Testing Stu

Some of the things we were asked to do with the Stu character this week were related to getting to know the "rig", which can be euqated loosely to a puppet. There are controls at the joints, and usually some custom control built in to help articulate subtle movement within the body. I've found that this rig is pretty darn good, and I didn't really do much breaking of it, unless I went beyond the physical constraints of the character.

Warren had mentioned in our Q&A to pay particular attention to clear line of action, clarity in the pose, meaning that the pose communicates well, even if it were to be viewed as a silouette, and to give the character motivation. Ask ourselves what the story is, the situation. Make it personal add...well...character. So, I started playing this the idea that Stu is testing a body of water. A pool? A pond? Doesn't matter. What does matter is he has to test it with his toes, and he's sure it's going to be cold which he's not looking forward to. The three poses below are chronological from left to right of my attempts to convey Stu's trepidation. After one and two didn't do it well enough, I went outside and had Sara (my Wife) video me trying the same pose, and things jumped out at me immediately. Can you guess what?