African Head Sculptures

In the image below you can see an original head sculpture. The textures used are very intricate and detailed. you can see the holes around the mouth- these were put here so that they could be filled with human or animal hair to create a beard.

The Trustees of the British Museum, (12th-14th century), Ife head [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/festivalsandevents/7322790/Coming-up-whats-on-in-the-world-of-travel.html [Accessed 18 November 14].

 

The Trustees of the British Museum, (12th-15th century), Ife head [ONLINE]. Available at: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01588/kingdom-of-ife-4_1588111a.jpg [Accessed 18 November 14].

Unknown, (unknown date), Carved African Pot [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.veniceclayartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/7e5b6d8406f4b9bab856e4abd11f6519.jpg [Accessed 18 November 14].

Unknown, (unknown date), A staff used by devotees of Shango, the Yoruba orisha of thunder and lightning, carried in dancing rituals. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.veniceclayartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/A-gold-pendant-in-the-form-of-a-stylized-head.-Country-of-Origin-Ghana.-Culture-Ashanti.-2.jpg [Accessed 18 November 14]. 

As I have been experimenting with and looking at texture, I decided to look at these african tribal sculptures. I found it really interesting to notice how the textures used in the sculptures are echoed and referenced in the scarification created on their bodies, and in the staff sculpture above you can see the scarification on the woman's face, really showing attention to detail.

Drawing with Kevin Dean- Tones

 First I started by drawing a pepper. I really tried to focus on the shapes and tones, using charcoal to create the drawing. I enjoyed doing this and am happy with the results

 Next I had a quick attempt at drawing half a bulb of garlic. I found it much more difficult to get the shapes and proportions right on this drawing, but I don't think I did too badly when I look at it now. I think I would have got an okay image if I had a little more time to develop the tones.

Next we drew our prosthetic piece which we had cast in the previous lesson onto a face. Above is my attempt. I was drawing the face from a picture I found online so the proportions are a little off but this will get better with practice. I also struggled a little with making the mould look 3D and drawing the pattern on it, but I don't think I did too bad a job for a first attempt.

Face Chart practice- Creating Skin Effect

As I am practising my drawing and portraits, I thought it would be a shame if I didn't spend a bit of time focussing on and practising my face charts and making them look more realistic, instead of just blush, lipstick and eye-shadow on a page. Above is a face chart I did where I spent time focussing on the skin- creating a natural look with natural shading and contours. I am glad that I spent the time to practice face charts and find my own method, as now I feel it will really help with all of my make-up planning and designing from now on.

Flat Moulding- Creating our prosthetic

Creating the ProstheticProducts used:

• Cling film
• Measuring beakers
• Moulds
• Pigments
• Gel25 A B and C.
• Mould Release Spray
• Baldiez (not super Baldiez)
• Acetone
• Brushes (to use and throw away)

Health and Safety

•  Baldiez- Wash with water and soap if it comes into contact with the skin, Wash with clean water for 10 mins if goes in eyes. Wear gloves at all times.
• Keep ventilated

Remember

• C is a deadener so it softens the silicone mixture making it more flesh like.
• If you are creating a larger prosthetic which requires more strength and rigidity, use 40% C instead of 90%. 

Creating the Prosthetic

1.  Cover area with cling film and put gloves on
2. Take mould off the sculpt
3. If any clay remains in the sculpt- clean out with IPA and a cotton bud
4. Apray ALL OVER with mould release spray and leave to dry
5. Cut any flappy bits off
6. Mix 1 part Baldiez to 2 parts acetone. We used 50g Baldiez to 100g Acetone.
7. Mix well
8. Tip carefully into mould and 'swoosh' it around to give an even, thin layer.
9. Dry with cool hair dryer- this dries matte.
10. Apply a second layer, ensuring the whole mould is covered.
11. After checking the edges are dry with a pin, mix equal parts A & B Gel 25, and then add 90% C, we used 50g A, 50g B, so 90% of 100 is 90g C.
12. Add a tiny drop of pigment to the mixture. This will help blend the prosthetic into the skin.
13. Pour mix into the mould and scrape excess off so edges are smooth and not raised.
14. Leave to set on a flat surface.

After applying 2 layers of Baldiez. Mine got some air bubbles in it- i think due to brushing the baldiez on too thickly. I will remember this when I make my next prosthetic.

After pouring in the coloured silicone.

Flat Moulding- Casting the mould

Casting the MouldProducts:

•  Non-porous surface
• Sulfur Free clay
• Digital scales
• Measuring beakers
• Flat sticks
• Silicone Gel 25- A & B. DO NOT cross contaminate
• Wet wipes to wipe edges of containers
• Hot glue gun
• Fixer spray
• Mould release- 33Petrolease

Health and Safety

• Keep products well ventilated
• Wear gloves at all times

Remember: DO NOT mix with aloe vera- the silicone will not set. Be careful of hand creams and hand wash.

