Latex mask painted and small write up.

Mr Mold Maker

Master Member
Hey folks. Painted this up recently and thought I'd make a thread since not a whole lot is happening in this area of the forum.

It is a sculpt by Francisco Charlie Hernandez and painted by myself. This was my first time doing fleshtones in a little while. I have been stuck doing resin helmets and props for so long that I needed a break, so I just kind of painted it off the dome between projects.

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They are a bit out of order but hopefully you can piece it together. I started with the raw latex, basing it in prosaide with a drop of green mixed in. I then started airbrushing reds, purples, and browns. From there, I did a few passes of spatter and mottling, veining, freckling, and then I added the stupid tattoos. I had to then go over and give the illusion that the ink was under the skin. I'm not happy with the eyes, but I don't know what I want to change them to. I am also kind of so-so on the tattoo design and execution. I think I would have preferred to leave it flesh tone and incorporate a creature pattern into the back heading towards the face. Who knows, I may still repaint it yet.

If anyone has had any questions about the how's or why's feel free to ask. Any critiques are always welcome too.
 
Dude, I love your tutorials. The reason I came onto this forum originally was for creature effects stuff. Awesome paint job. Did you use illustrator inks, PAX or what? Looks great to me though.
 
Great work.:thumbsup Is this based off of anyone?
Not based off of anyone, but it does look a bit like an Alien Mike Tyson.

Dude, I love your tutorials. The reason I came onto this forum originally was for creature effects stuff. Awesome paint job. Did you use illustrator inks, PAX or what? Looks great to me though.

Thanks! Just a guy having fun, glad you enjoy my stuff.

It was based with prosaide and then the rest was Tim Gore's Bloodline acrylics. A little airbrushing for the reds, purples, blues, and greens, and then super thinned out with alcohol and flicked on with a tooth brush. The black was FW acrylic inks, and the silver was Alumaluster. :)
 
Very well done. Ha! Damn alumaluster! I didnt know Tim Gore had a line of acrylics. Dont acrylics chip and crack though? Then again if you layered on the prosaide I suppose that would prevent that. Looks great though man.
 

The thing I love about Tim Gore's Bloodline is you don't have to tone it down like you do with FW inks. I hardly ever have to mix colors or tone down anything, they come ready to go right out of the bottles. Acrylic if layed on too thick will crack, you're absolutely right!
Where most of this was so thin, it's not an issue. It's more staining the surface than painting.
The black, and I forgot to mention this.. shows how good I am at the write up stuff.. was mixed with a little Flex Gloss from Monster Makers to stay flexible.
It was all sealed with Flex Gloss, and then toned down with a little here and here with Liquitex Matte Medium.

I have another blank coming from the very talented Francisco Hernandez and I'll try to take photos along the way there too. :)


Today was mostly a little bit of practice on a speed shape.. which if you don't have any, I absolutely recommend! The curves are nice to have instead of painting a flat surface, and they're dirt cheap.. Inspired by yesterday's Alien Day!
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I don't much experiment with make-up stuff as much as I used to when I realized I reached my limit...and it's what your thread is about: paint. I'm not a great sculptor to begin with and I'm an even worse painter. Realistic, or even just believable, flesh tones and veining, flecking; all that stuff just goes over my head. Heck, just using an air-brush requires a finesse my hands are unwilling to learn.
 
I'm a sucker for a good skin tone paint job, and you sir have done an amazing job.

Having done a single 1:1 bust with a realistic skin tone, I certainly understand how freaking difficult it is to make something look as good as you have here. Very inspiring.

Question--I always struggle with what "sheen" to finish out my pieces. Usually with monsters/aliens it boils down to personal preference, but most of the skin tone masks/busts I see are either too shiny or too flat. Can you elaborate a bit on your final sealing process that you used to get such a great finish?

Thanks.
 
I don't much experiment with make-up stuff as much as I used to when I realized I reached my limit...and it's what your thread is about: paint. I'm not a great sculptor to begin with and I'm an even worse painter. Realistic, or even just believable, flesh tones and veining, flecking; all that stuff just goes over my head. Heck, just using an air-brush requires a finesse my hands are unwilling to learn.
Just keep at it man! If I showed you one of my flesh tone paint jobs from 2015 you'd laugh me off the forum, it was so bad.
There is always room to improve and there is a lot I still need to work on. If I can practice everyday so can you. :)

That's a beautiful, translucent looking skin tone on there. Very nicely done!

Wow! Thank you so much Tom! I love the work that you and your studio do. I appreciate you taking the time to comment! If you ever need a painter I'm very available and willing to learn! :)

I'm a sucker for a good skin tone paint job, and you sir have done an amazing job.

