Planet of the Apes preparation

Although the Zira and Cornelius makeups had already been sculpted and molded months back, upon learning my sister was going to be in town for the Monsterpalooza convention I decided she would be an integral component in our group.  I life casted her and sculpted a Dr. Zaius prosthetic that I would later mold and cast out of gelatin as well. 

On the bottom left is a photo of the three gelatin makeups before painting.  

I pre-painted the prosthetics using different Pax paints I previously mixed, and tried to stay as close as possible to the original paint schemes utilized by John Chambers. 

As for the hair, each wig was hand laid layer by layer on top of a latex Woochie bald cap.  The ears were sculpted, molded and cast out of slip latex and adhered to the bald cap prior to the hair.  Then painted using rubber cement paint.

 I will post higher definition photos of the finished makeups soon!

Old hag in one day

This makeup was conceived, sculpted, molded, cast and applied all in one day.  Though it's definitely far from sophisticated, as a practice piece I was a little bit proud of it.  On top of my life cast I sculpted the nose and brow using Chavant NSP med. The mold edges/cutting lines were done with Kleen clay.  I ran the piece out of tinted gelatin.  Notice how thin the edges came out.  

The prosthetic was adhered using Prosaide Adhesive and the edges were blended using witch hazel. 

Finally the prosthetic was colored using Skin Illustrator alcohol activated pigments and powder finished. 

Jabba's cousin Jebby

This project was an experimentation in texture and form, testing out a new character concept.  During the brainstorming and sketching phase I took a lot of inspiration from a photograph I had of the Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt.  Much of the wrinkling around the brow and eye bags, as well as the shape of the nose are directly influenced by that design.  

I sculpted the design using Chavant NSP med.  Once complete, I molded the piece using Ultracal 30 and ran the piece out of tinted gelatin. I was very pleased with the edges I got. 

The character was a two part appliance (the chin was cut as a separate piece).  It was adhered with Prosaide Adhesive and painted with a Skin Illustrator alcohol activated color palette.   As you can see from the pictures on the bottom left, both pieces moved very naturally with my own facial expressions.

Total Recall Tony makeup

I promise this will be the last Total Recall project I take on, (at least for a while).

 One of the most notable makeup jobs in this movie (in my opinion) was the facial deformity on the mutant martian named Tony.  

 I sculpted the piece with Chavant NSP medium and made a simple Ultracal 30 mold of the finished sculpture. Then I preheated both life cast and mold before casting it in tinted gelatin.

It's always challenging to apply a makeup on yourself, but imagine doing so with only one working eye!  The appliance was adhered with Prosaide Adhesive and painted with a Skin Illustrator alcohol activated color palette. 

Planet of the Apes molds and appliances

The sculptures were molded in Ultracal 30 and preheated prior to casting.  The molds are preheated to ensure the appliance edges stay thin since molten gelatin begins to set up as it cools.  Both ape appliances were cast in tinted gelatin.  

To tint the gelatin I used red flocking powder and light creme cake makeup powder to give the skin a lifelike appearance.  It took several tries before I got the edges as thin as they were in the photo below. 

I will post more photos when I apply these makeups in April. 

Making the Planet Of The Apes appliance sculpts

These are some of the process photos I shot while working on the Planet of the Apes makeups and costumes.  I made alginate life casts of my husband and myself.  Then poured plaster in the life cast to make a positive copy of our faces in order to sculpt the appliance on top. 

This step isn't necessary, but I often like to paint the life cast with an acrylic color that will match the color of the clay I'm going to be using. For these particular pieces, I used Van Aken clay in orange.  

Here are the final Zira and Cornelius sculptures.

Bug Man, the space traveler.

Earlier this week I started sculpting a new concept for a mask.  The original idea was to create a giant insect mask that resembled an ant, fly or a bee.  However, as my sculpture began taking form, the piece looked more and more like an alien bug from outer space. Here are some W.I.P. photos of the new concept I'm exploring.

This is the original sketch.  It's very rough.

 This is the progress so far.  There are some obvious symmetry issues that will be fixed, and there's texture that will be added later on after I've reached a satisfactory place in the sculpture's overall shape.  In addition, I will be sculpting a set of antennae and pincers that will be molded and cast separately as individual pieces.

Here are a couple of profile photos.  Bug Man has a protective hood and neck piece shielding him from the dangers of space travel.  When the time comes to paint the mask after molding and casting this piece, it will be much easier to differentiate the protective coverings from the actual bug. 

More to come.