Muppet eyes



Eyes have long been an important part of the Muppet aesthetic. Arguably one of the most distinctive aspects of Kermit the Frog is his eyes, originally made from ping-pong ball halves and with distinctive cross-lined pupils.

Magic Triangle
The placement of the eyes is equally important, especially on classic characters such as Ernie and Bert. As reported by the Henson Associates Staff in The Art of the Muppets, "Perhaps the single most important aspect of the Muppet look is the set of the eyes in relation to the nose and mouth. The Muppet people call this the 'magic triangle': correctly positioned, it creates a central focal point essential to bringing a puppet to life in the eye of the camera -- and therefore the viewer." The development of this concept is often credited to Don Sahlin.

The focus of a Muppet's eyes depends on the placement of the pupils. The pupil is hardly ever in the exact center of the eye; instead, the pupils are placed towards eachother, making the Muppet a bit 'cross-eyed'. This creates the illusion of the character looking at something or someone not too far away, and it makes it easier for the puppeteer to emphasise what the character is looking at.

Muppet builders usually wait until the last minute to add the eyes. Occasionally, the eye focus of a Muppet is fixed right before taping.

Eyes and Age
The eyes of Muppet characters have often been broad and inviting, in the manner of cartoon character's eyes. Much in the manner of newspaper cartoonists, the size of the character's pupils have been a useful means of telegraphing a character's age. The Sesame Workshop has explained this concept this way: "Muppet designers use different sized pupils depending upon how young or old they want a Muppet to look. The smaller the pupil, the older the Muppet looks; the larger the pupil, the younger the Muppet looks."

Significantly, many child-like characters, such as Waffle or Pip and Pop have had eyes which consist solely of pupils, giving them an endearing infantile, "button" look. This type of eye has also been used for more realistic characters, such as Emmet Otter.

Realistic Eyes
Beginning in 1975, with the "Land of Gorch" sketches from Saturday Night Live, a new type of eye was used. For the less cuddly creatures who lived in Gorch, such as King Ploobis and Scred, taxidermy eyes, glass eyes created as replacements when stuffing real animals for show, were utilized. The eyes lent a more naturalistic look to the characters, contrasting with their general abstract nature. The eyes would become useful for later productions, blending the look of a real animal with comic anthropomorphism, as seen in such characters as Eliot Shag or Jake the Polar Bear. Creature Shop productions such as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Dinosaurs used taxidermy eyes almost exclusively.

Eye Movement
For the majority of Muppet characters, the eyes are fixed in certain positions and essentially static. Since Whatnots and Anything Muppets have their features re-arranged frequently, the eyes are simple attachments, which once tacked on, remain there unless forcibly removed by another character. These eyes have no moving parts. Thus any eye contact or movement is generally an illusion created by the puppeteers through performance or through calculated manipulation and clenching of the puppet's face at key moments.

For other characters, a variety of techniques were used, both sophisticated and simple. Cookie Monster, for example, possessed googly eyes, created by simply pinning the pupils loosely onto the eyeballs, which lent him an excitable look and made the character appear more animated. Other creations, such as Big Bird, Animal, Mr. Snuffleupagus (in his later incarnation), and Telly Monster have complex eyes with lid mechanisms, which can open, close, expand or contract to create different expressions. Mahna Mahna and Floyd Pepper have had blinking eyes, while in his debut in The Frog Prince, the eyes of Sweetums would light up. Still other characters are expressive by means of the material around their eyes. Bert's eyes have always been fixed, but his brow is extremely mobile. Dr. Teeth wears a pair of sunglasses which consist only of an upper half, suggesting eyelids at rest for a laid-back appearance, but which can be flung back at a moment's notice to telegraph shock or excitement.

Glasses and Obscured Eyes
Eyeglasses, monocles, sunglasses, and other spectacles are often useful, not just as accessories, but as a defining part of a character's features. The eyes of Scooter and Herbert Birdsfoot are permanently attached to their glasses, while Pops' spectacles hide a pair of perpetually squinting peepers. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, in their normal forms, and the original version of Clifford, have no visible eyes at all, with their glasses essentially functioning as eyes. Still other characters have no visible eyes whatsoever. Wendell and Boober Fraggle are key examples, with the latter's "eyes" implicitly obscured by his mop of hair and cap, in the manner of Beetle Bailey.

Lashes, Lids, and Brows
Simplicity and suggestion can be just as effective as the most complex eye mechanism in shaping a character's personalities. Miss Piggy's success and charm is largely the result of her carefully crafted purple lids and lashes, placed over blue pupils. Waldorf's age and affinity for napping are suggested by the deep-set of his eyes. Janice's eyes are simply a pair of angled lashes, while The Amazing Mumford possesses a pair of bushy eyebrows.

Eyebrows often emphasise (or exaggerate) certain personality traits; that's why aggressive Muppet monsters usually have large black eyebrows, whereas the mild-mannered Kermit doesn't have any.

There are cases in which eyelids are built for a character who does not normally have them, or when the eyelids that they do have are modified to cover their eyeballs. This is done for scenes in which a character is required to sleep on screen, when the more simple solution of turning the eyes away from the camera will not work.