Having done a single 1:1 bust with a realistic skin tone, I certainly understand how freaking difficult it is to make something look as good as you have here. Very inspiring.

Question--I always struggle with what "sheen" to finish out my pieces. Usually with monsters/aliens it boils down to personal preference, but most of the skin tone masks/busts I see are either too shiny or too flat. Can you elaborate a bit on your final sealing process that you used to get such a great finish?

Thanks.


Thank you, I appreciate the kind words. To be honest, I don't think I've got the sheen down completely myself. My stuff does tend towards the shiny side.

What I'll do is seal the whole piece with Flex Gloss and then while it's still wet, I will lightly mist on Liquitex Matte Medium in select areas. I basically try to avoid the brow, nose, lips, and eyes. The rest gets a light misting with the matte medium and it dries to a more satin finish. It takes a little practice to get the timing and amount down, but I really hope this helps!
 
Superb work, the mottling is outstanding.

It really looks more like silicone, not an easy feat with latex.

In terms of the eyes (not that you need any suggestions from me), maybe a dark wash on the lower lid would eliminate the hard transition and tie it in. As a static figure painter, a gloss coat on eyes goes a long way to differentiate surfaces.

How does Prosaide hold up over time? It's been a long time since I've been in the game and it was basically the new glue on the block back then as opposed to SM 355, never tried it as a base.
 
Wow! Thank you so much Tom! I love the work that you and your studio do. I appreciate you taking the time to comment! If you ever need a painter I'm very available and willing to learn! :)

Very kind of you... I have a great team so I'll give them most of the credit :)

Appreciate the offer regarding availability, and I'll give you a follow on Instagram to keep up with what you're doing.

Oh and as for the eyes on this one, I agree with the above about a black (or maybe red-brown) wash on the lower lids. I'd go a step further and say what about adding a touch of translucent pearl metallic electric blue or purple around the sides of each eye (where you'd have pink haze or veining on a human eye) to give them a touch more interest? May look cool like when metals get tarnished around an engine and get that blue/purple tone. Then some high gloss liquitex in 3-4 layers would give you a nice finish. Just what came to mine looking at him.

keep up the good work... best, Tom
 
In terms of the eyes (not that you need any suggestions from me), maybe a dark wash on the lower lid would eliminate the hard transition and tie it in. As a static figure painter, a gloss coat on eyes goes a long way to differentiate surfaces.

How does Prosaide hold up over time? It's been a long time since I've been in the game and it was basically the new glue on the block back then as opposed to SM 355, never tried it as a base.

Thank you. That is a huge compliment!

I am always open to suggestions and critiques. I think you're absolutely right. Once I've got the eyeballs sorted I'll definitely give the lower lids a wash.
I usually do epoxy the eyes and sometimes the lips, but where I was unsure of the design I wanted to push it off until I was happy.
As for your prosaide question, to be perfectly honest I'm not sure! I have masks that are 4-5 years old that were painted with Prosaide and they're going strong. I'm sure the bond is a little less vigorous than RCP, but hopefully it'll last as long or longer. Never used the old 355.


Hope this helps!
 
Very kind of you... I have a great team so I'll give them most of the credit :)

Appreciate the offer regarding availability, and I'll give you a follow on Instagram to keep up with what you're doing.

Oh and as for the eyes on this one, I agree with the above about a black (or maybe red-brown) wash on the lower lids. I'd go a step further and say what about adding a touch of translucent pearl metallic electric blue or purple around the sides of each eye (where you'd have pink haze or veining on a human eye) to give them a touch more interest? May look cool like when metals get tarnished around an engine and get that blue/purple tone. Then some high gloss liquitex in 3-4 layers would give you a nice finish. Just what came to mine looking at him.

keep up the good work... best, Tom

Thank you so much! You are also on my Facebook I believe. Jack Rupert. :) A few customer commissions going on, but my next big thing is a Black heart Alien Model. I hope to try some new things. Keep an eye out if you like!

That does sound like an absolutely fantastic idea for the eyes. I was also thinking of doing some veining and layering on those side areas of the eyeballs with whites and yellows, and then doing some metallic or candy tones.
I usually use Epoxy. Do you prefer the Liquitex method?
 
Sounds like a neat approach. I tend to prefer anything over epoxy. It does look good but always seems to yellow over time, especially in prolonged contact with aging latex. The acrylic high gloss is great, but you have to lay on a few good layers to get a really good "eye" level shine.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Tom
 
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