Steampunk Saloon

In 1878, British Commodore Diggs of The HMS Steamdragon was ordered to suppress a tribe of Lunar Amazons. For reasons unknown, he mutinied, becoming hero to the Moon Tribes. He soon turned to the life of a pirate, re-christening his ship "The Steampunk".

In this strange age of steam and wonder, The Steampunk, whose crew- a notorious gang of rabble-rousers and ne'er-do-wells wanted by many; has become a symbol of freedom, rebellion and the celebration thereof. "The Saloon", is simply wherever she moors or sets up camp. A temporary autonomous zone, free from the reach of evil empires and robber barons.

A great night, where I set up my live airbrushing stand under the guise of a 'Steam Tattoo' parlour. The great thing about live airbrushing in this kind of environment is that not only do people slowly pile up and queue for you to work on them (I didn't stop, one after the other for hours!), but it teaches you to be fast (get through as many people waiting as possible), whilst still trying to maintain artistry and give everyone the art they deserve.

Here are some of the highlights of that amazing night!

Opulent Temple

For the unexposed, the Opulent Temple started as a Large Scale Art & Music theme camp at the annual Burning Man arts festival that takes place in the Black Rock desert of Nevada the week before Labor Day. They throw nightly parties showcasing underground, world class electronic dance music in a setting of art and creation they've made themselves.

They held a 'White Party' in LA on Saturday, in conjunction with Cruz Coalition and Pantheon, and I happily airbrushed a couple of my friends for the event.

Here is Margaux, rocking her design:

Photos by © 2012, Josh Reiss ~ http://curiousjosh.com/

The Clown

This represents the last mask I bought from the Scream Team.

I can't recommend highly enough. They got me started with their professional masks, allowing me to jump right in at the end of the process, learning application and make-up techniques, and get some amazing results.

It led me on this merry year and a half learning spree!

About 6/8 of the way through The Clown.

Finishing with the costume, veining, and some final love around the eyes and mouth, and a red nose!

I was a little over zealous with the layers, but oh how it turned out so beautifully. I caked a little here and there, but by happy mistake, some of the make-up cracking just added to the creepy clown effect. Look closely at the left shoulder and a little around the right mouth and you'll see the kind of thing I'm talking about.

The Clown - Can't please everyone all the time, I guess...

Thanks to Marina Bekeshko for the excellent costume co-ordination and modelling patience, and thanks once again to The Scream Team for everything.

Time for me to move onto my own masks. :)

Zombie

It's about time, after all this time, that I use the 'Mortis' mask I accidentally received from The Scream Team. Here is the pretty 'before' shot!

Model: A. Fayling-Bickmore

Below is the Zombie, about 3/4 of the way through, Zombie glamour, who would have thought!?

The Disco Ball wasn't part of the make-up process, but it certainly helped everyone get into that undead dancing kind of 'Thriller' mood.

Next is not a great shot as it's ever so slightly blurry, but it's the only decent one I have of the full body at the moment. Top to toe grime, gore and caked on mess to complete the look!

Angela even brought her own appropriate zombie high-fashion T-shirt to wear for the occasion.

Caramel food colouring was added to the teeth later for extra rot!

We proceed with a couple of face close ups, ready to eat brains... (and drink coffee from Starbucks, and party all night clubbing, which is actually what happened after)

Looking at the nose chunk, I could have made that a little more slimy and gory, like exposed muscle.

Next is a closer look at a bit of an angle.

So, the interesting thing about this mask is a) It's hopefully the second last mask I'll ever buy (I intend to make my own from his point forth), and b) the mask was about 2 times bigger than her face, which posed a very interesting set of problems. Other than making her head look slightly over sized (zombie heads get swollen, right!?) the whole look managed to look great nonetheless.

Red eyeliner around the eyes at some point would have added that slightly more rotten look I think.

And to show you what happens when you get an excellent photographer and some interesting post process work!

More Blacklight Epicness

I really like working in Blacklight colours, it's sort of like painting in light. Here we see the rare 'Visualizer Bear', that is known for casting eery shadows onto psychadelic backdrops!

Practicing some of that 'High Glamour' stuff, with a liberal helping of 'Masquerade Ball', and just a sprinkle of 'Nightclub Panache'!

Model: S. Parker

Side detail.

The Black Cat

Elegant full-body style for Halloween 2011!

I decided to hold true to my post-masquerade word and only apply foam latex appliances to other people, and so I began with the Black Cat, the first mask I've applied specifically designed for girls.

The application process went by relatively well, though I rushed a little from the edge blending to the colouring, and in hindsight should have spent more time with liquid latex stippling and coverage blending before moving on.

There was also the odd fold or two, but it would matter too much thanks to the final colour being blue/black. The central lip area could have been dragged down closer to the lip line, but with Margaux's face shape, I doubt it would have been comfortable, so I left it slightly above center.

Model: M. Bunel

Pre-final touch ups, as you can see I chose a slightly stony black colour with elements of blue and silver in it (which you should be able to see better in the next picture.

Her back was exposed too, which was also black, the hands were covered by gloves so I didn't feel the need to spend too much time there.

As mentioned in the previous picture, I should have spent more time blending the edges, and while they mostly look great, the texture difference between the mask and the model's normal more porous skin is apparent most noticeably on her forehead. By spending more time stippling with liquid latex, I could have gotten a more consistent texture balance between the two. If I do this again, which I hope I won't, I think I could have also applied some moisture simulating lubricant to both head and mask areas, which would have done a decent job of blending the textures too in the pinch.

Overall, with the Silver contact lenses, a very striking look!

Here you can see more of the blue-ish silver tint which is much truer to how it looked in person, her hair was sprayed with a createx black latex paint which has proven well for not only colouring but holding the hair too if you want it to look clumpy and shaped.

I don't think anyone could match her outfit, and she had an absolute blast in the end.

Model: M. Bunel
Photo: P. Lloreda

San Diego Decompression

Some more live airbrushing at a festival. Enjoy!

 

 

 

I was running around in SFX contacts (bottom right). Almost all photos were taken by Arturo Everitt.