1. Create your sculpt in the clay on the plastic, bearing in mind the area in which you would like this to fit. Ensure edges are smoothed down well using sculpting tools.
2. If you think your mould may have dirt etc on it- wipe down with acetone
3. Place top half of a cut cup around the mould and seal all edges using hot glue gun
4. Mix equal parts Gel A and B- We used 75g A and 75g B. DO NOT CONTAMINATE.
5. Spray sculpt with fixer spray and let dry
6. Spray sculpt with mould release and let dry
7.  Pour silicone mixture onto mould and lay on a flat surface and leave to set.

Brow Bone- Supraorbital Foramen

howtobecomeaparamedic.com, (2010), Skull1 [ONLINE]. Available at: http://howtobecomeaparamedic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/skull1.jpg [Accessed 19 November 14].

The area I am creating a mould for is the brow bone, or the Supraopbital Foramen. This bone is located along the top of the eye socket, at the bottom of the forehead. 

airbrushdoc.com, (2011), Skull [ONLINE]. Available at: http://cdn.airbrushdoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/f418626e33277a1225dd77d5ae1e6d42.jpg [Accessed 19 November 14].

My drawing of the eye socket area, including the Supraorbital Foramen.

hair-and-makeup-artist.com, (2012), Some of the muscles of the face [ONLINE]. Available at: http://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/facial-anatomy-proportions/ [Accessed 19 November 14].

From this diagram I can see that the muscles which will affect the brows most are the Orbicularis Oculi- around the eye, the Frontalis- on the forehead and the Procerus- between the brows. It is important to bear this in mind when creating moulds as this is where there will be movement in the face, which is very important to consider when attaching a prosthetic to the face as you don't want the piece to start falling off or coming loose.

My sketch of the browbone area. I found it a little more difficult sketching this from an image of a person than from a skull. I think this may be because I can look at lines and tones on a skull but on a person these tones and lines aren't as apparent.

Miss xRonix

When searching for images for my first mood board, I found an image of a woman with lots of piercings and body modifications, so I thought I'd see if I could find any more information about her.

Miss xRonix, (1811), Portfolio Front Page [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.x-roni-x.com/Index.html [Accessed 18 November 14]. 

Veronica, or Roni is a 29 year old polish transgender piercer living and working in the centre of London. I managed to find her blog and portfolio and have been looking through these, especially the blog, to look at her body midifications. As you can see in the image above, she has subdermal implants in her forehead, as well as piercings on the browbone and at the bridge of her nose. The subdermal implants are what I am focussing on as I think it would be interesting to experiment with this sort of thing with moulds or wax. They create a striking look and really change the appearance of her face, whilst only being small. From the images I have seen, and from a line on her portfolio which reads "her favourite - eyeball tattooing" I think she has had her eyeballs tattooed black. this also creates a very striking look against her blue irises. I don't think I would be able to safely experiment with this although I think it is a really striking and effective form of body modification.

Something else which I think has really changed the appearance of her face is that she has removed her eyebrows (probably shaved them off) and redraws them on in a different shape or position. This is quite a common thing from what I have seen of transgender/androgynous men as men's brows are often thicker and straighter than women's, so they are either plucked or shaved and drawn back on whether fully or partially.

Miss xRonix, (2014), I tried on new eyebrows, just outlines [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCiyUUG0m5sl8flI7ZJIYG_w-fD7lEW68eWzWL8LBovkLhe47YYzzcG8Ms0g1ZMjhp_f9E3mp7fsfTX9VfloK602r2TtAu7b0bltho5-0JULuB4pNTKJn9dMC-tDPR_HGKyymJSEec9U/s1600/IMAG3369.jpg [Accessed 18 November 14].

In the image above she has experimented with her brows by just doing the outline. I think it is a shame that we cannot see her whole face as it is hard to judge how it changes her appearance but this is an interesting idea for brows which I haven't really seen before.

Miss xRonix, (2013), I won't say anything [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI4zv6WXEE2LzkUpPtKVqtxr0_9u9eZ4e8pUt5TK0gOrrWOuFk95Vxj3qdlcZmSxNeUMqUniUw_ANp3CxKor_T_PFjkOcIgIAkB8D1mqImsh1aRvpsCFF97rGQEqL8XrNSENwkxoFfoeE/s320/IMAG2096.jpg [Accessed 18 November 14].

In this image we can see the full extent of her piercings- large stretched earlobes as well as surface piercings on the cheekbones, stretched nose plugs, lower cheek piercings on either side of her mouth, as well as many lip piercings and microdermals. This look is not for everyone, but there is a growing community of alternative people with body modifications and piercings, with many piercings and tattoos becoming more and more popular and accepted.

Practicing Redesign 2

Again, as I was practiving this look on myself, I found it a little more difficult to blend the wax out and create the cuts as effectively as I could have if I was using a model.

I used nose & scar wax to create this look again, which I set with liquid latex as I don't have any sealer at home. I blended this into the skin to make it look like it was part of the face, and not just something stuck on. I really like how this design looks with the brows covered, but I think that the cuts in the brow part may be too much.

After trying out these two designs, I would like to try out my third at some point and experiment with bringing the poppers in along the brow, as this will provide a different medium to work with.

Practicing Redesign 1

This was the first design I chose to experiment with. I found it difficult to blend the edges and create the cuts as effectively on myself, and I definitely noticed a difference in blending the wax out on the collarbone to the cheekbone.

First Shoot- Evaluation.

These are two images I had on my phone of the look I created last week. I was quite happy with how it turned out, but I could definitely improve on blending the putty out and creating a more skin-like look.

I used Ben Nye Nose and Scar wax on the cheekbones to create this look. I used this because I wanted to create the look of more prominent cheekbones, whilst still being able to cut into it to make an interesting design on the 'skin'. I wanted the design to look like this was the model's actual face and skin, and that she just had an interesting body modification.

I think the face that I didn't try to cover too much of the face with the wax worked well as I may have bitten off more than I could chew and ended up not doing a very good job of blending the wax into the skin, resulting in an unrealistic look where the wax was obvious.

I think the tools I used to blend out the wax were really useful, and helped me to create a natural blend into the skin. I do however think I need to practice the cuts, and also blending the wax in a little more as some of the edges could be cleaned up a little.

Re-Designs of First Shoot

 This was my first redesign of my look. It is very similar to my original look, just with a slightly different pattern cut into the putty, and brought up over the brows.

 This was my redesign of my look. It features the same shape on the cheeks, but features blocked out brows that are raised slightly with putty, but not engraved. Then I added some bumps on the forehead inspired by the Shilluk people, but I thought i would use poppers for this to make it look a little different and almost robotic. I used poppers and latex before in a lesson and the images can be seen here. I would focus on blending these into the skin more if I used this design.

This third design isn't different to my initial one on the face, but I have simply brought the same design onto the collar bones using the same technique as on the cheek bones. This makes the look feel a bit more finished as it brings another body part into the design without doing too much.

Creating Image 1

Products used:

• Ben Nye Nose & Scar wax
• Kryolan Sealer
• Illamasqua translucent loose powder
• Kryolan foundation
• Dermacolour concealer
• Kryolan eyeshadow
• MUA Mascara
• Dermacolour lipstick

 Health & Safety

• Sealer- take care around eyes, ensure model has their eyes closed and be careful not to use on sensitive areas of skin.

Creating the look:

• First I cleansed and toned the face, ensuring there was no moisturiser or grease based product on or around the cheekbone area
• Next I rolled a small amount of wax between my fingers in a cone shape. I warmed this up a little in my hands.
• I applied this to the cheekbone area and carefully started blending the edges out into the shape I wanted, ensuring edges were blended into the skin
• I then cut wishbone shapes into the wax, keeping edges as clean as possible
• Next I coated the entire prosthetic and surrounding area in sealer
• I let this dry, using a cool hair dryer to speed this up
• Next I powdered the prosthetic lightly
• I applied foundation and concealer, contoured under the prosthetic slightly and then powdered the face
• I filled in the eyebrows with eyeshadow, smudged brown shadow along the lashline and applied mascara, before applying the coral lip colour.
• I then straightened the hair a little to take out any kinks.

Drawing with Kevin Dean

Along with our makeup lessons, we have had drawing classes with Kevin Dean
In the first lesson we practised drawing lines.

Next we looked at drawing skulls from observation, at different angles.

 Then we tried drawing an image upside down, here they are the right way up. This was quite a challenge. We did this to practice proportions.

Next we looked at drawing the face/head

Loomis, A, (2011), Drawing the head [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJSc1OmW0B4-9pf0oVxa21I_TgGTWFujx1Ik_Dv74aSOjS66r6mlI3WvqmUCK_bJdaX_mBd_o6mJaDnIKYIObqZvXYSdZ5BDoVpPvY-5osyJe7XLizeuJYLduE_A-kDSr21Woxxgc/s640/AndrewLoomis5.png [Accessed 10 November 14].

We were then set homework to do 2 self portraits using a mirror and 4 portraits of friends or family.

These were my self portraits. I found this quite challenging to do in the mirror as I kept moving and losing the position I was sat in or how I was looking at the mirror.

I found the portraits of friends and family difficult also, but i don't think I've got the proportions too far off.