Battles With Bits Of Rubber

There are often a number of questions about prosthetic makeup that get asked often. We put together the top 5 that keep cropping up and do a deep dive into our responses. 1. How do I match an appliance to a person's skin tone? 2. How do I ensure a good edge on an appliance? 3. How can I create good work without spending a fortune on materials? 4. How do I get work? 5. Will computers take over the work of makeup artists? Check out the blog post with extensive notes (and a downloadable booklet) by tapping here.   Also, you can leave a voice message directly on our website through our 'Speak Pipe' feature. Check it here. -Stuart & Todd

Todd talks with his good friends and fellow artists, Jacquie & Brandon Ryan. This episode looks at how people teach, learn, and maybe don't learn. We all need a motivation to learn, and many of us will require different styles of learning such as visual, auditory, practical hands-on tasks or live demonstration to get started. One simple rule to remember is this: Sucking is learning. Making mistakes is when you learn. Learn how to make mistakes and pick yourself up. Nobody likes failing, but using that as fuel is worthwhile. As the military put it - 'Pain retains!' Check our blog post with extensive notes here.

I first met Neill with a folio tucked under my arm for my interview I had managed to arrange at Ealing Studios in 1995. My first job with him was making oversized Casio watches, which were fibreglassed out of silicone moulds to make G-Shock watch display units. --------------------------------- Check out our new website: Battles With Bits Of Rubber Dot Com --------------------------------- One thing I have always noticed about Neill is that he has a seemingly fearless approach to problem-solving. He will go directly to the source and grab whatever is the root of the issue in order to overcome it. This seems to me to be the single best approach to fixing things which go wrong and thus continue on to better results. It is so easy for us to protect ourselves from the pain of that difficulty that it needs constant motivation and reminding to break through that in-built resistance. The film industry is couched in problem-solving, each situation unique and usually high pressured. It is an attractive ca

At IMATS London 2019, I sat and had a great chat with Rick from Bolton University. For those that may not be aware, a breif Rick bio: "Richard is a senior lecturer and Programme Leader of the Special Effects for Film and TV degree at the University of Bolton. He’s been teaching at the university for several years and specialises in character work, in both the prosthetic make-up effects and model-making fields. " In the episode, we talk about the massive effect 3D printing and technology is having on what was previously a traditional skills area. What is cool is that new blood is coming in, taking on board the new tech and learning old skills for the first time in equal measure, making something new and quite special as a result. He is an interesting chap and has, I think you will agree, a very good voice for radio! Give us a listen and let us know what you think. Incidentally, all the lecturers at Bolton have been doing great work there for years, making a real impact on the quality of work and competence th

In this episode, I got to chat with Matthew Mungle & visit his jail cell! Matthew and his company, WM Creations have been responsible for makeup effects on scores of shows and racked up a lot of awards and nominations in the process - for a deep dive into that, check out Matthews IMDb profile. The actual real-life holding cell in the studio, now decked out with suitably spooky decorations and effects! So much fun. Todd and I also wax lyrical about the joys of epoxy and plaster, silicones we like for flat moulds and release agents for Pros-Aide transfers. We both like a firmer silicone as there is naturally some pressure that goes on when pressing a scraper over the back of the mould - so a soft silicone mould will compress too much and underfill if you are not careful! One of the sculpting areas in Matthews studio. Matthew talked at length about the process of taking a script, breaking it down and assigning it into a series of tasks - details which you don't often hear people talk about. He always want

In this episode, Neill Morrill joins me in the workshop as we hit up Todd in Colorado and chat about our collaborated efforts on the makeup we did for The Prosthetics Event 2019. Neil is originally from the UK but moved to Toronto in the early 2000s and has worked on a number of high profile shows over the years such as 300, The Strain, Suicide Squad, Hereditary, It, Shazam! and the What We Do In The Shadows series. It was an absolute joy working with Neil on our homage to Rick Bakers' 'Reverend Brown' makeup on Arsenio Hall from 1988 classic Coming To America. Neil had the idea when chatting to our makeup sponsor Sian Richards when bouncing ideas around. The upcoming sequel recently finished shooting, and so Neil picked that as a good contender as a challenge for us to do - separated as we are by 3, 500 miles of Atlantic ocean. British Rapper and DJ Normski agreed to be our victim, and so we set about hatching the plan. Obviously distance like that adds tricky elements to a physical process such as sculptin

