How Can We Help You?
In this blog so far I have posted things in order to try and address areas are useful when doing my job.
Thing is, makeup effects and prosthetics covers a huge range of stuff, so there are going to be things you would want to see covered which I might not think of.
What I want therefore is for YOU to get in touch and tell me what you want to see covered.
I want hear your story, what you have done so far and what has gotten you stuck or confused. Maybe there is a weird, technical issue you have or maybe you don’t know exactly what the right question is!
If YOU have that issue, chances are there are travellers on the same road who would love to know the answer too.
And I’m not doing this alone!
To help me, I am enlisting the help of a friend to help give a different perspective on the same issue.
I’ll be working with none other than Todd Debreceni, makeup effects artist and author of Special Makeup Effects For Stage And Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics.
To that end, here is what I propose to do.
- Get in touch through email and tell me what you want to see covered, what you think is missing.
- We will go through the responses, and each month choose two that I hope will cover the most bases.
- I will then get back in touch, and we can chat about it and see how best to help out. I am even happy to call you up on Skype or the phone so we can speak one to one and get something rolling on it.
- Then Todd and I will work on it and create two posts a month here which address these issues with pictures, illustrations, video and podcasts.
So drop me line, and we’ll get stuck into it and see what we can come up with.
We want to post regular and relevant to you, and we can do this better with your questions!
-Stuart (and Todd)
email me: stuartbray@yahoo.com
Hello guys,
I have a question for you both that I think sometimes gets skimmed over.
How do you care for skin before and after prosthetic application? In particular someone (like me) who’s head sweats profusely.
Thanks in advance
Stuart Webb
Hey. Caring for the skin and keeping pieces on a sweaty body are often two separate issues ha ha. The skin is ideally cleaned and toned prior to glue as it needs to be clean skin you apply to. Assuming the skin is normal and no allergies or contraindications are present then using the materials itself shouldn’t be an issue. Priming the skin with Telesis thinned with alcohol is a neat way of helping the glue keep the piece on.
Then during the day it is inevitable that edges and mouth corners will pop and need re-gluing and fixing up. Maintaining the pieces is a big part of the job, and then removing at the end of the day using an appropriate remover (i.e. not a paint stripping solvent or some kind of hardware store solvent!)
Sometimes the skin is irritated by being in a makeup and sweating all day, often its the rubbing and removal which causes reddening of the skin and is mistaken for ‘allergy’ whereas it’s more localised irritation and is usually inevitable but passes over a short time. I scratch my neck it comes up red, I just mark easy for example.
Repeating a makeup multiple times may mean a few days off or alternate days if possible to give irritated skin a break, but often unless the face in question is a principal, It’s often not something that production will care enough about to make happen. Cleaning the skin after may be possible with a standard cleanse and moisturise. Often hot face towels are nice to clean up and refresh skin, and if the skin is sensitive then using sensitive skin moisturiser is good. Sometimes the skin just needs to be left alone to recover.
If the skin is sensitive or dry, it may be that thinning the glues so they are less adhesive (and therefore easier to remove) and using a barrier cream like Dermashield will be of use. Often it is the removal which causes more irritation that the glues themselves. Heat build up from wearing rubber on the face can cause it to redden like wearing a jacket on a hot day, but this isn’t to be confused with an actual reaction to the materials which is often localised to the areas where the skin is in contact.
To blood or not to blood.
A short tutorial about blood colours, thicknesses and amounts from diferent wounds would be great.
Awesome idea. And a fun messy video too…..
Wow…Free education is the best education. Sounds like an awesome read.