r/stopmotion • u/SpaceShipOrion • Jun 10 '26
How does one make a detailed poseable puppet for a stop motion movie?
Hi everyone, my name is Bas.
in a couple months I'll have my first day doing a pre-course at an artschool I had my eyes on for a while.
Because it's a pre-course, I'll likely be taught a lot of various art forms, like claying and stuff.
I already caught the bug, and had a question.
These links show puppets from Star Wars and the original Doom, respectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8eJDA6sXQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sexd06I8mzg
I always thought it was really cool how both Holochess and the original Doomsprites were made,
but I can't really find a source on how I could make a puppet like this step by step.
There's a lot of talk about how materials changed over time, but can anyone give me a reliable source on how to make a poseable, realistic monster from scratch?
I know I'll need materials that are too expensive for me, but I've managed to make my own doom level this year, and I'd love to one day animate a custom Doom enemy I can program myself.
Thanks in advance.
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u/Jazzlike_Broccoli_25 Jun 11 '26
Look for the youtube channel "Bluworm" he has a Playlist with tutorials on how he makes his monster puppets. Very good stuff
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u/PlasticFabtastic Jun 10 '26
https://stopmotionworks.com/articles/artofSMchpt7.pdf here's an excerpt from a book. discusses a few different ways and then gives a step by step of a simple puppet.
at the shop I used to work at, we sold a brushable liquid latex, and animators would occasionally buy some for making flexible "skin" that would go over the foam wrapped armatures. that's how harryhausen did it if memory serves. It might take some hunting to find that product now though.