In this episode, Todd and Stu talk about our week making moulds with epoxy, dropping sculpts and moulage effects for first responder training. Earlier in 2019, Stu got to sit and chat with some fine folks at IMATS London and a chat with makeup designer Kate Benton kicks off the first of these finally edited up after a crazy industry year. This is the sculpt I was detailing and then dropped. Doh! As you may know, this podcast is a side hustle for us which has been on the backburner for a while as the industry rocked the makeup case hard. Now as things ease up, the Prosthetics Event is almost upon us and a season of podcast editing is happening and winding down for the end of the year. Deep joy! Find out more about Kate on her website: http://www.katebenton.com/ The Heidi Klum Halloween makeups we mentioned can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp390WQaXY Check out the amazing artistry of Mike Marino and Prosthetic Rennaisance (Proren) here: https://www.prorenfx.com/ and on Insta @prorenfx We sure

Starting Education In Makeup Effects & Prosthetics This episode is prompted by seeing a few questions on forums about how best to learn about makeup FX and prosthetics. Where to go and what to learn? Depending on what you want to be able to do, let's also draw a distinction between a makeup artist who sometimes will apply a prosthetic v someone who specialises in creating and applying more complex pieces. Some people want to exist in the workshop only and have no interest in being on set all day. It takes all types but understands there is a profession which specialises in making and one in makeup, they don't always cross over, and you don't need to be able to do everything. ----------------------- There are some great colleges out there with tutors doing sterling work. There are also some not so great. We think that is worth mentioning and discussing. In this episode, I mention some institutions off the top of my head which I reckon do a great job, and I have had the privilege of visiting many more and

Jordu Schell has been pushing clay around for a while and knows a thing or two about sculpting. Creating concepts for characters and creatures, masks, makeups and beautifully crafted designs, he also teaches his craft all over the world and has recently released the first of a series of downloadable books The Professional Creature Design Handbook. In this podcast we chat about: The headspace of sculpting The frustration of failing and why it matters Using nature as inspiration and reference The pitfalls of copying styles (Aping the style without understanding the deeper truth behind it) Teaching and learning styles around the world The other sculptors mentioned are: Sazen Lee: https://www.instagram.com/sazenlee/ Toi Ogunyoku: https://www.toiogunyokuart.com/ Amelia Rowcroft: https://www.ameliarowcroft.com/ The book Todd mentioned was by Uldis Zarins and Sandis Kondrats Anatomy For Sculptors: https://anatomy4sculptors.com/ Subscribe in your podcatcher to make sure you don't miss the latest episodes! Th

It’s been a while since Todd & I have podcasted, so apologies for the slow return to form. It’s been a brutal few months, mainly as I have been on the new Netflix/BBC version of Dracula which has kept my hands red and my days long and busy.  Naturally, NDA’s prevent me from divulging what’s what but rest assured, fans of the Hammer style will enjoy the perfect casting of Danish actor Claes Bang in the lead role. Dave and Lou Elsey ran the Prosthetics department, and the small crew we had was kept busy. Makeup dept head Marcus Whitney and his crew did some amazing work and as it has been penned by the Sherlock team of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, you can be sure of some exciting storylines. Totally stoked to have been involved!   --------------- In this podcast, we chatted outside in Todd’s back yard about our endeavours over the previous couple of days, making ears. We had used epoxy and as I have used so much polyester resin with fibreglass over the years, talk fell mainly to comparing the two materia

