dyed fleece. The colors on this puppet were a bit tricky to nail. His five o’clock shadow had to look natural with the rest of his face. I also carved his tongue from dyed foam, and patterned his teeth out of a closed cell foam. All in all, this was a great experience for me, and Jim was a treat to work with. Check out the pictures of the build below as well as this video of me discussing the project at greater length. And be sure to check out The Beauforts comic strips here: www.thebeauforts.com
