"Born Criminal" Project.

For my final brief at college we were given the freedom to think of our own ideas and do whatever we wanted. I chose to look into Victorian criminlogy. In particulr, the theories of Cesare Lombroso who believed that criminals had similar characteristics and looks to animals. I thought that this was very interesting and developed it further. In the end I chose to base my character on a bird. I wanted to make a wig inspired by a magpie and a prosthetic that resembles an eagle. I chose my model and began to cast his face and make a foam latex prosthetic and a wig.
Here is the process...

Latex Bald Cap.

I wanted to experiment and see if I could make a bald cap by layering Liquid Latex. I made it in the same way I made the Cap Plastic one, I drew the models hair line on the block adding an extra couple of centimetres. I didn't pre paint with Illustrator because the Liquid Latex was already a flesh colour. Also, when it came to applying the Bald Cap, I realised that the edges wouldn't melt using Acetone so i had to stipple on more Liquid Latex to hide them into the skin.
Here are pictures of the process...

I ended up using this method when helping out on a student film. My friend needed help so I went to help at the last minute. It was a short film about raising awareness of anorexia. The story was about a girl suffering from anorexia and has various dreams about her deteriorating body. The scene which I helped work on was where she is looking at herself in a mirror, looking thin and balding from tearing out her hair. She also begins to pull off her skin from her face and hands. I used the latex Bald Cap and blended it into the skin using more Liquid Latex as it peels away from the skin. We used a few layers on her face and hands. To achieve the effect of going bald, we glued hair onto the bald cap using Spirit Gum.
We were called in fairly last minute to help out wiht the film. Had we have been given more time, I would have knotted patches to make the effect of thinning hair. However, the spirit gum worked becuase it allowed the actress to pull the hair out from the head.
Here are some of the photographs taken...

Step by step Bald Caps.

Here are pictures of how I created a Bald Cap using Bald Cap Plastic.
First I took a headshape of my model in cling film and drew their hairline onto my block. I added a couple of centimetres to the hairline to ensure the Cap Plastic covers it. I then covered the block in Vaseline so the completed Bald Cap could be removed easily.
I then painted a layer of Bald Cap Platic onto the block. I painted seven layers altogether. Between three layers I stippled on yellow Illustrator onto the cap, then a layer of plastic, then red Illustrator, plastic, then finally blue Illustrator. This made the bald cap easier to blend in with the skin colour later on.
Once the Bald Cap was dry, I removed it from the block and coated with powder. Then it was ready for application. I used prostick to attach the Bald Cap to the head and melted the edges away using Acetone. I then used Greasepaint to colour it...