Creating Variations

When designing a puppet for someone else, it can be challenging to come up with enough variations. Once you draw a character you like, lightly trace it several times on another sheet of paper. Use the light copies as a starting point to create different versions of the original sketch. Try changing the size of the eyes or the shape of the nose and experimenting with colors and textures. If you don't come up with a character you like, just retrace your original sketch and start the process over.

Here's a concept drawing I did of Boots for our new puppet show Rex and Boots Super Sleuths. The image on the left is my original sketch. The final drawing was done with illustration marker and color pencil.