Jet Plane on the Brain

So I'm pretty jazzed about traveling and starting my artist assistant gig this weekend. I'm a bit nervous as I've been perusing the artists' sites and taking in the scope of their work. You should definitely check them out.

Matt Madden

Jessica Abel

They are both severely talented and I'm eager to see them work together as a team. I'm interested to see how they work as artists and if being married and co-habitating their styles affects their work process. I hope I can help in the best way they expect.



So Chris Hallock of All Things Horror won my first blog contest from Z for Zombies. He did a fantastic post detailing his prize. You should check it out by clicking here.

Here's a couple of my own pics to showcase the work I put into it all. His piece was of the three film directors Tobe Hooper, George Romero, and John Carpenter on a life boat with a weapon in the middle of them. Their weapon of choice; a typewriter.

I constructed it out of almost all found and recycled materials. It was a blast to fabricate and I'm looking forward to doing it again. So much so, that I'm hosting another art giveaway in celebration of Z for Zombies's 200th post. Click here to learn more and enter for yourself.



I've had to accept that I won't be able to finish a submission for the Indy Mogul contest. It's a bit disheartening, but I just can't swing it. God only put 24 hours in a day, I'm just trying to do the best I can with the time I have and the energy I have to meet the challenges and obstacles that come my way.

Having said that, here's Blade: Food Runner and what could've been. If you have the means to pull this off by thier February 28th deadline, the script & storyline is yours. Just give me a little shout out.



FADE IN:

INT.RESTAURANT KITCHEN - DAY

The clatter of pots and pans is heard. The lunch rush is in full swing. With his back turned towards camera, a muscular black man, BLADE, the vampire slayer, steps into the chaos.

BLADE (V.O)
After the first film, war was declared on Vampires.

Blade turns towards camera. He pulls off his sunglasses and puts them in his jacket pocket.

BLADE (V.O)
With the second film, we were beginning to win the war against the Bloodsuckers.

Blade removes his leather trench coat, revealing his muscular build in a wife beater. He tosses the coat to the side.

BLADE (V.O)
The third time around I had a bit of help.

He grabs a short sleeved white oxford shirt and begins buttoning it up from the bottom.

BLADE (V.O)
The thing was there weren't that many vampires around anymore. I mean, we killed most of them in the first movie.

Blade grabs an apron and turns around. He ties the apron behind his back with the force accustomed for garrote wire.

BLADE (V.O)
That's not so good when you're vampire slayer. And now it's the economy that sucks. So I had to find a new job.

Blade grabs a pepper mill and spins around, bringing it down like a knife. He twists the cap and puts it in his apron. He adjusts his bow tie.

TITLE CREDITS: BLADE - VAMPIRE SLAYER. This job title is crossed out and is scribbled in with FOOD RUNNER.

MANAGER (O.S.)
Blade, you're 20 minutes late. Bring those plates to table 12 and then grab the mop. Some kid crapped all over booth in the back. Move it!

Blade grabs two plates of food and steps out to the dining room.

INT. RESTAURANT DINING ROOM - DAY

Patrons enjoy their meals. BELLA and EDWARD of "TWILIGHT" fame sit discussing their relationship.

EDWARD
Bella, I will always love you, but I can't be with you anymore. It's just too dangerous.

BELLA
Edward, I've never been with anyone like you before. You're... You're.

Edward holds her hand in his, sparkling like glitter.

EDWARD
Say it.

Blade arrives with the two plates for the table, unnoticed by Edward and Bella.

BELLA
You're a vampire.

Blade hears this and reacts. He drops the plates and reaches for his pepper mill, lunging at Edward. Blade lifts Edward above his head and rams the pepper mill through his chest until it sticks out the other side of his shirt. Blade drops the lifeless corpse on the ground. He brushes a large amount of glitter off of his clothing. Bella stands horrified.

BLADE
Always bet on black.

He smiles through his fangs. He walks out of frame. Bella smiles seductively and follows.

MANAGER (O.S.)
Dammit Blade! Not again.

FADE OUT:

The effect I wanted to showcase was building a shirt rig that shows the pepper mill poking through the back of the shirt and finally both sides of Edward with the pepper mill rammed through. I was also going to share my own blood formula you can make at home. Maybe I'll drop that bit of science another time.

