Battles With Bits Of Rubber

It was a great pleasure to chat with John face to face (before lockdown, I hasten to add) back in December of 2019. John is a well known FX artist who has since gone on to work at Tussauds and is a freelance artist. I think you will get a real kick out of hearing his take, a perfect attitude to how to feel when creating. We chat about what it means to sculpt, that internal dialogue we all have when creating something new, Fact checking bellend: In this, I mistakenly assign Constantin Brâncuși as the artist behind 'Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2)' which of course it wasn't - it was Marcel Duchamp. Links to things we mentioned. The Barclays Bank commercial directed by Ridley Scott. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnVyANe0ZnE John Schoonraad Episode: https://battleswithbitsofrubber.com/14-scanners-schoonraads/ Neill Gorton Episode: https://battleswithbitsofrubber.com/51-neill-gorton/ Kris Costa: https://www.instagram.com/theantropus/ Olya Anufrieva: https://www.instagram.co

Air bubbles of one kind or another are inevitable if you deal with materials which start out life as a liquid and then later solidify such as plaster, latex, silicone and resin. Let’s take a look at what can happen, why, and what to do about it. Blog post accompanying this post: https://battleswithbitsofrubber.com/58-airbubbles/

This episode of the podcast, we catch up with some questions left on our answerphone, emails and comments. Clay issues, alcohol colours, and a nice message from sculpting master Amelia Rowcroft. Cheers to those been in touch, and leaving messages. You can get in touch by email at stuartandtodd@gmail.com or leave a voicemail here. I mentioned working at the BBC Visual FX department, and I was reminded that I have a book about it - BBC Vfx: The History of the BBC Visual Effects Department 2010 by Mat Irvine (Author), Mike Tucker (Author) ISBN-10: 1845135563 ISBN-13: 978-1845135560 I mentioned 'enjoy the suck' and it was, of course, 'embrace the suck', and it's meaning is as follows: (military, slang) To consciously accept or appreciate something that is extremely unpleasant but unavoidable. Quite appropriate right now. Check our podcast website here: https://battleswithbitsofrubber.com/

The Shaun Of The Dead prosthetic team reunites and talk through the movie effects shots. Blog post for this episode here I thought it would be fun to chat with Stuart Conran and Dan Frye, two FX buddies who I have known and worked with for many years on many projects. I rewatched the movie to refresh my memory and listed the effects in chronological order. Make sure to download the free booklet which accompanies this episode. This little nod of appreciation comes from that place which still makes me warm and fuzzy when I flick through old Fangoria and Gorezone magazines. You can easily get in touch with the show by leaving us a voicemail on our website here or emailing us at the usual address, stuartandtodd@gmail.com. Thanks for listening. -Stuart & Todd  

Blog Post link: https://battleswithbitsofrubber.com/54-approaching-workshops/ Folio under your arm, at some point you may wish to appeal to those who could give you a job. It's nervewracking to be judged, but your folio is maybe pages of your heart and soul now made visible for others to assess and rate. The main way anyone gets work is simply by having a portfolio of good work and then show that to someone who pays for people like that to solve a problem they have. There isn't a single path or trick to game the system. You are not likely to be given a job you are wholly unsuited to - the work is too precious to those who are looking to hire, and there is a pretty robust system of hiring. Here we discuss some main points to help you get your head straight. Think through what you could mean to them rather than what they can do for you. Listen to the podcast for the full monty, but the key points are listed below! 1.        How much to charge. Know your worth        Know how much it costs you to sta

There are often a number of questions about prosthetic makeup that get asked often. We put together the top 5 that keep cropping up and do a deep dive into our responses. 1. How do I match an appliance to a person's skin tone? 2. How do I ensure a good edge on an appliance? 3. How can I create good work without spending a fortune on materials? 4. How do I get work? 5. Will computers take over the work of makeup artists? Check out the blog post with extensive notes (and a downloadable booklet) by tapping here.   Also, you can leave a voice message directly on our website through our 'Speak Pipe' feature. Check it here. -Stuart & Todd

Todd talks with his good friends and fellow artists, Jacquie & Brandon Ryan. This episode looks at how people teach, learn, and maybe don't learn. We all need a motivation to learn, and many of us will require different styles of learning such as visual, auditory, practical hands-on tasks or live demonstration to get started. One simple rule to remember is this: Sucking is learning. Making mistakes is when you learn. Learn how to make mistakes and pick yourself up. Nobody likes failing, but using that as fuel is worthwhile. As the military put it - 'Pain retains!' Check our blog post with extensive notes here.

