Chris Walas and Rick Baker designed and created the puppets for Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The new batch. Most puppets were made of latex rubber. However, stop-motion gremlins were used in each film.
Chris Walas.
Chris Walas's design.
Chris Walas
Chris Walas designed the puppets for Gremlins. Each were extremely identical, with the exception of Stripe (the leader gremlin with a white turf of hair). To allow puppet movement, various cables which had different functions were inserted into the puppet and the puppeteer would use various levers/switches to control the puppets.
Rick Baker
Rick Baker's design (for a generic brown gremlin)
Rick Baker
Rick Baker designed the puppets for Gremlins 2: The New batch. Baker was approached by Joe Dante (the film's director) before the script was finished. Baker declined the job, stating it would be too much work for a creation that wasn't his own original. He eventually accepted it when Joe Dante informed him that he could personify the gremlins and give them different features. A prime example of this is the new batch, which consists of George, Lenny, Daffy and Mohawk. Each has a distinct identity and are quite easy to identify. Instead of having a black-ish colour like in the first film, the standard gremlin is green or brown. Another example of giving the gremlins different features is the laboratory. When a gremlin consumes a random chemical, it changes form (with few exceptions). These include the vegetable gremlin, the brain gremlin, the bat gremlin, the electric/lightning gremlin, the female gremlin, the spider gremlin and possibly the phantom of the opera gremlin and the milk leaking gremlin. The puppets were more advanced. They looked better and had more realistic movement. More stop-motion gremlins were included in this movie like the elevator gremlins and some scenes of the bat gremlin. Puppets and props for Gremlins 2: The new batch are much easier to find than from Gremlins.