I love to recycle costume parts, that way I get way more looks from a few elements, because you will most definitly recognize this angry brow ;) But for this years Halloween Party (I haven't celebrated in three years) I wanted to go as a succubus demon - beautiful and ugly at the same time.
Angry brow designed and molded by Karin, cast (gelatin) and applied by me. Here's a short video showing me putting on the makeup :)
Human Heart Clutch purse A while back I made a mold for a human heart purse, and for the occation I cast up a new one.
This is a write up of my SXF makeup panel (Spacial effect makeup). This is very basic techniques and mostly stuff you can do at home. Here are some examples of costumes I have made with sfx makeup. Sea Goddess, Zombies, Liara and Adjutant. The angry Demon brow was made using the mold made by the very talented Karin Olava Effects. Photo: Sea Goddess and Liara - Nils Katla Photography, Adjutant and zombie Alice - Danarki, Death Elf - Artano Photography. Last zombie - Selfie. The first and maybe easiest method must be liquid latex. Make sure that you use latex that is meant to be used on skin, and test on you hand if you are allergic to latex before you cover your face. I have also written a post about zombie techniques and tools earlier.
This is one way to make a zombie look. All I have used is liquid latex and tissue paper. The teeth are fake nails cut into shape and glued on using skin glue (mastix or pros aide).
To make the paint more realistic my tip is always use at least 3 different colors.
To fix the teeth piece, I again cover my face with latex and tissue paper. Before tearing the hole for the mouth piece I put on my face paint. Note that Latex will show any face paint in a lighter tone than your skin. Attache the teeth piece with skin glue and add fake blood. You can either buy blood or make it yourself.
In addition you can make great effects with a bald cap, here I have glued on some random hair from an old with and hidden the edges with blood and bruises. And then we have guts ;) Here I have stuffed condoms with cotton and fake blood, but you can also find several tutorials online for other methods. But there is so much more you can do with latex, for my sea goddess I used it to make tentacles and fins.
For the tentacles I used wadding around a wire then wrapped in plastic foil. Then they were dipped in latex. The suckers are cheerios dipped in latex. Latex glues to itself, so no additional glue needed. The tentacles are painted with grease based paint so it wont crack. To make them more shiny they are sprayed with fixing spray. You will find more info on the original tutorial here.
The fins are made with a cardboard skeleton which is painted with latex, which again is attached to my arm with tissue and latex. The white dots take focus away from the edges. More details are here on the original tutorial.
You can also cast latex, here I use Liara as an example. You will find more details on the original tutorial.
These are some tools I use when sculpting. The trick when you are going to make a mold is to not let the clay dry out, this way it is going to be easier to get out of the plaster mold. And even though I often use paper clay for smaller pieces, you should use oil based clay because it doesn't dry out in room temperature. for the scale patterns I just used the netting from fruit packaging.
Here are some progress photos of the sculpting.
To make the plaster mold I made it in several parts so it could taken off easily, which were glued together in the end. My mold is way to thin. You should make your molds 4 cm thick, so they don't crack.
To make the "hood" I slush cast latex, which means I pour in in the mold and move it around to make it cover every surface. You need to make many layers. Dry latex stick to itself very well, so remember to powder the hood while taking it out. More information on how to apply it and paint it you can find here.
And you should watch Emmabellish on youtube on how to put it on.
But now it is time for gelatin.
This is how to mix the gelatin, more information on the gelatin tutorial. When heating it up don't let it boil and don't stir it too much. This will create small bubbles that will then end up in the application. And also remember, this is a "fresh" application, keep it in your freezer until you are going to use it, and you should only use it once and make another for the next time you need it.
Here are a few short wip photos for how the Sea Goddess nose was made
Since I forgot to take photos of how I made the mold I'm borrowing a few photos from Instructables.com. The three problems I had was that I didn't heat it up enough the first time and it got really "grainy", and I got a huge air bubble because I didn't fill the mold enough. And lastly you need to press really hard to get thin edges. Also do not use latex to blend a gelatin piece, because the color will be different on the different materials.
Makeup Here are a few photos to illustrate the difference between water based and grease based makeup. Water based is easy to apply with both brush and sponge, and easy to make detailed patterns. It is also really easy to wash off. But you can't use it on latex since it will crack. Grease based sits much better on latex and gelatin, but you need makeup remover to get it off your skin. it also blends better to your skin and doesn't crack. You should seal grease paint with transparent powder and fixing spray, so it doesn't smudge off.
