Alien Prop Build

Clay Sculpt Complete

Clay Sculpt Complete

Clay Demolding Process

Mold with Latex

IMG_20190218_165918_020

Foam Alien Demolded

IMG_20190218_165918_019

Initial Paint

Painting Adjustments

Painting Adjustments

Continued Painting

IMG_20190227_000455

Continued Painting

IMG_20190227_000352

Finished Alien Closeups

I was asked to create an alien for a short film called The Guest. The action would mostly be laying on a table but there would be a scene where the alien would drop from the sky so I had to be considerate of rigidity (skeletal structure).

The budget was incredibly tight and after a lot of research, it was decided to create a 1 piece mold with as much undercutting as possible to give as much dimensionality as possible. I want to shout out to Distortions Unlimited for their willingness to help with my questions regarding this project. I think it's important as builders to share as much information with each other so that we can grow and build more successfully.

I started with foil rolled up to make out a basic structure. That way the WED clay that I used was at a minimum. I used a plastic skull for the head structure. This proved to be a bad idea as the undercutting would not allow for the skull to be demolded out of the plaster mold. I ended up removing this skull at a certain point and used foil and newspaper for the structure and that worked fine.

I had a very short time constraint for this project so I had to be strategic with how much time was dedicated to each part of the build. I used many references for this alien, your traditional grey was the basic idea but there are so many other details and deviations that one can use to make the alien unique. The Director for this film had a pretty specific idea of what she wanted it to look like. So after I created many renderings and sketches, we came up with a base plan. I used these sketches to then block out the alien. I ended up cutting the legs and arms apart and readjusting to make it a little more proportional but overall, I was satisfied enough to go the detailing process. In hindsight there is a lot that I would have done different just with the sculpt, but that's what this process is all about; learning and getting better.

Speaking of, I don't have a lot of sculpting experience so the details weren't where I wanted them to be but it was good for what we needed.

I ended up buying a rake type tool that really was a necessary tool for smoothing out the body. It really couldn't have been done without it, I'll never underestimate the power of the rake tool again!

Once the sculpt was at a finishing point, I sprayed a gloss finish to give it a little separation from the plaster mold to come.

I started the mold by using 50 lbs.of Hydrostone plaster (purchased at Special Effect Supply Corporation in North Salt Lake) as the first pass of plaster. I didn't create walls at this point, I just thought that I would be able to control the direction of flow due to a heavy viscosity. I was wrong. Walls were eventually created after a lot of plaster was wasted oozing off of the table.

I then switched to basic Plaster of Paris found at Michael's (with the 40% coupon). I think I bought two 8 lb buckets and I still needed lots more. I then realized that Home Depot has big bags of Plaster of Paris for a really good price. I bought a 25 lb bag for about $20, such a great way to go. This ended up being enough to give the 1 piece mold enough structure that I thought that it needed in order to be moved.

Oh, I also started the first few passes of plaster application with layers of first, plaster bandages and then secondly, layers upon layers of burlap strips for extra rigidity and strength. This seems to really be a great way of keeping this plaster together. Although, Hydrostone is no joke; compared to the regular plaster, this stuff is really strong!

Once the last of the plaster was poured, it was practically ready to be flipped and de-molded.

So we did exactly that. It was a bit tedious and did take some time to get the clay out of the mold, especially the feet and toes.

I have to give a really special shout out to the director, Taylor as well as my friends Dane and Trent for their help with this project, I couldn't have done it without their help. You guys rock!

Once the mold was clean, I started with a few layers of latex just brushed into the mold.

Then in small batches, a flexi foam (FLEX FOAM-IT 17) was poured and brushed in the mold. I purchased the Smooth-On FlexFoam from Reynolds a distributor of all things fabrications.

I had cut dowels and placed them within the mold to mimic where basic arms, legs and torso structure would be. So when the model was dropped from the sky, it would bend at the right places, so to speak. The flexi foam was just right as far as rigidity and once that was all poured in and cured, the task of removing the foam from the mold began. This proved to be incredibly challenging as the latex was really stuck to the plaster mold (no I didn't use a release agent, whoopsie). And the foam was just dense enough that removing it from the undercutting of the mold was tough. We ended up cutting away much of the foam from the back of the head (where the undercutting was the most severe). This helped us remove the head and we finally got the whole thing out in 1 piece. There was some wrinkles that I thought were going to be a problem but then ended up expanding and smoothing out over time.

I poured a 2nd alien just because we had the foam and I thought we could improve some of the flaws from the first pour. The second alien came out about the same but at the very least, we had a second alien as a backup.

There was a lot of cleanup on the back making it as clean as possible. The idea was that the camera would just avoid the angles that would show the back of the alien. But just the same, I wanted it to be as clean as possible. I ended up cutting and shaving the back and then layering more latex to give it a consistent texture. It wasn't smooth but it was contained and seamless.

The 2 aliens were then ready for paint. The director had an idea of what color scheme she wanted. I ended up being tasked with the job of painting. I have very little airbrushing experience but it was a good. chance to get some practice so I was actually stoked.

At first, I only had my small apartment for paint in and the lighting wasn't that great. Eventually we ended up in a studio with a couple of brushes to work with. Some extra hands were brought in to help with the painting process and we had a good ol fun time! Lots of issues with clogged airbrushes (Windex is a great airbrush medium btw) and overspraying but we eventually got into a good rhythm and were able to get these aliens to a point where we thought they were finished enough for the shots that they were to be in. After all, the shooting deadline was getting dangerously close. The two aliens each looked basically identical but there were some flaws in each one. The director was planning on each alien specific for what shots she needed and then she would clean up some of the flaws in post production.

Overall, I was happy with the result. It is a challenge to get a full sized (4.5') body casted within a 1 piece mold but I was so grateful that it worked out. The proportions didn't end up pleasing me 100% and there were some details that I would have loved to have changed. But, yeah, it was a good build. Hopefully I covered the basics of this build. But if any of you builders and artisans have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.