'Tis Not the Season...

...but I figured it was time I took something off the to do list.

This one comes with a bit of a story.  Back in November, I was asked to make six Grinch makeups for a party of some sort, so I did a quick sculpt:

Did a test makeup with the help of the lead makeup artist for the party, who supplied the hair:

And then made up three actors for two days as Grinches:

It was all very, very rushed, and I was never pleased with any of it (though I did win a free airbrush as a result of the project...go figure!).  I saved a couple of castings before the mold went south.

So, finally, this weekend, I went about applying the makeup on myself (since the appliance was sculpted over my lifecast in the first place), trying to get a more realistic look, or at least a little more like Rick Baker & Co.'s design for the movie.

And I'm still not exactly happy with it, but I think it turned out much better.

Just A Little Trauma

Just a quick effect for a friend's short film last weekend.  A little scruff, a little bruising, and one whopper of a baseball bat wound to the forehead.

The blood runs to the side because he would be laying down for the shot:

The wound is a little appliance that I sculpted on a flat board, molded in silicone, and cast in gelatin.

The design is based on a picture of a real head injury, but I'll spare you that image.

A little paint, a little blood...

I'm rather satisfied with the apparent depth of this one, which is one of the things that bugged me about previous effects of this sort that I've done.  Of course the blood could stand to be less opaque, but I was trying out a new non-liquid blood technique, which I'll just have to finesse next time.

Lincoln, Larger Than Life

I was fortunate enough to be one of five hair punchers on this beautiful 2:1 scale art piece by the great Kazuhiro Tsuji.  It was unveiled last night at the Makeup Artist Trade Show in LA.

If you don't know who Kazu is, have a gander at his IMDB page.  I think he's the best makeup artist around, and an incredibly nice guy, to boot.  It was such an honor to be helping with his creation and learning how he works.

None of these pictures do the piece justice.  Kazu's sculpture, paint, and eyeballs are incredible.  After sitting nose to nose with this thing for a week, I kept being amazed with how intricate and perfect it all is.

There were actually two identical Lincoln busts produced.  I believe I did the eyelashes, beard stubble on the cheeks, and some of the hair on the back of the head of this one.

Here's the whole crew.  A lot of very talented people.

Good Evening...

On the workbench.   Look familiar yet?  Stay tuned.