After the character sketch has been approved, it's time to choose the proper fabric. In the case of this monstery hand puppet, the furrier the better. After going to a few of my favorite online* fabric stores, I narrow it down to a couple different long pile furs.
Although the top choice is a nice long pile purple fur, I like the bottom fur better for it's wild "hairy" texture.

(*If you live in a large city- head to the fabric district! I am in the middle of Nowheresville, an hour from anywhere of significance.)

To build a puppet, I first have to get the character in my head down onto the paper. Sometimes this comes easily, other times there's kicking and screaming. Draw, draw, draw. Lots of paper might end up in the recycle bin, but better than fur and feathers.
I like to use Prismacolor markers and a Sharpie pen on plain printer paper. Once I get a black and white sketch that I am happy with, I scan it, then print it out. That way, if I mess up in the coloring process- I just print out another page and color again.