"Paul walked into a Lifeboat station on his 17th birthday and never left, initially volunteering at Poole and now at Tower Lifeboat in London. So far he has been a Search and Rescue Volunteer with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and HM Coastguard for 31 years." So reads the write-up for the honours listing of Pauls OBE, a high honour of recognition for sterling work which he continues to do within maritime medicine and emergency response. Training those who deal with emergency and pre-hospital medicine is no mean feat, and making sure casualty makeup used in training medical personnel is both accurate and hard wearing is a key part of that. It was because of this shared interest that Paul and Stuart crossed paths, and led to this episode of the podcast. Casualty simulation is often an avenue makeup artists will get involved in as they can obviously add a great deal of realism to training scenarios with good makeup. Anyone who has done a first-aid at work course will no doubt be familiar with a

In this podcast we talk about art, what it means to be an artist, why we do it, and the challenges we face in trying to make a living doing this. This was mostly brought about because of the fantastic conversation I had with my first ever boss when I started working in effects in 1994. Pauline and business partner, Nik Williams run Animated Extras, an effects company specialising in prosthetics, animatronics, puppets, creature suits, fake bodies and many animals from elephants, bats, sharks...you name it. In their own words... "From singing sloths to the putrefying corpses of Hollywood A-listers, Animated Extras have been creating all kinds of weird and wonderful things for the Film, TV, and advertising industry since 1986." Pauline was the first person I ever saw take a lump of clay and make it look like a real person when she made a fake head of Michael Gambon for the film 'Mary Reilly'. It was to me complete and total magic, and it was an absolute delight and honour to sit with her and talk frankly about

Richard Redlefsen is someone I saw for the first time a few years back at the UMAE where he was applying his demo makeup on the PPI stand. What was of note for me was how particular and precise everything was. Care was taken at every turn, and it struck me that the amount of effort that takes must come from a deep well. So it was a great pleasure to sit and chat with the man himself, and I could ask if he thought of this about himself and if we could pick apart where that comes from. As you'll hear, Richard had a career as a dancer before he embarked on makeup, and his training was thorough. I think that experience and also working for a makeup brand such as Lancôme meant his work doesn't start and stop with bits of rubber! Follow Richard on his Instagram to see just how versatile this chap is. Check out a brief selection of the range Richard covers. A Devil mask sculpt completed recently for Immortal Masks.   Claudia Alta (Lady 'Bird' Johnson) wrap-around prosthetic sculpt ready to mould.   Zombie makeup

Rick Baker knows a thing or two about making stuff in rubber. It's also fair to say he knows a thing or two about the digital world too, as he has been mixing the two for a while. In 2015, when it was announced that Rick was to close his shop, the FX world was stunned and the bell tolled once again for the end of all practical effects as people speculated the end of live-action anything. There was a Vice article at the time which claimed (again) the 'CGI was killing the industry' which, if you were knee deep in rubber and working crazy hours trying to get stuff done for a show like I and many others were was hard to take seriously. Now the dust has settled, I was so stoked to get a chance to sit and talk to the man himself and see what he was doing with himself now he was out of the industry. He was after possibly the most well known and most respected inspirations working at the time, so what were we to do now he had hung up his makeup brushes? The answer? Keep on making things. Simply put, what has happene

Something that Don talked about passionately in our interview was how (mostly) young, creative people can be in a position to get taken advantage of. When working starting out, you are not likely to be handed a position of massive responsibility with large sums of money and heavy hitting clients. So it stands to reason when the phone first rings, it’s likely to be a smaller production with little or no budget looking for some help and played right it can be a wonderful place to start. In this episode, we chat about this with a word of warning and a method of understanding your worth so that if you find yourself in this position, you can check yourself and your fluctuating emotions against the empirical gauge of common sense. Halloween Horrors We also wax lyrical about plain dangerous Halloween makeups which we have seen. Every year, a plethora of inappropriate objects are attached to eyes and noses in an attempt to get likes and attention. There isn't anything wrong with that unless of course, actual harm ca

