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September Sketch Fest Part 55

More selections from Sketchbook #29.


I like C-3PO.

I've been drawing Star Wars imagery since the first movie came out in 1977 when I would have been all of five years old (turning six in October of that year).

Preliminary sketches for (abandoned?) puppet show.

That's right: I was going to make a William Shatner-as-Kirk hand-and-rod puppet and perform Shakespeare monologues with it. I figured performing this material would be easy, since I could sorta do a passable Shatner impression and memorization* wouldn't be an issue because I could refer to the script while being hidden from view myself. I thought I might take it around to various venues in Prince Edward County, singing for my supper, so to speak...maybe open for real performers...

I hadn't (and still haven't) built a puppet of this kind, but once the idea entered my head and I started sketching, I grew more excited about the proposed project. Will it ever happen? Who knows? The night is still young...

Jim Kirk–on...tour?

It had to be Shatner in his Captain Kirk costume from Star Trek for recognizability and for fun. Making this kind of hand puppet would allow for a pretty good likeness, depending on my sculpting/modelling skills, but I began to feel that a sock puppet alternative would allow for greater expression. I guess it depends on the puppeteer; a good one could "act" well with the original design.

The inner workings.

Not that this was necessary, but my excitement got the best of me and I did this funny but redundant drawing showing how my hand would operate his head. It did, however, show potential scale issues relative to hand size.


WTF?

I don't remember exactly what this was supposed to be or what it was for, but a friend sub-contracted me to conjure up an illustration of a very complex geometric structure for a project he was working on. I realized this in the end in the computer using CorelDraw, but this preliminary drawing helped me to figure out what the heck was going on with all those curved planes. It's pretty –and pretty interesting, actually.




*Normally, my terror of having to memorize anything for a performance would sabotage any attempt at such and I would fail, miserably. I'm more confident speaking in front of a crowd if I know the material very well (like telling a story from my life) or if I could refer to notes (or both!).



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