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.

More work sculpting

The Planet of the Apes mask is coming along well. You will be able to glue this to your face, makeup color your eyes and in an instant be a character from the movie blending the hair of the mask in with your own or a wig.

Crater Lake Monster sculpture for the soon to be resin model kit is well on the way. Lots more work to be done on both. I hope to mold these and get them on the market next week.

Be sure to click on the thumbnail to enlarge the pictures. You can also select in the lower right hand corner the original file size and enlarge it and zoom in.

Back to normal at the studio?

I really ask myself and always have, “What is normal?”. It is in fact a perspective on reality based on the individuals analysis based on input from the 5 senses. Ah you ask, “What is the 5th sense?” You may ask. 😉

For me normal changes all the time. I have reinvented myself a million times. My interests are so vast and wide one could never be bored. There are at least 6 projects going on simultaneously. But I digress.

Yesterday I painted yet another Chameleon mask for a customer.

And started that Crater Lake Monster sculpture. Although in the very rough stages I made the base and armature to sculpt the head and neck of the monster which was my very first job I ever did in the movie industry.

Rick Baker gave me the job to build this head for William Stromberg back in 1976 as I recall. It lead to my friendship with David Allen. David and I would work for many years after on many films. I introduced him to Charlie Band.

I thought I should start a series of sculptures of creatures and things I did for my career and offer them in the store. The Crater Lake monster had to be the first.

Here is it’s beginning.

This sculpture will be a kit. Cast in two part resin with a clear blue resin water base. About 10 inches tall.This is about a half hour of work and then the day came to a close. I’ll be working most of the day today on this and the first in a series of Planet of the Apes masks. I did work on the Planet of the Apes TV show. Although briefly after I first came to LA this pre-dates the Crater Lake Monster and it counts. 😉

The sculpture is rough and not finished. When finished it will be wearable and have hair and teeth.