I'm eager to get drawing and writing again. I have some ideas for sculptures too. I've been looking to try my hand at busts and figurines. I'm hoping to segue this into my own action figures. I am hoping to set up a few play dates where I can start playing with make up again. I'm severely missing making things pretty/ugly. I'd love to get to the point where I could maybe exhibit some of the work I have sitting around, maybe at a coffee shop or tattoo parlor. Or maybe I should try to take on some comissions and see if there's any interest in what I do. This is where my thoughts have been taking me. I'll keep you all posted as to the fallout from these brainstorms.




And now for another storyboard....

Looking back at this I'm not super stoked with the silhouette, but I do love the watercolor sunset behind them. I feel the body structure is too loose and rounded. I do like the composition I was trying to capture of the kneeling man getting his brains blown out from behind. I think this would be an epic way to showcase an execution when delivered by the right D.P.


Wish me luck with my workshop and safety with my travels. I'll be sure to update again with plenty of photos and tales of new adventures.

Updates & Downbeats

The Walter Gropius Comics Workshop is quickly approaching, I actually fly out Thursday and have made arrangements to stay a couple extra days. I'm hoping to really bond with the artists over their work and creative drive. I just received an itinerary update with what to expect.

I am a bit perplexed by drawing out a one page comic. I've only recently started toying with storyboards for my own scripts, but I've never delved into a comic book style narrative. My drawing style doesn't necessarily lend itself to unique and interesting action, but perhaps that's just premature anxiety setting in. I'm hoping to learn a ew perspective on storytelling and presenting a visual story to an audience in a new way. I've been toying with the notion of submitting a piece to Covered, the blog that features comic book cover page reinterpretations from emerging artists. You should check it out, some stellar work. It seems like a reasonable goal and I am all about accomplishing reasonable goals these days.

I've been trying to get the video equipment and such for my entry to Indy Mogul, but I'm losing hope fast. I have a short funny script (in my opinion) but I'm severely tapped on funds with these travel plans already in place. Excuses are easy to come by, I'm just frantically looking for solutions like a lost kid in a department store looks for Mom.

My submission for Indy Mogul is based on two scenes, here's the first look at Scene #1.




FADE IN:

INT.RESTAURANT KITCHEN - DAY

The clatter of pots and pans is heard. The lunch rush is in full swing. With his back turned towards camera, a muscular black man, BLADE, the vampire slayer, steps into the chaos.

BLADE (V.O)
After the first film, war was
declared on Vampires.

Blade turns towards camera. He pulls off his sunglasses and puts them in his jacket pocket.

BLADE (V.O)
With the second film, we were
beginning to win the war against
the Bloodsuckers.

Blade removes his leather trench coat, revealing his muscular build in a wife beater. He tosses the coat to the side.

BLADE (V.O)
The third time around I had a bit
of help.

He grabs a short sleeved white oxford shirt and begins buttoning it up from the bottom.

BLADE (V.O)
The thing was there weren't that
many vampires around anymore. I
mean, we killed most of them in the
first movie.

Blade grabs an apron and turns around. He ties the apron behind his back with the force accustomed for garrote wire.

BLADE (V.O)
That's not so good when you're
vampire slayer. And now it's the
economy that sucks. So I had to
find a new job.

Blade grabs a pepper mill and spins around, bringing it down like a knife. He twists the cap and puts it in his apron. He adjusts his bow tie.

TITLE CREDITS: BLADE - VAMPIRE SLAYER. This job title is crossed out and is scribbled in with FOOD RUNNER.




Then CUT to Scene #2 and the hilarious conclusion and the bloody special effect I have planned. I think it's good, cheap, and shootable, just not sure about the rest. I've been writing alot more, and scripting up the ideas I've had tinkering in the head for a while now. It feels good to get them out, but I need to more actively pursue putting them into the right hands.

On an upbeat, a short film that I served as 1st Assistant Director and Producer on has been selected by the NewFilmMakers Film Festival to screen in June. You can check out set photos and behind the scenes by clicking here. I'm just trying to take the good with the bad as best as I can handle it all.




Here's another storyboard from the series I've promised to post, titled GUN. I really miss water colors. I forgot how fun it is to blend the colors, that's something I always have the hardest time with though I'm more aware of it. My trouble is I like to ink everything out first and then water color and then go back and lay more ink, which is ok, slightly over redundant, but ok. The big trouble is when I forget which inks and pens are water soluble and those that aren't.

