SPECIAL MAKE-UP FX | ANIMATRONICS | BODY & FACE ART 1st ISSUE summer 2015 £6.95
IN THIS ISSUE… >> Critical
Condition
The high octane casualty
effects that helped create a medical masterpiece
>> The Art of
Imitating Life
FX CRIBS Lifting th e v the indus eil on tr make-up y’s FX studios
Todd Masters on the power of
>> Skill Up!
In-depth technical tutorials on patterned pieces,
making armatures, painting realistic translucent skin effects, temporary tattoos and casting silicone busts
Rising Stars
>> The Strain
Bringing an ancient
vampire virus to life for Guillermo del Toro’s epic TV series
Learning curves, logistics and legendary influences…
In the first of a major two-part feature, Adam Johansen and Damian Martin from Odd Studio, Australia talk about the challenges of running their own FX company
AN M DM O U RE C ! H
augmenting prosthetic effects with digital tools
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CONTENTS
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04 WORDS OF WISDOM Allan Apone, multi-award nominee and personal make-up artist to Samuel L. Jackson sets the scene for this issue
36 How to make an Armature
06 Critical Condition Millennium FX’s Kate Walshe on the pivotal role prosthetics played in breaking the boundaries of the medical drama genre
40 Feeling The Strain
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Musings of a Monster Maker
World-renowned creature designer Jordu Schell contemplates what defines an ‘artist’ and why it isn’t necessarily talent
16 Danny’s DemoS
Make-Up FX artist and teacher Danny Marie Elias gives us an insight into her unique brand of ‘Haute Couture FX,’ with a step-by-step tutorial on creating patterned pieces
Joe Nazzaro examines the work of the Toronto creature effects team responsible for vampire mayhem in Guillermo del Toro’s TV series
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Banning the Body Journalist and make-up FX artist Laura Sutherland investigates the impact Facebook’s ‘Graphic Content Policy’ is having on the body art community
54 Realistic Translucent Skin Effects
The Art of Imitating Life Eminent prosthetics designer Todd Masters 59 explains his pioneering approach to bringing believability back to the screen by merging prosthetics and CGI 32 FX Cribs Neill Gorton gets a glimpse of other people’s FX studios! In this issue Justin Raleigh shows us around his Fractured FX, Inc. facility at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains
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Leading UK figurative sculptor Andrew Sinclair ARBS shows us how to build a solid foundation for 3-dimensional sculpture
Goya winning Spanish make-up FX artist and creature designer Arturo Balseiro shares his painting techniques for replicating the appearance of skin
Rising Stars Part 1
In the first of a two-part feature, Neill Gorton shines a light on three exciting new companies from three different continents, and talks to their directors about the evolution from artist to businessperson. In this issue: Adam Johansen and Damian Martin of Odd Studio, Australia. In the next issue: Barrie Gower of BGFX, UK and Vincent Van Dyke of Vincent Van Dyke Effects, USA
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SUMMER 2015
Welcome
to the first independent edition of Prosthetics Magazine. Our aim is to look beyond the gloss that publications about the film industry and the arts can often be adorned with, and get to the real stuff of what it means to be an artist working in the field of prosthetics and special make-up effects.
71 71 Creating Temporary Tattoos
Todd Debreceni, prosthetics artist, teacher and author of the internationally acclaimed ‘Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics,’ shows us his technique for successfully emulating body ink
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Going Viral European artists Nikki Shelley and Lucia Pittalis talk about the incredible skills that have gained them notoriety on the Internet, and taken traditional face painting into the realm of ‘make-up FX’
Inside you’ll find in-depth interviews with the people who run the FX studios and deal with the issues of working in our industry and related fields on a day-to-day basis. Their opinions and experiences provide a real, gritty insight into the lives of the talented practitioners who put incredible effects on our screens, or whose home grown skills have earned them worthy but challenging places in the social media spotlight. Here is an opportunity to really hear their voices, understand the environments in which they work and appreciate what really goes into their achievements. We strip the craft right back to the materials it uses, look at the origins of significant ones and the tech spec of specific projects. We also make a point of indulging in as many images of the creations we’re talking about as we can possibly cram in to these pages. If you know me you will know I don’t shy away from telling it how it is, so typically the magazine also addresses subjects that can cause hackles to rise and spark heated debates. As with much of my work, there is a strong educational element. I’m delighted to include tutorials from some extremely skilled artists and teachers, who have willingly shared their personal techniques in great detail, and to whom I’m sincerely grateful. I hope you enjoy the read! Neill Gorton Publisher
84 How to Cast a Silicone Bust
UK prosthetics artist Richard Martin is a specialist in creating hyper-realistic statues. Here he takes us through the innovative techniques he uses for the casting process
87 The Evolution of Silicone Prosthetics
In this trilogy of retrospectives, Arvin Clay documents the history of the industry’s most popular prosthetics material, Justin Neill recounts the significant role of Mouldlife in bringing it to market, and UK prosthetics designers Mark Coulier and Neill Gorton share some examples of its early appearances on screen
Publisher: Neill Gorton Editor: Lisa Gorton Designer: Mike Truscott Sales: Laura Hargreaves Contact: Prosthetics Magazine, Unit 3 Penrose House, Treleigh Industrial Estate, Redruth, Cornwall TR16 4DE Email: info@prostheticsmagazine.co.uk Cover image: ‘Cochise’ (Falling Skies Season 3, TNT) by MastersFX, courtesy of Todd Masters
