Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Wire & Masking Tape Mask Process

Some photos of the process for my Creature From the Black Lagoon mask:

Wire framework of the head, made from 14-gauge galvanized wire from Home Depot, with 24-gauge wire wrapped tightly in figure-eights around each and every joint to tighten. I start by making rings with the 14-gauge wire, and gradually connect them all together, bending the structure as I go to form the head. I have to keep in mind where the eyeholes will be in the design, and how the mask will rest on my shoulders and head.


Double-wide masking tape wrapping the wire, with some balled-up tape to help mold the features----less-messy and less-smelly to work with than papier-mache



Layers of acrylic paint over a base coat of Mars Black

Monday, January 17, 2011

Monster Masks

masks
Since transporting these large masks to MassArt will be tricky right now because of my broken hand, I figured I'd post lots of photos of monster masks I've been building for the last 20 years.

"Clyde Gunky" was a zombie character I created in high school, and part of the Orientation process for 1991 incoming MassArt freshman was a mask self-portrait. Wire framework, papier mache, tempera paint, and yarn:
clyde

early 1990s drawings of Clyde:
clyde

3clydeP

Clyde had a zombie brother named Floyd, and I built a Floyd Gunky mask in 1992
floyd

that was based on these drawings of him:
floyd

Another early Massart assignment was a self-portrait in any medium, so I built a mask:
me

1996 Devil mask made of wire, papier mache, and white cotton gloves painted with the same color acrylics:
dev1

Creepy Clown mask, late 90s:
clown
wire, wire & masking tape, acrylic paint
amandaroosh

Black & White Skeleton mask & costume:
spring2

Frankenstein Monster mask, 2003:
oct31
wire, masking tape, acrylic paint, bike lights in eye-sockets
frankpose2
frankprfil

Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera mask, 2004:
phantom2
wire, masking tape, plastic bubbles in the eyesockets those vending machine dispense toys in
digpic

Devil mask:
wire, masking tape, acrylic & fluorescent paints, bike lights in the eyesockets

Creature From The Black Lagoon mask:
pool
wire, masking tape, acrylic paint, with same colors painted onto black turtlneck & black jeans:
Picture-022


Pazuzu mask, wings, & costume based on the statue in "the Exorcist":
pazuzu
wire, masking tape, acrylic paint, painted thermal underwear and gloves, and sneakers customized with wire, tape, & paint to be demon claws

Green Skeleton mask & costume
grsk
DSC04474
Rgrim

Zombie mask & costume:
2009.07.12_079

Edgar Allen Poe mask:
poe

Thursday, January 13, 2011

MassArt Student Masks from 2009

Below are amazing wire and masking tape Halloween masks created by the students in the Spooky Illustration PCE course I taught in 2009. Most of the students had never built masks before, or hadn't used wire and masking tape to build masks:

allan

allan2

amanda

amanda2

anthony2

anthony

bret

bret2

caitlin

caitlin2

carly2

carly

dan

dan2

emily2

emily

georgia

georgia2

ivan2

ivan

jill

jill2

kat2

Kat

lauren2

lauren

michelle2

michelle