I am also hosting another contest on my blog Z For Zombies, where you can enter to win a piece of originally fabricated artwork from yours truly. You gotta be in it to win it.

Birthing a Mogul

If you're an aspiring film-maker or just a fan of cheap, awesome effects I highly, highly recommend checking out the site Indy Mogul. They basically show special effects tutorials, builds, camera effect, and even create test films to show the effect in action. They're very big on buiding a sense of community with their projects. Comments and requests for specific effects and builds are always welcomed and encouraged.

Here are few of my personal favorites...

Build your own MACHINE GIRL arm!!


Wolverine Claws


Halo Armor




The reason I included these is that Eric Beck, the host, is taking a step back to restructure Indy Mogul. He's now put out an open call to the interwebs to find a replacement for his show Backyard FX. It basically entails a 5-7 minute video of a tutorial build and a test film. Consider it an open audition/job interview.

I've crafted a short script for my test film and now I'm drafting out the tutorial. I'm not entirely sure how I can shoot this all myself, but I guess there lies the challenge. I don't even necessarily have the equipment. This will be something totally on me, and at times, I wish I had someone to share this anxiety with, an Ethan to my Joel Coen. But if this change of pace was easy, everyone would be doing it. Submissions are due by February 28th and you can find out more information if you want to submit yourself by clicking here.





As previously promised, here's another storyboard from my buddy's defunct short film. Looking back, I do miss the flow of watercolors, and compared to my current sketchbooks, my pen work has improved with stronger, steadier lines. I do need to work on drawing basic machinery too.

Here is: The Arrival

A Fork in the Road

I recently received the news that SVA is not going to offer the Advanced Special Effects Make-Up class that I was hoping to enroll in. Unfortunately, they didn't get enough students interested to warrant offering the class. My one option is to enroll in the Basic class again and work off to the side with a few of the other folks that expressed interest.

That being said, I don't think I can quite afford the whole bundle and time commitment again. I think with some discipline I can take what I've learned and continue to experiment with what I've previously taught myself by using the money and time I would've invested in SVA into new tools and materials for my own projects. I've taken a few short tutorials at Compleat Sculptor before and I am considering it again. Pictured are the workshops I'm considering.

The tricky thing is that for all the artistry and methodical techniques I've encountered and continue to learn, it's all a bit of fun and games to me. I look at action figures and overpriced sculpted busts in toy stores and comic shops and can't help think, "I can make that." I've found myself pausing the carnage and sci-fi elements of all my DVDs lately to critique the craftsmanship. Basically, I'm saying, I'm just having fun with this, and I'm not entirely sure which way to take it. I'm note sure if I will ever be paid to do what I'm crafting, but I'm not sure if it's art either. I like to draw and paint and craft things from bits of trash I find. I like to cut things up and put them together again. This is just a classic case of good intentions coupled with manic energy meeting a lack of direction. I just hope it doesn't develop into regret and further frustration. I am realizing I need a new project to take me to the next plateau.

I recently unearthed a few story boards I did for a friend. He was crafting a short film about mobsters, hit men, and a zombie's revenge. Looking over them I realised I should revisit some of these. If not for the story that died on the vine, but maybe to help someone else with their vision; to offer what talent others think I have to birth their visions. Perhaps that is where I'll figure out what comes next.

I used pen, sharpie, and water color to craft the storyboards on heavy stock paper that's roughly 5" by 7". It's style was very fueled by Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets drawn by Eduardo Risso. I'll post one storyboard now and use it as motivation to draw for other projects. I will continue to post more storyboards until you all have the entire series I did for the short.

Here he is; BOSS MAN.

He's definitely got a Paul Sorvino as a Teamster vibe. Maybe you think it's crap, but I have to hope it can only get better from here.

More to come.

Reaching Out and Helping Out

I've recently been accepted as an artist's assistant for the new Gropius Master Artist series at the Huntington Museum of Art in Huntington, West Virginia. It's a tad different from my recent endeavors, but I feel it will help bolster my work as an artist. I hope to gain a wider perspective and appreciation of my artwork by helping and instructing others with theirs.

