The illustrious Wes Allen, the bearded front man of The High Gears and the perverted mind behind The Blood Sprayer, commissioned me a while back about fabricating a sculpture for him of his Horror movie hero Leatherface. He left the specifics of the design to my discretion and I eagerly accepted the challenge. Honestly I love this entire film franchise, even the remakes. It's one of my all time favorite slasher films, and presents such an iconic depiction of American horror and the nuclear family. I wanted to include a bit of all of the films within this piece, which was quite the challenge. It was also a fabulous excuse to rewatch the entire series as research. Here's some of what came out of the project.
I started off with oven-bake modeling clay, which is easy to work with as long as you keep it moist. The clay bakes up in the oven and turns into a terra cotta solidity like a flower pot. I crafted a head shape from left over wire mesh and stuffed with paper towels.
Here's what I would build the head shape around. I didn't want the piece to be so heavy as a solid piece, but I needed to keep a solid form with its structure. Otherwise it would take far too long to bake and I would risk residual cracks if not careful.
I started with a basic shape to the head, sculpting the head, nose, eye sockets and the beginnings of the mouth.
I sculpted two sets of ears - one set for the head itself, and one for the design of the mask, which I'll discuss later.
I began working in the eyes and a bit more to the mouth, adding teeth and a gum line. It's important to have a bowl of water nearby for smoothing out creases and fingerprints as you go along.
As I became more comfortable with the shape of the head I decided to focus on the support structure for the piece.
I built up a neck and added a slight cock to the neck, which adds a bit of personality to the stillness of it all.
Angular and distorted, the piece was starting to come to life.
At different angles you can see the shape of the piece.
Here's everything just ready to bake!
Letting the piece dry for a couple days, I finally baked it. After pulling it, there were some residual cracks, but I knew that the wire mesh I had sculpted around would hold the piece intact. But I had a plan in place to fix this. I also pulled out the paper towels within from beforehand.
I went over the cracks with epoxy from Home Depot. It was a two part mix and stunk something fierce (probably because of how flammable it was), but that's half the fun of playing with art. Always work in well ventilated areas, kids.
I dusted the piece in baby powder because of the tackiness from the epoxy. This was an important precaution for the next step.
I began to coat the piece in 12-14 coats of liquid latex, dabbing each layer on, waiting to dry, and then applying again. It was a process, but well worth it.
I gently peeled the latex back, dusting with baby powder so as not to tear it. This is the pull of it, the underside.
Flipping it inside out, here's what I was chasing after.
I took a pair of cuticle scissors and snipped away the excess to create the representation I was looking for.
I only wanted one set of ears, the closest pair to the nose, so I trimmed those away and trimmed along the neck and chin line. I began painting this mask in a blend of acrylic paints. I was going for an aged leather look, just like dead skin left to dry.
It was tricky to blend the right degree of shadow and skin tone on something that was so curved. But I like where it was going.
Here's a front view.
I wanted to represent the side of Leatherface you don't often see, the cross-dressing aspect of the franchise that larger gets glazed over, but solely utilized for its creepiness. I added smeared blue paint for eye shadow, rosy pink paint for blush and a blood red jagged lining of paint for lipstick.
I went along the brow line with black thread and stitched into the mask. This was a bit of a challenge, especially with the rubber giving way and pulling. I didn't want to put too many holes in this or tear it. I had to do this after painting because there's no way I could paint around the thread. It was a challenge but it really adds to the look of the mask.
This stitching goes from the hairline down along the front side of the ears. I wanted a jagged, hand done touch to it all.
Now for the Pièce de résistance - I stole the hair from my girlfriend's brush. I picked it out over the course of a few weeks and amassed enough to cover the head. I adhered it to the mask using liquid latex.
Here's a side view where you can see more of the hair and the side stitching. The hair had to be layered and let me tell you what a pain in the ass it is to work with glue and hair. But I really think that it adds a super eerie factor to the piece and reflects the subject matter properly.
For the sculpt I chipped off the nose and the additional set of ears towards the back of the head. I then painted it up in a more rosy flesh like appearance with appropriate shading.
This look would be a base coat that I would then coat in Shellac.
With this coating of Shellac it gave the piece a urine hued coloring. The stink was another fun element to contend with, but this protective coating would ensure that the color wouldn't smudge with handling the piece. It gave it a bit of shine that I'm sure will dull with age while tuning down the painted flesh tones.
Here's the piece before the Shellac coating.
Here it is after.
