Dragon Age: Redemption Episode 2 Part 2

Photo 1: Felicia Day called the wide reveal of the Dalish Camp her favorite shot of the whole series, and I have to agree. The designs BioWare created for the game were so refreshing and unique, and despite their resistance to the laws of physics, I think our reproductions in reality ended up being quite striking.

Photo 2: But not everything about the Dalish camp was beautiful. When our heroes find it, they discover they were too late, and Saarebas had already cast the camp in ruins. May of the surviving warriors were dismembered, battered, and bruised...

Photo 3: And they were the lucky ones! The twisted mage cast fiery spells that charred Elves to the bone. Here, Construction Leadman John Bell tends to one of many burial piles of burnt skeletons.

Photo 4: We started prepping Dragon Age: Redemption the day after Halloween last year, so one of Art Director Bryan Fulk's first orders of business was to hit up all of the local Halloween stores for sales. If you have a closet or garage to store stuff, the week after the holiday is always the best time to shop! We got these highly articulated skeletons for 75% off! They were pretty good quality, and way less expensive than the medical grade versions we usually use.

We removed any silly decorative elements from the skeletons so they were just bare bones, and then built up our own "flesh" with liquid latex, cotton, and paper towel.

Photo: The Kid used a heat gun to speed up the drying process, and coated the final layer of latex with dark brown house paint. You may notice the crutches on the edge of the table. The Kid broke his leg at Marissa's rolling skating birthday party a few weeks earlier, which prevented him from being a Dalish Elf! He was the first person Felicia picked to populate the camp, but he couldn't do it in a cast. Maybe for the sequel!

Photo 5: Here, Rikki layers up some leg bones with paper towel and latex. Rikki joined the art department through the Knights of Good call, but she really is a make-up artist. Special effects is were those two worlds meet, so she definitely had her hands full with DA:R creature projects! The finished skeletons pictured were "charred" simply using black spray paint to dust them.

Photo 6: Maerwynn (Iris Klein)is Felicia's acting teacher. She was kind enough to drop by the BarnYard for an ear casting to complete her look as the Dalish Keeper's wife. I specifically tried to sculpt each actor's ears in a unique way, so everyone didn't look like Christmas elves with ears purchased from a costume shop. Make-up artist Kim Graczyk created the tattoos using a simple prosaide transfer technique.

Photo 6: Originally, there were going to be very few survivors in the Dalish camp. But as the scope of the series grew, so did the cast. As the numbers increased, early talks had most of the background wearing hoods and scarves to avoid the need for creating and applying so many pairs of ears. But then the large number of Elves trying to hide their ears started feeling apparent. The compromise was that I had my Foam Tech, Mark Vinello, run multiple copies of all of the hero ears to be used on the extras. Mark is no stranger to Elf ears, he was the Lead Prosthetics foam runner for the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

The number of ears continued to grow, starting at around 6 background pairs, and ending with several dozen! May of which ended up on members of the art department, like Jason Swearingen, above center.

Photo 7: Josmael, however, got his own personal set of ears. The first thing I thought when meeting Masam Holden was that he had perfect Elvin hair! Very Hobbit like! What I didn't realize was how difficult it would be to tame that mane while casting his ears and applying the Elf prosthetics!

Photo 8: Luckily, I had Marissa Cuevas to help me on this one. Marissa is usually my assistant when it comes to head and body casting, and one of her main jobs is to explain to people exactly what they will experience. She has first hand experience, as I've turned her into zombies and aliens many times!

Photo 9: Usually, we apply latex bald caps to people's heads when doing castings. But the caps are expensive, and the process to apply them right takes a while. We had so many casts to do for DA:R that I decided to cut some corners for the ear casts and use plastic bags and tape. It's a little low-rent, and kind of embarrassing when I publicly post these pictures! But it gets the job done and saved us enough money to make a few extra pairs of ears!

The casting process uses alginate impression material, which starts as a powder, and turns to a paste when water is added. I coat the ear in the paste, which sets to a rubber material in minutes. Here, Marissa hands me a plaster bandage to create a rigid backing for the flexible rubber-like alginate cast.

