- * - George Harrison lifesize Marionette creation - * -

Greetings Friends

I have something special to share ...a project i have been working on for some time and i thought folks here would enjoy hearing about him.

This is for all the George Harrison fans out there....i know there surely must be some!

This is a LIFESIZE, hand made 'George Harrison' Marionette. Below are links to several videos i have filmed of him performing various solo compositions with both guitar and ukulele! Also below is a lot of photos, drawings, and insights into how he was made. Enjoy!


This puppet creation i made over a 6 month period, starting in January of 09'. He was quite a challange to get together but it was a joy none the less. Here are some more photographs of him with some additonal comments to provide further insight.

And now, see him perform via video on YouTube!



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Ladies and Gents..
Here now for your enjoyment is the collection of 'George Harrison' Marionette performance videos!

Now enjoy SIX videos - five songs performed by 'George' along with one special 'Behind the Strings' segement giving viewers a peek into how he is brought to life.


Direct links -

"Any Road" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPAc_UB70d4

"Pisces Fish" -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nWkM6ll7y4

"Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWskGzt91f4

Behind the Strings segment -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-66P7i0erXE

"That's The Way It Goes" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeeGgGaUlE

"Jai Sri Krishna" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LNsoDPvHgM
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Here is a closeup of George's ukulele. It is entirely made out of paper, posterbord, and foamcore with a few small peices of wood and metal used in the smaller details. Nylon strings were added for a realistic touch. It is a exact reproduction of George's own favourite Banjolele, the only difference being i added a custom headstock logo. This is a wry spoof of the originals' actual logo...and a nod to the namesakes original owner.
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Here is a closeup of the Uke itself. The silver areas look like metal, but it is actually just painted posterboard. Despite the somewhat fragile building materials, this 'instrument' is quite durable. George plays it by a connecting string that runs thru the body of the Uke. Without this addition, he would not be able to correctly 'strum' it.

 

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Two photos i used for reference showing George with his real Banjolele.
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Above are just two of the MANY reference photos i used to try to capture the right 'look' for George from this particular time period ( late 80's /early 90s's period). I chose this era as it opened up the chance for him to perform not only his solo material, but any Wilbury era material.


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These two photos give you a better sense of how HUGE George is. Lifesize indeed! He is so tall, the only way he can properly perform is by being seated in a chair.
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A closer view of that famous smile of his....
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This photo shows a alternative angle, showing a nice view of his hands. There were created to correct scale by using the famous 'handprint' image from the cover of George's album 'Living in the Material World'. They were soft-sculpted out of nylon fabric with a styrofoam base. Hard bendable wire was used to insure his fingers could be posed for correct playing positions.

 

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Here is a closeup view of George's hand. Details such as hand palm lines, mounds, knuckles, and fingernails were added for a sense of realisim. The ring was made out of painted posterboard and molding dough. The black 'stone' is a rounded peice of aquarium glass. This ring is a recreation of the one George wore during the time period ( late 80's/ early 90's) and several photos were used for reference. I call it the 'Scarab' Ring as the sun motifs and Egyptian Scarab beetle motives are clearly visable of both the real ring, and this recreation.
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I was asked to talk about my 'George' on another message forum, and thought i would post some excerts here for those interested in the backstory to his creation.


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Regarding your question, 'Why did you pick such a daunting project in the first place?'


Well, like any artist, you are always interested in tackling a new creative project for the sheer challange of it. You are also usually looking for ways to 'top yourself'..or at least top your last project.


I have been designing and building my own marionette characters for the past 30+ years, and after 100+ figures you get a broad spectrum of experiences and all sorts of different offerings. Every character made after the one previous is always made a bit better, or sports a neat new feature..etc...etc. You learn by doing...and every creation brings something new to light and you end up learning how to do the act better from experience. A example would be my Looney Bird puppet known here via the Dvd programs J and I produce. I made him about 4 years ago, and George is what you could call the 'follow up' model. The eyes are similar in how they operate, for example, but George's are far more realistic and better executed.