The idea is that this mask would be a perfect fit over the sculpture itself. Now let's flash forward a little bit.
I found a small boy's Oxford button up shirt at K-Mart and cut off the collar. I stained the ring around the neck with coffee. His next tie I made by sewing together scraps from the shirt itself. I used painter's tape to piece out a design for the tie and spray painted it on. Tying the tie to the neck of this piece was another challenge since it was so small.
Here you can see where I chipped away the nose.
I used a yellow rubber kitchen glove from the Dollar Store to create Leatherface's apron. I used the left one, which has a nice little "L" on it if you look close enough.
I speckeled everything with red acrylic paint for a blood effect using a toothbrush.
Here's a look at the tie and apron. It only extends about 4 inches from the sculpt. The only real draw back is that I hot glued the shirt in place around the base which made it a little wobbly.
Here's the mask on the sculpt all done up. Notice the two sets of ears from before where now only one remains on the sculpture.
Here he is in all his glory - LEATHERFACE!!
Here's a peek a how the sculpture was made to be interactive with the mask being pulled on & off. This is before the additions of the hair, shirt, etc. This was quite a challenge and I'm very excited for Wes to have this in his new home. There's some things I would change in regards to fabrication, but all in all, I think the steps I took in the pre-production of this piece helped craft a very strong sculpture. I still have a long way to go in terms of achieving a realistic figure sculpt, but I think it's not too bad for someone that's only taught themselves. It's totally a unique one of a kind piece, done all without a mold. Every project is a stepping stone to the next one. Maybe your commission will be my next piece?
Consider this the sequel to my cadre of artistic endeavors.
So I held a Art Contest Giveaway on my Twitter Zach for Zombies a while back and Geof of The Man Cave won. His prize was an original piece of artwork of anything he wanted. After spending a day drinking heavily watching sports he came up with my task; to create a wrestling match between the HARD ROCK ZOMBIES and the band KISS with JAWS (yes, the shark) as the referee. This death match would also have Pinhead of HELLRAISER, Freddy Krueger of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Jason Vorhees of FRIDAY THE 13TH, Ash of EVIL DEAD fame, and Mike Myers of HALLOWEEN as the lumberjacks outside the ring, poised to annihilate anyone that gets tossed over the ropes. Not a small task to accomplish by any means.
I started a few sketches in pencil on Bristol board, trying to figure out the best perspective to include all of these figures in one unified space. I knew the angle and the size of it all would determine how to proceed. I ultimately decided to tackle it straight on and use that very same angle. I went in after some sizing and started to add the details that would make each figure instantly recognizable.
Now I could understand the state of mind Geof was in when he thought this up, or I at least tried. I decided to use watercolors to give it a hazy, pseudo-comic book vibe. The trickiest part was depicting each character in it's limited scale and achieving each look that makes them so iconic. Watercolors are fairly unforgiving, but I enjoy working with the controlled chaos of how each color will ebb & flow. I then outlined different parts in Sharpie and fine point pen.
The piece is gritty and pretty ridiculous. Despite the challenge of creating it and the time it took, it was a lot of fun to experiment with such a mash-up of Geof's favorite films and influences and deliver a worthy prize. To do it again, I may would have tried acrylic or maybe even crayon.... You can check out Geof's unveiling post with video at The Man-Cave by clicking here.
John Squires the beard and brains behind Freddy in Space commissioned me a while back on our field trip to Coney Island to see the Bruce Campbell Burlesque Tribute Show. He wanted a piece of horror themed artwork to decorate his new homestead that he had just moved into with his lovely girlfriend Jen. Johnny wanted a piece that celebrated the Clint Howard schlock fest known as ICE CREAM MAN. I said yes, of course and the wheels started to turn.
In researching how I wanted to craft this piece I remember I had the seat from an old wooden chair from college. The chair broke, but in such a way that the seat came out free and clear and I kept it knowing I was going to have to create something. It wasn't until John's request that I knew the genesis of this project. I would now embark on carving my first wood cut ever.
I used my girlfriend's carving tools to etch out a picture of Clint from the cover art of the film. I knew that I would have to think backwards in two ways with my work. 1) Whatever I carved away would be the negative space left behind, almost like drawing in reverse. 2) Anything I would use for this would be a reverse image when I pulled any prints off of it. Both of these things are something that's a lot harder to grasp in actual execution.
