Alien Plant Symbiote

Last weekend I tried to create an alien plant symbiote effect. While I learned a lot from doing this application, I've just got some really good feedback from someone on how to improve the overall effect and make-up after sending them some of these images. I really think I need to spend a bit more time thinking through a design before going into sculpture and applying the make-up.

Australian comedy meets sci-fi

Alana and I have just finished work on a fantastic Australian comedy-sci-fi tv pilot. We thought we'd share some of our work from this experience with our friends and followers of our blog.

It was a lot of hard work both in pre-production and during the shoot, but awesome fun! We worked with a really great team of people both before the shoot and during production. It was an absolute pleasure to work with and meet: Mady (lifecasting), Eve (sculpting/moldmaking/prosthetics/makeup), Andi (makeup), Steph (makeup), Sorjeri (costuming/makeup), Holly (costuming) and Jess (stylist). The actors were also such a great bunch of people to work with. Last but not least a big thanks to Kai and Tess for letting us play in their world.

Alien amphibian girl

The Leopard Lady

This week we were determined to try and create a couple of partial makeup effects suitable for stage. I wanted to try to create a leopard pattern on skin. This effect I also thought would work well for creating an alien skin effect. To begin with Alana hunted down some leopard fur patterns and printed them. I also looked for images of leopards online. I wanted something to help us get a pattern similar to leopards like this one:



I decided to work on an arm section, although I also considered trying the effect on Alana's face. So you will have to use your imagination a little bit to picture what the overall effect might look like if applied on both arms, face-neck and legs. First, using Paradise water based stage makeup I blocked in the inside area of Alana's arm white using a synthetic sponge. Then I blocked in the yellow section. Stage one looked like this:



After applying the yellow makeup I then went over the top of the middle section of the arm using a light orange. The Paradise water based stage makeup dries quickly and it was easy enough to apply one colour over the top of another. It is also remarkably resistant to wear once applied, with the use of some setting powder in the final stages it would be even more resistant to being rubbed off. However, it also washes off the skin easily with water. So not suitable for scenes involving water. Stage two looked like this:



Then using a size 5 paintbrush with a good sharp tip, I painted on dark brown patterning. I tried replicate the incomplete circles that leopards have as part of the rosettes on their fur. Stage three looked like this:



Alana then felt the need to pose in a superhero stance to show off the effect at a distance. Behold! The Leopard Lady strikes forth! Or something to that effect...



A final close up shows the rosettes that I had coloured in orange. A slightly darker colour was probably needed for the center of each incomplete circle to create a rosette-like finish. Alana thought a light brown would work. I think a darker orange would work. Stage four looked like this:



Overall I was relatively happy with the result, although I think I could have gotten a slightly neater edge on the dark brown incomplete circles if I had taken more time. I also think that this effect looks good as alien markings, certainly good enough for extras in the background of sci-fi movies.

Alana is intending to use me as a guinea pig for some stage makeup tonight. I think she will also eventually get around to posting about zombie makeup and effects.