Steven!!

Here are some character designs for an elephant called.... Steven.

Sketches

The Haunting of Mary

People wouldn't call me a skeptic or a believer, but I should have known when I moved into old No 42 that it would happen. At first I thought it was the pipes, you know, the things we are suppose to think it is. 

But, unless there was a group of extremely untalented, drum playing mice headlining every night in my plumbing I'm pretty sure there was more to this. After about the fifth pair of vanishing spectacles and the twentieth time I was awakened from otherwise perfect dreams, the logical conclusion would be an investigation.

I wouldn't brag and tell you the house was colossal but it had all sorts of nooks and cranny's, and I couldn't believe my short sighted eyes when I stumbled across a tiny drum kit! 

I'm joking of course, but there was a neat pile of my vanished objects inside one of the walls. Now, the normal thing to do, would be to line up all the children and torture them into confession. But I lived alone, or at least I used to. 

Completely bewildered I decided to leave old No 42, but kept a few antique papery bits from the basement, one of which simply said...  "Mary lives here".

https://www.etsy.com/listing/114383066/mary-the-haunted-marionette

Friendship

Something for her to wear

Continuing with the Mary Marionette.... 

....After baking the head I used it to mark out a simple template, this will help keep other body parts in proportion.

Painting the head...

I began creating a costume for her body... 

Close ups of her shoes and Bloomers!

Mary

I have started work on a new marionette! All I will say at the moment is that, her name is Mary.... Here are some pictures of work on her head....

         

Original Drawings

Hello everyone, I will be putting up original drawings onto my Etsy shop now and again, feel free to take a look at the link below!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mporter1981

Best wishes Mark

1986...

Dorothy

I don't remember everything about her, Especially her eyes. I'm not sure I even saw those eyes, not even once. I try to imagine what kind she would have, almost certain of the colour but the rest is a mystery. I wonder why she hid them? maybe she was just camera shy...

Curiouser and curiouser!

Hello, Here are some pictures of a Curious fellow, Cheshire Cat.

His arms are attached with these big antique buttons.

He is now available in my Etsy shop.. https://www.etsy.com/listing/104369596/cheshire-cat-marionette

Thank you for looking!

Smile...

I set about making paws for Cheshire cat, and added a pivot point to the wrist area, hoping this would allow for some flex later on, I later realized they didn't need to have any detail at all since they would be covered by fur...   

Next I made a little nose for him, this would probably be applied at a very late stage.

I choose a light fur, I did consider covering him in a material for a while but was really going for that 'old worn teddy you left in the attic for 50 years' look. I was hoping the The light fur would enable easier dyeing than A darker one.

You can see here, i'm beginning to work out how the anatomy will look, the white fabric behaves much like an undercoat when painting, giving me an overall picture of how things might look when complete.

Chicken Drumstick anyone? 

After attaching the legs I began adding fur to the body! 

After finishing the Cat I began work on the rods, a slightly more complex set up than usual. His legs will be on a separate rod from his head and body.

Arghh...

I got moved over to Facebook Timeline a few weeks back, What can I say....

A box for Humpty

I finally got around to making more changes to the box and thought I would post some pictures of the final thing!