Everyone please submit your bids to Christopher@stanwinstonschool.com, put "BID SHANNON SHEA BUSINESS OF MAKING MONSTERS" in the subject line so that you will be easy to spot and i will forward them to Shannon as i receive them.
That looks FANTASTIC Rob, Nancy, Michael! AND....I've heard of a job (not a film job) that might be an opportunity for you to make some money. I'll contact you.
wanted to post some new pics i took and my setup i improved on.
Also Shannon i wanted to ask some questions that came up -
Do you have any tips on promoting and finding teaching opportunities for specialized classes like these? I was set up to teach a mask making class at the college i went to but we only got a couple interested so it didn't go through. I am planning on talking to the organizer and maybe doing a video to pitch for her.
What are your thoughts on watermarks for images uploaded as far as size and placement goes? i have seen everything from large transparent ones covering up the image to small ones in the corner. Just wanted to know your view on this.
Also a technical question i have is what material would be best for making dummies for film? I am thinking about the renting out dummies and props options and would like to know the best material for creating them to withstand the abuse they take on film and needing to be cleaned.
heyyyyy Shannon, I sent the bid with the rest of the art to chris email. Here are some pieces for you to check out. I really dug deep and did as much as I could with the time I had, I gotta say this class has pushed me to work hard and up the level of my art and I can't thank you enough for that. Hope you enjoy!
Nancy & Co., I think the new site is really cool, but I had a couple thoughts, if you don't mind. I notice there's text above each of the images on your site when they go into the slide show view, but it looks to be just the file name right now. I wonder if you can edit that to say something about the content of each image. I would also double check the organization of the photos on each page and make sure the ones of the same thing are next to each other. Maybe you already thought of these since you're still working on it, but just thought I'd throw it out there.
Brian, I really like how the pictures turned out with that backdrop. I'm an admin of a Facebook group run by Neill Gorton (of Millenium FX in the UK) called Neill Gorton's Make-up FX 911 that you may find useful for technical questions in the future. I'm actually going to be posting a walkthough there of how I made my dummy as soon as the commercial it's in goes live.
Sketches submitted! And with 17 minutes to spare. I wish I'd had a bit more time to fine tune them. My husband helped with the concept art and it was hard to nail down time for both of us to work on this. All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I've submitted and I'm looking forward to Saturday's class.
I wanted to share that I've got a new camera! (Well, new to me.). I met with a woman who has a 5-minute film project that will require some fairly extensive makeup. I will be producing the film and doing the makeup in exchange for the camera. It's a Canon 5D Mark II with an awesome lens. I still need to get a flash and some other lenses, but I think this will help my portfolio greatly. I've been playing around with it and am starting to get the hang of all the settings and such. I bought some of the cheap shop lights today and built a small studio in my house for doing basic makeup applications and photo shoots.
Here are a couple of photos from a gig I had yesterday. For the record (and just between us), I'm not crazy about the director's design for the makeup, but I did as he requested. He supplied some really awful body paints and I did the application. I wish he'd had the budget for some better makeup, but you know how it goes. Anyway, I'm more concerned about the photos. I think I'll be in pretty good shape if I can keep posting this kind of photo quality to my portfolio. It really makes things look more professional, if I do say so myself.
Okay, first of all let me say thanks to all of you. I've been reviewing the bids and it did my old heart proud to see that you have really been paying attention and doing the work. I'll do the critiques on Saturday and I'm hoping to let my guest, David Sanger of New Deal Studios, review them as well. You are all awesome!
Shelly, the makeups look cool and in this case, I don't even mind the colorful backgrounds.
Hey Shelly this sounds pretty nitpicky but you will find it makes a huge difference in your portraits if you either whiten the eyes in photoshop or use clear eyes before the shoot.
Sorry Brian! I was looking at bids and neglected your questions, please accept my apology. However, let's get to them now:
1.) Teaching a specialized course is a great idea. The downside comes with figuring out student fees, otherwise you'll have to foot the bill for the supplies. The best idea is to be underwritten by a small community college if you can manage it. That way, they advertise the course in their catalog, you get paid, and at the same time have access to their facility. They pay for the supplies and set student fees. As far as advertising something like this, I say TARGET advertise. Who do you think would be interested in a course like this most??? I'd put up really nice fliers in COMIC BOOK stores, High Schools, College Art, Theater, and Film schools, and local coffee houses. BUT figure the smallest and largest amount of students you can accommodate prior to setting out. Does that help?
2.) Watermarks are a pain, right? You want people to see your work but you don't want them to rip you off. Here's my opinion. Watermark per the resolution of your photo. If you have a small image, with a low resolution (72 dbi) I would just have my name in the corner with a copyright and date (you know how to generate a copyright symbol in photoshop? if not google it, it is simple). Anything bigger than that I would start the translucent water mark right across the image. It isn't attractive, but it does prevent folks from just using it. Does that help?
3.) Dummies! No matter what, dummies are difficult because they just get abuse on set. The hands get it worse than the heads and the heads get hit quite a bit. At KNB our techs built armatures out of conduit and put a bolt at the shoulders that a chain cast in the head/neck could be attached and detached from. The dummies I'm now describing are meant to be clothed. Long sleeves and pants. Not dresses or naked. Latex and soft polyfoam heads and hands. Soft polyfoam bodies covered in a spandex body suit purchased from a danceware store (I bet you could find them online). Dummies like this are fairly durable for scenes where N/D (non descript) bodies have to be lying around. If the faces or hands will be seen, I'd go silicone with VERY little deadener in it. Make it as tough as possible for the heads and hands. At least that way they can be patched with caulking.
