First Pain Management Session And Mass Making Cosplay and SFX Stuff for Comicon.

What a busy week I just had, wow! 

As I mentioned before, I'm demonstrating SFX at this years Preston Comicon on 29th Sept  and Blackburn Comicon on 17th Nov (links to the official sites listed at the bottom of the blog!); this year am planning on selling some headdresses, cosplay items like chest armour, arm pieces as well as selling some silicone prosthetic pieces. Which means some mass designing and mass making is required to ensure I create some super special awesome pieces for you guys.
Its slightly stressful, just because I've never really sold any of my pieces and I guess the worry is nobody will like them and I don't sell any but hey ho you got to try! I've got my Lisa with me for both events so am sure she will keep me positive and sane! Make sure you come and say hi to us!!

The first headdress that I've created for sale, I showed in my last blog but I decided to create a SFX character to go with the headdress AND make a tutorial for you guys. Even the prosthetics used are available to buy at both comicons, both of which are silicone and I will be putting instructions on how to apply them with them.

Here's a sneak peak of my purple demon character inspired by the headdress...

Sneakie Peakie….this look will be up on my YouTube channel very soon so make sure that you are subscribed to my channel.

The forehead piece and the mouth piece will be for sale (both are silicone and will come with instructions on how best to apply it) as well as the headdress.

As well as playing with SFX, which as everybody knows chills me out, I had my first pain management session last Wednesday. It was pretty...thought provoking … gave me a lot to think about and made me excited for the next sessions. The focus was on what pain is to us and how it makes us feel, think and behave which for me at the moment it makes me feel very confused as to why this pain is there and how its effecting my day to day life. As well as being angry, oh my word, I can get firey these days but this is all normal. I'll be taught how to deal with all of this. One of the main activities that we were taught to help us put things into prospective and give us a little calmness, is 3 minute breathing space. I have to admit this little activity has helped, all you need to do is sit comfortably (or lie down) and focus on your breath, then scanning your body to acknowledge any feelings, pains and thoughts. Then you use your breathing to bring you back to the present moment rather then thinking of a million and one things. It really did create a sense of calmness and even though I could feel the pain still, it made me realise that you can achieve a feeling of calm as well as have the pain. I've been doing the exercise everyday (I love sitting in front of my pond listening to the birds) the only time it didn't work was when I got incredibly worked up by a negative comment made...but am sure that the next couple of sessions will help me figure out how to cope in that situation. 

The whole cosplay costume making is such a journey for me, it reminds me of when I first got started in prosthetics, I felt a little apprehensive and a little scared of doing something wrong but when I get into a project...am lost in it and forget all time!

Chest armour was something I wanted to try and create to sell but I wanted to start small using EVA foam rather then Worbla. EVA foam pieces are a lot more flexible and lightweight as well as basic to some extent. As always my fabulous assistant Lisa modelled for the pattern...

Once we had the pattern...time to cut the foam. I will admit that when I cut the foam and glued it together I thought I'd done something wrong just because of how it looked. But let this be a lesson to you all, be patient and stay focused it will all come together in the end!

As you can see, it looks a lot better once the rubber sealer is applied, once this was applied I started to get very excited! I mean not to toot my own trumpet, but come on, it looks pretty good for my first chest piece! 

Once we had the rubber coating done, time for colour!! First coat was spray painting gold all over which looked ace because the spray I used had a multi-tonal effect to it, which meant it created a natural light and shade effect.

Next step is deepening the shadows and highlights to create some metal effects as well as a more 3D look. Then I started applying some steampunk elements such as screws, bolts, cogs etc.

And that's where am at, you'll have to stay tuned for next weeks blog for the final image of this creation...who knows may be I'll even do a little video so you can see the full effect!!

I'm not going to lie, Thursday's YouTube video could be one of two looks...the first one is a tutorial of how I created the purple demon look and the second one is using the new HUDA beauty palette and loose powder that I've hinted at on my facebook page.