The drawings i was doing of George just were not 'enough' to capture this personality. As a big fan, i wanted to do something MORE..something exciting and something different to capture his character. The only real way to do this is through his music, and the way he would perform it....thus the idea was born to make a marionette of him. It seemed a logical choice.
The challanges that appealed to me and made we want to tackle the challange were these-


* - A realistic representation of the man, but not done in a overly 'cartoony/satirish' way. The goal was 'sculpture' not 'characture'. A big challange was to try to make the figure really look like him...but not in a frightening way. Several photos were used as reference. It was VERY important that the figure not appear 'scary'...effort was put into warming his appearance, but also retain that 'moody' aura George sometimes emenated.


* - The best realistic eyes i could create, with matching realistic movements...exspecially for the lids ( no seams or gaps). Extremely difficult challange, but George lived up to all the expectations..and then some.


* - A realistic and believable performance with smooth, fluid movements.
This appealed to the animator in me big time..this was NOT to be a typical 'puppet'. No quick 'puppety' movements were allowed. It took some extra training for me to adjust to the slower movements of George when compared to the more fast and excited movements of my other characters.


A pretty tall order to fill....but i was excited by the fact that i had never tried to accomplish these in a serious manner. Well, now was the time.


How George came to be -
I remember it very well - what started it all. In late November of last year i heard his final album "Brainwashed" for the first time. The first song on the album is 'Any Road' and i immediately loved it. It represented everything i enjoyed about George as it all shone though clearly in this tune. I was standing at the bus stop after work one day listening to this song over and over on my walkman ( with tapes...yes,,,tapes!) and imagined a little George standing on a stage strumming his little ukulele singing this tune. It made me laugh as it fit perfectly with not only the song, but with George's famous wry sense of humour. The moment passed but everytime i heard the song i would see him playing it in puppet form in my head.


In early January i went to Walt Disney World ( my yearly pilgrimidge) and came back highly inspired. I saw things there that reminded me of little marionette George, and the desire started to burn brightly to make a figure that could play this tune 'live'. I knew it would be a huge commitment, as the several step required to build such a complicated figure would require non-stop dedication over a several month period. I spent the next month drawing several plans for construction, with every possible aspect of him and his controls, to his Ukulele, to it's layout. In the end over 60 drawings were made detailing everything.


Originally he was going to be small...only about 3ft maximum. The original plan was to build him to be transportable like all my other characters, so i could fit him in a carry on bag and take him places. I imagined myself taking him to the huge BeatleFest convention to play 'live' in front of a audience that would appreciate it fully, and enter him in their annual Art Show. I knew they would love to see him...but all those plans went out the window when it started to become clear he was going to be a LOT larger the expected. His lifesize head made it clear he needed a body to match, as i was not happy in imagining him with a huge head and a tiny stick body. I wanted to stay away from those 'cartoony' styles as this was being treated as a serious 'real person' effort.
He is difficult to move from place to place, but once there enjoys sitting in a chair to play or just relax. He certainly has a presence all his own, which i enjoy actually.


So long story short......


... it was the song 'Any Road' that really inspired this project. That image in my head of seeing himplaying his little Uke and singing was hilarious to me at the time, and i felt a need to capture that and share it with others. Later i took it on as a serious 'sculpture' and thought it would be a excellent way to introduce his music to many people who are probably totally unfamiliar with the great solo work he has done. In the end the goal was to create a believable performance that would do the man honour, but also entertain and perhaps inspire his fans as well.
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More excerts from the question session on another forum, where i answered enquires about 'George' and how he was made-


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Getting back to George, you asked what he is made of.


Styrofoam base carved and sculpted to shape, with a soft-sculpted molding of polyester fiber-fill under nylon fabric 'skin'. So George has 'real' skin in a sense. The styrofoam peices i cut and shaped as if sculpting a statue. Muscle tone, elbow and knees bumps, torso shaping, arm bulges, and other embellishments were made before covering over with fabric. He even has veins in certain locatons for added realisim ( inner arms, wrists, and back of hands). He was designed to be enjoyed not only from a distance, but also close up veiwing.


His hands are made the same way, with stiff wiring used in the fingers so they can be accuratly posed into playing position. Details added include palm lines and mounds, knuckle bulges, finger tapering, fingernails, tendon lines, and fingernails. The final touch was a recreation of his ring, made from painted posterboard and a black aquarium stone.


