Freehand Foot

  Inspiration
  A while back I decided to do some practice on my mum's foot while she was watching TV. It was at night so the lighting wasn't the best but I'm actually pleased with the way it turned out. I had the idea of crime shows in my head when I went ahead, and the way bodies are found so decided to go with the idea that this was either a part on a dead body or was the foot of someone that had been running through the wilderness.

How I Did It
  I used a combination of  Snazaroo's Special FX wax, and Snazaroos  Special Gel Blood to fill in the cuts that I had created. The same materials were used to do the cut off top of the little toe. For the dirt imitation I use a small sponge that I feel is best described as 'netted' as it has many gaps in it. I used the ProColour Ring in Bruise #505-B to complete this and then used my fingers to create the bruise on the ankle and look of the dropping off little toe.

What I Would Improve
 If I were to do this again, the little toe definitely needs some work in making it look more realistic but otherwise I was very pleased with the way it turned out!

The Severed Finger

 Something that I just cannot manage to get perfect is the severed finger. This one is a little trickier because the finger needs to be folded behind and then a sort of mould created to sit on top of the finger to act as the sawn off part. I've done this about twice before, but decided this time I would create the other half of the severed finger rather than just the stump.

How I Did It
 
  I started out by creating the top half of the finger. To do this, I wrapped cling film round the upper half of my index finger, and then coated that in liquid latex and tissue paper to create the mould.

This took around twenty minutes to be dry enough for me to take off my finger. It was a soft cast of my finger, which to keep the shape I stuffed the inside with a mixture of liquid latex and balls of tissue.

 I waited for this to dry and then proceeded to paint it. Afterwards, I began on my own finger which instead of using liquid latex I used Snazaroo's Special FX Wax to help create the stump. I sellotaped my own finger back, and then moulded the scar wax onto the bent knuckle to create the illusion that it was a stump.

 After any other reshaping was needed, or engraving such as the knuckles, all that was left was too add blood. I used a combination of Mehron Stage Blood in Dark to hide any imperfections, and then used Snazaroo Special FX Gel Blood to give to the impression of fresh running blood. (Excuse the messy work surface.)

What I Would Improve
 The lack of colour similarity drives me nuts! If I were to re do this, I'd definitely try to match the skin colours better. As well as this, I'd try to get the texture of the sawn off finger better as I felt it was too 'bobbly' to look realistic. An idea may be to attempt to create it out of scar wax but I'm not sure how well the colour pay off would be.

 A previous attempt at a severed finger that happened when I was free styling on my hand (hence the black green patch that was a bruise gone wrong and the other areas) that I feel had a much better colour match and realistic look.

 Obligatory rock n roll selfie with my cut off finger! Hope you've been having a good week.

Grace

The Zombie Mouth

  

This past week I decided to do a small project in creating a zombie exposed mouth. In total, it took about three days to go from starting from scratch to application on the face. This wasn't a look that was inspired from seeing any pictures, I just started out with a blank mind and this is where it lead too.

How I did It

 I started out applying liquid latex in a circular rectangle shape on my current boyfriend Matt the Mannequin's cheek. This helped me get an idea of the size and the areas that were going to be "exposed" of the face. Once that was outlined with liquid latex and the first layer of tissue paper applied I moved on to what were going to be the teeth. A sturdier material was needed rather than just folding up tissue paper, so I utilized resources and used cut up cotton wool buds, as shown below.

 The remaining "bud" of the stick was dipped in liquid latex and then coated in tissue paper to get a more tooth like shape. Once the mouth had dried I was able to move onto applying the teeth into position.

 The stick of the cotton wool bud was needed to be cut down too allow for better placement as I wasn't sure there would be enough room for both top and bottom teeth but I managed! The thicker outer layers of the tissue paper helped to lodge the teeth in place. Once both rows of teeth were set in place, I went over with layers of individual tissue paper to create the illusion of gums and neaten the mouth out. I used Mehron's prosthetic sealer to run over the piece after the painting was completed, just to make sure everything stayed in place, and then ended up with this after it was ready to be pealed off.

