Am I old yet?

So today was the start of something new. Something I had never done before. I made someone old!! Well not all of them, just a little part of the face. So for this project we had to pick a character from a book we read over Christmas and seeing as a lot of the books had a slightly darker tone to it, we are starting to learn small amounts of special effects. The first of which is Old Age Stippling. So the things that we will be using today are:

• Barrier Foam
• Latex
• Old Age Stipple
• Acetone
• Hair dryer
• Sponges
• Cotton Swab

Now there are a few safety things which you have to go through before you start. First off, ask if your model knows if they are allergic to latex and if they aren't just place a small dab on the inside of their wrist just to double check. If they react, peel off the latex and don't use it on them, however if they don't react you know that it is safe to use. Now latex can be used all over the body, however be cautious of the slightly hairier areas as peeling it off can hurt!! Latex can be used on the face and neck, but make sure eyes are shut when working on the face just to make sure nothing accidentally gets in them. 

• So to start off by placing a small amount of barrier foam onto your models face around the temple area. Barrier foam is kind of what the name says. It makes a thin barrier between the face and latex so that it can help people with sensitive skin. It can be used for minor prosthetics.
• Place a small amount of latex into a pot and then using a sponge dab it on to the area where you placed the barrier foam. While dabbing the latex on, lightly stretch the area of skin you are working on as when you let go the latex will create the wrinkles.
• You then get the hair dryer, and after testing the heat on yourself, use it to dry the latex. You need to wait till the latex has fully gone clear as that is when you know it is dry. Keep the area of the skin stretched when drying.
• Once dry, repeat the process so that you can build up layers.
• because you are building up layers you end up creating an edge between the latex and the skin. There are two ways you can get rid of this. When dabbing on the skin, make sure you haven't got a whole load of latex on your sponge and thin it out as you're dabbing around the edges. The other thing you can do is using a cotton swab and some acetone dab around the edges and it will thin out the edges as well. 
• Once you've got the layers all built up, you place a small amount of the translucent powder. This allows you to start adding colours to create the correct shade on the face and help making the model to look old. Colours, eye shadows and powders can be added to the latex to change the shade however this is slightly harder. You will need to get the model to change up their facial expressions so that you can see where the lines would be when they get slightly older.
• The last thing that we did was to use Old Age Stipple. It's basically like latex however it is thicker and slightly tinted. Like the latex, use the barrier foam before hand and then dab it on. We placed it on the hand to help see the different shades. Unfortunately I ran out of time to practice on my partner so I was unable to get a go using it. 

Unfortunately it's hard to see in the image, but I placed the latex to the side and slightly under the eyes. This was only two layers of latex and you can already see the slight wrinkles that the latex has created. Overall I really enjoyed doing this lesson as I found it incredibly fun, however I don't think that I will end up using this particular effect as I don't think that it will fit in with the character that I have chosen.

Dracula

Dracula

So along with reading Dorian Gray, I decided to try and read Dracula as well. Just like Dorian Gray, I have never seen or read anything to do with Dracula so it is completely new to me. Dracula was written by Bram Stoker in 1897. So like Dorian Gray, the wording isn't that modern making it incredibly hard to read. Also the book is done in diary entries, telegrams and newspaper clippings meaning I can get very confused as to who is talking as there are many characters.

At the time of writing this I am only half way through the book and I am really enjoying the book, and I have decided to base my character around Lucy Westenra. From the description that Stoker has given of Miss. Westenra is that she has an angelic look, with pale skin, and long blonde curls. Admired by many men but held down by a Lord Arthur Holmwood. I chose to pick Lucy as she starts of as human but eventually turns into something from the supernatural. Lucy starts to sleepwalk which at the moment I believe to be the work of Count Dracula and eventually she is able to get out of the house and is 'bitten' by the count but she is unaware of it. over the course of the next few weeks, she becomes incredibly ill and with the attempted help of John Seward and Van Helsing tries to get better. She becomes gaunt and incredibly pale and the only thing that seems to be able to help her is blood transfusions and strategically placed garlic..... Eventually she 'passes' and when the time comes for her to be buried she has disappeared. Coincidently a series of disappearances occur due to a 'woman in black'. 

What I like about Lucy is that fact that she is seen to be a gentle being and very serene and she has suddenly changed into something that is on the other end of the spectrum.

That is as far as I have read so unfortunately I have only got a brief idea as to what I would like to do for my character. Hopefully once I have finished the book and see the fate of Lucy I will be able to get a better idea as to what designs I can do.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Over the Christmas holidays we were give the task to read a book. Not any book though. We were given a list that we could choose and there were a few that stood out. One which was 'Dorian Gray'. Now I know that there have been a few films made about it, but I had never seen one and I wasn't really sure what it was actually about. 