Let me know which one you want to see...leave me a comment either here or on my facebook page and I'll upload to one that gets the most votes. Or I'll just play Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!!

Till next time my lovely people!

See you next Monday!!

xRx

Oh and don't forget to like, follow, subscribe and share my links:

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BLACKBURN COMICON - 17th Nov

Get your tickets here----- https://www.blackburncomiccon.co.uk/

PRESTON COMICON - 29th Sept

Get your tickets here ------ http://www.prestoncomiccon.co.uk/

The Last Of Us {{ CLICKER }} {{Fast sculpt VIDEO}}

Check it out the new tutorial video is up now on my YouTube channel!! Make sure your subscribed to see new videos every Thursday and check out the blog below for more information about this look.



xRx

SFX meets Beauty Makeup Tutorial: Golden Demon. {{Tutorial Video}}

Check it out....new tutorial video of the look I was talking about in the last post. I really like this look and I love using that silicone prosthetic brow piece, so look out for more creations using that. Make sure that you subscribe to my channel as well as hit the bell icon so you know when new videos are uploaded.

Am trying to get this whole YouTube channel off the ground but am not 100% in the know about the whole video making/YouTube thing...any advice?



xRx

Beauty meets SFX ---- Using the new Kat Von D Collection.

Its been a interesting couple of days for me, mostly circling around Kat Von D makeup! Which isn't a bad thing.
Things started off by my sister and I, going to the Trafford Centre Debenhams to watch the new Kat Von D collection being used as well as picking up a few goodies as you do! 
As most of you will already know the new Kat Von D 10th Anniversary Collection dropped a few weeks ago and focused on some beautiful gold tones and strong pigments. This event at Debenhams allowed me to see the products in action as well as seeing some of the brands best products being used. 
I love Kat Von D makeup, the pigments, the textures and just the whole style of the brand so this event was wonderful. Make sure that if you are interested in this brand you pop into the Trafford Centre Debenhams and have a chat to the fabulous artists that are working on the counter, they will demonstrate the products as well as teach you new techniques in application to suit you or how best to use the products which often have multi uses.
I did buy quiet a lot of stuff...so did my sister!! But from the collections I got the beautiful Metal Crush highlighter in Gold Skool which is such an amazing highlighter with some powerful glow to it!

A lot of people who know me are aware that I do use a lot of liquid lipsticks on my brows so I can create the crazy colours so of course I had to get the Everlasting Glimmer Veil from this collection which is fabulous and looks amazing when layered over other colours. But is also awesome by it self.

And lastly is the amazing palette! The colours range from matt to shimmery and some beautiful multi-tonal colours. The package is beautiful, I mean look at that artwork on the front. If you can only get one piece from this collection I would definitely recommend this palette! 

My sister bought the lipstick that goes with this collection which is a beautiful warm toned red, perfect for summer and goes great with her warm skin tones as well as her blue eyes. Good purchase sis!!
There was a brush set that you could buy but I have bought a lot of brushes recently so am good for brushes for now. (That and I spent up.)

So what to do to show off these fantastic products...of course it has to be some sort of SFX meets beauty makeup! I have created a tutorial video of this for my YouTube channel so if your interested in watching the whole process please go check out and subscribe; @ Ruth E Moulden MUA

I have created these silicone brows before but I thought it would be interesting to mix this with more of a beauty based makeup, an ultra glam Golden Demon lady.

I think this look do show off the Kat Von D collection, I mean look at that gold shine!! And on the lips is an example of the Glimmer Veil being used over the top of a grey toned liquid lipstick. All the colours used on the face and the eyes are taken from the 10th Anniversary palette and I did use the Saint and Sinner palette (also Kat Von D) but only for the black shadow.

I will be posting more images of this look on my other social sites so make sure that you are following me on facebook and Instagram @Ruth E Moulden Makeup Artist MUA

The photo below is what the makeup looks like in full light...hence the more warm toned feeling to this image. (Excuse the hair over my nose...I didn't notice it when I took the photo!)