 The gums helped to create a more realistic look for the teeth and seal them in place. I didn't want to glue the teeth down to the back of the latex as it would be too rigid and therefore give a lack of realism. Mehron's stage blood was used to coat the bottom and tops of the teeth, it has a very thick and sticky formula which helps with preventing dripping as well as giving the illusion of older blood.
 Before applying to the face, the backing of the latex was cut out leaving only the top, bottom and end "gum strip" available for face application. This was achieved by minimal liquid latex (careful if you have sensitive skin and always test first to see if any allergies are present) and scar wax to give the effect of an "open" wound.

  Excuse the bored look here, I was concentrating on trying to take a good photo! I then used a combination of Snazaroo fake blood and Mehrons stage blood to coat around where it should be. On the left half of my lips I used a Topshop lip bullet, as I am yet to know the safety issues with consuming fake blood! To complete the look, I used a sponge up the left half of my face, some blood dripping around the mouth, and a more separated sponge to create a graze on the right hand side of the face. Here are some more views of my work:

 What I Would Improve
 
 If I were to recreate this look, I'd take measurements from my own face first as I feel like the placement of the teeth could be a little bed. I also feel that greater care would need to be taken in showing the transition from my actual lips to the open mouth as it's too obvious in pictures that it's stuck on.

Similarly to this, the teeth either need more blood run around the upper gums or to be more firmly stuck in. To allow for more flexibility, the back curve could have been cut out and replaced with scar wax.

Conclusion
 I am really pleased with this way turned out for starting from scratch, and if I were to do ever recreate this look I'd put more effort into making it individual and flexible for those who I'm applying it on. Further make up, such as contact lenses and maybe a neck bite could really help with the scary zombie look!

Corpse Bride Recreation

 Inspiration
 I decided that for part of my ever growing portfolio I would add some recreations of characters. Instead of primarily focusing on characters with sadistic tendencies it would be a good idea to do a kinder character. I chose Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride's beautiful Emily. Originally I planned to use scar wax to create the illusion of her large eyes, but it didn't work out as planned and that's why this work is a little messy as it turned out completely free hand rather then anything planned. 

 It was this picture that I then ended up using for the rest of my face painting inspiration as it gives clear view of the missing part of her cheek. I ended up feeling that painting it on lightly worked better with my overall look then using scar wax as I usually would. 

 How I did It
 As you can see from the picture, the remaining scar wax was still present around my eyes but it was fun anyway. I used the concept of contouring to try and recreate the structure of Emily's face. I used Snazaroo face paints in the white and black colour with the Pro Colour Ring in Bruise (#505-B)s use of Midnight Sky. The majority was done with a basic sponge but an eyeliner pencil in black was used to draw the large eyes, eyebrows, and nose. 

What I would Improve
  If I were to do this look again, I'd begin by concealing my eyebrows for a cleaner look when drawing on the eyes. I'd use scar wax to do the hole in the side of her cheek, as well as her having one eye missing, as demonstrated in this picture. 

 I feel the missing eye would add a greater impact and make her character seem more life like rather then just face paint. Scar wax would be used for the same purpose for the hole in her cheek. As I look at both this picture and mine, I realise that her lips should have had a more mauvey pink colour which would be a minor detail to adjust next time. If I had enough time, I would recreate the torso as well as the face. 

 Emily has part of her ribcage missing which I have previously tried to recreate something similar in earlier days of venturing into special effects make up, but would like to try again soon. I think this piece of work would need to be created beforehand with liquid latex, and obviously a lot of blue face paint to cover the arms and chest area! 

Conclusion
 This was far from my best piece of work, but it has helped me to learn that the basics of painting is something that I need to work on with my skills. However, I am pleased for the experience and the way that I was able to apply basic knowledge of contouring to get a similar reconstruction of Emily's face.