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The best thing about stop motion puppetry is that there is not only one way to do it.
Whether you decide to animate an existing object, a marionette, a clay figure, or a full-on realistic puppet they can all work out at the end.
However, there are two things you should take into account while building your puppets and that, if taken into account, would make your animating process much easier.
Those are STURDINESS and FLEXIBILITY.
Your puppet’s body and structure should balance these 2 qualities out. You don’t want your puppet to be too flimsy but neither rock solid.
You will need them to be steady enough to hold a posture but also flexible enough to be able to give the illusion of movement.
Sounds too difficult? Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be. I’m about to guide you through the whole process.
Let’s get started!
Character design
Planning is a must in stop motion and believe me, I’ve learned the hard way.
When I started working with stop motion, I spent so many hours working on puppets that ended up not being functional for my story.
I’ll tell you why: your puppet has to be designed based on what the movements and actions they will be doing.
So try to figure these main things before you start building them:
-Will my stop motion puppet speak? (If so you’ll need mouth replacement or a flexible mouth made out of plasticine)
-What does my character do?
-Will be frame it from the waist up or would it walk instead?
All of these are very important and they will guide you on choosing the right materials for your character construction.
Focus on what would help you during your stop motion production process.
For me flexible materials and mouth/eye replacements are a must but it all depends on who your character is and how he will be portrayed.
Don’t spend a lot of time on building a set of legs if they’re not gonna be shown or used.
Instead, sketch your puppet and write down its height, width and main functions. Once you know these things the process will be so much easier.
Still not sure about which materials you should use?
Let’s go through the basics.
Armature
If you’ve decided to make your character out of soft clay then you don’t really need an armature.
A puppet armature is like a human’s skeleton, it will help you keep your character steady and hold its limbs together.
Keep in mind that even though your character’s armature needs to be sturdy enough to prevent your puppet from falling apart it still needs to be flexible and allow you to move it around.
As mentioned previously, 12 and up to 24 frames will constitute a second of your stop motion animation. Each one of those frames represents a change in your puppet’s posture so being able to move your character freely and danger free is a must.
Here are the main stop motion puppet armatures available out there:
Doll armatures
While using this might seem silly, doll armatures are actually underrated.
This is a very cheap solution that you can easily buy online for around $10.
They offer almost a full puppet mobility and you can complete your puppet body using foam wrapped around the body with a bit of tape.
Have a look at my first stop motion puppet. I used a wooden mannequin for this one and although it was tough to hold some positions with it the jerkiness of it served my story very well.
Wire and epoxy putty armature
Aluminium wire is the cheapest, easiest and best material to work with if you have a restrained budget. You want to buy 10, 11, 12 gauge wires since anything thicker or thinner than that would not do its job properly. So get something with at least ⅛ diameter.
The thicker your wire is the studier your character will be. However, your character will not be flexible. And it’s the same the other way around: the thinner your wire the more flexible but chances are it will break at some point during your shoot.
This is how you build a wire armature for your stop motion puppet.
Cut the pieces of wire to create your puppet limbs.
Use one for the legs and hips, another one for the shoulders and arms and a third one simulating your neck and spine.
Twist them using a power drill to help yourself.
Lay your body parts on top of your sketch.
Use some carved foam to make the character’s shoes and glue then into the wire.
Use epoxy putty to create your character’s bones (you only need to leave the joints uncovered to that your character can move)
Ball and socket armatures
These are the professional armatures used in animation studios. However, using them is not complicated at all, in fact, you could not possibly get a better armature for a stop motion puppet.
Ball and socket armatures are made out of metal and they are extremely durable, they hold positions very well and they provide you with an incomparable subtlety in movement.
You can also get them with a rig that you can attach to your puppet’s body so that your character does not lose its balance.
Rigs are also used in order to animate actions. With one of these, you can make your character do anything you want, from flying and spinning in the air to running or walking around the set.
Heads and accessories
You can make your puppet’s head using different arts and craft materials.
You can then cover them using oil-based or hardening clay and then finish off with other materials or paint which pretty much depends on the type of puppet you want to make.
Head bases:
–Polystyrene craft balls. Aluminum foil.
-Wood. Clay
Materials to cover it with:
–Clay (oild based or hardening)
–Felt
-Foam latex
-Mouths/Eyes/ Eyebrows
If you would like to incorporate dialogue or mouth expressions into your character you will need some mouth replacements.
You can have one oil-based clay mouth that you can model and reshape on the go or you can have several replacements made of hardening clay or something as simple as wood or paper.
Eyes are also very easy. I like getting a box of white doll eyes and then painting them.
These are great because they have a little hole in them that will let you move the eye without the need of creating replacements.
For your puppet’s hair and eyebrows, I would choose something like craft paper, clay, wool, or knitting yarn.
-Hands and feet
Again this depends pretty much on the materials you want to use to create your puppet.
You can have clay hands and feet which only require to be sculpted.
Or you can have wired based hands and feet that are then covered by other materials like knitting wool, foam latex, or cotton.
-Clothes
For your stop motion puppet’s clothes, you can use felt, actual fabric, or clay to make your character’s outfits.
Body
We’ve already gone through the different armature options for your stop motion puppet.
But this is just the first step of making a stop motion puppet. It is just a skeleton.
