Today, the artist of play dolls Igor Khilov talks about the characters of his characters

“When you pick up a cartoon doll that you just saw live on the screen, feeling the resistance of the hinges, you understand that there is something special in this art. The stereotype of childhood, when we loved only drawn characters, is being destroyed: puppet cartoons can be amazingly beautiful and interesting. "

 Historical reference:

Igor Anatolyevich Khilov is a puppeteer. Has been creating play dolls for 30 years.

He graduated, with honors, with a degree in Dolls, from the Theater Arts and Technology College, which celebrated its 90th anniversary this year.

He worked at the studio of animated films of the Creative Association "Ekran" as an artist-manufacturer of play dolls.

Collaborated with animation studios making puppet films: ChristmasFilms, Animatographer, Man and Time, Animos, Classic, Soyuzmultfilm, Bee.

Created dolls for cartoons: "The Captain's Daughter", "Kings and Cabbage", "The Love Story of a Frog ...", "New Year's Adventure of Two Brothers", "Boyfriend of a Fly will not offend", "Three Types and a Violinist", "The Night Before Christmas" , "Picky Mouse", "This is Edik", dedicated to the life of the writer Eduard Uspensky.

In 2000 he created puppets for the British film The Miracle Worker.

He is the author of the characters in the full-length puppet cartoon "Hoffmaniade" (2018).

Teaches at the School of Puppet Design.

Igor Khilov's master classes on assembling a doll for animation are always popular. Participants are interested not only in the technology of making dolls, they are attracted by the attitude of the master to his work.

“There is always a need for dolls. Now I work with both Russian and foreign companies. Today, web series that require muppets (a type of glove puppet) are becoming popular. They are expressive and easy to control. "

 The master says:

“Puppet animation has changed from what it was twenty years ago. The quality has increased. Gone are the sharp and expressionless movements of the characters. The cartoonist no longer blindly shoots. Today so much beauty is created using this technique! "

“Puppet cartoons are very interesting to shoot. If you go to an animation studio, you will see people sitting in a row in front of the monitors. And as soon as you find yourself in the studio where a puppet film is being filmed, you will see models, dolls that you can touch and feel directly the atmosphere of the plot. "

“On average, a doll has 15-17 hinges, which ensure smooth and beautiful movement. The hinge sizes range from 2.5 to 10 mm. ”

“The main feature of the doll is the ability to communicate with the animator”

“If the doll has a desire to play, then the work goes quickly. It happens that she does not want to act, turns away, assumes expressionless poses ... Such a doll won back - and left. When a character turns out to be successful, he even “commands” the author of an animated film. The doll draws attention to itself, and the director expands its role in the film. "

“When I work on a doll, every time I fall in love with it, I start experimenting, playing with it, creating stories. But until the character is dressed and stepped on the set, I cannot say how his acting destiny will turn out. "

“I'll tell you about an interesting tradition in the world of play dolls. In the feature film "Mister Designer", the doll came to life and began to live among people. According to the plot, the artist falls in love with her and she has to reveal to him the truth about her origin. In life, this should not be!

Therefore, most animated puppets, like theatrical ones, have four fingers on their hands. If the doll leaves the world, it will be possible to determine that it is not a human being. "

“Of course, this is a joke, but I am absolutely sure that a completely harmonious world can be built by means of animation. And I want to stay in this world. "