Al the Alien

I built this alien puppet for the Jim Henson Puppet Improv show “Puppet Up!” Al the Alien made his stage debut at The Improv in Hollywood.

I had a great time working in the Creature Shop, located in "The Barn" at the Jim Henson studio in Hollywood. The Barn once held the carpentry shop for the Charlie Chaplin Studio, and is one of the oldest continuously operating buildings in Hollywood.

Al the Alien was designed by puppeteer Julianne Buescher and built under the guidance of longtime Henson builder Jane Gootnick (Dark Crystal, Muppet Show, Muppets Tonight, Muppets Wizard of Oz), with valuable input and advice from talented puppet builder Eric Englehardt. Jane and Eric were both very generous with their time and taught me many new building techniques.

The alien's head was carved from a block of soft foam that I smoothed out with a belt sander. He's painted with a mixture of flock glue and acrylic pigment.

Al's next stop is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Summer is here!

Bragging

I may not be able to update my blog on a daily basis for a while. We've been gearing up for the summer shows, and things are pretty crazy at Swazzle World Headquarters.

Along with all the work we're doing on our two new shows, we've had the opportunity to work on some exciting projects.

I recently helped design the head of a marionette for some new Old Navy commercials. (I'll write more about that when the spots air.) Also, Sean and I are building some puppets at the Creature Shop for Jim Henson's Puppet Improv, a new venture that combines puppetry and improvisational comedy before a live audience.

Sketch of the Week

Here is another very early sketch I drew for Hazel and the Dragon. I drew this in pen before the script was done as the story was beginning to take shape.

Walnut

Walnut The Wizard is the a wise old magician who sends Hazel on her adventure in Hazel and the Dragon. The three main characters in the show -- Hazel, Filbert and Walnut -- are all squirrels and named after different nuts, although most people I've talked to after our shows think they're rabbits or dogs or something. Maybe if they lived in a tree, their species might be more apparent.