Sorry for the horrible pun in the title... I couldn't think of anything else really.
Anyway, on to the business at hand - Kate's wonderful costume at the Labyrinth Masquerade, and the makeup job I did as part of it. As some of you might know, I've been interning at American Makeup and Effects this summer, so I've picked up a lot of skills in terms of creating special effects makeup. So, both as a favor to Kate and as a way to experience the process of designing and creating a makeup effect from start to finish, I did this for her:
For those of you who don't know how something like this is made, I'll explain the steps. First, we did a lifecast of Kate's nose, using alginate (kinda like the stuff they mold your teeth with when you go to the dentist). This gives us a negative mold of the nose.
Next I poured ultra-cal (a really fine cement-like compound) to make a stone positive of the nose.
On top of the positive, I sculpted a plasteline clay version of what I wanted the nose appliance to look like. Then, I made another ultra-cal mold from the sculpt before destroying the sculpt and removing all of the clay from the positive. This creates a negative space where the clay used to be, between the two parts.
I mixed a silicone compound called 3rd Degree and put it between the two parts of the mold, thus forming it into the appliance. I applied it with a silicone-based adhesive called Telesis and I airbrushed white Temptu Dura makeup onto Kate's body. The little bolts were made of a lightweight resin and the rust drips were with Mehron metallic and precious gem powders. Finally, there was a light misting of a Skin Illustrator platinum colored makeup to give the whole thing a kind of shiny look.
Anyway, on to the business at hand - Kate's wonderful costume at the Labyrinth Masquerade, and the makeup job I did as part of it. As some of you might know, I've been interning at American Makeup and Effects this summer, so I've picked up a lot of skills in terms of creating special effects makeup. So, both as a favor to Kate and as a way to experience the process of designing and creating a makeup effect from start to finish, I did this for her:
For those of you who don't know how something like this is made, I'll explain the steps. First, we did a lifecast of Kate's nose, using alginate (kinda like the stuff they mold your teeth with when you go to the dentist). This gives us a negative mold of the nose.
Next I poured ultra-cal (a really fine cement-like compound) to make a stone positive of the nose.
On top of the positive, I sculpted a plasteline clay version of what I wanted the nose appliance to look like. Then, I made another ultra-cal mold from the sculpt before destroying the sculpt and removing all of the clay from the positive. This creates a negative space where the clay used to be, between the two parts.
I mixed a silicone compound called 3rd Degree and put it between the two parts of the mold, thus forming it into the appliance. I applied it with a silicone-based adhesive called Telesis and I airbrushed white Temptu Dura makeup onto Kate's body. The little bolts were made of a lightweight resin and the rust drips were with Mehron metallic and precious gem powders. Finally, there was a light misting of a Skin Illustrator platinum colored makeup to give the whole thing a kind of shiny look.
The finished outfit and makeup:
...and...
Dakkar's first public appearance in Providence, RI.
The colors will be slightly different, but this gives you a general idea of what he's going to look like.
These are the creature's hands. The finished version will probably have a bit more in terms of striped markings on the backs of the hands. The webbing between the fingers will also be a little bit darker.
The color on the "metal" parts will probably have some greenish copper rust elements or maybe some dark green spots of lichen.
Partially completed leg pieces, made out of 1/2 inch blue ester foam.
A leg piece a little while later: foam bolts attached, some areas covered with a layer of nylon, and the whole thing sprayed with a thin coat of spray glue, to seal it.
Last but not least, a shot of the creature's back at the same stage in the process (foam construction, nylon, and glue). The two holes you see are sockets for short lengths of tubing that will connect from the back to the chest, as a sort of breathing apparatus.
As far as I can tell, this is what Neptune Ted's bickering little footsoldiers will look like. The design was lovingly ripped off from an amazing book cover from a 1944 edition of Planet Stories, which was a classic pulp sci-fi magazine. To my knowledge the image has become public domain now so I don't think anybody will have a problem with me using it.