BRIAN! I forgot! Your studio lighting set up looks very cool! I should have John Ales comment in addition to what I have to say - I'll try to have him look at your set up.
Personally, the background you chose is a little distracting but I think that you should invest in a longer lens (a zoom lens) or take the image into Photoshop and blur the background to focus attention on the piece. Otherwise...WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT! Nice! Love it!
Rough mood board concept piece based on a scene in the script when flashlights are drawn down the ship's corridor. He's (or she) a mish mash of various marine life. I drew heavily from angler fish, those guys are nasty.
Okay, here is my sculpted Marquette work in progress. I'm still working out the main forms so holding off on secondary stuff and detail work in the meantime. The main bulk and mouth needs exaggerated more. I'd love to squeeze in 30 more crooked teeth between the tentacles. I need to imply longer flesh cutting tentacles inside his mouth. The main tongue is tricky, I'm thinking of wrapping the tongue around a human body to help emphasize scale through the Marquette. (it's in the script!) The main bulk needs broken up better, he's too cartoony for my liking... lots of work to do on this. The tentacles, eyes and teeth etc are place holders, they'll be pulled back out when I work back into him. All comments and criticism welcome!
Comments
Shannon
S
So far, everything is looking good!
Keep 'em coming!
Shannon
Huge THANK YOU Shannon!
our homework is on its way
Thanks!
S.
Here are a couple of photos from a gig I had yesterday. For the record (and just between us), I'm not crazy about the director's design for the makeup, but I did as he requested. He supplied some really awful body paints and I did the application. I wish he'd had the budget for some better makeup, but you know how it goes. Anyway, I'm more concerned about the photos. I think I'll be in pretty good shape if I can keep posting this kind of photo quality to my portfolio. It really makes things look more professional, if I do say so myself.
I've been reviewing the bids and it did my old heart proud to see that
you have really been paying attention and doing the work. I'll do
the critiques on Saturday and I'm hoping to let my guest, David Sanger of
New Deal Studios, review them as well. You are all awesome!
Shelly, the makeups look cool and in this case, I don't even mind the colorful backgrounds.
Shannon
However, let's get to them now:
1.) Teaching a specialized course is a great idea. The downside comes with figuring out student fees, otherwise you'll have to foot the bill for the supplies. The best idea is to be underwritten by a small community college if you can manage it. That way, they advertise the course in their catalog, you get paid, and at the same time have access to their facility. They pay for the supplies and set student fees. As far as advertising something like this, I say TARGET advertise. Who do you think would be interested in a course like this most??? I'd put up really nice fliers in COMIC BOOK stores, High Schools, College Art, Theater, and Film schools, and local coffee houses. BUT figure the smallest and largest amount of students you can accommodate prior to setting out. Does that help?
2.) Watermarks are a pain, right? You want people to see your work but you don't want them to rip you off. Here's my opinion. Watermark per the resolution of your photo. If you have a small image, with a low resolution (72 dbi) I would just have my name in the corner with a copyright and date (you know how to generate a copyright symbol in photoshop? if not google it, it is simple). Anything bigger than that I would start the translucent water mark right across the image. It isn't attractive, but it does prevent folks from just using it. Does that help?
3.) Dummies! No matter what, dummies are difficult because they just get abuse on set. The hands get it worse than the heads and the heads get hit quite a bit. At KNB our techs built armatures out of conduit and put a bolt at the shoulders that a chain cast in the head/neck could be attached and detached from. The dummies I'm now describing are meant to be clothed. Long sleeves and pants. Not dresses or naked. Latex and soft polyfoam heads and hands. Soft polyfoam bodies covered in a spandex body suit purchased from a danceware store (I bet you could find them online). Dummies like this are fairly durable for scenes where N/D (non descript) bodies have to be lying around. If the faces or hands will be seen, I'd go silicone with VERY little deadener in it. Make it as tough as possible for the heads and hands. At least that way they can be patched with caulking.
Does that help?
Shannon
Personally, the background you chose is a little distracting but I think that you should invest in a longer lens (a zoom lens) or take the image into Photoshop and blur the background to focus attention on the piece. Otherwise...WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT! Nice! Love it!
Shannon
The artwork is incredible. Will talk more on Saturday.
Shannon
Here are my concept drawings so far for the creature... it's been fun working this fella out.
Rough mood board concept piece based on a scene in the script when flashlights are drawn down the ship's corridor. He's (or she) a mish mash of various marine life. I drew heavily from angler fish, those guys are nasty.
We have much to discuss tomorrow!
Shannon
Thanks Shannon, I'm looking forward to it.
Okay, here is my sculpted Marquette work in progress. I'm still working out the main forms so holding off on secondary stuff and detail work in the meantime. The main bulk and mouth needs exaggerated more. I'd love to squeeze in 30 more crooked teeth between the tentacles. I need to imply longer flesh cutting tentacles inside his mouth. The main tongue is tricky, I'm thinking of wrapping the tongue around a human body to help emphasize scale through the Marquette. (it's in the script!) The main bulk needs broken up better, he's too cartoony for my liking... lots of work to do on this. The tentacles, eyes and teeth etc are place holders, they'll be pulled back out when I work back into him. All comments and criticism welcome!