Full lists of the products used will be on my YouTube channel as well as Instagram feed...this includes the SFX products being used too.
I think that I may do this look again...but with a headdress and maybe a wig!! OR create the darker side to the Golden Demon?! What do you guys think?

Hope you guys have a fabulous Sunday! Don't forget to share and follow me!!

xRx

Cheshire Cat ... We're All Mad Here ....

 

Its been a difficult time for me at the moment so what better way to cheer myself up and keep me focused on the end goal of becoming a SFX artist for film/tv (CSI would be a dreeeeam!) then sculpting a crazy cat!

 

I've been a little obsessed with the video game "America McGee Alice: Madness Returns", those of you who aren't familiar with it...basically its like a twisted version of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, with blood, madness and some pretty pretty warped scenery. As a result of this slight obsession I've always wanted to try and create a makeup based on it. So when the Open Day demonstrations came up at +Blackburn College , I decided that then was the time to do it!

 

I was inspired with my sculpting as well as given some handy tips from the marvellous +Bruna Nogueira who sent me a copy of Hollywood Makeup Lab's new book "Hollywood Makeup Lab Industry Secrets and Techniques" such an amazing detailed  book with awesome techniques to learn. Definitely recommend buying this book if your a budding MUA, SFX artist or already in the industry (or like me , professional MUA trying to break into the SFX game!)!!

 

Like always....it starts with a sculpt...

 

I began by blocking out the shape of the cat, the issue with cats is that their noses and mouth area (especial the Cheshire Cat's!) are recognisable and therefore the shape needed to be as close as humanly possible. It took ages to get this to a state that I was happy with!!

Like my other sculpts this was done using Monster Clay from +PS Composites Ltd 

 

After a lot of playing and sore hands...I finally settled on this...

 

 

As you can see I changed the teeth and added false nails.

 

 

Next step moulding!!

Like my pasted pieces this one is casted in gelatine, I would love to try foam latex but still saving my money for that SFX course...one day I will get there!!

 

The piece was then painted using +MEL Products which I absolutely love!! My favourite product to paint in both manually and airbrush. For this pretty kitty I used a mixture of airbrush and manual. I airbrushed a base of light grey and built up to darker tones. Then manually painted the detail in using +Bdellium Tools sfx brushes and +Sigma Beauty SFX brushes.

 

 

After long starring matches with my mad Cheshire cat, I decided it need a little more detail...crepe hair detail. Which am not going to lie was extremely infuriating as I managed to glue grey hair to everything!!

 

 

The ears were made from foam pieces and a headband painted up.

 

 

Taaaa Daaaaaa......

 

 

So that was the creation of my Cheshire Cat prosthetic, in the next post I'll be covering the application as well as creation of some encapsulated silicone pieces that were used for the character/body art. 

 

If you can't wait and  want to see the end result sooner, going over to my facebook/instagram pages like...follow....check it out over there using the same user name as here.

 

Bye for now lovelies!!

 

p.s. stay tuned to my social networking sites for Halloween looks and characters...oooo spooky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking Dead Zombie Girl Character

Hey guys,

I have been keeping busy as normal, planning some characters for Halloween as well as sorting out this years Zombie Walk at +Blackburn College

 I realised that I need put up a follow up post for the Walking Dead Zombie prosthetic that I created. As everybody knows I love zombies and monsters and things that go bump in the night and one of ultimate favourite TV shows is of course Walking Dead. It would be a dream come true to work on a show like that...even if its just assisting!

So the as you can see from previous posts, I moulded a prosthetic face based on Walking Dead zombie world and painted it up...what I didn't show you was the finished piece on my face! So here it is...

Personally am really happy with it...I think its definately better then my past zombies which is always the aim. I feel that the Skin Illustrators really made a massive different in the effect of the zombie not to mention my new +Sigma Beauty FX brushes from +Bruna Nogueira from the fantastic Hollywood Makeup Lab (I've recently received a book from them which I will be doing a review on, very soon so stay tuned for that one!)