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Yet another excert from the question session, for those interested...on how i operate 'George' to make him move about.....


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George is a marionette, which means all of his animations are controlled by pulling strings from above him. There are NO electronics or electrical tricks used to animate him...he is totally 'hand powered'. I control all of his movement with two wooden crossbar controls from above him. Think of two peices of dowel fastened together in the rough shape of a 'cross' and you get the idea.


I actually had to go back a few days after i posted George's performance video and add to the description that he was not 'electronically enhanced'....as after watching it , it dawned on me someone might make the mistake of thinking this. He is string-powered only!


George requires TWO control bars for his animations:
One very large one is used just to control his arms/hands. The fluid movement of his strum and arm raise seen in the video is the result of this. I hold this in my LEFT hand to keep the timing of his Uke strum on the mark. This is actually the single most difficult movement with him..keeping that strum going at a steady pace, but randomizing it enough to keep the performance beleivable. . Just seeing his hand move up and down in a static motion would ruin the effect.


His head/facial movements are controlled by a seperate smaller crossbar control. This i hold in my RIGHT hand and have complete contol over head tilts, ups and downs, eye blinks, eye lid close, eye movements, and the all important mouth movements.


By operating BOTH of these crossbar controls, George comes to life. It takes 14 strings to keep him 'under control' so to speak..and when he is playing his Ukulele as seen in the video, you have to ad one more. His Uke has it's own set of strings attached to it to insure George can correctly strum it and alter his hand angles to create better motions.


His Uke has the all important 'Strum String' which runs from his larger 'Arm/Hand' crossbar control down through the body of the Uke, out of the base of the fretboard, and attaches to George's ring finger via a small bendable wire. This enables him to keep his hand in the position it needs to be in for playing this type of instrument, as well as enabling me to better control the angles his hand can be moved into at any given time. This is why i had to make a reproduction of a actual instrument, as it would be impossible for George to play a 'real' wooden one due to the weight and also lack of this all important playing string.


The strings i use are thin grade nylon fishing line. I have always used this, as it made a lot of practical sense to me since it solved a lot of problems. I was never keen on those ugly black waxed strings most marionettes seemed to have. That may have been nice for when you were only using black backdrops with your shows, but i used my characters EVERYWHERE and the nylon blended into all possible backdrops. It also holds up extremely well under heavy weight or pressure...and they have a nice 'snap' to them which i think helps in my lip-synch animation. In the video you can see a little relection of the strings in the lighting i needed to use, but otherwise they are barely visable and blend in to any backdrop with ease.

 

Here are some of the 60 or so preliminary drawings i did to plan out every feature realted to the 'George' marionette.


Much of what you will see was changed during his creation, particularly the crossbar controls and his visual appearence. Most of the internal workings and sculpted diagram ideas were used and executed almost exactly as originally drawn.


I will make notes where there is something that might be of special interest.


First up, one of the first full sheets of doodles i did to get out onto paper what had been in my head for about a month to see if this was feasable.





^ At this early stage 'George' was sporting his half-shaven 80's appearence. The main focus at this early stage was plotting out how the different animations would work in the context of his facial layout. In simple terms, would all i wanted him to do actually be able to happen internally in this figure. 'George' was originally planned to be a small marionette..much like your standard sized puppet figure...that would be operated on a tabletop and walk around. This changed later on as will be shown.
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^ Another early set of drawings, this time focusing on how the different facial animations will actually be tackled and built. All of the concepts here were actually used, with only very slight changes.
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^ This page represents what ideas i had for creating various aspects of his body, specifically his outer clothing and various limb details. Several pages were drawn outlining ideas for how his body should be made, but i chose this page to share as it has more variety ( and hopefully more interest!) Note the three figures on the top of the page- these are the three different clothing choices i was pondering over while construction was underway.

 

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Continuing now with the initial sketches that led to 'George's' creation.....





^ During the time i was working on sculpting his head, i did a series of sketches outlining ideas for how his arms and hands should appear and what they should be made from. This picture above shows a series of images covering all aspects of how he should strum his ukulele.

