To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 15:47:01 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppet Collaborations for the hollidays


Branden, good points!

You remind me of the old surrealists, who made up entire sentences as a 
group, using a very clever process to ensure that no single person would be 
able to take control of the direction.

They made a sentence structure, perhaps even deciding how many words would 
be used, then each person would write their assigned word, not knowing what 
the other words were.
Of course, they knew the type of word (verb, subject, complement) that they 
were supposed to write, and I think possibly the gender or number.


Whatever we choose, it better be quick, if we ever want to actuallt make it 
happen. The more we complexify, the more difficult and delayed it will be.
Still, a certain level of complexity is required to limit one designer's 
control over the design.

In our case, we could use the puppet's structure itself as a sentence.
Here is an example I submit: (totally a suggestion, let's all agree on one 
process, whichever it may be)


First pass: everyone submits body parts for the group to use. I suggest 
drawings, preferably cleaned up black and white, at 300 dpi of resolution. 
Each body part should be drawn separately, and if pairs are needed, pairs 
should be put close together on the final montage page.
Each particpant's "parts sheet" is assigned a number.

.skull shape
.eye shape
.mouth shape
.nose/snout shape
.ear/gill shape
.tooth/fang shape
.arm shape
.hand/paw/claw shape
.fingernail/talon/
.leg shape
.foot/hoof/paw shape
.torso shape
.tail shape
.texture shape (fur, scales, feathers, skin, rock, wood) (could varry in 
different body parts)


Second Pass: First Build
Every participant chooses a number at random, to select a body part in each 
category (from 1 to 3, if three participants) and makes up a creature, using 
all the received parts. The parts can be scaled up or down, and positionned 
wherever physically plausible, allowing for mutations of course.

Third Pass: Risk and Coherence
Each design is passed on to someone else, who will play a bit with it and 
add coherence. By this I mean to bring all the elements together into an 
efficient design that would work as a puppet on stage.

Since each person will see his/her design at the mercy of another designer, 
they may be tempered in their attempts. The challenge to the ego may be very 
interesting to witness.

Fourth Pass: puppet building
Each person is given a design to build, according to what the group decides. 
I'd suggest making sure the builder receives the one design he/she hasn't 
worked on.  So each resulting puppet will have multiple designers.  One 
question remains for the group to decide: who will keep each puppet?
It would be cheaper on the wallet (shipping costs) if the builder kept the 
puppet, but swaps may be more fun.


Fifth Pass: Presentation
An online exhibition of the results, with the entire process represented, 
but in brief.
I suggest a simple slideshow.


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