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I used images of the Russian prisoners in the documentaries I had watched as they all had very unhealthy looking skin. From scars, uneven skin tones, wrinkles and dark circles under the eyes. This then led me to look at before and after photos of skin treatments to see the difference in a healthy looking skin and an unhealthy looking skin. This woman has had a photo facial which treats:• Broken capillaries• Skin discolouration• Age spots• Hyper – pigmentation• Birthmarks• Mild acne scars• Sun damaged skin• Uneven complexions• Dark circles around the eyes• Dull skin. All of which I am will try to replicate in my makeup.

Jablonski, N. G. (2008) Skin: A natural history. 1st edn. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

SCARRING

  • What are scars? Formation of collagen laid down in the wound as part of the healing process. 

  • small pits and dents can be created by acne, pimples and skin infections such as chicken pox

  • an overgrowth of collagen can result in an abnormally prominent scar

  • collagen can overgrow the boundaries of the original wound and scar tissue continues to form, piling up thick, hard, and unsightly accumulations of collagen fiber resulting in a raised scar and sometimes a keloid scar

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  • most scares are flat and pale 

  • as wounds heal they go through a healing process, the initial redness that follows a skin injury is not a scar it takes days or weeks for the redness to go away

I wanted to practise the scars in the sculpt gel as I have seen how effective it can be during my research. I practisd pigmented it with silicone pigments which was more difficult than I imagined as it only needs very small amount of pigment, I often added too much which made it look too opaque. I added yellow and red flock to resemble a natural skin tone. 

This turned out to be unsuccessful as the sculpt gel did not cure. I used equal parts of A&B&C but found the silicone was still very tacky which was difficult to paint. I practised matting down the shine with the matting spray seen in the photo above. I had to remove the scult gel after leaving it for around 30minutes as it was not setting. 

 

I also practised breaking up the skin tone with dark spots and redness around the nose and eyes. The look was very subtle but you can see the difference from the left side of the photo to the right. I used skin illustrator to build up the dark spots and mottled skin effect which worked really well. If the colour was too subtle and translucent I could build on it, if the colour became too much I could take away with some alcohol.

PROBLEMS FACED

I practised this again and the second time around the silicone had set. I must have used an incorrect ratio before hand. With sculpt gel it is measured by eye so you need to be careful with the measurements to get them exact as possible. I wanted the scar to look fresh and in mid healing to portray his constant aggresive behaviour. I painted red illustrator in the crease of where the knife had split his skin.  I was pleased with the overal result, but I do feel I need to practise my technique more to create a more realistic looking scar. For filming I feel a prosthetic would work better, and although I am filming for one day a prosthetic would work better for continuity and for time. If I used sculpt gel I would pre pigment A&B seperately to save time and follow my reference images of test makeups for the application. However, due to the fact of the sculpt gel not curing the first test I attempted it I did not want to risk this during my application on the day of shooting.   

SECOND ATTEMPT
REFERENCE IMAGES USED:

I practised the breaking down of the skin tones again (which isn't as obvious in the photo due to the flash) and darkened the circles around his eyes. I also tried to create a more gaunt look by shadowing in where his cheek bone is. I felt this would be more effective to create in a flat piece prosthetic. I am happy with the overall look of the skin tone, but I feel it could be made much more obvious. I also need to be aware of how much colour the film cameras will pick up.

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