A Nose for Lincoln

I'm doing an Abraham Lincoln makeup, and I decided I wanted to play with gelatin for it, mainly because I'm doing all of the molding and casting in a dorm room, so de-ammoniating foam latex was out of the question.  Also, it's cheap and reusable-- pretty hard to beat.

Plaster bandages used for some quick and dirty lifecasting. nose, chin, and cheeks.  The chin is a form on which I will build a beard that will fit my face.  I was going to use the cheek casts to make some enlarged cheekbones, but due to time constraints and the fact that this is for theatre, those will simply be drawn on with highlight and shadow.

Casting the plaster positives

Plaster positives.

The sculpt. Chavant NSP soft.

Silicone mold.  Because I had the putty left over from the werewolf makeup in the Fall, and I figured it would reduce the risk of undercut problems, I went ahead and used it for this.  Cool stuff, but it took a while to get the hang of the casting process in a flexible mold.

Plaster bandages as a mother mold.

The gelatin nose.  I'm using a one part Knox gelatin, two parts glycerin, two parts water formula with some creme makeup mixed in.  Lots of trial and error to get the color right.  This is about as close as its going to get for this project, but I'd like to increase the translucency in the future.  It'll get some final coloring when it goes on my face.  Stay tuned.

More Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artists

This is the packet that we were given at the event (which was held at the Academy headquarters) for your reading pleasure.  It's mostly information about the makeup artists, but I enjoyed it.  You might be surprised by where you've seen their work before.

Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artists

I was able to go to the Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Symposium on Saturday to see the nominees talk about and show examples of their makeups before the Academy Awards.

It was very cool to see the makeups up close and hear the chief artists discuss the projects.  Ve Neill and three of the eliminated artists from the SyFy makeup competition show "Face Off" were in the audience (Frank was sitting right behind me).

At one point, the power went out, and when they got the lights back on, Rick Baker was lying on his back with his microphone sticking out of his chest.  Funny guy. 

Obviously, these are Rick Baker and Dave Elsey's Wolfman makeups.  The head above is a stunt mask, and the full bust was a test to show the studio in preproduction.

The following images are from Barney's Version.  I haven't seen the film, but I was rooting for it, since realistic human transformations are much more impressive in my book.

All these appliances are silicone aging prosthetics.  Above and below are for Paul Giamatti's character.

That's the makeup artist for Barney's Version, Adrien Morot.

You can see just how thin and subtle these pieces are...

Anyway, it was a very cool experience.

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