Transfers

I had two student film projects come up this past week that needed some makeup effects.  One called for a slit throat, and the other needed a strange, infected, fantasy wound.

There's a relatively new technique I've been reading about called 3D Transfers that can be applied really quickly, which makes a big difference on a student film's tight schedule, so I thought I'd give it a try.  You sculpt the appliance, mold it, cast it, and apply it like a temporary tattoo before coloring it.

Here's how they turned out.  Most of the veins are sculpted and painted on here.  I think it's pretty successful, though there are still a few things I'd change, in retrospect.

 Before blood

With blood

 The slit throat appliance came out a little dark, so it took a lot of makeup to get it close to the actress's skin tone.  The main reason it still looks a little funky is that it was so cold at the beach that day that she had goosebumps, which the texture of my appliance didn't match.  I was also asked to put it lower on the throat than it was meant to be.  Oh well.  It was still good practice.

A lot of detail is lost when these transfer appliances dry and shrink, so I'll have to make sure to exaggerate the sculpt more next time.