Production with HandOfBlood – Instinct3

The Brief

For HandOfBlood's Twitch and YouTube content, a dwarf nose was needed that would create a new fantasy character without losing the performer's recognisability. With a well-known face, that is precisely the difficulty: the character has to be new, the face has to stay familiar.

The prosthetic had to withstand high-resolution camera work and integrate into the finished character makeup. The production window was short.

The Process

The design specifications for the nose came out of a call with the Instinct3 team. An in-person lifecast was not possible within the available time, so the prosthetic was developed as a generic, reusable piece: a polyurethane resin core with the nose sculpted directly onto it.

The sculpt was moulded in the same polyurethane resin as a two-part press mould, designed to deliver extremely thin edges, because the edge is where the transition to the skin is decided. The nose was cast in encapsulated platinum silicone.

Painting was done with Skin Illustrator colours. On the shooting day I applied the piece and matched it on location to the performer's skin, the lighting and the surrounding character design.

Materials & Techniques

• Polyurethane resin for the core and the two-part press mould

• PlatSil Gel as the prosthetic silicone

• Baldiez cap plastic as encapsulation

• Alcohol-activated Skin Illustrator colours

• Traditional sculpting in oil-based clay

The Result

A distinctive new facial structure that leaves the performer recognisable. The fine edges let the prosthetic blend almost seamlessly into the skin, and it held through the whole production, in close-up and in motion.