I attached the prosthetic with the fantastic adhesive Telesis 7, I think I already raved about this product in my previous blog but there I go again...its the best glue that I've used to date and didn't ruin my skin afterwards! Definitely recommend this to everybody and everyone!

 

You can check out the blog about the colour up of the prosthetic for more information about brushes and skin illustrators used. If you check out my YouTube channel can also wait a video of the colour up with a review of the FX brushes used.

So there you have it, I will definitely be revisiting my walking dead zombies, probably for Halloween which am planning to do quiet a few monsters for you guys.

 

Please Please check out my YouTube Channel to see more information about the colouring of the prosthetic piece here -----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquRQlyIlL4

 

Check out the Sigma FX Brush by +Bruna Nogueira  Review here -------> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EigHmTbiWeU

 

 

Check out my other sites and follow me on:

 Facebook ----> https://www.facebook.com/Ruth.E.Moulden.MUA

Twitter -----> https://twitter.com/RM_Makeup

Instagram ----> ruthemouldenmua

 

Bye for now,

xRx

Sliced Leg SFX Silicone Prosthetic

Hey guys,

Today's blog is all about my sliced leg effect, you can call it the warm up to Halloween as I've got a few ideas that I want to create as well as one big idea for a live Demonstration at +Blackburn College  for their open day event in October (those of you who follow me on Facebook or Instagram will know what that character is.)

As some of you know I have been experimenting with silicone prosthetic, its something that really interests me as its can be incredibly life like in both touch, movement and visually. It's pretty expensive but worth it if you want the realism.

I began the prosthetic by creating a mould, I just used some monster clay (favourite clay to use but is quite hard, melts well though) and then create the mould. Below you can see the mould is the blue piece which is created by a silicone based product called Mold Star 16 by Smooth On. There are different types of Mold Star, 16 is a fast setting one with a 6 minute pot life and 30 minute cure time which means that if your quick at working its perfect but if not perhaps try Mold Star 15 which has the pot life 50 minutes and a cure time of  about 3-4 hours. +Smooth-On  products can be purchased via their website http://www.smooth-on.com or if your from the UK you might be better buying it from +Bentley Advanced Materials via http://www.benam.co.uk , they also have a handy tutorial video on there about using the product!

 

After creating the mould, I moved on to creating the prosthetic by encapsulating the silicone using bald cap plastic. Meaning I coated the mould in bald cap plastic (after applying a release agent) and then once this was dried I poured in the silicone. This silicone is again a Smooth On product which can be purchased at +Bentley Advanced Materials called Ecoflex Platinum Silicone which is extremely soft and flexible. To create the felsh colour I added Silc-Pig which is a pigment specific for silicone as well as red flocking which gives a multi-dimensional colouring by colouring the "background"

 

Once the prosthetic piece was done its ready to be applied, for this application I used my new adhesive; Telesis 7 Silicone Adhesive which is a fantastic product the only down side is that its expensive. Its taken me a while to save up for it but it really do glue well.

 

Now the fun part...not that anything before this wasn't fun but this is the really fun messy bit...colouring and blood!

So as I love my skin illustrators so much I used them...I used mainly my FX palette and 5 blood palette both are perfect for casualty effects and gory effects. I love how you can create such a nice wash of colour that doesn't over power the effect. As you can see below, the prosthetic coloured without any blood.

 

 

Once you have the colour right you can go ahead and add the bloods. Whenever I'm teaching sfx I always check my students work before they add the blood because blood can hide a multitude of sins and dodgy edges. (Word of warning to my new Level 3 Media Makeup students starting in September.)

 

My favourite bloods to use are those by Bloody Marvellous, who do a selection of sfx products including liquid bloods and wound fillers.

With this effect I used both liquid and thick bloods in dark.