I first met Neill with a folio tucked under my arm for my interview I had managed to arrange at Ealing Studios in 1995. My first job with him was making oversized Casio watches, which were fibreglassed out of silicone moulds to make G-Shock watch display units. --------------------------------- Check out our new website: Battles With Bits Of Rubber Dot Com --------------------------------- One thing I have always noticed about Neill is that he has a seemingly fearless approach to problem-solving. He will go directly to the source and grab whatever is the root of the issue in order to overcome it. This seems to me to be the single best approach to fixing things which go wrong and thus continue on to better results. It is so easy for us to protect ourselves from the pain of that difficulty that it needs constant motivation and reminding to break through that in-built resistance. The film industry is couched in problem-solving, each situation unique and usually high pressured. It is an attractive ca

At IMATS London 2019, I sat and had a great chat with Rick from Bolton University. For those that may not be aware, a breif Rick bio: "Richard is a senior lecturer and Programme Leader of the Special Effects for Film and TV degree at the University of Bolton. He’s been teaching at the university for several years and specialises in character work, in both the prosthetic make-up effects and model-making fields. " In the episode, we talk about the massive effect 3D printing and technology is having on what was previously a traditional skills area. What is cool is that new blood is coming in, taking on board the new tech and learning old skills for the first time in equal measure, making something new and quite special as a result. He is an interesting chap and has, I think you will agree, a very good voice for radio! Give us a listen and let us know what you think. Incidentally, all the lecturers at Bolton have been doing great work there for years, making a real impact on the quality of work and competence th

In this episode, I got to chat with Matthew Mungle & visit his jail cell! Matthew and his company, WM Creations have been responsible for makeup effects on scores of shows and racked up a lot of awards and nominations in the process - for a deep dive into that, check out Matthews IMDb profile. The actual real-life holding cell in the studio, now decked out with suitably spooky decorations and effects! So much fun. Todd and I also wax lyrical about the joys of epoxy and plaster, silicones we like for flat moulds and release agents for Pros-Aide transfers. We both like a firmer silicone as there is naturally some pressure that goes on when pressing a scraper over the back of the mould - so a soft silicone mould will compress too much and underfill if you are not careful! One of the sculpting areas in Matthews studio. Matthew talked at length about the process of taking a script, breaking it down and assigning it into a series of tasks - details which you don't often hear people talk about. He always want

In this episode, Neill Morrill joins me in the workshop as we hit up Todd in Colorado and chat about our collaborated efforts on the makeup we did for The Prosthetics Event 2019. Neil is originally from the UK but moved to Toronto in the early 2000s and has worked on a number of high profile shows over the years such as 300, The Strain, Suicide Squad, Hereditary, It, Shazam! and the What We Do In The Shadows series. It was an absolute joy working with Neil on our homage to Rick Bakers' 'Reverend Brown' makeup on Arsenio Hall from 1988 classic Coming To America. Neil had the idea when chatting to our makeup sponsor Sian Richards when bouncing ideas around. The upcoming sequel recently finished shooting, and so Neil picked that as a good contender as a challenge for us to do - separated as we are by 3, 500 miles of Atlantic ocean. British Rapper and DJ Normski agreed to be our victim, and so we set about hatching the plan. Obviously distance like that adds tricky elements to a physical process such as sculptin

In this episode, Todd and Stu talk about our week making moulds with epoxy, dropping sculpts and moulage effects for first responder training. Earlier in 2019, Stu got to sit and chat with some fine folks at IMATS London and a chat with makeup designer Kate Benton kicks off the first of these finally edited up after a crazy industry year. This is the sculpt I was detailing and then dropped. Doh! As you may know, this podcast is a side hustle for us which has been on the backburner for a while as the industry rocked the makeup case hard. Now as things ease up, the Prosthetics Event is almost upon us and a season of podcast editing is happening and winding down for the end of the year. Deep joy! Find out more about Kate on her website: http://www.katebenton.com/ The Heidi Klum Halloween makeups we mentioned can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp390WQaXY Check out the amazing artistry of Mike Marino and Prosthetic Rennaisance (Proren) here: https://www.prorenfx.com/ and on Insta @prorenfx We sure

Starting Education In Makeup Effects & Prosthetics This episode is prompted by seeing a few questions on forums about how best to learn about makeup FX and prosthetics. Where to go and what to learn? Depending on what you want to be able to do, let's also draw a distinction between a makeup artist who sometimes will apply a prosthetic v someone who specialises in creating and applying more complex pieces. Some people want to exist in the workshop only and have no interest in being on set all day. It takes all types but understands there is a profession which specialises in making and one in makeup, they don't always cross over, and you don't need to be able to do everything. ----------------------- There are some great colleges out there with tutors doing sterling work. There are also some not so great. We think that is worth mentioning and discussing. In this episode, I mention some institutions off the top of my head which I reckon do a great job, and I have had the privilege of visiting many more and

Jordu Schell has been pushing clay around for a while and knows a thing or two about sculpting. Creating concepts for characters and creatures, masks, makeups and beautifully crafted designs, he also teaches his craft all over the world and has recently released the first of a series of downloadable books The Professional Creature Design Handbook. In this podcast we chat about: The headspace of sculpting The frustration of failing and why it matters Using nature as inspiration and reference The pitfalls of copying styles (Aping the style without understanding the deeper truth behind it) Teaching and learning styles around the world The other sculptors mentioned are: Sazen Lee: https://www.instagram.com/sazenlee/ Toi Ogunyoku: https://www.toiogunyokuart.com/ Amelia Rowcroft: https://www.ameliarowcroft.com/ The book Todd mentioned was by Uldis Zarins and Sandis Kondrats Anatomy For Sculptors: https://anatomy4sculptors.com/ Subscribe in your podcatcher to make sure you don't miss the latest episodes! Th

