File puptcrit/puptcrit.0708, message 248


Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:49:36 -0700
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: The Independent Eye <eye-AT-independenteye.org>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Speaking of Eyes...


Friends-

	There may have been dozens of posts on this particular method 
over the history of Puptcrit, but being a newcomer I'll share this 
for what it's worth.

	We've often used small glass globs (I don't know what else 
they're called), which I can still find at hobby stores - I think 
people use them as decorative additions to ashtrays and what-all. 
Some are colored, but some are plain glass.  They're slightly oval.

	I use mostly the size that's roughly 3/4" (there are larger, 
also smaller).  One side is flat, the other has a slight curvature. 
With acrylic, I paint a pupil, then an iris, then white-of-eye on the 
flat backside, with the curved surface as the front of the puppet's 
eye.  When the exact size and placement of pupil & iris are what I 
want, I epoxy the eye in place.

	The advantages are:

	* The curvature catches a highlight, as a real eye would, and 
the thickness of the glass, with the iris behind about 1/8" of glass, 
gives a feeling of life, the diffraction giving a slight degree of 
"movement" to the eye.  (Course if you don't want that, don't do it.)
	* You can experiment with the placement of the pupils until 
you've got it exactly right; if it's wrong, just scrape off the paint 
and start over.  So you can get a very direct stare, a kind of 
"defocused" effect, etc.  Can be naturalistic or very stylized.
	* They're very cheap.

	I usually start designing these as I'm sculpting the head in 
plasticene, painting and fitting the eyes in place temporarily as I 
sculpt.  So the eyes become much more organic and central to the face 
as it evolves.  I think we sometimes assume that the eyes, being 
smaller, are less important than the larger planes & profiles of the 
face.  But my belief is that evolution has programmed us to be 
incredibly sensitive to eye focus: you can tell immediately if 
someone across the street is actually focused on you or not - we get 
the instant message if we're a target of being killed or eaten, and 
this passes over into puppet shows.

	We don't have really good renditions that illustrate this on 
our website - will try to do some better close-ups at some point. 
But you can scan the photos from MARVELS at 
http://www.independenteye.org/plays/marvels.html or MACBETH at 
http://www.independenteye.org/plays/macbeth.html (we used four heads 
for MACBETH, progressively aging him, and the eye focus changed 
radically, from the Ollie North war hero to the distracted politician 
to the nightmare-ridden killer to the burnt-out cinder.  Oh, also the 
bottom-most photo from INANNA at 
http://www.independenteye.org/plays/inanna.html.

	For what it's worth.

Peace & joy-
Conrad
The Independent Eye, Ltd.


-- 
****************************************************************

Our radio series HITCHHIKING OFF THE MAP is available free on 
streaming audio through The Independent Eye's website at 
<http://www.independenteye.org>, where you can also find our 
broadcast schedule.

And-
The Hitchhikers Audio Library of unforgettable CDs:

           NATIVITY - Women's journeys of pregnancy, birth, shadow & sun.
      THE DESCENT OF INANNA - The Sumerian myth of descent & resurrection.
  FAMILY SNAPSHOTS - When you were too frazzled to grab the camera.
           LIFE JOURNEYS - Five true-life stories of crossroads, 
choice & change.
      MIGRATION ROUTES -  Stories of immigrants to America.
WALT, PATTY & THE GANG - Wit & wisdom from the belly of the beast.
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