Character (portrait) design of the principal characters: Sophia (second from the top left); The Little Pink Princess (below Sophia); "EL Niño Gigante" (below the Princess); The Queen (continuing counter clockwise); the King; and two small full-figure studies for a sorcerer or magician and a court functionary. Character studies allow the puppet maker to examine many different possible looks for each character without committing time and money (and possible frustration) to building puppets.
Once the general idea is found, a more complete rendering of the full figure from front, back side, three-quarters, and top views can be drawn. These will be used as a guide to sculpting the plasticine maquette, which is a small three-dimensional model of the figure. Changes are still easy at this stage, and the process now might alternate between sketched revisions on paper and more maquettes, or the sketches might be directly in plasticine. Since the puppets will be between 6 and 12 inches tall (except for figures like giant dragons, although they might be made in a smaller scale and composited with other figures), the maquettes can be made full-size and used to cast the puppets, although if fabric clothing is desired, a second version of the maquette might be made without clothing.
Still to be designed: Sophia's "Real World" mother and father, although I am thinking they might only be seen from the knees down. . . still it would be good to have their look fixed in case they are shown. Also I need to populate the town and the castle with courtiers, citizens and various recurring characters.
Why go to all the trouble of making the maquettes? Besides the fact that eventually each figure will be cast, and the maquette will be used for making the mould, a maquette can also be used as a three-dimensional model for traditional 2D (non-stop motion) animation which will be incorporated at points in the program.
Alternative "Ugly" King and Queen
An idea for a more "cartoonish" royal couple.
Townsman and Alcalde (Mayor)
"Juan," one of the townspeople and the mayor of the town. My idea for the mayor is a characture of a mayor of a small French town, perhaps rather indecisive, pandering, willing to go along with anything to retain his position.
Town Mayor
Another idea for the mayor.
Townspeople and Dragon
Townspeople
I think the citizens of the town will be latex build-up puppets, with exaggerated features, more cartoonish than the principal characters.
Townspeople
Once I get a feel for the faces of the characters, and their individual identities, attitudes, etc. I can start to work on a full-figure drawing and maquette of each one, as well as clothing, props, etc.
Example of an exaggerated cartoon "Take"
As I mentioned above, I will be incorporating traditional 2D animation into the episodes. One thing I want to do is to have wild Tex Avery-style takes done in stop motion, using replacement puppets. It will be challenging, a lot of work, but I think ultimately very rewarding.