 

 

 As you can see below, the colour is fantastic for dark venous blood. The top swatch is the liquid blood which you can see is a little more watery in consistency with a slightly more transparency and runs very easily. The next sample is the thick blood which is a lot more dense in colour as well as being more stable and doesn't run quiet as easily as the liquid.

 

The next product that I used, also from Bloody Marvellous, is the wound fillers. The first one is scratch blood and then congealed blood. I love these wound fillers so much as they are really realistic and easy to apply...except the scratch blood which is a little more jelly like making positioning a little more work but totally worth the extra work.

 

 

As you can see from the swatches, that scratch blood, which is the orangey colour is very sticky and gel like in consistency. The congealed blood is far more solid and adds fantastic depth in colour and texture.

 

 

Altogether you get a fantastic realistic effect. The colours and texture work really well to create that lovely gory ripped skin effect.

 

 

 

 

Am happy with the piece and can't wait to try more effects using a similar techniques.

 

Don't forget to subscribe to my other channels and social network sites for more images and up to date posts about what am up to:

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ruth.E.Moulden.MUA

Instagram: Instagram: @ruthemouldenmua

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/RuthMouldenMUA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RM_Makeup

 

Bye for now lovelies!

Walking Dead Style Zombie Prosthetic

Hi Guys,

Its been a while hasn't it...lately I just seem to be all over the place and I will admit, I have been neglecting my blogs and YouTube and all of that lovely social goodness that keeps me connected to you guys.
Today's blog is all about a new prosthetic piece that I've created, using some of my new toys which I will be writing a review on all of them individually in more detail.
I've also been toying with the idea of doing some hair blogs/videos as I have had a few people comment about wanting to learn how I do my hair so that's something to look forward to!

So on with the zombie goodness!

As usually I start off with my clay and my Ken Banks tools. For this sculpt I used my new Monster Clay which I got from +PS Composites Ltd when I went to +United Makeup Artist Expo this year.

The clay has consistency similar to that of hard plasticine but was easier to sculpt then my other clays and I found myself able to add a lot more detail into this sculpt then any other prosthetic piece I have done before. Definite thumbs up for this clay!

With this Zombie, I was looking at working on my skills in adding texture to the skin as well as taking a more walking dead style vibe. As you can see I was testing out moulding the teeth rather then putting in my resin teeth. I didn't like it. I think it was the shape of the mouth that just didn't sit well anatomically...felt a bit cheesy B Movie zombie rather then Walking Dead Zombie.

The first initial sculpt went well but when I sat back and took another look the next day, I decide that there were certain aspect that didn't work (such as the mouth as mentioned before.)

So keeping with the first sculpt as the "base" I built up. Am always telling my students that test runs and taking time to perfect a character is a must; that time you take to really sit back and study what you just create will enable to you self assess. Self assessing is always good because it means your taking ownership of your work and building your skills based on you instinct of what works and work you see as needing practice or reshaping or whatever.

 

This is the "rebuild" sculpt. As you can see there are plenty of changes from the original.

The mouth is a little more atomically correct with a better shape for the face, I feel anyways. I had to keep referring back to medical books for the shape and placement of the teeth.

 

More texture was added to the skin with deeper wrinkles and lines to add a bit more of a rotted, aged zombie look. This zombie was not fresh!!

I really went deep with some of those lines as I wanted to make sure there was enough detail to work with on the final piece.
The eye bags were a little difficult for me as I tried to sculpt them stronger and then they went too strong and then they disappeared sooooo this is what I finally ended up with.

In the next blog I will be focusing on the colouring of the piece, for some weird reason I forgot to take a photo of the piece after I casted but as you can see from the below setup...it came out pretty well. The plaster am using at the moment is a bit rubbish but it still didn't ruin any of the detail work I laid down.

Please stay tuned for the next blog, as you can see I will also be reviewing the Sigma FX brush set and Skin Illustrator palettes, pictured above with my prosthetic.

Bye for now Lovelies!

xRx