I got the carving to just about where I wanted it. The tricky thing with the seat was that I was trying to keep the image centered in the circular recess of the chair seat, you know the part you put your ass in. Then covered a small piece of cardboard I tore from a shipping box in smoothed aluminum foil and taped the edges underneath. I then squeezed out a quarter size of Speedball printing ink and used a small hand roller to start an even flowing layer of ink. You can find the ink and roller at just about any art store, and the ink has the same consistency as acrylic tube paint. Then I took the roller with an even coat of ink on it and rolled onto the wood. I had to be mindful of the divot, and I would suggest next time of only using a a FLAT board, but I digress. I have never pulled prints before, so there's a few valuable lessons I learned. The heavier stock paper you use is a bit more forgiving for beginners. I had a thinner piece tear on me as I was pulling it off. The thinner stock is a lot nicer for framing so there's the draw, it just requires a bit more patience and a steadier hand. You can find all kinds of specialty paper for printing at the art store as well. You don't want to go overboard with the ink as it will come out gloppy and too dark. Too light with the ink and it doesn't come out all the way. Some artists chase after a "Ghost Print", which is when you pull one print and have enough residual ink left over to simply apply another piece of paper.
I ended up pulling 9 prints in total, my favorite number. I decided that I was going to leave 3 as they were pulled and I decided to alter the remain 6 with spray paint and Sharpie to add a bit of variety.
The 3 I left unaltered are labeled #1-3 and signed. The others are all unique one of a kind variants. the last one actually has a hole in it that I plugged by gluing my business card on the back side as a way to double sign my work. Each of the altered prints are titled "Eye Scream #1-6" respectively.
Once I let the ink dry on the wood cut, I wanted to create a truly one and only piece. I was effectively going to destroy my plate, ensuring that no other prints could ever be pulled from it. I was going to paint over the seat in acrylic paint, which dries to a almost hard plastic. I set about building the flesh tones and then adding the other elements from the movie cover art that wasn't incorporated into the carving.
Here you can see the paint filling in the crevices from the recesses of the carving process.
I had added the lightning and a graded blue background to make the image pop. The initial idea was to title the piece in red, with the drips from the bloody ice cream cone feeding into the letters, but I scratch that as I felt it would get lost in translation. I instead opted for a lime/mutant green that I wrote in with a paint marker, a graffiti artists best friend. The green, I feel, really adds a touch of late 80s sensibility to it. The other issue I was having was the eyes, which I went back over with white acrylic.
Here's the finished piece, outlined in sharpie which proved like driving over road bumps when drawing the borders and carved areas. The title is smeared and drippy on purpose with a festering look about it. The whole project was a lot of fun to create, and I feel like I pushed myself into a new medium to deliver what was expected of me. This was my first commission piece so I felt obligated to go above and beyond. This is meant to be hung on the wall and Johnny also received all 9 prints with this piece.
You can check out Johnny's post with photos at Freddy in Space by clicking here. Rumor has it that he be holding a giveaway of his own....
Come back soon as I'll have even more projects to share.
I've been unemployed for a little bit, but the time has afforded me the opportunity to craft and generate a lot of artwork that has been swishing around inside my head as of recently.
A while back Carl Manes of I LIKE HORROR MOVIES won a contest I held. His prize an original piece of artwork done by me. His request; Dario Argento's OPERA with a comic book vibe.
For the piece I used fountain nibs and ink to draw on Bristol board. I used the black ink with water & brush to achieve the various shades of grey. I used paper masking tape for the mouth restraint and to hold the nails under the eyes. I used actual picture frame nails and painted my "blood" on with red acrylic paint. The rope is standard twine I found at the Dollar Store and simply glued into place with Elmer's. This is the most iconic image of the associated with the film so I wanted to toy with it slightly without losing what die-hard fans would instantly recognize. The fine points of the Nibs really allowed to capture the eyelashes and the eyebrows. It gives it a sense of fluidity in my opinion, though it was quite the challenge to work solely in inks. I framed the piece in a simple certificate frame I found at the Dollar Store as well. All in all I'm quite pleased with it and so is Carl. Proof positive you should read Z for Zombies and follow me on Twitter.
The lovely Hannah Neurotica who is the brains & beauty behind Ax Wound Zine and a crusader for Women in Horror Month is looking for support in spreading the word about her efforts. I was happy enough to oblige by making up a flyer to show my support.
I clipped out old postcards, comic books, horror magazines, and sex ads to cut & paste a punk rock style band flyer glued on a sheet of typing paper. I outlined it in paint markers and Sharpie to add a bit of pop to this collage. You can find out more about details of making your own flyer by clicking here.