Photo 10: Another of my favorite props is Josmael's staff. This was one of the few items in the script that had no real ties to the game, so I was able to create something from scratch. I don't even remember my reason (I'm certain I had one!) for going with a bird as the staff head, but it seemed like the right idea. I did a rough sculpt, with out the Celtic knot pattern, in Roma clay. The Kid made a garbage mold, and got me a single casting in feather weight urethane BJB-812. This material has very wood-like properties. I sketched the pattern onto the cast, and then during meeting and conference calls for the next week, I whittled away at it to create the finished bird.

Photo 11: Here's a little insight into the mind of a mad artist: I searched my property for multiple straight sticks to be used for Josmael's staff (There's a lot of trees on in my yard) and picked the one I liked the best to be the hero prop. Upon taking the chosen stick into the main room of the workshop, it wedged between the floor and ceiling. Perfectly. This random stick was the exact dimension of the height of my room. Which, I must point out, is not a standard sized room. It wasn't pressing tightly into the ceiling, just barely touching it, but enough to keep it from falling down. I was so fascinated by this random alignment of math, that I left the stick in that position for months!!! We even eventually hung lights off of it and called it the Christmas Pole. It celebrated several holidays with us before someone bumped it and knocked it over. At which point I no longer had interest and put it back in the yard. Don't judge!

Photo 12: Back to the story, Tallis meets Josmael, and he shows her the ransacked Keeper's wagon. Here, production decides not to remove the side of the wagon, but rather to shoot through the windows sans decorative red panels.

Photo 13: I really wanted the red panels on the main wagon, mostly because they were the main connection to the rest of the wagons. I felt the Keeper's wagon almost went too western without them. The happy middle ground was to have them in place, but torn and hanging on the camera side so they were part of frame, but not obscuring it.

Photo 14: Withing the wagon, Tallis finds a secret panel hiding a small storage area. The Dalish Clan's sack of gold coin is hidden in there. Art Department Pooja Sharma was in charge of making the many sacks for the series.

Photo 15: Felicia decides exactly how much gold is fair to steal in good conscious. Art director Bryan Fulk pockets the rest.

Photo 16: But this smile makes me think Felicia got the exact amount of gold she wanted!

Photo 17: The art department standing by. There were over 100 props and pieces of set dressing on the Dalish camp shoot. It was all hands on deck to move things as the camera changed angles, and keep track of the easily misplaced items, like these arrows, with hand threaded fletching by Mazin Dajani.

Photo 18: It is know in the lore of Dragon Age that the Dalish always keep a statue of Fen'Heral, the wolf god, out on the perimeter, facing away from camp, to protect them. In an early version of the script, Maerwynn finds this idol knocked over in the woods. The scene got cut prior to filming, but the prop still existed. Here, Bryan does some last minute painting in hopes of getting it into one of the wide shots. Alas, you will never see it because it never made it into the cut. Too bad, maybe fewer elves would have met their fiery death if the statue was there to protect them!

Photo 19: If you look closely, however, you will see The Guild Director Sean Becker as a Dalish warrior!

Photo 20: Tallis convinces Cairn that they should hunt the mage together, exposing that she has a valuable asset to their quest: A Qunari collar. This magical device can render the mage's power useless once it is snapped around his neck. In the BioWare artwork, the collars are huge, like wooden stockades that lock around the neck and hands. Story wise, we needed a version that Tallis could be carrying on her person. In that very tight costume...with no pockets...

Photo 21: We went with a ruin encrusted dog collar of sorts, something that can roll up and hid in the tiny pouch Tallis hangs from the back of her belt. I sculpted the ruins out of Magic Sculpt two part epoxy, and glued them to a strip of leather. The two "claps" at the end contain magnets, so a flick of the leather band, and the two ends snap together. I used Testor's enamel copper and brass for the base, and patinaed the whole thing with acrylics.

Photo 22: And since we are back to talking about the Templar in this scene, I thought I would show you something I couldn't fit in the earlier blogs. This is a CG model of the Templar sword.

Every artist has their go to medium, the one that just flows naturally and allows them to think and work out design problems without the actual medium getting in the way. For me, it's sculpture. I can work out a form so much faster in clay than I can in any other art form. For Mazin, it's CG. His background is in video games, ahving done character design and animation for games such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Leisure Suit Larry. As effortlessly as it was for him to create all of the amazing Dragon Age weapons out of metal, it helped him to have a plan of attack by building a quick virtual model. It helped me to understand exactly what the final result was before any building was even started. I'm most impresed with the consistancy, from BioWare art, to the Cg model, to the final, physical product.