It’s been a while since Todd & I have podcasted, so apologies for the slow return to form. It’s been a brutal few months, mainly as I have been on the new Netflix/BBC version of Dracula which has kept my hands red and my days long and busy.  Naturally, NDA’s prevent me from divulging what’s what but rest assured, fans of the Hammer style will enjoy the perfect casting of Danish actor Claes Bang in the lead role. Dave and Lou Elsey ran the Prosthetics department, and the small crew we had was kept busy. Makeup dept head Marcus Whitney and his crew did some amazing work and as it has been penned by the Sherlock team of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, you can be sure of some exciting storylines. Totally stoked to have been involved!   --------------- In this podcast, we chatted outside in Todd’s back yard about our endeavours over the previous couple of days, making ears. We had used epoxy and as I have used so much polyester resin with fibreglass over the years, talk fell mainly to comparing the two materia

"Paul walked into a Lifeboat station on his 17th birthday and never left, initially volunteering at Poole and now at Tower Lifeboat in London. So far he has been a Search and Rescue Volunteer with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and HM Coastguard for 31 years." So reads the write-up for the honours listing of Pauls OBE, a high honour of recognition for sterling work which he continues to do within maritime medicine and emergency response. Training those who deal with emergency and pre-hospital medicine is no mean feat, and making sure casualty makeup used in training medical personnel is both accurate and hard wearing is a key part of that. It was because of this shared interest that Paul and Stuart crossed paths, and led to this episode of the podcast. Casualty simulation is often an avenue makeup artists will get involved in as they can obviously add a great deal of realism to training scenarios with good makeup. Anyone who has done a first-aid at work course will no doubt be familiar with a

In this podcast we talk about art, what it means to be an artist, why we do it, and the challenges we face in trying to make a living doing this. This was mostly brought about because of the fantastic conversation I had with my first ever boss when I started working in effects in 1994. Pauline and business partner, Nik Williams run Animated Extras, an effects company specialising in prosthetics, animatronics, puppets, creature suits, fake bodies and many animals from elephants, bats, sharks...you name it. In their own words... "From singing sloths to the putrefying corpses of Hollywood A-listers, Animated Extras have been creating all kinds of weird and wonderful things for the Film, TV, and advertising industry since 1986." Pauline was the first person I ever saw take a lump of clay and make it look like a real person when she made a fake head of Michael Gambon for the film 'Mary Reilly'. It was to me complete and total magic, and it was an absolute delight and honour to sit with her and talk frankly about

Richard Redlefsen is someone I saw for the first time a few years back at the UMAE where he was applying his demo makeup on the PPI stand. What was of note for me was how particular and precise everything was. Care was taken at every turn, and it struck me that the amount of effort that takes must come from a deep well. So it was a great pleasure to sit and chat with the man himself, and I could ask if he thought of this about himself and if we could pick apart where that comes from. As you'll hear, Richard had a career as a dancer before he embarked on makeup, and his training was thorough. I think that experience and also working for a makeup brand such as Lancôme meant his work doesn't start and stop with bits of rubber! Follow Richard on his Instagram to see just how versatile this chap is. Check out a brief selection of the range Richard covers. A Devil mask sculpt completed recently for Immortal Masks.   Claudia Alta (Lady 'Bird' Johnson) wrap-around prosthetic sculpt ready to mould.   Zombie makeup

Rick Baker knows a thing or two about making stuff in rubber. It's also fair to say he knows a thing or two about the digital world too, as he has been mixing the two for a while. In 2015, when it was announced that Rick was to close his shop, the FX world was stunned and the bell tolled once again for the end of all practical effects as people speculated the end of live-action anything. There was a Vice article at the time which claimed (again) the 'CGI was killing the industry' which, if you were knee deep in rubber and working crazy hours trying to get stuff done for a show like I and many others were was hard to take seriously. Now the dust has settled, I was so stoked to get a chance to sit and talk to the man himself and see what he was doing with himself now he was out of the industry. He was after possibly the most well known and most respected inspirations working at the time, so what were we to do now he had hung up his makeup brushes? The answer? Keep on making things. Simply put, what has happene

Something that Don talked about passionately in our interview was how (mostly) young, creative people can be in a position to get taken advantage of. When working starting out, you are not likely to be handed a position of massive responsibility with large sums of money and heavy hitting clients. So it stands to reason when the phone first rings, it’s likely to be a smaller production with little or no budget looking for some help and played right it can be a wonderful place to start. In this episode, we chat about this with a word of warning and a method of understanding your worth so that if you find yourself in this position, you can check yourself and your fluctuating emotions against the empirical gauge of common sense. Halloween Horrors We also wax lyrical about plain dangerous Halloween makeups which we have seen. Every year, a plethora of inappropriate objects are attached to eyes and noses in an attempt to get likes and attention. There isn't anything wrong with that unless of course, actual harm ca