The Walter Gropius Master Artists Series brings nationally and internationally recognized artists to the Huntington Museum of Art to inspire artists, educators and students through lectures, exhibitions, and workshops.

Upcoming Gropius Master Artists:

Matt Madden and Jessica Abel




Three-day workshop: Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m.- noon scheduled February 26-28, 2010.

Public Presentation is a gallery walk on Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m.

The exhibition will be up from February 20 – May 23, 2010


Workshop description:

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: A Comics Workshop

In this intensive workshop, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden teach the principles of comics language-a mixture of drawing, writing, and design all marshaled in the service of storytelling. Making comics requires creators to think fluidly of words and images, to smudge the boundaries, and artfully blend the two usually distinct forms of communication to create a synchronized whole. We truly draw words and write pictures: Drawing words means to think of the letterforms as a part of the visual language of the comic. Writing pictures means to think of the images as carrying meaning much like language does. Comics has been compared to calligraphy in the blending of word and image, and to music notation in the visual notation of time passing and emotion written in ink. Participants will learn how to make comics through a series of short activities and exercises, reading, and finally writing and drawing a one-page comic.





To register for this workshop or for fee information, call (304) 529-2701, Ext. 21. or e-mail bboston@hmoa.org or kcox@hmoa.org

For more information on Walter Gropius Master Artists Series workshops and Matt Madden and Jessica Abel, please visit the website: www.hmoa.org.

If anyone is in the area and/or interested in the workshop, I'll be there to lend a helping hand.

My Zombie Girlfriend and Finals

It's been quite a journey to get to this point.

For my final project, I wanted to do a full face prosthetic appliance. I've shown the steps of life casting my girlfriend's face, and now is the moment to show what I learned and gained from my first round of schooling in special effects make-up. This would be the ultimate test of how far I could push myself to deliver a quality look, unassisted, in three hours.

I wanted to create a Zombie, but I also wanted to put my own spin on it. Something horrifying, but not yet repulsive. Like scary magic. I decided to draw inspiration from Michael Jackson's THRILLER and the cult film classic EVIL DEAD 2. I wanted to marry the sunken lifelessness of Michael with the over exaggerated horror of a Deadite. Using this as a template I embarked on many sculptings of how to make this happen.

The perfect inspiration.

The perfect model; a clean face with no make-up or acne treatments present. Some acne treatments have been known to cause an adverse burning sensation when working in these special effects make-up scenarios.

I begin applying the latex face piece by first brushing a border of Pros-Aide on the inside edges of the appliance. Working from the middle of the nose and the forehead, I secured the piece. I secured further along the cheeks and temples.

I designed the piece to be two parts; a face piece and a chin cap. This would allow for full range of the mouth for snarls, eating/breathing, etc. This was important in keeping a very humanistic look to my creature design. Ideally I would have loved to have also crafted a set of fangs/jagged teeth, but time was against me with only having two weeks to execute this entire set of materials. You do know I've never done any of this before right?

When pouring my liquid latex to craft the appliance the weather was dipping below freezing. This added quit a bit of time to the cuing process. I initially did a dump pour to build my layers, but in hindsight, if I would have had the extra time I would have brushed on the latex in layers to insure more even flow to the piece, particularly the edges.

In the end the appliance is about 2x too thick, but I countered the stiff edges by using additional liquid latex to adhere torn strips of Kleenex to bridge the appliance to the skin.

I used this tissue method along the mouth and the eyelids as well. This helped blend the look of the upper face piece and the lower chin cap.

I then began the time consuming process of painting the entire latex appliance. Next time I would definitely cast in gelatin to cut down on the weight of the piece and the tedious process of painting. It would add a bit more flexibility as well when gluing it down.

This was a worthwhile lesson as I learned to take my time and work the colors.

I always have a difficult time matching skin tone with grease paints. They recommend a mix of three colors to balance it out, but I always find myself using 4-5. The trick is playing with light and shadow and using those colors to create that. It all comes from blending....

...Blending....

....shading & blending darker....

...and darker.

For the eyes, I went with a three toned purple. It lends a sense of disturbing feminity to it I think.

Here I added a bit of black to the nose cavity, lips and neckline. The neck is key as the eyes wander and takes in objects as a whole to perceive an image. Rewatch the original DAWN OF THE DEAD and almost all the zombie make-up you see stops at the chin line. That'll save time and materials, but you never want to do anything half-assed.