Photo 22: So that's a wrap on the behind the scenes for episode 2: Cairn! But fear not, Felicia and I have many more artistic adventures planned for you in the world of Dragon Age: Redemption!

Two episodes in, what stands out the most to you about the live action version of Dragon Age? Let me know in the comments below!

And don't forget to like this page on Google +, and share it with others using the widgets below. Follow me on twitter, too @gregaronowitz for more behind the scenes!

Eric’s Halloween Make-up

Hey, everyone! Once again, as usual, I am working on a secret project that keeps me from blogging about my current work. The good news is that it is the coolest secret project I have worked on in a while, so when I can blog about it in a few weeks, I think everyone will find it very exciting. But I did want to make an entry, so in honor of Eric McNeely’s birthday, I thought I would show you how I made the Fallbrooke front man’s Halloween costume!

Anyone who knows me knows that I usually hide on Halloween, mostly to avoid the tons of requests to do make-ups and costumes as favors! Its not that I don’t love doing it, or want to make my friends happy, its just one of those "all or nothing" type situations, and it’s hard to make costumes for everybody and still maintain the work flow. But Eric was so excited about the make-up process when we were doing the “Take Me Under” zombie girls, I figured one make-up for a huge horror buff wouldn’t kill me. Unfortunately, my schedule got crunched, and I had to wait till the week OF Halloween to do it. So, once again, here are some tips on doing a 24-hour make up…

Photo 01: Here’s Eric as he usually looks, loving every second of being attacked by a zombie during the video filming. Take a good look, ladies…this will be the last time you see him like this during this blog!


Photo 2: Told you! I would imagine that you will never see Eric on stage with a plastic bag on his head! But that’s what happens here at the BarnYard! Eric is prepped for a face cast. I will be using dental alginate and plaster bandage to make a negative of his face.

Photo 3: Here he is fully under the cast. The alginate is soft and flexible, so the plaster bandage helps it keep its shape so it will produce an accurate positive of Eric’s face. Note the nostrils remain open the entire time. What’s it like being under there? Well, I’ll let Eric blog about that himself…

Photo 4: Here’s the plaster positive I pulled from the alginate face cast. The dark areas are retaining moisture, and the whole thing needs to be baked in an oven for an hour or so to make the clay stick better.

Photo 4a: Before I add clay, I dremeled out negative “keys” in the eyes. These will help the mold register better, especially since I don’t have the time to build a flange like I did in the Zombie School steps. It’s a good idea to do this first, because you risk ruining your sculpture going in with heavy tools after it’s done!

Photo 5: I’m designing as I go, so I just started with a base of clay on the obvious areas.

Photo 6: I usually wonder around my shop and look at old sculpts, magazines, and life casts for inspiration when I am designing. In this case, Peter Cushing, of Hammer films and Star Wars fame, struck me as a cool starting point. His stark features are the perfect base for transforming a rock star into a horrific vision.

Photo 7: You can see in this photo how I started drafting features from the life cast into the sculpt.

Photo 8: An hour or so into the process, I felt like I had good structure to continue on. I started marking out where some of the details would go, but before getting to far into it…

Photo 9: I raked the whole surface to even out the overly hand-worked surfaces. Create rhythms and patterns with the rake to help match contours on both sides of the face.

Photo 10: After you feel like your surfaces all match, you can smooth down the rake marks with a soft sponge. Then begin the detail work. I carve in wrinkle patterns with a wax spatula, starting with following the flow of the features, then doing a second pass going against the flow for contrast.

Photo 11: To accent some of the heavier wrinkles, like around the eyes and on the brow, I roll small clay lumps and push them into the wrinkle pattern. Blend in the edges with the wax spatula, then brush them down with alcohol and a stiff brush.

Photo 12: I started as a painter, so I do a lot of brush work in my sculpting. I use the sculpting tools to create the forms and rough in the details, but most of the finished work is done with several brushes, ranging in shape and rigidness. Obviously, the final pass is with smaller, soft brushes to eliminate brush strokes. And avoid using TOO much alcohol, as it will make the clay mushy and hard to work with.

Photo 13: I captured Eric’s ears pretty well in the cast, so it seemed like a good idea at the time to sculpt up some quick, puffy, bruised ears. I decided along the way that this face would be stretched and stitched together with heavy twine, so meaty ears that I could sew through will help complete the look.