And speaking of makeup tools. Here is a photo of transparent powder, fixing spray and two different skin glues. Transparent powder is used to set the makeup and will not dull down the color. Fixing spray makes sure your makeup hold the entire con and doesn't rub off. Mastix is a very strong skin glue, but smells very strongly. Pros Aide does not smell so much and will stay "tacky" a while so it is easier to readjust you prosthetic.
Lastly I will show you a video of my putting on my Adjutant makeup, which took about one and a half hours.
Hope you got any useful information here, check out my facebook page for more spontaneous updates: ChrixDesign
I have held zombie makeup panels several times now and it is always so much fun. Last time was together with Bettcanard Design. In this post I will add some of the links and tips I talked about during my panel for those who are interested in trying this at home. You can also read about other SFX makeup effects, like gelatin here.
When I want
to make a zombie makeup I start with designing the look and looking for
inspirations. And I like to focus on two or three large effects as to not loose
myself in details. But still you need to address everything from ruffled hair
to dirty fingernails. So perhaps a little gut falling out and a broken jaw is enough "large effects" and then you make some small wounds and add blood an d dirt all over.
During my panel I showed you a youtube
video, here is a link. NB: you should never use scissors to open the latex skin, a tweezer and then rip it with your fingers is safer.
I also showed a clip from the Syfy channel series "FaceOff" where the contestants get the task of creating a horde of zombies (season four, episode seven). I have learned a lot from this series and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about SFX makeup in general.
Equipment –
what do you need, and what I showed off during my panel. Most of these you can get at Joke shops, Panduro, well stocked makeup store or on internet (like MouldLife.co.uk)
Liquid
latex (make sure it’s the kind you can put on your skin, read the description on the bottle)
Tissue
paper (try to use the ones without prints)
Glue,
again that is meant for putting on your skin (Mastix, Spirit Gum, Pros Aid)
Foundation
color, crème color is the best here, either pale skin color, white, greenish (I
have one called corpse from Kryolan)
Sponges,
q-tips and brushes. And whatever you dip in latex will get ruined.
Acrylic
color (NB: not use close to eyes or mouth) Use at least 3 colors, red, deep red,
dark brown. You can also use lipstick and other makeup to color you wounds.
Fake
blood (either make it, see link above, or buy it)
Stipple sponge (great for making bruises and smudge blood)
Stipple sponge
Here are some wounds I made after the panel at Metrocon, model Tom Vida Johannessen. It only took about 10 minutes to make.
In addition here is my human heart clutch purse, which is also made out of liquid latex and tissue paper.
Other zombie effects can be made by using a bald cap with some random chuncks of hair glued to it, or add guts. Here I have filles condoms with cotton and fake blood.
For more tutorials on other types of spesial effects makeup, see my SFX makeup writeup.
This is a presentation of some of the Zombie makeups I have made the past years. Hope you enjoy. Here is a tutorial for how I made the makeup with torn face and exposed teeth
Want to see more of the costumes I make, follow me on facebook:"Chrixdesignandprops" I love zombies as much as the next girl and can not pass on an opertunety to dress up. Warm bodies is featured soon and Banzaicon is around the bend. I want to make a torn jaw, exposed teeth mask. The idea is to make this in two stages, the torn flesh I will make on application day, but the exposed teeth I can make now (saving time on application day) First up, teeth, which are made from fake nails and cut into shape.
Precut and aligned
Next step - latex. Here I have stippled liquid latex (69 kr at Standard, like this one) over the area I want my mask to cover (sorry for bad quality mobile photos, best I had at the moment)
And layer up with toilet paper and cover it with latex again. Let it dry.
Same with upper jaw
Adding teet, which are glued on with spirit gum (also known as mastix)
More teeth
Gums. If you look closely on this picture you will see that i have added more texture above and between the teeth, creating gums and securing the teeth.
Paint job I used thick acryllic paint, which gives a a wet look and is cheap. Red and brown are mixed here.
And darker brown around the edges.
Full front. An ekstra nail is added to the chin as to create the effect of exposed jaw bone, buildt up with extra tissue around the edges.
Take it off and I have a reusable mask. And it is easier to finish detailing it.
A little more detailing, painting under and between the teeth. And making some brown strikes on the teeth itself.
This is all for now. When the time comes that I will wear it I will add more fake blood, but it is easier to store when it is dry and clean like now. To apply it later I will use more latex or spirit gum. It is important that the area around the mouth is attached thoroughly. The edges however will be covered with more fake skin - but more on that in my next tutorial. See my next post on how to make the rest of the makeup
