MAKE-UP DIPLOMA WORK (1994)

It was around 1994, I'd finished my time at Art College and completed my BTEC Diploma. Most students would then go on to do a HND, or a BA (Bachelor of Arts) or an MA (Master of Arts). I didn't, because I couldn't really find a place that catered to what I wanted to make. I did go to a few interviews at other Art Colleges, but once I began talking about the types of things I was interested in making and showed them my sculptures, they were not interested in offering me a place there. My stuff just didn't fit. I did find a Private College that actually taught special effects make-up. I went for an interview and was offered a place, but because it was a 'private college' I couldn't get the costs covered by the government grant scheme. So it was a no go. I did however find a course on theatrical make-up at a local college, so I enrolled there. It was one class per week, but unfortunately it catered more towards 'beauty' make-up and not character make-ups. I did get to do a couple of fun things whilst I was there though. 

These were make-ups done for a training day for the local Fire Brigade. They asked the college if any of the make-up students would make up some burn victims for them. No one else was interested but I jumped at the chance. It got some coverage in the local newspaper too.

 

COLLEGE WORK. (Early to mid 1990's)

Below are some of the sculptures that I did whilst at Art College.

I spent a few years at Art College. I think it was from 1991 to 1994, or 1995. How I ended up there was purely by chance. I was in my last year at secondary school. I knew in my heart that I wanted to do something creative after leaving school, but I had no idea on how to realise that. My parents couldn't help me with this as I think that they just couldn't understand why I was so interested in horror/monster films and weird stuff. It was all completely alien to them. My dad wanted me to go into the building trade as he said "There'll always be work for brick-layers, joiners, plumbers and electricians." He was right. People in those jobs earn a lot these days. If I'd taken his advice, the odds are I would now be in a much better position financially. But my heart wanted art. Sorry, I know that sounds cheesey. 

My teachers at school were, for the most part, no help at all. With the exception of one teacher, none of them really cared about anything. Most of them seemed to actively hate children and were pretty abusive towards them: physically, mentally, and verbally. The one good teacher was my CDT (craft, design, technology) or woodwork class teacher. For my GCSE I made a weight-lifting bench, with leg extensions, and an extra frame on the back for doing squats. I designed it and welded it all together and it turned out pretty good. Because of that, he suggested me to a local company for an apprenticeship as a Toolsmith or Tool-Maker. It paid a lot. But I turned it down because by then I'd set my heart on going to the local College of Art. This came about from a visit to my school by a careers guidance officer from the local council, and she actually took the time to ask me about what I was interested in. What would be my dream job? When I told her what I loved, she then showed me a brochure for the Art College showcasing the Theatre Crafts course. On this course they made things that were really appealing to me. So that was where I wanted to go. My art teacher at school laughed at me when I said this. My parents were pretty unhappy that I'd turned down the toolsmith job. My dad especially. And his brothers. They thought Art College was a place for hippies and freaks and that I should get a proper job. In my town, at that time, if you dressed a little differently, had weird interests, and grew your hair long, then you were a target. When I was eighteen I got severely beaten-up and was in hospital, just because I was 'one of those freaks'. One of my eyes was hurt so bad, I thought I was going to be blind in it.

However, for the most part, I enjoyed my time there. Plus it's worth mentioning that back then, going to college was free. And if your family were classed as having a low income, which mine were, you were even given free money in the form of a 'grant' to buy materials with. Not like now were kids leave college saddled with huge amounts of debt which they're unlikely to ever pay off. Debt that can also be sold off to someone else. Cheers millionaire politicians!!

Below is a sculpture that I did for a prehistoric fish, again whilst still at college. I made a plaster mould of this, but never got around to reproducing one from it. To be honest, the joins on the mould were pretty messy. I was helped making the mould from a guy who worked part-time at the art college teaching the 3D students. He ran his own company making displays for museums. When he got a contract for a dinosaur exhibition, he offered me some paid work sculpting. However, it only lasted two weeks, once he realised that he could get other students to work for free and class it as work experience through the college. Some time after he'd fired me, he contacted me again to ask if he could borrow my mould for the prehistoric fish as he wanted to make one for the exhibit. I said that I would make him one, for a price. He wasn't happy with that and refused.

This last one is the only photo that I have of this piece as it had a very unfortunate accident before I completed it. I wanted to sculpt some sort of gill-man, so came up with this. I thought of it as some kind of soldier, so gave it armour plates over its head, like a helmet.

And then there's this.

RED SKIN MAKE-UP (1992/93)

I'm jumping forward a little here, though not too far. By the time I worked on this make-up, I'd been studying at Art College for maybe a year or so. There's a bit of a story around that. I'm not sure it's worth telling here, but it was one of those key moments in my life.

Anyway, so, I was at Art College. A comic book shop had opened in town. I found out about it from one of the other students in my class. So I started buying my horror movie magazines etc from there, though I did still go through to the one at Middlesbrough as they often had old back issues that I would pick up. At my local comic shop, I got chatting with a guy there, told him what I was interested in, and he said he had a friend who was into all the same things and that I should meet him. So I did. This was John. Meeting John was another one of those key moments because it lead to so many other things, and new friends. John and I  became fast friends. He gave me some much needed advice on sculpting and moulding. Told me where I could buy latex and moulding plaster from, there was actually a place locally! What I learned from him was invaluable. We're still very good friends to this day, all these decades later.

This make-up was done by John and myself, possibly during 1992 or 1993. Somehow, though it was so long ago I can't remember, the local newspaper found out about John and I and the odd things we made, so they asked if we could do something quick for them and this was the result. Again it was done using the build-up technique with latex and cotton wool, then painted with grease paint make-up. We had a small piece on us featured in the paper along with a photo of this. I had kept a copy of the news paper with this in for many years as I'm something of a hoarder. But sadly, though I'm not sure how, it has since been lost. I should look to see if I can get a replacement from the paper's archives...

GREEN ARM MAKE-UP (1990 ish)

 

These are my very first attempts at some make-up FX.

I had no idea what I was doing really. I think I'd read in a magazine that you could do make-up FX with latex and cotton wool. I just covered my arm with the stuff, dried it with a hair-dryer, and then painted it with some grease paint make-up.

 

I can't remember exactly, but I'd say this was done at around 1990. I was maybe 15 or 16 years old. Back then, it was pretty much impossible for me to find out how to do make-up FX. I would buy Fangoria magazine, and Gorezone, and look at pictures of make-ups being applied, photos of them being sculpted and moulded, but it was still hard for me to fully understand how it was all done. I had no idea where you could buy any of these materials such as clay, latex, grease-paint, moulding plaster, in the UK.

By chance, when I was in Middlesbrough making my monthly visit to a comic book shop there, I walked past a shop called Backstage, which sold costumes etc for kids that were learning dancing. In the window they had a small selection of theatrical make-up. So I went in and asked if they could get me some grease paint make-ups etc. They could! and gave me a small catalogue for a little supplier that they used. I was finally able to get my hands on some proper make-up and even small bottles of latex. So that finally got me started.