Jun 1, 20225 min read

The Final Assessment

Hi there and welcome back to my blog.

We made it - the final assessment had finally been done!

This blog post is going to be a reflection on the process of the final assessment and also a reflection on the overall final images. Enjoy!

Figure 1: Timelapse of Section 1 of Assessment (O'Connor, 2022).

Figure 1 is a timelapse of the first section of the assessment: hair wrapping, applying a bald cap, blocking out the eyebrows and the start of application of pieces.

A bald cap was being done for the assessment, so the model's hair needed to be hidden and flattened to the skull in order to fit underneath this. Huaixiang (2012) says to wrap the model's hair just using gel and starting at the crown and spiralling the hair in opposite directions and wrapping it around the head the further down you get. This method is very similar but also quite different to the one used. The hair on the crown of the head was gathered and tied in a ponytail. A wig cap (with the tip cut off) was then put on over the top of this ponytail and was clipped down. The hair was then taken out of the ponytail and was played with until it was flat to the head in the wig cap, which then got taped shut when the shape was right. Then after this, the hair was gelled backwards, with each side crossing over, making sure that the clips were covered and everything was smooth. Next time a hair wrap needs to be done, Huaixiang's method will be done to see if it is easier to get the hair flat to the skull as that it something that was found quite difficult when trying to put the hair in the wig cap flat.

A glatzan bald cap was applied with Pros 'aide and was melted away and blended using acetone. Bald cap application is a strength and there is confidence when applying them: getting them smooth to the skin, with no visible edges and no wrinkles in the back of the head.

Figures 2, 3 & 4: Bald Cap Application (O'Connor, 2022).

The nose pieces was the first piece to be stuck on, this was because all of the other pieces fit underneath this where the sculpt got cut, so having the nose in place meant everything could be applied around it. This was the first attempt at applying a full prosthetic piece - flat moulds have been applied before, not squash mould pieces. It was a very fiddly process and because the cap plastic was thin and webbed, there was not much that could be blended away. The piece was applied slightly wonky, which could have been avoided if more time was spent placing the piece on before to see where it was going to lay. Panic and stress took over, which resulted in a wonky application, however, it was not too noticeable and could get away with this.

Figure 3: Timelapse of Application of Pieces (O'Connor, 2022).

Figure 3 shows the timelapse of the rest of the pieces being applied. The forehead piece also went on a little bit wonky, but this one not as noticeable. Because the pieces were so thin, flimsy and delicate this made it much more difficult to apply the pieces. Also, cap plastic kept tearing and sticking together because that was also extremely thin - even with 6 airbrush layers. Nonetheless, the edges blended very nicely because of the extremely thin cap plastic.

The flat moulds were slightly easier to apply because the cap plastic was a bit thicker on them since it was hand painted on. The cheeks went on nicely, however, one side was stuck on too far to the outside of the face because the part that should have been tucked under the nose piece could be seen. The chin piece did not work out. Both pre prepared pieces ended up sticking together just as they were about to be applied, and because the pieces were so thin they would not peel apart. To improvise, the spare cheek pieces were used and stuck onto the chin and lips.

Figures 4, 5 & 6: Prosthetic Pieces Applied (O'Connor, 2022).

Figures 4 - 6 show the final application of prosthetic pieces before colouring.

Figure 7: Timelapse of Colouring and Texturising (O'Connor, 2022).

Figure 7 shows the timelapse of the colouring process. An airbrush was used to create a smooth grey colour to the face, chest, neck and head. A similar technique was used here, that was done for the theatrical and own briefs in the advanced makeup module, where the chest and neck were shaded and highlighted to add depth. White paint was splattered to make highlights against the dark grey base colour. The wrinkles got a bit lost in this base colour, so neutral eyeshadows were used to highlight on top of the wrinkles and add a more brown coloured shadow underneath the wrinkles, this helped make the wrinkles stand out more and stand out in photographs.

The horns were coloured using a Skin Illustrator palette, the horns were done with a yellow-beige colour and brown around the base of the horns to make them look like they were coming out of the skin. The brown was taken up the horn, which gave it an old look to it which is the effect needed.

Fuller's Earth was used to make the dry and crusted texture that rhinos have. This was explored and trialled previously so this went on quickly and with confidence. This was put over the chest and neck and on to the bald cap, but avoided the face because covering up the prosthetics is not what was wanted. The Fuller's Earth was coloured and then applied on top of the pre coloured base. When the clay cracked, the darker grey came through from underneath and gave lots of depth. Brown coloured aqua paints were applied on top of the clay to give the effect of mud. For the costume, a black leather jacket was worn, because this is most commonly associated with rhinos and with the thought that rhinos are thick skinned, a leather jacket just seemed appropriate for this. Below in Figures 7 - 12 are the final images for the prosthetic module. The black backdrop has worked really well in emphasising the highlights and lighter colours in the overall image. The overall look is impressive and shocking that the skills gained across the year were able to produce an effective set of final images like this.