30 July 2021 – Diploma in Special FX & Prosthetic Makeup Artistry Level 5 Assessment – Cut Above Academy Auckland
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been working on the assessment of creating and applying a prosthetic wounds scar. The brief was to research and create a backstory about the injury and reference our sketches and photos. Thankfully, I have a friend, who doesn’t shy away from collecting photos of injuries of people she knows, and I ended up with a great reference photo of an injury to start from. After researching, we were able to open our NSP clay and sculpting tools from our kits and learn how to sculpt. For me this was the first time I have ever done this, and I enjoyed learning about the basic techniques of skin textures and the importance of channels when sculpting prosthetic scars. The channels will help with the application, and even though it takes a bit longer, it will make it so much easier to apply in the end.
The next step was building the walls around the sculpt and making it leak proof, so we could mix the 2 part Silicone (we used Pikysil from BarnesNZ) to pour the molds. Pinkysil is a quick setting silicone and after lunch we were able to demold our scars.
In the meantime, we learnt how to make our own gelatin for running the molds, which is best left to set overnight, before it can be finished and used. Then it was time for the fun part! Running the molds, which took some practicing, until finally, the perfect prosthetic for application!
To apply the scar, I used a combination of liquid Protac and Prosaid cream to blend the edges, and the heated-up Witch-hazel gave it a smooth and nearly invisible finish. To paint the scar, I used alcohol based paints and a little bit of scratch blood and the tiniest bit of Ultrawet.
I am incredibly happy with the outcome and passed the assessment.
Things I would do differently: I would take more time when sculpting the details of the wound. I did not get the details correct as per the reference, which made the wound slightly different to the original photo.
