Although puppetry and animation are two distinct artforms, I've always been impressed by the number of conceptual simlarities that exist between them. Puppeteers can learn a lot by studying animation and vice versa. I know of at least one animation instructor who teaches facial animation by making his students study clips of Jim Henson performing Kermit the Frog.
If you're a puppeteer - or aspire to be - read legendary animator Fred Moore's Rules on Drawing (as posted by New Brunswick's Fatkat Animation Studios) and ask yourself how many of them you can incorporate in to your work. I know I could make use of almost all of them.
