creatures

Ms. Blodgett rains on Rusty’s parade

Willard's World

Be sure to turn on the captions when you watch the video below!

I made a new creature named Rusty recently and was working on his voice and character all last week when I was driving around in my car. Last weekend I did some puppetry with Rusty and Ms. Blodgett. I had already established that Ms. Blodgett was the neighborhood gossip and meddler, and I had also established that Rusty had entrepreneurial aspirations in the vein of becoming a life coach or other kind of coach (I’m not sure Rusty has clarified what he’s coaching about, only that he wants to be a coach).

    I have somehow stumbled upon the concept of “coaching” myself and I find it a fascinating cultural phenomenon. On the one hand, there are many legit consultants out there who are extremely knowledgeable and helpful when it comes to particular topics.

    But there is also another type of “coach” in the internet space whose actual knowledge and offer seems unclear, yet who are offering to coach other coaches. The underlying premise and “hook” seems to be financial independence, being one’s own boss and sometimes a sprinkle of “spirituality”.

    Many seem to find themselves intrigued by these “offers,” regardless of how foundation-less they sometimes seem, and how closely they sometimes resemble MLMs. I find the whole thing fascinating and that is why I decided that Rusty would be someone seeking this promise of “abundance” and financial freedom. Like many folks, Rusty also has a sincere desire to help others.

    Unfortunately, Rusty’s marketing of his coaching offer is thus far limited to the small neighborhood in which Willard resides, where he is unlikely to find his target market niche. He encounters Ms. Blodgett, who is quick to offer her own ideas about his coaching offer while simultaneously criticizing or downright ignoring what he has to say about it. Can his plans–already threatened by his anxiety and social awkwardness–survive her scrutiny? We’ll have to find out!

    Willette

    Uncategorized, Willard's World

    I had been thinking for a while of adding an additional creature that would look like a relative of Willard–resembling him, but not identical to him in terms of his facial features. I knew I wanted it to be a female and made of baby pink fabric to match Willard’s baby/pastel tone skin.

    At first I thought of making it his mother, but then was leaning more toward a sister. My 89-year-old grandmother, who has become very invested in the Willard storyline, apparently had some of the same thoughts because she suggested a sister named either WillAnn or Wiletta. I settled on Willette.

    I fell in love with Willette as soon as I made her. Typically, I make creatures and sell them and they don’t spend much time in my Way Home creature universe. But now that I’ve developed more of a narrative around Willard, I really want to start making dolls that I can keep and continue using in my story telling. This also gives me a good excuse to go shopping for adorable shoes and buy fun fabrics to make outfits for these dolls (and of course, if people want their own versions, I can always do more made-to-order replicas.

    If you follow my Instagram you know that Willette contacted Willard online, where she found him after they had been separated at birth. They had a Facetime chat and made plans for a visit, which is what you see below.

    Willard

    Creature Dolls

    Meet Willard.

    I had wanted to make a new face pattern inspired by manatees. As I neared completion of this doll, I shared him on a reel as an example of one of my many (most) creatures with eyelids rather than just eyeballs.

    Much to my surprise, the reel got more than a million views in less than a week and garnered a lot of attention and comments. It seems the larger internet community is divided as to whether Willard is scary or cute, and whether giving him eyelids did in fact supply him with a soul and personality as I contended it would. Additionally, many commenters felt that Willard ran anywhere on the continuum from sleepy, to burnt out from a soul sucking retail job, to sedated (which I assure was not my intention when creating this doll!) On the whole, people were immediately obsessed and found him sad and adorable which—hello!—he is. And he’s not the first of my dolls to be these things.

    Anyway, it was quite the kerfuffle and Willard and I are exhausted! However, being an unintentional joke turned out to be a great way to reach many people who love these creatures and that was a wonderful way to wrap up 2022.

    Since my shop drops were already becoming a bit of a skirmish for hopeful buyers, and given the increased interest in purchasing Willard, I will be trying an auction format this time around. Mailing list subscribers will get all of the details tomorrow.