Here are a few make-up designs from some of my fellow classmates.

A whipped lacerated back was created by Erin Ausfeld. She also did the gory nail-gun accident depicted below.

 Jacqueline Olszewski - She crafted these fantastic boils by dropping liquid gelatin on tin foil and letting it cure. Amazing results!



Cindy Sanabria did up a piece of wax work that recalls the glory days of CANNIBAL FEROX.


Kevin English crafted a skinned hand, full of tendons and gore.


Here's a few snapshots of my finished results. To hide the seams along the hairline that I wasn't able to cover with Eva's natural hair, I thought quickly on my feet and pulled off my ski mask for her to wear. Instant fix.





From start to finish I used every second of our 3 hour class to achieve this look. I feel I really pushed myself and was able to significantly capture what I had planned in my mind's eye.

Clean up was a gentle peeling away of the latex, and a few baby wipes to take off the color.

I love the remnant piece left behind. It looks like it came straight from the set of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I can now attach some elastic bands and have a half mask. I would probably deconstruct the jawline for better stability.

BEFORE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AFTER

I want to give a big thank you to Eva for being a trooper. I now know what tattoo artists refer to when they say their clients "sat like a champ". A big thank you to all my classmates that made learning fun. It honestly played like group therapy for horror junkies. And a big thank you to Carl Paulino, my instructor. I truly hope that they offer the ADVANCED SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKE-UP class so I can continue this new passion.

Stay tuned as I have several new projects on the horizon.

Zombies and Hammers

After this post, it's official; one last class on the horizon. I'm still prepping my facial appliance for our final design, but for this last class we focused on the techniques that we learned throughout the weeks. We had an open forum of questions about methods and materials and the best way to tackle certain effects. This included trouble shooting monster suits like Swamp Thing, underwater effects like Fulci's ZOMBIE, and the all kinds of hell Lon Chaney Jr. would put himself through for his craft. This all revolved my favorite piece of mythology; ZOMBIES!

Jacqueline showed me an awesome tip to create veins. Simply take a blue eyeliner and freehand. PRESTO! So easy and quick, don't know why I didn't think of that. Add a dash of powder to bring down the hue and instant veins that any junkie would crave.

Jacqueline also has a new video up on YouTube and if you aren't subscribing to her channel yet, you should.

Kevin was nominated to be our guinea pig. Carl discussed and reviewed several techniques we learned to create an out of kit zombie.

Kevin's face become a quick mish-mash of half done effects to create the walking dead. A quick gelatin mold was cast to make a bulging brain. A balloon and pump can be laid underneath to allow for a pulsating wound. A gelatin worm was glued to his cheek and added a dimension of movement to the effect. Toilet paper and corn flakes applied with liquid latex and painted up is one of the cheapest effects I can attest to as being the most realistic, especially in regards to time. A couple lines on the lip with red and black give a split lip. A blending of black around the eyes deepens the sockets and adds a hollowed look. Adding black eye liner under AND above the lashes will take away any redness that remains.

Here's my sculpted piece with walls built up out of clay. This took about a pound of clay for the sculpt and the walls, but it can all be reused when pulled away. I mixed up about a half pound of Ultracal 30 and poured til all of my sculpt was covered. Due to the cold weather I allowed for two days to fully cure to get out all of the moisture.

You'll notice that I built an almost bowl shape, which worked against me. Take note and safe yourself some elbow grease and heart ache. I should've built up more of a rectangle like box with my walls to allow for easier separation. When I peeled back my clay, I saw that my sculpt and my mold had vacuumed sealed together. I attempted to chisel it out, but in the end it came down to brute force and sacrifice. I took a hammer and as gently as I could, smashed through the bottom base my zombie sculpt. I knew my impression of the zombie piece was completely cured, but I needed that piece more than my original sculpt. I still have the silicone mold of Eva's face if I need to pour another, an option I wouldn't have if I would've taken her impression with Algaenate. Always think of contingencies.

After pulling out the broken pieces of my girlfriend's face, I took up my loop tool and scraped away all the residual clay that was hiding in the nooks and crannies of my zombie sculpt.

Here's a side view to showcase some of the detail of my zombie. I currently have a second coat of liquid latex currently curing on the mold I pulled from this positive. I'll update again with pics of the final effect.