The Puppet
This was the main character in the visual for Drag Em to the River by $uicideBoy$ during the Greyday 2024 tour, also appearing in the visual for “For the Last Time” It’s a puppet jester controlled by Oddy and Scrim.
It was crucial to make the character look as if it had been carved from wood, adding shiny gems as eyes and plush accessories to give it the appearance of a realistic yet stylized puppet. I was responsible for the modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation of the character.
For this character, I animated 8 different looping dances to create a complete 50-second choreography. It was crucial to convey the feeling of a puppet being controlled by someone, with erratic movements, giving it a sense of lightness. At the same time, the classic New Orleans dance style needed to be clearly appreciated.
The biggest challenge in this animation was making it look like a real puppet being controlled by someone while ensuring that all the dances looked good. If I added too many erratic movements, it wouldn’t feel like it was dancing, but if I animated a perfect dance, it wouldn’t look like a puppet.
After many animation passes and revisions, I managed to bring the puppet to life, essentially animating an invisible puppeteer who is controlling the marionette.