Today I made my first prototype of a character based upon my earlier concepts. I used 16G galvanised wire for the body and 18G for the arms and fingers. This is thicker than I found a lot of people have recommended but works fine in this situation as it meant I didn't have to twist it around itself.
Epoxy was used to join the different sections of wire with modeling clay to flesh out the skin (quite conveniently both of these are a very similar colour). Masking tape was wrapped around the raw wire to add muscle and stop the clay being cut through. I looked into using foam to achieve this same effect but for the size and structure of my armature the tape by itself seems to work fine.
The head at the moment is just a clay ball, I'm still thinking of a way to do a sewn shut mouth like in my concepts.
I'm pretty pleased with this result especially as a first attempt. As far as actually animating this character is concerned, I think the fingers would benefit from thinner wire and perhaps longer legs would work better proportionally. The next step will be do add finer details and clothing along with a way to tie it down to the set.
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