As you know Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It's a holiday that allows me to put my love of horror to good effect. So here are some pointers for Halloween make up effects if you want something scarier that a kitty cat.
I consulted with two people of very different skill sets to provide some advice to anyone looking to do make up effects this Halloween. Julz Perez is a professional make up artist living in San Diego. She has worked on films and television, done horror effects for low budget films as well as been part of a make up team that created the freezing effects for "Titanic." Andy Trimlett is a KPBS producer who, like myself, is obsessed with Halloween. He has been teaching himself how to do make up effects by reading books, searching the Internet, and by good old fashioned trial and error.
Here is the Evening Edition feature I did in which Andy zombified me and Julz burned half of actor-producer-director Andy Lowe's face.
The supplies for Julz Perez's effect need to be ordered from online companies. Andy Trimlett's supplies can all be found here in San Diego. His shopping list includes: liquid latex, toilet paper (oatmeal, Rice Krispies or dirt),coagulated blood, Fresh Scab, cream or grease paint. Andy's recipe for blood that is also edible (and quite tasty he insists) is a whole lot of light corn syrup (the clear kind), some chocolate syrup, some sweetened condensed milk, several packets of Kool Aid black cherry mix, and water (add till you get right consistency). He has no precise measurements but suggests mixing the elements till you get the color and consistency you want.
You can find make up supplies in San Diego at Gypsy Treasure in La Mesa, Angel's Beauty Supply in Mission Valley, Buffalo Breath in San Diego, or any of the Spirit Halloween seasonal stores around town.
Online sources for make up supplies include Nigel's Beauty Emporium, Caufield's Novelty, and Theatrical Make Up Supplies.
I have also edited some additional helpful videos.
Here Julz explains some of the basic tools you want in your make up kit:
Here's how to do a bruise from Julz:
How to do a latex cut from Andy:
And here's Julz with an alternate way of making a similar injury by with a two part silicone product known as 3rd Degree.
And Andy explains theatrical blood types:
Here is a list of books about make up effects, and also check out any movie with make up effects by Jack Pierce, Dick Smith, Rick Baker, Tom Savini, or Greg Nicotero.
And you can check out behind the scenes photos on my FaceBook page.
