Animal Puppet Designer Career Profile
- Career Name - Animal Puppet Designer
- Category: Art & Design / Business
- Skills Required: Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic Subjects: Art, Business Studies, Biology
- Required Education: High School Certificate
- Species Worked With: Pets, Critters, Farm Animals, Wildlife
- Short Courses: 340 - Rewards = Points +Badges
Do you want to work as an animal puppet designer?
READ: This page helps you to read about the career and the info you need to decide on whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for your career, then join the OZT Community! Members have access to tools while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED:
1 August 2023
Adverts:
What is an animal puppet designer?
A Puppet Designer is someone who designs, creates and dresses puppets for them to be used in a live performance, whether indoors, or outdoors.
Puppetry is the art of making puppets, which are figures (small and some large) which are designed to be used by hand or by wire for the purpose of entertainment.
Puppets can be made of any material, with foam, material and latex being the most used. Normal puppets do NOT contain any mechanical parts, as this would then fall under animatronics (discussed under the career Special Effects Artist – Animatronics).
Alternative Names
Also known as:
- Puppeteers
Category
Art & Design / Business
Old Career?
Puppetry is a very old profession, used thousands of years back as entertainment
Famous Puppets?
The most famous puppet ever mentioned must be Pinocchio
What does an Animal Puppet Designer do?
With which groups of animals does an Animal Puppet Designer work?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
With whom does an Animal Puppet Designer work?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
What does an Animal Puppet Designer focus on?
Design, create and decorate puppets (hand, string, rod or shadow puppets) from materials such as wood, paper mache, foam, wires, metal, and latex (rubber).
What are the daily tasks of an Animal Puppet Designer?
- Discuss brief with clients
- Design the puppet and work out which methods will be used to make it move
- Purchase the necessary material
- Mold, shape and construct the puppet
- Presentation to clients of work done
- Create and add new work to a portfolio
- Administration and filing
What kind of tools and technology does an Animal Puppet Designer use?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
The work Environment of an Animal Puppet Designer
In which Environment does an Animal Puppet Designer work?
Environment –
Animal Puppet Designers normally work indoors in a design studio or office setup. They can spend some time in the outdoors, studying the animals they need to draw.
Places of Employment –
Most Animal Puppet Designers work privately, under contract for various clients. They can also be employed by theaters, TV and film production houses, theme parks and other large entertainment companies.
What is the average annual salary of an Animal Puppet Designer?
As most puppet designers are self employed, their income is based on obtaining contracts. On average the income per year is around $35,000. This will differ from country to country.
Can an Animal Puppet Designer be promoted?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
What kind of difficulties may an Animal Puppet Designer face?
The most difficult part is always to get your puppets seen by future clients. For this a lot of puppeteers need to be well versed in the setup and use of social media. Animal puppet designers may work long hours and over weekends and holidays to finish work within tight deadlines.
Future Growth and Possibilities
Depending on how talented or successful puppet designers are, their puppets can be sought after across the world.
Which Skills and Personality Traits are required by an Animal Puppet Designer?
The skills required for a career as an Animal Puppet Designer can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills and personality traits, which are the skills and traits that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills:
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills:
- Good business knowledge
- Good artistic skills
- Basic customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Excellent computer literacy (drawing software)
Life Skills and Personality Traits
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Career Skills
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Which Subjects must I have at School to prepare for this career?
Biology is recommended, not for university acceptance, but because it will teach you a lot about the anatomy of animals, and how they move. This knowledge will be helpfull as an artist.
Art will be your major or most important subject in school, whether you want to study further, or not. It will strengthen your artistic skills and techniques, and prepare you for a career as an animal puppet designer.
Business Studies is not a compulsory subject for further tertiary studies, but it will definitely help you to understand and run your own business one day.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
5. What will I need to Study?
Minimum Requirements
To become an Animal Puppet Designer doesn’t require formal training, but many do go on to study a College Diploma in visual arts. Short Courses are essential, especially when you do make use of computer software to draw and render your drawings.
Study Focus
A good background in drawing is essential, so be sure to perfect your doodling and sketching skills. Study focus looks at courses that deal with fine or visual arts.
Study Duration
The duration of College diplomas can be up to 3 or 4 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
FREE Career Path Plan
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A preparation path is like a road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths:
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Stepping Stone Career:
Being an animal puppet designer can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high fees etc).
You can begin as an intern after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and apprenticeship:
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of the skills you will need as a puppet designer will be acquired through practice. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions (or junior positions) require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior puppeteer or expert.
Join the Animal Puppet Designer Group in STEP 8 to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average entry level of education across the career:
6. Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
Although not required by law, certifications may help workers establish their credentials and enhance their skills.
Learn more about requirements by joining OZT in STEP 8.
Professional Associations:
7. Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards puppetry.
How do I start to prepare for this Career?
If you do decide on following this career, then OZT can assist you in figuring out a path to prepare, as well as help you to gain further knowledge about the career and the animals you will be working with. We do this by offering you FREE career development tools. There are almost a dozen free tools, but these are the three primary ones:
CAREER PATH PLAN
Use the career path plan above on this profile as an example to follow, or to work out your own path.
COST; Free
ACCESS: Open to visitors and Members
SHORT COURSES
Access easy-to-use short courses to make your career preparation easier! The basic information in each course is free, but the rewards can only be unlocked as an OZT member!
COST; Free
ACCESS: Open to visitors and Members
STUDY GUIDE
Get a supercharged study guide that fits into the career path plan! Now that's really upping your preparation game! Join us for free to gain access!
COST; Free
ACCESS: Members Only
But, if you are still uncertain about choosing this specific career, and even where to start, then have a look at our special series of WHAT NEXT courses (link below). They take you through all of the questions you might have on how to choose the right career, what to do while at and after school, and even how to start your own business.
OR
Join the OZT community & chat Group
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming an animal puppet designer.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being an Animal Puppet Designer, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
If this career is NOT the career for you, then you may return to the MAIN CAREER menu, and search for something different.
Other interesting Careers
Career Profiles and Resources
Career Mentors are Members who assist by volunteering to keep each Career Page factual and current, while mentoring Students in the related Career Group.
Contributions by expert members are always appreciated to allow the Students to make informed decisions. Please add your contribution through the attached Form:
List of Career Mentors/Educators who have contributed to this Career info:
One Zoo Tree
A few pictures about the Career:
Some of the best websites to help you decide on the Career:
