Specialist Practice allowed the author to work on a project independently for a duration of 12 weeks. The intention

of the project was to ensure the concept of the specified topic, met the learning outcomes of the project.

The author’s chosen topic was to create a female faun fairytale character based from old folklore, and present two-makeups , demonstrating the before and after transformation of the human hybrid character. The intention of creating this character was to investigate whether practical application appears more realistic than computer generated imagery (CGI).

 

During the first few weeks of the project launch, the author explored into various research pathways, gaining further knowledge into relevant topics that related to the project. Relevant topics such as, The Goat of Mendes helped to inspire the progression of the final makeup and to also symbolise the meaning behind the character. Films such as Narnia, Penelope and Pans Labyrinth helped the author to distinguish the various techniques and methods used to create the characters, whether it be subtle makeups or full prosthetics.

 The inspiration to create a faun character came from the television series “The Grimm”, where humans transform into various animals, demonstrated both CGI and practical effects. The transformation stage inspired the author into wanting to create a character that still appeared human but with animal characteristics. Knowledgeable topics such as mythology in different cultures allowed a clear understanding as to how these mythical creatures are interpreted, and how each culture demonstrates different stereotypical monsters. The information attained from the research criteria helped the author gather clear and accurate thoughts as to how the character would be presented as a practical.

The Brother’s Grimm, associated with “The Grimm” television series became the main focus point of the project, to create a female version of a faun character that hadn’t been made up before. Making a character that had been already created multiple times gave it a tedious overlook, a character that hadn’t been made up previously, gave it more of a challenge.

The thorough investigation into multiple research focal points became a huge challenge to the project, but it flowed incredibly well, once exploring the main focal point, a lot of other relevant topics diverted from the central topic, which made it easier to bounce to and from multiple research material.

 

The progression into the practical became a struggle to approach, deciding on either an entire head prosthetic or a multi-piece prosthetic. The author decided to approach this cautiously, as the uncertainty of creating an entire head prosthetic still seemed too high of an expectation for the authors level of work so far. Despite the knowledge and creativity already progressed at a level 6 student, a full prosthetic would be more ideal for a final major to end the year as the author will feel more confident.

A multi-piece application was decided by the author, where a face, ears , horns and a hoof hand would be made in time for the deadline. This allowed the author to demonstrate improvement from the previous project, experimenting with various materials and not setting the level of expectations too high.

The approach to deciding how the molds were going to be made was the main struggle. Being allowed the independence to educate one self on various methods through research and communicating with artists within the industry became rather stressful. Many people learn various ways, whereas the author preferred a visualisation of what the molds would appear like. When the processes were concrete, the face casting process began, experimenting and having the opportunity to work with a new material “Life casting silicone”, which was much easier to apply, and the setting time was longer, so the author had a good amount of time to work with the material before it cured.

From previous experience of the authors fibreglass molds not going to plan within Negotiated Makeup, the author intended not to make the same mistake again. The application of silicone cut out 3 days worth of the fibreglass process, which made it less stressful.  The challenges faced this time were not quite as bad, the fibreglass matting sheets cured nicely, and the help of the cold conditions helped the fibreglass cure slowly rather than too fast.  The mistake of making the key points incorrectly made seemed unavoidable, but luckily the author hoped for the best and it ended up turning out just fine, the enjoyable process was actually experiencing the next few stages as the author didn’t reach the next processes in the previous project. The overall look of the face prosthetic also turned out incredibly well, I believe the author was more overwhelmed at the fact it didn’t go wrong this time around. The edges on the prosthetic appeared too thick around the eyes and cheek areas which couldn’t be avoided. The improvement for the future would be to ensure there is enough space between the face mold and the key points to help create a thinner flashing area.

The two-part mold of the hoof hand also became a massive struggle, as being inexperienced and approaching a mold that hadn’t been made before, the author knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The 2 part mold was made with fibreglass, creating a clay wall over half of the hand, and fibre glassed on both sides to create one piece. The clay wall appeared too thick which made the fibreglass seam line more noticeable.  Some aspects of the process could have been approached better but some were out of the authors control and others were to do with the uncertainty of not knowing how it could be approached in the right way.

As well as experiencing problems within the project  one problem that many experienced, was colouring the silicone prosthetics, although the authors favourite prosthetic outcome was the ears, the facial prosthetic and hoof didn’t appear to absorb the silicone mixture very well, including the illustrator palette which gave the silicone minimal coverage, and if applied in too many layers, the colour then cracked and flaked off, the improvement would be to research into other materials to colour, other than oil paints and acrylic ink, which I chose to avoid.

Time management did play a huge part within the project, despite having massive time management issues due to other commitments previously, the author was able to make adjustments to their lifestyle and put more commitment into this project. The time management plan did appear helpful in some way, but during collaborating with other students, many became unavailable and were very unreliable, making it hard to start the practical work. The overall time management itself worked out in the authors favour, leaving more than a week to work on blog work, and any additional requirements that needed changing before hand in. This also allowed the other students to work on their contribution to the project, and edit the shoot.

The final outcome itself turned out well with some minor faults that could have been avoided, but practice makes perfect, and every project is a learning curve for the future. Each project so far has improved, with the downside of misunderstanding some of the learning outcomes from a previous project, the author has experimented with various materials to work out accurate measures to take out, researched to a high degree, exploring relevant topics to the project as well as irrelevant, and demonstrates critical awareness through processes of the practical The author intended on meeting these learning outcomes to the best standard possible, and explored historical background criteria to meet the concept of the project.

 

 

Overall the author has gained an understanding as to how molds can be made, through research and other artists opinions. The confidence issues the author experienced beforehand have been overcome, and for future projects, the author would be able to identify the processes to making future molds.

From an experimental point of view, the author has gained a lot of knowledge and improved from a technical point of view.  Having the time to experiment with various materials can now help the author to understand what works and what doesn’t. The breadth and depth of research became educational as well as inspirational, and the author gained a lot of interesting ideas and techniques. Irrelevant topics that weren’t used for this project could be of some use to the foreseeable upcoming projects. For a level 6 student, progressing slowly and improving at a steady pace is seen more as an advantage instead of thinking big and not successfully achieving best results and maintaining them throughout the year.