Ed Eyth Interview Part 2

Ed Eyth has had an extensive and diverse artistic career. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and prior to that majored in Visual Communication at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He has served as a production designer, a set and costume designer and a puppet designer for a variety of film and television productions. His film credits include Hook, The Rocketeer and Captain EO.

For nearly 10 years Eyth was Director of Creative Services for the Jim Henson Company. While at Henson, he designed characters for shows like Muppets Tonight, Mopatop's Shop and Animal Jam, as well as the video feature Kermit's Swamp Years. I asked him to share his thoughts on puppet design.



PJ: Describe your design process.

EE: I go through pretty much the same process no matter what the design assignment is. Simply put, it's three phases: ideation, development and final design.

I begin by defining what's required for the project, then doing an initial series of ideation sketches to suggest possible solutions. This is my favorite part of the process, since it's when the real creativity can happen. It's the big "what if?" phase, and to me that's the essence of design -- asking and answering the question "what if?"

What if the character were thin? What if he were fat? What if he had a huge head? What if he had tiny feet to contrast? If you really open yourself to considering options, you can make the most of the design challenge and explore a vast range of possibilities. That's what makes a great designer: divergent thinking and effective visual communication -- how effectively you consider and answer the "what if" question, and how well you communicate your answers.



I usually do rough thumbnail sketches to quickly capture a gesture or the essence of something in my head. One sketch can generate a whole series of variations, and often the process becomes self-perpetuating -- visual improvisation. Those sketches are then edited down to eliminate any substandard or impractical ideas. The keepers are refined for presentation.



Usually one or more ideas will emerge as the best solutions, and those will move into a development phase where they're clarified and scrutinized to make sure they conform to all the constraints: budget, fabrication methods, color options, performance requirements, etc. This is where the process becomes more convergent as you narrow down details and refine the design to a level where it can be finalized, functional, fabricated and, most importantly, performable.



The final phase is usually where a color rendering is completed, along with turnaround drawings that show the front, back and side views. If that last phase is done effectively, it simplifies the process of transforming a 2D drawing into a 3D character or puppet.