If you haven't heard of the Soska Sisters or their cult classic in waiting DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK then you're seriously missing out. I am pretty much a big fan of everything that they do and I only wish I could give them more of the exposure that they deserve. That being said I decided to make my first attempt at fan art. CJ Wallis is like the Oz behind the curtain and I decided to show some love to one of my favorite characters from the film, Goody Two Shoes.
I drew this up on Bristol board in pencil and then went in watercolors. I tried to grade variant with colors and push myself in controlling the flow of the materials I was using. I kinda feel it has a distinct 80s album cover vibe to it all. I outlined it in Sharpie and went in with a fine point pen for the outline details. Then I went in and erased the pencil outlines to give it a softer, more blended look. The ribbon is actually a separate piece of paper I cut out, water colored, and glue on with a signature piece of his dialogue. The hardest part of the piece was recreating the signature style font of the DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK title. It's a broken, disjointed style that's pretty difficult to replicate though I tried to recreate with Sharpie and a fine point pen. It was a lot of fun to create and I hope others follow suit with their creations of fan art. I'm sure it will come pouring in with the release of their new feature AMERICAN MARY.
Stay tuned as I have more goodies to upload and share with you. I hope you enjoy what you see and be sure to return for an exciting announcement.
So I recently had the opportunity to flex my Special Effects muscles with a video shoot for FunnyOrDie.com. The spot was directed by Noah Emmerich, who you'll probably recall as Jim Carrey's best friend in THE TRUMAN SHOW.
The premise was to shoot a low-resolution video that would match the rescue footage of the Chilean Miners that was broadcast the world over. I don't want to spoil it, so here's the video.
Additional Credits Include:
Director & Writer: Noah Emmerich
Executive Producer: Dane C Reiley
Producer: Arthur R. Greene
Makeup/SFX: R. Zach Shildwachter
Production Designer: Mac Pohanka
Featuring Rich Giraldo, Javier Marquez, Albert Pero III, Ralphy Guillen, Victor Ramirez & Luis A. Lopez Jr.
Here's some photos of the shoot that include supplies and a better look at my handiwork.
Most of the effects was just mixing up a copious amount of blood which I did with my old school Karo Syrup formula, because of our limited budget. I do wish I would've went with stage blood that wouldn't have been so sticky and a bit easier on the clean-up. The director wanted more of a crazed hunger look, with taunt skin and a dirty look, different than full on Zombie, so interpret the horror of the video as you will.
Another fun thing I was able to do was helping my buddy's wife at her school. She teaches a group of children that are deaf and hearing impaired. I was asked to come into the class and demonstrate some make-up effects just in time for Halloween. I had some left over latex appliances that I bought from the dollar store and brought in my small make-up kit. I wanted to show the kids how they could apply the stuff from the dollar store themselves and not be afraid of doing it themselves. I explained about latex allergies and behind mindful of their subject if they ever put make-up on someone else. I explained that scary movies are really just smoke and mirrors, but they still were apprehensive about fact colliding with fiction.
One kid was picked by the teacher to receive a ninja star that was made to look like it is sticking in the skin. These were all cheap effects you can really find anywhere, but people often gravitate towards masks, often because they're unsure of how to create the effect. It was a simple application, a coating of liquid latex to act as glue, adhering the ninja star, a bit of my foundation to blend the edges and a squirt of fake blood and VOILA!
The other things I did were some paint on cuts, and latex peels which consists of applying a layer of latex to the skin, letting it dry, and picking at it until it resembles sunburn/blisters. The big hit was plain ol' nose putty. The kids had a blast making moles and warts all over their faces. They even gave me one on the forehead. It was a great time and I think they all began to imagine the limitless possibilities for this Halloween. The whole point was to show them fun and realistic things they could do on their own and afford.
I received a message the following day that NONE of the kids washed off their make-up when they came to class the following day. They all wanted to keep it on for as long as they imagined they could make it last. I can only imagine how dinner that previous night went with their families.The other thing the teacher told me was they had to confiscate all the markers from the kids because of me. I was perplexed and asked why. They had taken to drawing tattoos on themselves like me rather than doing their class work. These kids have a bright future.
So the project I wrote a pilot for has officially launched its website. You can check it out at OnTheVergeTV.com. There you'll see photos of our cast and find out all kinds of other goodies.
We also launched a KickStarter campaign to help with the budget. As of today it's already 68% funded! Check it out by clicking here and donate. You'll receive some awesome prizes for your contributions.
Even if you can't give, check out the videos and let me know what you think.
