Jetpack Project, Part 1

Hey folks, this is an in-progress post about my current project: a Neo-Victorian jetpack! This is something I'm making as part of the outfit I'm wearing to this year's Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball in Hollywood (in exactly one week).

Anyway, here's a piece of concept art to give you the general idea of what it's going to look like.



The back piece is a big huge sheet of 3/16" High-Impact Styrene. It took many hours of patterning, cutting, sanding, dremeling, and hand-molding with a heat gun in order to get the nice elegant Manta Ray shape. Definitely worth it though to have a nice solid foundation.



The engines are two 18" lengths of 4" ABS piping, bolted to the back piece.




The bottom thrusters on the engines are collapsible vegetable steamers! Since I was a young lad, I've always enjoyed playing with these and they've always made me think of some sort of science fiction device, so I'm finally using some in this project.

The control box is made of wood, and will provide the housing for all of the fully-functional switch- and knob-controlled battery-powered functions, including lights in the thrusters, spinning intake fans on top of the engines, lights above the fans, and indicator lights on the control box.




I'm very proud that I've self-taught myself some fundamental skills of electronics and circuitry, as this is going to be my first attempt at a costume/prop that includes lights and motor functions that I've made by myself. In the past I've adapted other devices (LED tap lights, etc.) to suit my needs, but now that I'm doing it myself, I can achieve results that are much more specific to my needs and are truly custom-made for the project itself!

Anywho, as you can tell I've still got a ton of work to do this week (wiring, assembling, painting, sewing of the leather harness, etc) but I'm really pleased with the results thus far, and I'm feeling very motivated and I anticipate that it's going to look great when finished!

Back for the Summer

Hopefully this will be the first in a bunch of catch-up posts, and up-to-date summer posts. I'm really terrible at this, but I'm going to continue trying anyway.
In my search for a summer job, I put together these portfolio pages, to send out to various special effects makeup shops in the area. I figured this might be a good thing to post here as I transition back into more regular posting.

Working Stiffs

This film is my final project for Intermediate Film from Fall semester here at RISD, but it's finally cleaned up and ready to share with the world. It's a short mockumentary about zombies in the film industry. Shot on Kodak Vision2 16mm color film. The end credits song Undead was written and performed by my wonderful friend Brynna Campbell.
Enjoy!

Characters Galore!

This semester I'm taking an amazing course in Character Design, taught by the wonderful Shanth Enjeti. Here's a bit of work from the first few weeks.

Please be sure to view the full-sized images to see all the detail!

The first week, we were supposed to do any character design, simply to demonstrate our skill level. So was born Jet Quasar, Astro-Man:

The next week we were told to illustrate, in the form of a character, our best trait and our worst trait. For my best, I chose "smart":

For my bad trait I chose "elitist":

The next week was the same assignment, but for traits we saw in other people. For the bad trait I decided on "deceptive" and came up with this. I think it's a decent concept, but I'm really frustrated with how it turned out in terms of style. We were limited to using flat color, and I couldn't really figure out how to retro-style this one, so it came out looking like a weird blend of realism and stylization which I really dislike. Oh, well... here it is anyway:

This one I love. It illustrates the good trait of "hard-working" and I had a wonderful time trying to simulate cut-paper illustration:

All of these were done in Photoshop CS2.

Anyway, that's it so far. I'll post more as I create more characters.

Finally!

Hey everyone...

I can't believe it's been this long, but I'm finally getting around to update. I've been extremely busy as of late, but the upside of that is that I've got lots of new work to show, so I'll most likely be updating the blog a bit more frequently. Anyway, on to the matter at hand... (no pun intended)

During my Winter semester, I did an independent study project in which I explored some special effects techniques. The first half of the semester was devoted to creating a realistic severed arm. To put it bluntly, this project turned out to be a real bitch. The main problem was really just the availability of materials here in Rhode Island that really caused some delays and other problems. In the end though, everything worked out and I wound up with a great looking finished product.

The arm is made of latex filled with polyurethane foam. The torn muscle on the end is plain old latex.

It was painted with acrylic paint, with a couple layers of clear nail polish on the fingernails. I used my brand new Iwata Eclipse airbrush and Sprint Jet compressor to paint the arm!

So, there you have it! I look forward to getting back on track with a more regular posting schedule. Sorry again for the long hiatus!

Movie Time!

For Intermediate Video class this semester, we've been working on a series of "Call and Response" videos for RISD.tv, our online video site. The idea of the series is that we each upload a 30-second video, and then respond to one another's videos with another 30-second video and so forth. This one was my first submission, based on the classic metaphor "a man's home is his castle". Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

I'm about to head off trick-or-treating with a large group of friends, so this will be brief. This is my Halloween costume this year: a Victorian-era vampire! I've been focusing a lot on my films and on the fetus project, so this was a quick one but I'm really pleased with how it came out!
Please be sure to view the full image to see all of the wonderful vein detail in the makeup! More pictures soon.

Look What I Did to Kate...

...she was a very cooperative model for my makeup test!

Also, I still have MANY FETUSES FOR SALE!!! E-mail me at fogel.andrew@gmail.com if interested!

Fetus for Sale!

Wow, it's been quite some time now, hasn't it? Sorry to everyone for the long gap in my posts. I really have no excuse, but now I once again hope to get on top of posting at least somewhat regularly. I think the problem is that I hate posting incomplete work, and it often takes me quite a while to complete anything. Anywho, on to the matter at hand: fetuses.

