Prosthetics Magazine goes beyond the gloss of the film industry into its FX workshops and behind the scenes on set, while also teaching you the skills of the craft. Issue 1 delves into medical effects, monsters, vampires, working with CGI, body art, silicone, armatures, temporary tattoos, and meeting the new stars of the prosthetics world!
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COVER: Cochise played by Doug Jones (Falling Skies, Season 3, TNT) makeup by MastersFX
Page 6. CRITICAL CONDITION: Millennium FX’s Kate Walshe on the pivotal role realistic prosthetics played in breaking the boundaries of the medical drama genre. Featuring the build of extreme full body burn prosthetics and a matching dummy rig to replicate the burn effects and trauma procedures that would be carried out on the victim, such as tubing the airway, an emergency tracheotomy, CPR, and escharotomies
Page 12. MUSINGS OF A MONSTER MAKER: World-renowned creature designer Jordu Schell (Predator 2, Babylon 5, Galaxy Quest, Bedazzled, Planet of the Apes, Hellboy) contemplates what defines an ‘artist’ and why it isn’t necessarily talent
Page 20. THE ART OF IMITATING LIFE: Emmy-winner Todd Masters of MastersFX explains his pioneering approach to bringing believability back to the screen by merging prosthetics and CGI, including an in-depth look at his work on a werewolf transformation for Hemlock Grove, and breathing life into the character Cochise, played by Doug Jones, for TNT series Falling Skies
Page 30. FX CRIBS: Neill Gorton gets a glimpse of other people’s FX studios! In this issue: Justin Raleigh shows us around his Fractured FX, Inc. facility at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains. Establishing themselves as one of the leading makeup FX studios on the West Coast, Fractured FX have most recently supplied prosthetics for movies including the Insidious series, 300: Rise of an Empire, and high-profile TV shows such as The Knick, and American Horror Story
Page 38. FEELING THE STRAIN: Joe Nazzaro examines the work of Steve Newburn and Sean Sansom’s Toronto creature effects team for vampire TV series The Strain, including makeups on Robert Maillet as The Master – sculpted by Mario Torres – Matt Owen as a morgue Strigoi, Jonathan Potts as Captain Redfern, a flayed chest appliance, a decapitated head, an autopsy body suit for specialist suit performer Javier Botet for the morgue attack scene in the show’s pilot episode, an animatronic head double of Isabelle Lelisse as Emma, and full body suit and makeup for creature actor Doug Jones as The Ancient
Page 46. BANNING THE BODY: Laura Sutherland investigates the impact Facebook’s graphic content policy is having on the body art community, featuring work by Cat Finlayson, Mona Turnbull, Simon Smith, Kate Monroe Groves, and Gregory Hewett
Page 58. RISING STARS PART 1: In the first of a multi-part feature, Neill Gorton shines a light on three exciting new companies from three different continents and talks to their directors about the evolution from artist to businessperson. In this issue: Adam Johansen and Damian Martin of Odd Studio, Australia, who met as freelancers on Farscape and have since amassed credits such as Wolverine, The Great Gatsby, Mad Max: Fury Road, including major prosthetics on Nicholas Hoult as Nux and Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe, Gods of Egypt – Alex Proyas’ up-coming film starring Geoffrey Rush, Bruce Spence, and Gerard Butler – Section 209, and Australia
Page 74. GOING VIRAL: Profiles of two artists who have taken face painting to another level and achieved online notoriety with their work: Nikki Shelley in the UK whose original designs on herself have taken Facebook by storm, and Italy’s Lucia Pittalis, whose ability to transform herself into stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Angela Lansbury, Al Pacino, Hulk Hogan, Iggy Pop, and The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, has gained her an army of online followers
Page 87. THE EVOLUTION OF SILICONE PROSTHETICS: In this trilogy of retrospectives, Arvin Clay documents the history of the industry’s most popular prosthetics material, silicone, Justin Neill recounts the significance of his company in bringing it to market, and prosthetics designers Mark Coulier and Neill Gorton share some examples of its early appearances on screen, with Coulier citing his work on The Mummy Returns (2001), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and Sunshine (2007), and Gorton using the examples of a makeup on Samantha Womack in Strange (2003), and on Catherine Tate as Nan Taylor in The Catherine Tate Show (2003), as well as his live demo at IMATS London that same year
Page 4. WORDS OF WISDOM: Allan Apone, multi-award nominee and personal makeup artist to Samuel L. Jackson sets the scene for this issue
Page 14. DANNY’S DEMOS: Makeup FX artist and teacher Danny Marie Elias (The Underwater Realm, Born of War, The Devil’s Vice) gives us an insight into her unique brand of ‘Haute Couture FX,’ with a step-by-step tutorial on creating patterned pieces. Featuring model Natacha Fijalkowski and photogprahy by Hasan Bitirim
Page 34. HOW TO MAKE AN ARMATURE: Leading UK figurative sculptor Andrew Sinclair ARBS shows us the essential technique of building a solid foundation for 3-dimensional sculpture
Page 51. REALISTIC TRANSLUCENT SKIN EFFECTS: Goya-winning makeup effects artist Arturo Balseiro’s work can be seen in film and TV projects such as Pan’s Labyrinth and Doom for DDT SFX, Little Britain for Millennium FX, and Harry Potter for Nick Dudman, his career highlights include collaborating with Rick Baker applying prosthetic makeup on The Wolfman, and designing aliens for Men in Black 3. Here he shares his techniques for painting realistic translucent skin effects
Page 66. CREATING TEMPORARY TATTOOS: Todd Debreceni, prosthetics artist, teacher, and author of Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics, shows us his technique for creating film-quality fake tattoos
Page 81. HOW TO CAST A SILICONE BUST: Richard Martin (Wizards vs. Aliens, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Doctor Who) and his company RMFX specialise in hyper-realism, both in prosthetics for film and television, and in the creation of statues and busts for museums and collectables companies. Here he takes us through his process for casting a silicone bust
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