Live Model Concept

Prosthetic, Continued..

So in a previous blog post I had just made my hand prosthetic (click here to view). Now it was time to start the paint job on it, to ensure a really realistic finish. 

The first problem was that my piece was made of silicone which is infamously difficult to paint. This is because the only thing which will stick to silicone without rubbing off, is silicone itself. This meant I had to create silicone paints to achieve my desired effect. 

To overcome this issue I used Clear silicone Caulking Sealant. This is the substance which is used to seal bathrooms to stop mould, and is made of silicone and comes in tubes. I then coloured this with a Red Silicone Pigment. I only needed to add a couple of drops of this pigment to the caulking, and it gave me a nice bloody red colour.

I started with a base coat of a light red, and waited for that to dry. As the inside of an arm would not be a smooth surface, I stippled the mixture on using a wooden spatula, and dabbing it to form peaks and dips, making it look like torn flesh on the inside. 

I then went in with my second coat which was a darker tone red. I added some black silicone pigment to the mixture and gradually made it darker to achieve the effect of different colours. This is important to create a realistic look, as inside flesh tones are so varied depending on the level of oxygen in the blood. 

I referred to images of blown off hands when creating this look - which I won't be including on this blog for obvious reasons!

My hand happily hanging out on the washing line to dry after its' first coat. A bonus was the drama it caused in my street when my neighbour claimed to have seen a severed human hand in the garden of number 19. 

The next thing I needed to do was paint the flesh tone onto the hand. Initially I wanted to do it the same way that I'd done the blood reds inside the hand, but to keep the detailing on the hand I would need to thin the silicone out a lot, as it is extremely thick. The product needed for this is called Naptha, and is extremely expensive to buy in the UK. So I looked at other options and was advised by Natalie from the Make-Up armoury that another option was to use cream paints over the hand, but then quickly seal it with clear silicone so that the paint can't come off.

I did this using Kryolan SupraColour Foundation Palette, mixing a few different colours to get the required shade. I wanted to keep it quite pale - as it had just been blown off it wouldn't be looking too healthy. I very lightly dabbed red into the fingertips and knuckles, using the Ben Nye Bruise Wheel, as a small amount of pinkness would be remaining in the hand. I also used a small detailing brush and the blue tone from the Ben Nye Death Wheel to create veins on the back of the hand. I stippled skin tone over the top of these to make them look more under the skin.

This was then covered in a final layer of clear silicone to set the creams and ensure they wouldn't come off on the night.

Finishing Touches

To finish off the hand I added a few more layers of blood tone inside the hand and around the wrist, leaving it to stand overnight upright so that the silicone would drip downwards and give the effect of ripped flesh. 

I also shredded and tore the excess skin I had around the hand, to make it look like flesh which had been blown off. I did this using nail clippers and tearing chunks off in a adhoc way. This gave a lot more realism to the overall look of the hand in my opinion, instead of just being a perfectly straight cut off hand.

Male Model's Face Chart

On the male models' skin there would just be basic male grooming, using powder to even his skintone for the purpose of TV. I would use concealer if needed to cover blemishes on the face. I would not apply any bronzer or anything to make the skin look healthier, as if this soldier was really in battle they would not have healthy glowing skin.

I will then use a Ben Nye dirt pigment mixed with sealing gel, and spatter onto the face with a cut up paint brush. This will give the illusion of specks of dirt from the blast which have blown up onto his face. I will continue this detail down onto the neck and any visible areas of skin such as the hand.