Leo Puppet construction notes - size matters

photos taken by greg dykstra. sculpt by jerome ranft

First step in making a stop motion puppet - decide how big to make it. This is a huge decision since all the sets and everything will have to be to scale to this size. After some back and forth and consultation with Tim Hittle,  we are going with 8 3/8" which is consistent with what I have read about Aardman's puppets and Tim felt this size was "welcoming to an animator, approachable." This is encouraging since it is also the size of the sculpt Jerome Ranft made for 'Leonardo' . 

Next up Kamela Portuges at Images in Motion will create some test legs. Our big issue is the knee joint. Which is roughly as thin as Jack Skelington's from Nightmare Before Christmas.  Can we keep the current silhouette of the legs? Will we need to beef them up a bit to allow for the armature joint?