So how do we fill this skeleton with flesh?
Well, there are several options out there and I have listed them below from less to more difficult.
-Puppets made out of craft materials
These techniques work for both wired or ball and socket armatures.
You can use either one of these to create the bulk of your puppet.
Simply cut the foam or cotton into strips and wrap it around your puppet’s body. You can then hold it in place with a bit of tape.
Remember not to cover the puppet’s joints or else you won’t be able to move your character properly.
This technique would give an interesting look to your character. However, you need to have some carving tools and saws on hand.
Wood can be used to make the body and head of your stop motion puppet. However, I wouldn’t recommend making your character’s extremities out of it.
You can always make your puppet’s legs out of wire and attach them to the body.
This material is very stiff and although it will make your character look cool you need to keep in mind you won’t be able to move it.
Sourced from Puppets in Prague.
Felted puppets are made out of colored wool needled into a solid base.
Although it takes a while to master the technique the final puppets are incomparable to any other technique.
In order to create one of these, you need to grab a bunch of wool and wrap it around your puppet’s body.
You then poke the wool with one of these felting needles and push it in and out until the wool settles down and becomes stiffer.
I’ve used this method before by cutting small pieces of kraft paper and sticking them into my character’s body with glue to then paint them.
It is a laborious task that usually pays off well and it’s very cheap. Here’s an example.
Clay puppets
Clay puppets are made out of plasticine and they are a great way to start with for 3 reasons:
-You don’t need an armature
-You can animate the body parts easily without having the need of making loads of mouth/eye replacements.
-It is the most flexible and sturdy material that you could use. All in one.
All you need to do is sculpting your clay with some carving tools and your puppet will be ready in no time.
I am particularly obsessed with Newplast , it is the clay used by Aardman Studios who produced the famous “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit”(2005) and “Shaun the Sheep” (2015) between other great stop motion films.
This type of clay never dries out and it doesn’t give the normally oily finishing touch to your figures. It is also very flexible and sturdy enough to hold your puppets without the need of having an armature.
Molds and foam latex methods
This method is preferred by big-scale stop motion productions since they need several copies of the same character in order to animate different scenes at the same time.
Foam latex puppets mold method is the only way to ensure puppets look the same since they are made out of the same mold which is based on a sculpt of your final puppet.
For independent stop motion projects and short films you only really need one puppet but you still might want to consider this method.
Sourced from Animate Clay.com Foam Puppet Captain Jet Lag. Picture from Scott Gamble
PROS
-Foam latex never creases, creaks, or decays and it is very flexible. Your outside surface will not lose its shape.
CONS
-It is time-consuming.
-You will learn through trial and error.
-Need a place and special appliances for it.
-Deals with delicate and poisonous materials.
Always use gloves and work in a ventilated room when working with these materials since they are toxic and can cause damage to your skin.
Steps:
1.Sculpt your puppet in oil-based clay.
2.Lay the sculpture down on a bed of potters clay (clay that hardens). Do 1 for the back, 1 for the front.
3.Remove the clay sculpture and lay your armature into the mold.
4.Build a wall around the clay bed and cover it with plaster (Ultracal 30).Put the other half of the mold on top
5.Bake it in the oven (a different one from your daily one) until both halves harden.
6.Take your mold out of the oven and open it.
7.Get rid of the extra flesh and paint your puppet with latex paint or airbrushes
Latex Build Up Puppets
Still, want a latex skinned puppets but can’t be bothered to follow the previous method?
There is another way to achieve a similar look.
–Build a puppet using whichever armature
–Create a head base out of foam or aluminum foil and make the features out of clay (the one that hardens)
–Wrap cotton around your armature.
-Brush liquid latex rubber over the cotton.
–Wait for it to dry and then paint with acrylic or latex paint.
3D printed puppets
Movie masterpieces like Anomalisa (2015), Boxtrolls(2014), or Nightmare before Christmas (1993) were made using 3d printed face replacements for their puppets.
It basically entails making hundreds if not thousands of small face sets with your puppet’s different facial expressions which are printed using a 3D printer.
Faces are usually split in two by the eye line to separate eyebrow and mouth expressions.
The process is very complicated and is it the most expensive out there. You need to have specific knowledge of digital modeling and know how to work around 3d machinery.
Although the process is much more complicated these are the main steps:
-Need a matrix with the face sets you are going to be needing.
-Create a 2 dimensional map and Face split in 2 to maximize options.
–Model faces in Blender and later export into Rhinoceros.
-Export in VMRL and Finish surfaces in Rhino.
–Optimise with Materialise magic (optimization of the maths involved.)
–3d printing and final assembly.
Useful guides
These 2 books take an incredible in-depth look into the art of stop motion and how to create your stop motion puppets.
They’ve been my “go-to” guides for years since they offer step by step instructions in everything from puppet making to animating stop motion puppets.
They even offer training techniques, set up, and equipment advice.
If you are just starting and you are looking for an extended read about stop motion I would strongly recommend these books.
Once your puppets are ready you will be ready to animate them and bring your characters to life!
Not too sure about how to make a stop motion video?
Check my article on “ How to make a stop motion animation step by step- 7 tips for beginners” for more information.
Happy puppet-making!
-Ana