Another view of the fetuses:

Yes, that's right. I've spent the past few weeks making a large group of six-legged mutant mammal fetuses in jars. I had created these curiosities with hopes to sell them at the Alumni and Student Art Sale here at the Rhode Island School of Design, last weekend. As the case may be, I produced sixteen of the little buggers but sold only one. Thank you Rob Hummel.

A less interesting but clearer-looking photograph of one specimen:

So, now I find myself with a handful of mutated fetuses in jars. If you are interested in purchasing one of said fetuses, please do not hesitate to contact me. They will cost $30 USD each, although if I get a lot of responses, I might be able to lower the price.

I can be contacted at fogel.andrew@gmail.com for anybody interested in owning one of these incredible oddities, if you are interested in commissioning a different sort of creature, or if you have questions about anything at all. They are a wonderful desktop conversation piece, perfect for any home, and they make an excellent gift!

Fetus, sans jar to show detail:

Oh, Nose!

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.

The finished outfit and makeup:

A Fantastic Masquerade

My apologies to everybody who has been waiting to see the photos from the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball on July 14th... There's really been not a moment to rest, as after the event I immediately swung into high gear to finish up my attire for Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend.

Another piece of news is that I now have a domain name, http://www.baronvonfogel.net/ ! I'm still working on constructing the website so for now the URL forwards directly to this very blog. If you're visiting for the first time, I haven't got a portfolio or anything set up, so feel free to look through the archives of this blog. I tend to post most things I feel are worth sharing with the world. Enjoy!

Anyway, here are some photos from the ball:

First, here I am displaying my new bionic arm! (Detailed post to come)

...and flanked by some very fine Steampunk Gentlemen:

With the lovely Katherine, whose makeup I did for the event. This photo was taken by the wonderful Neil Girling, an tall and lanky eccentric with a bowler hat, goggles, and camera. His work can be viewed at www.theblight.net if you're interested in seeing more from the ball.

I will post some detailed photos of Kate's costume and makeup after I return from Comic Con International in San Diego!

Z-DAY 2007 Video

Here it is, ladies and gentleman... the Z-DAY 2007 video. Scroll down to see some more photos from the event. The video was edited by the wonderful Casey Hallen and shot by her, Bennett Springsteel, Sarah Tricker, and Peter "Awesome Peter" Lefferts. Hope you enjoy!



Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to my laboratory where I am completing construction on my bionic aether-powered arm attachment.

Sisyphus v2.0

Hey everybody! I do apologize for the lack of posts during the past month, but it's because I have been so busy with projects that I didn't have time to post them. So, in the next couple of weeks there will be a barrage of all sorts of fun and exciting things. To start, here's the video of my robot animation, done for my stop motion animation final project this past semester. Enjoy!

Robots in space!

Here is a shot of the puppets and set that I made for my final puppet animation project. It's a re-telling of the myth of Sisyphus, but on a moon. With robots.

View the full version of the picture to see the puppet detail... Both are made from wire, balsa, and epoxy putty. I'll get the video uploaded soon.

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

I'm currently in the midst of a hellish week of finals, and it's been about 30 hours since I've slept at all, but I've got a moment to spare while I'm at work so I figured I'd post some recent work.

This is the video of the animation that I did for my Intro to Puppet Animation course with the Jabberwock puppet that I showed a few posts ago. The video was a collaboration with Jon Betz, who created and animated the spaceman character. Sorry about the poor video quality, but it's better than nothing. Enjoy!

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

Here they are, folks! More Z-DAY 2007 photos for your viewing pleasure. I'll have some albums with hundreds of photos in them pretty soon, but I'm waiting for my photographers to get me high resolution copies. Anyway, you got to see the group photo in the last post, so here are some nice shots that highlight individual zombies.

Yours truly as a wedding zombie. I digitally enhanced the eyes.

My beautiful zombie girlfriend Kate Walsh.

The lovely Claire Hummel as a Prom Queen Zombie ("Prombie" if you will).

The amazing and alliterative Alex Austin as a homeless apocalypse prophet zombie.

Matt Cavallaro as Dr. Zombie, M.D.

Photos by Andrew Fogel, Kelly Berg, Michelle Yoon, and Hiromi Ueyoshi.

We're coming to get you, Barbara....

Last night was the second annual Z-DAY at RISD here in Providence. You might ask, "what, exactly, is Z-DAY?" Well, I think that this photo should pretty much answer that question:

That's right! I organized a massive army of the undead! Last year's group was great, with around 35 zombies, but this year we had a whopping 140 in attendance! We had an amazing time terrorizing the neighborhood and wreaking havoc on the campus of our neighboring college, Brown University. Anyway, this is just a sneak preview. I'll post more photos and videos as I get them!

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves...

So, it's been quite a while since I posted on here, but here it is, an update!

This semester I'm taking an amazing Puppet Animation class, and for one of our projects I built this puppet. It's a Jabberwock, based on the Lewis Carroll poem, complete with jaws that bite and claws that catch!

The puppet is built from a wire armature around a bass wood core with brass tubing. The exterior is made of foam, with a layer of nylon stretched over it and a few coats of latex and acrylic paint. The head is sculpey.

Hopefully I'll upload the video of the animation I did with him sometime soon. Until then, you can check out these photos of the puppet!





And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!