Planet of the Apes mask finishes

Planet of the Apes finishes

I worked all day on it yesterday and Mary called it done. Hmmm…OK. It’s true it’s always hard to know when to exactly stop. When is anything actually finished? In an artist’s mind that can sometimes be never. We are always the hardest judge that is until someone comes along and says that is “disturbingly real” and another says, “You done”.

We can’t see it as the creator and I have learned to rely on the judgment of others around that me that I respect. Because they see it with eyes you cannot. This can save you from insanity or worst. What’s the worse you may ask? You take it too far and lose your way and ruin it. Trust me. I have done it many times.

I picked at hand texturing that orange peel texture Tom Burman and John Chambers used to give the apes that distinctive look. I used orange peel but in the cold of the bay area of our shop it wasn’t giving me what I wanted so I did most of it on my own with a point tool.

The Chavant clay was difficult to use over the other the clay they used originally, Roma Plastilina. I used to use it too but in recent years it has not been the same. The Chavant seems better but it’s harder to smooth. I found that spit and or alcohol works good. Tooling and smoothing mostly by hand. Turpenoid works very well but makes the surface mushy and you have to wait overnight for it to dry up enough to work with it further so I stopped using it.

Hopefully I’ll have time today after our podcast with Doug Drexler to mold this. A simple one piece pottery #1 plaster mold for latex casting.

Next week or maybe even Friday I’ll cast the first one. Once painted up and haired we will shoot a video of me making myself up in the mask with prosthetic adhesive, makeup, and a wig. We should get some mouth movement and some facial moment out of the latex mask. Sort of a instant Planet of the Apes makeover without the 4 hour long foam rubber and hair pieces application.