John Kennedy (top centre) and puppeteers on the set of The Sure Sheep.

John Kennedy has teamed up with Heather Henson’s company IBEX on a new project for kids called The Sure Sheep, an original short film for Handmade Puppet Dreams for Kids. John’s developed a couple of really innovative-sounding techniques for the film; a method for computer animating a puppet’s legs and what he describes as “a new puppet skin technique which enables foam sculptors to paint and detail a flexible latex skin directly on a finished foam puppet head.”

A really talented crew that consisted of some of the best puppeteers in Florida worked on this, including John himself (who also served as director), Jamie and James Donmoyer, Scott and James Silson, Scotty Shoemaker, Tracie Mick-Shoemaker, Rob Lott, Tony Whitten and several others. You can read more about The Sure Sheep at the link above and also check out the film’s storyboards.

The Sure Sheep will be screened at the Smithsonian’s Discovery Theater next weekend on October 3rd and 4th as part of Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams For Kids. After the October 4th screening John will be giving a special puppet workshop teaching how to make the “Sweatshirt Sheep” seen in the film. Plus, it’s also the final weekend of the Jim Henson’s Fantastic World exhibit that’s currently on display at the Smithsonian so if you’re in or near Washington D.C. next weekend (especially with kids) don’t miss it.