Latex work

During my lesson today I began working with latex for the first time, this experience was quite new to me as I was unaware that latex could be used along with cosmetics which is generally portrayed throughout the horror genre along with heavy CGI in some cases. A prime example of what I mean by cosmetics is looking at the very disturbing image of the Linda Blair in the exorcist. Within the era

that this film was distributed and even today this image is still very stressful upon the eyes when analyzing the in-depth level of detail that went into constructing the face of Linda. 

Looking at BTS (Behind The Scenes ) clips from the major industries of film production I came across different techniques and skills that they used when constructing. However before that I decided on which location I wanted to construct a gash or wound. Finally deciding on my arm, I started off by applying one layer of latex across my forearm. However when applying a base onto an arm it is necessary to wait for it to solidify into a thin layer. In order for this to happen I used a hair dryer to apply hot air onto my fore arm speeding up the solidification process. Once this process had been completed I then applied several other layers on top of it to get a decent mold on my skin. After I placed ripped up pieces of paper on top of the base layers and then applied several more layers of latex on to them so that it would be firmly applied onto my forearm.

Once I had a decent level of ripped tissue underneath the mold I had created I proceeded to slice down the middle of the mold to create a parting in the middle and convey a wound like appearance. 

Next I began applying make up into the layer of tissue that I created using different colours and textures that accompanied my skin colour. By using different levels of green and yellow I was able to allow a depiction that resembles dead skin that looks contaminated and contagious as you can see on the right.  Then I began applying different levels of red and black within the gash that I constructed to show levels of how deep the wound actually went, which really allowed my work to shine when I began playing around with the lighting within the set that we had.  However what  I discovered was that even with the extent of  makeup that I added into the mold it was only centered in on the main focal points of the gash. So what I did to allow a better visual construction to be conveyed was that I began dipping  a sponge into the dark purple section of the colour palette and applying it to the inverse areas of my forearm to show different levels of bruising.

Once this was all accomplished I applied one last layer of latex upon my forearm in order to convey a level sheen onto the gash wound that I constructed. Along with that as a precaution I created a mini-sleeve near my wrist as is visible on the image in order to for me to be able to pull of the latex without a huge issue of it clinging to my skin despite the pain of detaching and reapplying the latex. Using the Latex was fun as it was a new experience to me and the rest of my peers as it enabled me to understand to some degree the level of thought put behind every aspect of constructing a horror/slasher wound.
Below are two more images that I have taken reapplying the lighting into different locations and angles to try and show the extent of damage that I have potentially taken.