Interview: Why Practical Puppets Still Matter in the Age of Digital Characters

From blockbuster films and television productions to advertising campaigns and live performances, practical creature effects continue to occupy a unique place alongside digital characters. While modern CG has expanded what's possible on screen, physical puppets still bring an immediacy and spontaneity that can be difficult to recreate digitally. Their presence isn't just visual—they influence performers, directors, cinematographers, and everyone sharing the set.

At Furry Puppet Studio, every character begins long before fabrication. Early sketches, foam sculptures, material exploration, and performance testing all contribute to the final result, with each design evolving through constant iteration between concept art and physical construction. 

We spoke with Creative Director, Zack Buchman, about designing memorable creatures, balancing artistic expression with practical fabrication, developing custom workflows for different productions, and why the future of practical effects isn't about competing with CG, but working alongside it.

Furry Puppet Studio describes its work as bringing "awesome" back to puppetry. How would you define the studio's creative philosophy, and what do you think makes a great puppet or creature design memorable?

Zack Buchman, Creative Director: I think a great puppet has to feel like a very real person or creature, even before it moves. It needs a point of view. Sometimes that comes from the eyes, sometimes from the silhouette, something that immediately feels alive.

I try not to over-design. If there is too much detail, the puppet can start to feel stiff. The best ones usually have one clear idea, a strong expression, and a real presence. You understand them quickly, but they still feel like they could grow into something.

Can you walk us through your typical production pipeline, from the earliest client brief or character idea to sketches, material tests, fabrication, finishing, performance testing, and final delivery?

Zack Buchman: It usually starts with a lot of sketching. I try to capture as much loose, free-flowing energy as I can early, because the process gets technical fast and that early energy is easy to lose. Sometimes the very first scribble is the one we keep coming back to.

Once a direction feels right, we carve a rough version out of foam. That is when it becomes real. Unlike a drawing, you cannot cheat the structure with a physical puppet. It has to work from every angle, and the mouth has to actually function. There is a lot of R&D in here, testing materials and figuring out how the thing is built.

The eyes go in near the very end, and that step is bigger than it sounds. A small change in the eyes can completely change who the character is. Then we put it in the puppeteer's hands, test it, adjust, and keep going until it stops feeling like an object.

Your team works across puppet making, character design, creatures, and original characters for film, TV, advertising, and live productions. How does the design process change depending on whether a puppet is built for close-up camera work, live performance, commercial production, or social/video content?

Zack Buchman: It mostly comes down to how close the viewer gets, and how long the puppet has to survive. For close-up camera work, like the campaign we did with Apple in Japan, everything is exposed. Small asymmetries, the weave of the fabric, the way light catches the eyes. It all reads, so the finishing has to be very controlled.

A mascot or a live character is almost the opposite problem. We built Frankie Focus for New York State, and something like that has to read big and clear, hold up while someone performs inside it for hours, and still feel alive from across a room.

Advertising and social usually sit in between, but the puppet often has to still land instantly. With the Nike campaign we did with NIGO, the character had to feel right on camera and also hold up on a real set with people improvising around it. I actually like that tension. It's fun.

What materials, tools, and fabrication techniques are most central to your workflow, and how do you decide what a specific character needs in terms of foam, fur, fabric, mechanics, armatures, eyes, or animatronic elements?

Zack Buchman: Foam is still at the center of how I usually like to work. Almost everything starts as a foam sculpture carved by hand. Either as a mock-up or as the base of the puppet. I made that choice early and have stuck with it because of how warm it is. You make hundreds of small, intuitive decisions that end up in the final puppet, and I find that the soul of whoever carved it stays in there.

After that, it is fabric, fur, paint, and whatever the character seems to be asking for. 3D printing has been a lot of fun for us, especially for eyes and internal parts that need to be precise. Having access to a wide range of materials matters a lot, so we source from all over.

On mechanics, I try to use as little as the project allows. Animatronics and servos are wonderful when a character truly needs them, but more movement is not automatically better. If a strong pose and a good natural movement do the job, I would rather keep it simple and let the performance carry it.

A puppet needs to look appealing as a sculptural object, but it also has to perform. How do you balance visual design, durability, performer comfort, range of motion, expressiveness, and practical needs on set?

Zack Buchman: That balance is basically the whole job. A puppet can look beautiful sitting on a table and feel wrong the moment a performer has to bring it to life. I think about the puppeteer very early, sometimes before the design is even finished. Their timing and energy become part of the character, so if the puppet is fighting them, you see it immediately. So we test a lot and collaborate a lot.

In an era dominated by CG characters and digital effects, what do practical puppets still offer that is difficult to replicate digitally, especially in terms of personality, texture, spontaneity, or audience connection?

Zack Buchman: I do not see it as puppets versus CG. They feed each other. A lot of digital character work borrows from the visual language of puppetry, and plenty of what we do borrows back. I find the line between them is blurrier than people assume.

What a physical puppet has is that it is in the room. It exists in real time; the actors can touch it and react to it, and the whole crew can feel it. That changes the energy on set. Some of the best moments are things nobody planned.

For artists interested in creature design or practical character fabrication, what skills do you think are most valuable to develop, and what should they understand about turning a great drawing into something that can actually be built and performed?

Zack Buchman: The biggest thing is understanding that a drawing is only the beginning. A drawing can be beautiful, but once you start building it, the character starts pushing back. Some ideas get better in reality, some fall apart immediately, and sometimes the accident is the best part. I think the main skill is staying flexible enough to listen to what the material is telling you.

I would tell artists to design and build and then design again. Cut foam, sew, glue, make a rough head in an afternoon. You learn very quickly what a line on paper actually means when it becomes an object. Your brain learns to think differently.

Zack Buchman, Creative Director at Furry Puppet Studio

Interview conducted by David Jagneaux