I find that puppet building is never without surprises. I was contacted recently by a client who frequents the video game convention circuit. He wanted to do a Sonic the Hedgehog themed Cosplay, which I found super appealing. He asked if I would be able to recreate Sonic in puppet form for him to take with him to the conventions. I accepted and the work began.
My first thought going in was one of a curious, faux-anxiety. I had never taken on a project that required this intense level of patterning ability and time consuming detail. It was a challenge I was happy to approach. I cannot begin to describe the hours that went into the making of this puppet.
The first decision to make was how I was going to get my patterns. I could try to sculpt the character in clay, as I have done before with other characters, or I could try to find some sort of totem or statue of the character to base my patterns on. I decided that the complexity of the shape was above my sculpting ability, and so I set out looking for an accurate representation of Sonic. I settled on a VERY expensive, limited edition toy that had been produced of the character. The piece was rare, and I had to pay $100 just to get my hands on one. That said, it was entirely worth it, even though the toy had to be disassembled and destroyed.
Check out the gallery of photos below to see how this project came together. Enjoy, and as always, please contact me at [email protected] for inquiries about custom builds.