Everything was considered, from posture, finger pose, appearence in general ( tendon lines, knuckles, fingernails, etc.) to help create a sense of realisim. The bottom half of this page shows the complex 'slide bar' i originally planned on making to enable 'George' to move his left hand to 'hold chord notes' on his uke when playing. This was never made primarily because when it became obvious this figure was turning out much larger then expected, this animation would have proved troublesome and difficult to operate. There was so much else to be mindful of when performing 'George' you would need another person to just operate his 'slide' hand. Another image of interest- in the bottom right hand side you can see the spoof i did of the banjolele's brand label. The original 'CN' was changed to a similarly styled 'GH' in honour of George.
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^ One of several napkins i drew on with ideas and planned strategies for how 'George' should be operated. Since he is a marionette, the strings were to be positioned to reflect where the various animations were to happen. The layout of the strings, and the shape of the crossbar controls, varies greatly from figure to figure. No two are ever the same really...as each character is usually of different size, weight, and has a different number of features or animations to control. Almost all of the characters i had made up until this point were single-hand operated figures.

'George' had a far more complex array of animations, and required very careful considerations and planning to acheive the correct string layout and more importantly crossbar control layout. You can build the coolest puppet in the world, but it is really useless and a wasted effort if it cannot perform! So the top part of this early stage of development shows the string placement for both the head and body. At this point i knew 'George' was huge and would probably always perform seated..thus we see the string layout for his arms.

The bottom half shows a few of the insane multitude of variations i made in trying to come up with a proper set of control bars. I must have gone through at least 30 different variations before reaching one that fit his needs perfectly. These shown were never used.

 

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^ Here is a very early napkin drawing i did to clarify what i had in my mind at that early stage for the controls for 'George'. The two control bars shown were a must, as one controls his head animations while the larger one handled the arm and hand animations. These two sets of animation needed to be seperated as the timing would be seriously off on both the lip sych animations and the hand strumming motion if melded together. Also, due to 'George' being lifesize, there was no way my stubby fingers could handle pulling all those strings together! So the 'splitting up' was always planned right from the start.


In the end, this layout was not used. The actual control bars came out looking like a reverse version of this, with no interlocking hook used. No back string or shoulder strings were used in the end, as they were not needed.

The actual controls i ended up making ended up looking 'backwards' when compared to this early version...the strum string is now where the back string was to be shown above. The very bottom shows a pattened stripe that was to be used to decorate the control bars '..for a touch of George..' as the scrawled lettering says in the bottom right hand edge. The final controls were indeed decorated - strips of Indian/Nepalense patternwork designs and a small 'Dark Horse' image were smoothed into various decorative points within the wood.

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^ Another napkin drawing, this time showing the correct animation sequence for 'George' to strum his uke. At this point i was near completion and most of the project was finished. This was drawn out just to give me a sense of what needed to happen when i finally strung the uke and placed it in George's hands.

The black triangles show in which direction each string needs to be going in to create the illusion of actually strumming the instrument. It takes seven strings for 'George' to strum. If i had added the 'slide' feature, it would have been eight. The various angles and smooth movements are achieved by the combination of rocking back and forth between the seven, with the primarily 'strum string' attached through his guitar(s) being the key component.

 

More photographs of 'George', these taken during the video shoots last autumn.

 

a total genius....Great work on that....Really real lol

 

George is amazing - Can I have him? :tongue:

 

Sure....i am willing to share....



Thanks for the compliments!

 

Ima send this thread over to the stoners lounge,, They dont move around the forum to much...

Shame to see your hard work unappreciated ...

Very well done, though Im not a beatle fan..

 

WOW

that is absolutely amazing.

excellent job! orison is right, we dont move around the forums much (at least i dont anyways), so im really glad he put this up in the stoners lounge.. otherwise i would have never seen it.

+rep for insane creativity and hard work

 

Kinda freaky and cool at the same time.

Cool tune by the way, one of George's last songs.

Great job, UD.

 

Thanks a bunch everyone for your comments...it means a lot to me to see 'George' finding a audience and being appreciated!

Kudos go out to those who helped 'spread the word' by setting this up in the 'Stoners' Lounge' as well....very kind of you!

 

Many thanks...and i am not heavily into them either! I am a GEORGE HARRISON fan!

 

Wowwww. This is absolutely amazing!! Such talent!