We are back with more Don! Even though I was there when we recorded, I still get a buzz hearing back what we spoke about. Simply put, Don will make you better and get you thinking about sculpting. In part 2 we spoke to Don about: - Ego - Looking for the positives - Music whilst sculpting - Using the same tool to get many results - Sculptures that want to come out - Deadlines - Chisel shape tipped rubber clay shapers Silicone-tipped Clay-Shapers The Kemper D9 that Don refers to as a very versatile tool. At the time of writing, Don had just finished his workshop in the week leading up to the Prosthetic Event 2018, which was fantastic. His stage spot was rammed, and it was great to see a live audience enraptured, although I shall always cherish this podcast opportunity where just the three of us got to share Don's space. Incidentally, Don posts the latest upcoming workshop dates on his Don Lanning's D3 Studio page. If you can get the chance to go to a class, I'd urge you to do so. He really is very good at m

If you have any sculpting ambition or love for any monster movies made in the last twenty years, then you should know the name Don Lanning. Not only is he a gifted craftsman who has worked hard for his place, but he is also a gifted teacher who can help make others better, and he is damn fine fella the whole time he is doing it. Don has been working away on productions for years as a hired gun on well know movies such as Hollow Man, Ghosts of Mars, Vanilla Sky, Hellboy, AVP, Silent Hill, The Avengers, and Aquman as well as TV shows such as The X Files, Nip/Tuck, Star Trek, The Strain, and Bright. Possibly though, the pivotal moment which brought his method into the limelight was the Stan Winston School For Character Arts videos such as Sculpture Techniques and Character Design. We weren't just treated to a 'how?' class, but also a 'why?' class and looking at the feelings on experiences whilst sculpting. I often think sculpting classes are among the hardest to instruct largely becasue it is a slow, delibe

After the madness of Monsterpalooza 2018, we had the chance to grab the gang for a wind down chat to debrief about the trip and talk about what we got up to. It was a fun time, and I hope the warmth of a truly magical few days comes across, as Todd and I were truly humbled at the non-stop kindness and generosity we were liberally soaked with. Anticlockwise from bottom: Me, Sam Shuck, Adrian Rigby, Eryn Kreuger Mekash and Todd Debreceni hanging out in the magical trailer I stayed in. Adrian and I met in 1995 when we both travelled out to LA to take a look at the FX scene and see how it worked at the start of what we hoped to be our careers. It was so nice to be back out here 23 years later having been able to have those very careers we so badly wanted. I think that story needs it's own post, where we spent the day at Optic Nerve studios, on the set of Babylon 5 watching an episode shoot, and seeing the makeup touch ups happening with Greg Funk and Fionagh Cush working their magic. What a great time we had!

Steve LaPorte was a joy to speak with. For one thing, he is incredibly talented and has a fantastic body of work. That aside, he also recalls exactly how he got there and can track back the step by step process of how he got there. It’s a wonderful thing when someone can trace back their steps and know how they got to where they have and are keen to help others understand what is important. Steve talks about the importance of knowing how to make things work rather than always relying on an endlessly supplied workshop to solve every problem. Knowing how to pull things together on the spot is a great skill to have on set but ironically is how most people start out when they don’t have a lot of kit. Hearing who he has worked with is like a who’s who of the makeup effects world. Knowing good, solid makeup skills as well as using appliances and working in a workshop come together to make a very capable artist whose versatile skillset make for a great resume. We see again and again in these conversations with mak

Michael Westmore has done battle with rubber for a few shows, it's fair to say. With a long career spanning every aspect of makeup, he comes from a several generation deep family which practically bleeds greasepaint. Many know of his work on Star Trek, but the breadth of his experience is quite something. To read more on the subject, check out a brief history of it here, on Wikipedia or track down a copy of 'The Westmores Of Hollywood'. Awared the Academy Award in 1985 for Mask, a moving story of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis who suffered from Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, Michael is well placed to comment on extreme prosthetic makeovers to subtle, undetectable straight makeup corrections. Michael has recently told his own story in 'Makeup Man', a memoir made up from a collection of stories charting his progression in the industry, and I would recommend it as a great read for anyone with an interest in makeup and how it works within the film industry! It's taken 14 years to assemble the stories, going from the 60's to