Contributors Our sincere thanks to everyone who provided material for this issue and shared their knowledge so generously, in page order: Allan Apone, Kate Walshe, Rob Mayor and Millennium FX, Jordu Schell, Danny Marie Elias, Todd Masters, Justin Raleigh, Andrew Sinclair, Joe Nazzaro, Laura Sutherland, Arturo Balseiro, Todd Debreceni, Richard Martin, Arvin Clay, Justin Neill and Mark Coulier. Content, instructional material and advertised products: The publisher is not responsible for unsolicited material, technical/artistic instruction or materials cited or promoted herein and does not endorse, guarantee, provide assurance of or recommend any products advertised or techniques described. PROSTHETICS
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FORWARD
Words of Wisdom An industry leader sets the scene for the issue
Allan Apone, multi-award nominee and personal make-up artist to Samuel L. Jackson, on technology, time honoured techniques and the teaching of our craft
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hen the amazing make-up artist, Neill Gorton, approaches you to write something for his magazine, how can you say no? So, thank you for asking, Neill. In my 35 years as a make-up artist in the film industry, I have witnessed many technological changes, most for the good. HD cameras have made it just a bit harder to hide edges and imperfections on our actors. On the flip side, new silicones have become more user friendly and less temperamental, coupled with new urethanes, the toxicity in the lab setting has lessened. Silicone prosthetics and Pros Aid transfers have become useful additions in the arsenal of today’s make-up artist. Foam latex is still a very viable material for many jobs and even gelatin is still used quite often. Given all these new and old options we have in the make-up and prosthetic world, the one key thing that remains crucial to the look of any make-up is the artistry of painting.
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With all the technology available to makeup artists today and all the schools that are turning out hundreds of students, one of the things that I see is that only a very small amount of new artists today know about color theory. Color theory, in my opinion, should be taught first and foremost. I have encountered so many make-up artists that cannot mix colors to achieve
do they teach basic beauty and fashion but prosthetics, make-up effects and facial hair work as well. When I started in this craft, there were not many people willing to share their knowledge, Dick Smith was an exception. Now we see so many of the great make-up artists and effects artists of today not only willing to share but doing demos, guest speaking and teaching for anyone who
Given all these new and old options we have in the make-up and prosthetic world, the one key thing that remains crucial to the look of any makeup is the artistry of painting… the desired shade that they need. This isn’t just a problem for mixing colors but also for adjusting make-up color given the lighting scheme of the film. That being said the biggest change has been in education.
wants to learn.
There are a plethora of choices of schools in any country around the world. Not only
Allan A. Apone Make-up Artist MEL, Inc. MelProducts
A thank you to all who share knowledge and to all who are there to absorb it. Preserve our Craft, pay it forward.
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l a c i t i Cr n o i t i d Con The Professional
Diaries of
MILLENNIUM FX
Creating high impact prosthetics for a genre-defining show
C
ritical, the groundbreaking new medical show from Sky 1, hit our screens in February 2015. It’s been dubbed the most tense and stomach churningly realistic medical drama on TV, and we spoke to Millennium FX’s Kate Walshe about how the prosthetic effects the company created are such a key part of the show’s appeal. “The show’s brief was to make a real time medical drama with in-camera effects and limited editing. The producers of the show made us aware early on that the realism of the prosthetic effects was pivotal to the show - it was a high pressure project but a huge privilege to be involved with.” “There was no room for error or guess work,” says Walshe, “we genuinely had to learn trauma surgery! It was a fascinating experience and our fantastic crew embraced it, producing outstanding work.”
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Creating work for the 13-part series took Millennium FX 13 months, a mammoth 15,600 man-hours and a whopping six-figure materials bill. “Those figures really do reflect the volume of work involved in building the prosthetic effects for the show,” Kate explains, “it was an intense period of work. When the shoot was in full swing we were building up to 3 episodes
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worth of prosthetics back in the workshop, feeding through prosthetic appliances for another 3 or more over to the studios at Longcross and planning another 3 in the meeting rooms. It was a vast volume of organs and limbs!” How did they keep track of it all? “As the episodes had no titles themselves and were shot out of sequence, calling them by their numbers got confusing, so for short hand we would label each episode by the injury of the patient.” Here we dissect one of the most spectacular episodes, an episode which the Millennium FX crew fondly calls the “Burn Lady Ep.” but which we know as Episode 8. For those who’ve not yet had a chance to see the show you’ll be pleased to know this is a mostly spoiler-free dissection, although it does contain some procedural information. “In this episode a fire in the hospital causes severe burns on a female patient. We built full body prosthetics and a matching dummy rig to replicate the effects of the burn, and also the trauma procedures that would actually be carried out on a burn patient of this severity, including tubing the airway; an emergency tracheotomy; CPR and escharotomies.”