Ed Eyth Interview Part 7

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: When designing characters for a show like The Hoobs or Animal Jam, how many drawings do you produce a day?

EE: That depends on the day. In the beginning of a project, the initial concept work, I can do as many as 50 rough thumbnail sketches that describe various ideas in a day.

That may sound like a lot, but keep in mind they're often tiny doodles and require refinement for presentation. Developing the keepers from those thumbnails takes more time, and I may only work up five or 10 of those more-rendered drawings in a day.