Dorian Gray was written by Oscar Wilde in 1891 and the little section on the back of the book that explains briefly what it's about reads:

'Upon seeing his own striking portrait, Dorian Gray is bewitched and offers his soul if only the painting will age while he remains eternally youthful. Believing himself incorruptible, Dorian indulges in a life of pleasure and excess. But what has become of his portrait?'

Now after reading this, I was quite intrigued and I felt quite pumped to start reading. I normally enjoy reading anyway as it is a bit of a hobby, so I felt that when it came to this book it would just be a walk in a park. What I didn't think about was that the language would be so different. However seeing as it was written over a century ago it is very different. I found this book incredibly difficult to read and it took me a long time as I didn't want to pick up the book because I knew I wouldn't always understand what was going on. I had to re-read paragraphs so that I could get a better understanding as to what was being said, and even then I still struggled. I also found that it took a while for the the book to really 'get going'. I found that I didn't really enjoy the beginning as at first I felt that it didn't really have much to do with what I originally thought the book was about. However towards the end I really started to enjoy the book (well the parts that I understood) and I started to realise how everything fit together.

So Dorian Gray is meant to be a young, naive teen with an ethereal look that appealed to both men and women. This is what originally caught the eye of notorious painter Basil Hallward and made him question what beauty really is. This then lead to the meeting of Dorian Gray and Lord Henry Wotton, who would soon become a philosophical yet dangerous and influential person in Dorian's life. Wotton is the character that manages to convince Gray that Beauty only matters when one is young, and that when you get old beauty leaves you along with other signs of happiness. After seeing a portrait of himself done by Hallward, Gray realises the extent of his beauty and in an impulsive moment sells his soul so that he could stay young at that the painting would age. At the time Gray though nothing of the comment, it is only later on in the book that he realises what he has done. 

Pretty early on in the book, Gray announces that he is in love with a small time actress called Sibyl Vane. However Gray was in love with the thought of being in love and the idea of the art that Vane creates through her acting. However after finally introducing himself, Vane feels as though her love for acting is nothing compared to her love for Dorian and so when he next goes to see her with Wotton and Hallward she acts horrendously causing major embarrassment for Gray. After being told that Sibyl had  acted badly on purpose due to the fact that Dorian was more important to her, Gray reacted with saying the she had 'Killed his love' for her. Immediately he got rid of her and went back to his town house in a state of fury. After calming down, he realised his mistake and wrote a letter to Sibyl apologising for the way he acted and asked for her forgiveness however it was too late. Vane had committed suicide by taking a large amount of pills due to the heartbreak that Gray had caused. This was what started the change in the portrait. After noticing a slight in expression on the painting, an almost cruel undertone, Gray realised the severity of the problem and had the painting removed from the sitting room to his old school room at the top of the house.

What Dorian wasn't planning on was letting the painting take up a huge part of his life. Gray started collecting objects and learning new things as well as throwing the most extravagant parties throughout his years, however he became so paranoid that someone would find the painting that he couldn't bear to be away from it for too long. He would sit up in the old school room day after day watching the painting change as he learns new things. Throughout his life, Wotton is by him every step of the way, placing new thoughts and ideas into Gray's head, however one day Basil Hallward shows up and tells Gray that he is far from the boy that he originally met and that he hasn't changed for the good. This leads to the first viewing of the portrait from an 'outsider' as Dorian shows Basil the monstrosity that has become of the painting. After realising how bad Dorian has got, Basil exclaimed that Gray could get help however due to the fact that Dorian is so engrossed in the fact that he will forever stay young he refuses and in a fit of rage kills Hallward. This is what starts a downward spiral for Gray. Another thing that doesn't help Gray's state of mind is bumping into Sibyl Vane's brother and having him try to kill Gray for 'killing' Sibyl. The guilt from Sibyl and killing Hallward presses down on Gray and eventually he realises the extent of how he has been acting and goes up to destroy the painting and in turn killing himself along with it.

Now I got very confused reading this and I felt the need to watch a film to see if I could get a better understanding. I first watched the 2009 remake. Point blank I didn't like the film. I found that at first yes it related to the book and it helped me figure out the personalities of the characters better but towards the end it just went off and did not relate to the book at all. I also found that the characters didn't really fit the descriptions that the book described them. I tried to see if I could find another version to see if I preferred that one. I found one made in 1973 which I actually really enjoyed. It had all the original wording so I was able to get an even better understanding as I was able to understand what was meant to be said. I found that this film also really related to the book and it followed the storyline really well.