Where should I start and with what?

Lukas Voss

Hey everybody,

glad to be here. I have just started getting into prop making and I am really interested in different make-up techniques and learning how to do certain things.

That being said, I am not a natural builder. I have never been a crafty person but I want to challenge myself to see if I can create something really cool.

I was hoping to get some feedback on what would be a good starter piece to try, a good starter class to take  and what I need to buy to get started?

Thanks so much for the input,
Lukas

Chris Ellerby

Hi Lukas, and welcome to our community!

Where you start often depends on what type of projects you want to work on first.

My usual suggestion is our "Garage Monsters" lessons by Shannon Shea as they cover a lot of techniques and materials that can be used in a wide variety of projects.  They also focus heavily on tools and materials that are readily available to most people with access to an art store or hardware store.

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/garage-monsters

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/garage-monsters-2-budget-monster-making

If Garage Monsters does not seem like a good starting point for you, please let me know and I'm sure we can find something!

/Chris

Kai Rottmann

Welcome Lukas :-)

If you are interested in making masks, you could start with that.

I started sculpting with a liviesize Robot mask. I wasnt really happy with it, because it didnt look really "alive". I knew, that i have to look at the human anatomy and bring that into my sculpture to kick live in, but i didnt know, how to manage this and that was really frustating for me.
After a couple weeks of trying and failing, i found the SWSCA.

I watched https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/human-head-anatomy-sculpture many times, and that changed my understanding how to bring my sculptures alive.

I`ve heared that "if you are able to sculpt a convincing and believable human head, you are able to sculpt everything" <-- and that is really true.

I highly recommend that lesson, to get a strong base in charakter design, which is very important for all kinds of sculptures and for sculpting makeup prosthetics. Or in mask making,.. or miniatures,... or... 

I wish you a lot of fun :-)

Greets

Kai

Edit: If you are intersted to try out the WED clay EM 217, here is a link where you can buy it in germay (took me a lot of research and i got almost crazy  )
http://www.mp-artware.de/shop/Modeling-Produkte/Modellierton/Kuenstler-Clay/Laguna-Wed-Clay-EM-217-1.html

Chris Ellerby

The latex mask making lesson is another great one as it covers a lot of tools, techniques, and materials.  You'll learn to sculpt, mold, cast, and paint, which are all very versatile skill sets. 

Sounds like you are on the right track!

/Chris

Lukas Voss

Hi Chris,

thanks so much for getting back to me.

The garage monsters lesson looks like a lot of fun ! I was looking at this one on how to make a mask ...

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/how-to-make-a-mask-wearable-dynamic-art-part-one

What do you think ?

Lukas Voss

Thanks so much Kai and Chris, I really appreciate your input, maybe I should buy that subscription afterall

All the best from Berlin.