Puppet Updates 1 - Ambitious

Intro

Usually I schedule to do updates for my puppets in the winter and that was the goal for this year. I had it planned out. I was going to focus on small updates so I wouldn’t have to drive myself crazy. I started planning this update last November and I had a very small list of changes I wanted to make. Small fixes of the assets that had been bothering me for years, and an extra feature or two. I planned it this way because I wanted the V6 update to be a bigger change where I would do a visual refresh and add some more features.

But sometimes life gets in the way.

Visual Refresh

The original plan got adjusted in the early winter of this year. First in a small way, and then I ended up saying screw it, I’ll do an even bigger update. Just for posterity, the trigger for this change was watching the “One Piece: Fan Letter” episode. The style was so beautiful and organic, and re-ignited a sense of ambition for my content. I might do a separate blog talking about this episode later, so I don’t want to ramble on about it, but suffice to say, it motivated me to go big or go home with this update.

Previously I mentioned how I wanted the V6 puppet to be the visual refresh update, but I decided to fold that into the V5 update. I figured this was a good time to make those visual changes to add some charm to my characters that the initial versions failed to capture. When I first made these puppets I had to re-learn the process, while also learning new things about Toonboom that I wanted to implement into the puppets. This resulted in some minor visual changes that snowballed eventually into a fairly different look from what I initially planned.

Another reason I wanted to change the scale of this update was because I’ve been wanting to incorporate more traditional drawing into these shorts. I’ve slowly made some headway into that regard in my last update, but when I finally started using the puppet and trying to make traditional animation, it turned into a pain. So I wanted to take time to fix that specific issue.

These are the two biggest aspects that made me re-orient the update. Instead of a small step for this year, I figured I’d make as big of a leap as possible to get the visual and mechanical aspects of the puppets and art style in line. This way I can I don’t have to do a refresh like this for a long time. Usually after my updates, I find things about the puppets that are pretty annoying to work with, but by the time that happens I’m burnt out on working on the updates, forcing me to relive these issues every time I produce a short.

I’ve had enough of that.

With that said, this update is going to be a much longer process than usual. I’ve given myself at least the rest of this year to finish it (and optionally 6 months into 2026). This gives me at least enough time to get it completed during the 5th year anniversary of producing these shorts (I’m shocked I’ve lasted this long).

The List

So what does this update look like now?

Here’s a roadmap of some of the things I’ve written down so far. This list is not exhaustive, and just meant to give a birds eye view of what to expect to see after the update is completed.

Some sketches of the design process, and reference to previous style versions

• Visual

  • Visual redesign including: arms, legs, and torso pieces

  • Complete re-design of the hands

  • Create a more streamlined method for clothing

• Animation

  • Make all body parts easy to switch to traditional animation

• Interface

  • Create a better expression master controller (or controllers)

  • Create a lip-synching master controller

  • Fix head turn around master controller

  • Fix line thickness controller

• Asset Stock

  • More mouth assets

  • More hair styles

  • More hand positions

• Misc.

  • If possible try to add ik/fk switches

  • Separate body part rigs

  • Trim unnecessary layers

• Non-Toonboom updates

  • Standardize line thickness across apps

  • Create mini rigs in toonsquid

  • Update and standardize design language

Outro

I’ve been slowly working this update, and initially I thought I would be more annoyed at how much more work I gave myself; however, it’s been the opposite. I really am starting to feel that I can finally do my ideas and shorts justice after I make these changes. It’s not that I don’t like how they are now, but I’ve felt there was so much room to grow. With the changes I make in this update, I’ll become one step closer to making the kind of stuff I really want to make, and to do so at a fraction of the time it currently takes.

I think it’s going to be exciting, and I look forward to continue writing these puppet update blogs until they’re complete.

-Until next time-