I’m an independent filmmaker and puppeteer in Toronto, Canada who blogs about puppetry and film.
Rex and Boots are two of the stars of Swazzle’s “Get A Clue” summer reading tour in California. Swazzle is touring California libraries this summer with three puppet shows built around the state’s library summer reading program theme, “Get a Clue”. Turns out that’s also the tagline of this summer’s new Nancy Drew movie and...
An early prototype of Jeff Pidgeon’s upcoming vinyl beaver figure produced by Gentle Giant (click on the image for an uncropped, full-size pic). I love the work of Jeff Pidgeon. He’s an alumni of the CalArts animation program and works in a variety of styles, but they all have the same great zany, cartoony edge...
Steve Snowball is quickly gaining devoted fans through Frosty’s 12 Days of Christmas. I know a breakout puppet star when I see one…as you may recall a few days ago I gushed about the adorable little Steve Snowball in Frosty’s Twelve Days of Christmas (see previous post). Steve has been gaining fans fast since the...
Frosty the Snowman counts down to Christmas in Swazzle’s latest podcast. Swazzle kicked off their latest podcast today, Frosty’s 12 Days of Christmas. Over the next 12 days Frosty the Snowman and his pal Steve the Snowball will be counting down to Christmas on the show with some very special guests. This show is absolutely...
Behind the scenes at a recent Swazzle video shoot for their web series The Swazzle Workshop. Anita has some great behind-the-scenes photos from recent Swazzle video shoots at the Chiodo Bros. studio in L.A. in her Flickr photo stream. Especially interesting are the pics from Swazzle’s recent shoot for the California Library Association, which you...
Swazzle Workshop is a new puppet web series where puppets explain how to build puppets. Swazzle has started a brand new monthly puppet web series called Swazzle Workshop that’s hosted by two of their characters, Tiger (Sean Johnson) and Mousedeer (Victoria Lee). Each episode shows viewers how to build a puppet at home. Swazzle’s Anita...
A new puppet building tutorial is under way in Sean Johnson’s Puppet 101 Blog. Swazzle’s Johnson brothers are at it again (actually, I don’t think they ever stop!). Patrick is in the midst of a terrific 13 part interview that picks the brain of Ed Eyth, who was Director of Creative Services at the Jim...
The Mystery of Cobblestone Way is an ambitious student puppet film. Following up on yesterday’s post about Magic Meadow, I’ve just heard that the elaborate student puppet film The Mystery of Cobblestone Way (see previous post) – which also features the work of Swazzle brothers Sean and Patrick Johnson – is now available to watch...
Sean Johnson of Swazzle recently started a brand new blog for aspiring puppeteers, Puppet 101, to share some of Sean’s skills, experiences and techniques as well as post things that are of interest to aspiring and working puppeteers. It’s off to a great start so far, so be sure to check it out and go...
Sean wrote earlier this week to let me know that the good folks at Swazzle (see previous post) have a new video trailer out for their live show Harry and the Tyrannosaurs Rex. Click here to watch it (a dial-up version is also...
I never fail to be astonished by the number of “professional” puppetry companies that have awful-looking web sites and really hokey marketing material. I’ll refrain from linking to examples of this unfortunate phenonmenon to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings and instead point out a company that gets it right – California’s Swazzle. One of the best...