Jarrod Boutcher Puppets

This is something I did for Jarrod Boutcher, super talented puppet designer/creator who did the Little Brother puppet I blogged about ever so long ago. Jarrod always amazes me with the variety of characters that he creates and I've long wanted to paint some of his characters. You should really check out his blog here .

Little Brother is done!

One last normal post before I begin my Halloween posting tomorrow. When last we left the awesome puppet that Jarrod Boutcher was making based on my sketches, the poor little guy was naked. Actually, Little Brother doesn't mind being naked, but at his family's insistence he usually wears a bit more than that. He has several favorite shirts, all Spider-Man, and generally prefers to go pantsless, with only his diaper down below.

I thought Jarrod would simply be able to go down to the store and pick up a boys Spider-Man t-shirt, cut a whole in the back for my arm and slip it on the puppet. Turns out due to the unique proportions of the puppet, he had to make it from scratch. Not only did he sew the shirt, but he also screened the webs and Spider design on. What a ton of work making a puppet is- not for me, but certainly for someone as thoroughly dedicated as Jarrod.

Below you can see the finished product, Little Brother, standing looking cute and seemingly innocent, next to my original sketch which suggests his other nature.

And here he is, again compared to my original sketch, showing his short temper. Sometimes he forgets that he's not the boss.

To check him out in action, click this link to see the video that Jarrod posted of him. I can't wait for him to show up on my doorstep! In the meantime, don't forget that tomorrow starts the 21 days of Halloween on this blog, 21 spooky sketches, one for each weekday of October. Come back every day, tell your friends, and leave comments! See you then!

Little Brother Puppet Pt II

I'm so flippin' excited. Jarrod has made amazing progress with the puppet he and I are collaborating on. Below you can see the head, with the skin tightly sewn on. Notice how the cheeks which were previously foam forms, are now just soft curves under the skin. The silver wires that you see are the eyebrow mechanism. Little Brother has a hair trigger temper- tell him ,"no" and he is not happy.


Here you can see all of the pieces more or less assembled. Love that he gave him doll joints for the arms and legs. This is really going to look and move like a real kid (or at least a professional puppet) and not something from your local toy store's shelf).

I don't even have words for the final picture. Awesome isn't nearly adequate.

I think I mentioned that Little Brother is obsessed with Spider Man. So I've asked Jarrod to put him in a kids Spider Man shirt, and a big puffy diaper (Little Brother doesn't like wearing pants). I can't wait to see the next update! Be sure to check out Jarrod's blog and website, not only for a few other pictures of this puppet, but also for a ton of the most amazing character puppets you'll ever see.

Little Brother: The Puppet Pt I

I'm collaborating with super talented Puppet Designer, Jarrod Boutcher on a puppet. I've mentioned a few times, that my daughter likes to play a game we call Little Brother. She plays herself, or more recently a teenage version of herself, and I play her bratty 2 year old brother. As such, I get into lots of trouble and she acts as the authority. She gets to punish, yell, and be the sibling whose good at just about everything. I think it's very therapeutic role reversal for her, which is why I've played it with her for so many years now. However, it is a bit repetetive and awkward for me. How many times can a grown man pretend to be a two year old? Anyway, when I was discussing with Jarrod about a puppet that I'd like to order, it suddenly dawned on me that a Little Brother puppet would make this game a lot more enjoyable. I have Little Brother's personality more well defined than his actual look, and since I trust Jarrod's design instincts so well, I've given him lots of description but only a few rough sketches.

The page of drawings above didn't feel quite right. The two at the bottom were better, but he looked too old. Little Brother should just past the toddler stage, where a kid is talking and walking and mobile enough to be trouble, but not old enough for school. Preschool maybe. We often say he's two but I think he's a bit older.

A lot of what I know about Little Brother has just come from playing the game so much and trying to be consistent with him. My daughter knows when I change something about him. He's obsessed with Spider Man, so I've asked Jarrod to put him in a Spider Man shirt. Other than that, he just wears a diaper. He's usually messy, with a small patch of uncombed hair. He goes from happy to angry really quick, so there's going to be an eyebrow mechanism to accomplish this. And I also wanted him to be able to kinda snicker mischeviously, and I noticed that Oscar the Grouch has a unique mouth, in that besides opening up and down, it also has a bit of side to side play. So I thought that would be good to allow little brother to snicker. Below are some of the progress shots that Jarrod has put on his blog.

The basic head shape.

Look what a great match that is for the design on the second page of sketches.

How do you cover a round form? Skin for the head.

The skin, laid loose over the form of the head, with some foam for cheeks added.

Believe it or not, these are arm patterns.

And the inner structure of Little Brother's pudgy little arms.

More to come...

Take that Skeletor!

Little Brother plays He-Man. No matter what he's playing, be it action figures, cars, or Legos, there are always lots of explosions and consequently lots of spitting.

Yet again... Little Brother

More of the character my daughter and I affectionately refer to as "Little Brother". Here you can see him being defiant...

and greedy.
This last one shows him being dragged away by Mom. This usually earns her a few attempted swats of retalliation and cries of "Let go of me, woman!"

Little Brother Returns

A while back, I talked about a game I play with my daughter that we call Little Brother. We've been playing it so long that the character of Little Brother has really solidified in both of our minds. I decided I'd draw a couple sketches of little brother, as those sketches in the other post actually predate our playing the Little Brother game. Little Brother frequently shouts and stomps around. He's rarely clothed in more than a diaper (perhaps with a Spider-Man t-shirt)

Little Brother is often caught stealing sweets between meals. Generally it's his big sister (my daughter), using her magic powers of invisibility, who catches him. She uses her magic wand to turn the sweets into fruits or vegetables just as he puts them in his mouth.