Photo 14: Can you still see Eric in there? The finished sculpt. Just in time for lunch!

Photo 15: The next step was to create a “cutting edge”, which entails putting clay over exposed plaster surfaces of the face cast, giving the extra foam and air someplace to escape when the foam latex is run later. I also threw up a clay wall to make the molding easier, kind of the equivalent of the kiddy rails in a bowling alley!

Photo 16: When mixing plaster, it’s recommended to allow the powdered gypsum to soak in the water, rather than mix it in straight away. This is called the “dried river bed” technique.

Photo 17: Mix the first batch of plaster to be the consistency of cake batter, then coat the whole sculpture. I usually splash it on, forcing out the air without physically rubbing the surface and risking damage. The sculpture is finished, but the clay is still pliable.

Photo 18: To strengthen the mold, use hemp soaked in plaster. I buy it in bails, which seems to add to the whole “BarnYard” thing!

Photo 19: Pull clumps of hemp and roll it into “bird’s nest”. Soak these in the plaster and apply them over the splash coat, overlapping them so there are no weak spots. This step is all in the timing. If you put the hemp on too soon, it will press through the soft splash coat and show up in the surface of your mold. But, if you wait too long, the splash coat will cure and chances are it won’t bond to the hemp coat, ultimately chipping out and ruining your negative! So make sure that your splash coat is firm, but still wet when you get to the hemp!

Photo 20: You can put several layers of hemp, but try to keep the overall thickness of the mold to about 1 inch. It helps keep temperature consistency in the foam baking process, which will result in better foam. I usually cheat a little on this rule and build up the top to create a flat surface, which makes running the foam easier since the mold won’t flail about when its turned over.

Photo 21: Here is the mold cracked open. Most of the clay peeled out in the process, but it’s important to scrub the remaining clay from the negative and positive before running the foam. Use alcohol and a toothbrush, or Popsicle sticks snapped in half long ways to dig deep clay out. Avoid using metal tools like the wax spatula, as they will cut into the plaster and add texture you don’t want!

Photo 22: Here is the cleaned mold. It looks freaky already, even in reverse!

Photo 23: So I ran the mold up to Valencia, and the magical Mark baked it out and nailed the first foam run, as always! He delivered it in the morning, giving me enough time to paint it and still have a lunch date! Thanks, Mark!

Photo 24: I wanted this creature to look more bruised than dead, so I started with a bright red rubber cement paint mix in the shadow areas.

Photo 25: I followed this with purple, darkening the deep shadows, but still letting a lot of the red poke through.

Photo 26: Ah, my old stand-by technique: Ringlets! I always tell myself I will try something new, but this approach is really fast, and has never failed me. I used the same purple shadow to airbrush rings, layering the paint to be a little more opaque.

Photo 27: You can cover as much or as little of the piece as you want with rings. I did the whole thing, making them smaller and tighter in the shadow areas, and widening in the fleshy areas. Right now you probably think this looks pretty ridiculous! Its important to remember that rubber cement is a translucent painting medium, so you have to be thinking about the next layers as you paint the current ones. I went pretty full on with the rings, because the next few layers will reduce their intensity, and I want them to continue to read. It’s a basic pattern, but it will end up reading like veins and capillaries.

Photo 28: The next step was to make a translucent flesh tone. When mixing rubber cement paint, start with a small amount of the cement, and add a few drops of painter’s tint. The more tint, the more intense the color. Mix it thoroughly, then cut it with Bestine rubber cement thinner. The more thinner you use, the more translucent the paint will be. By using different amounts of tint and thinner, you can create a wide range of intensities. I use rubber cement because it offers translucency like no other flexible paint, so keep that in mind for layering. If you want to go with straight opaques, it might be better to use PAX paint. (See Zombie School!)

I applied a few layers of the flesh, and you can see how drastically it changed the ringlets! But now he looks a little too lively!

Photo 29: To make him more sickly looking, I layered in a very thin green over the shadow areas. It allowed the reds and purples to stay visible, but cut down on the warmth is a few areas.

Photo 30: Finally, I accented the inner eyelids, and some of the scars and shadows. I am also planning on doing a bunch of modeling with rubber mask grease paint once the appliance is glued to Eric’s face, so this paint is really just serving as a base.

Photo 31: Don’t forget to powder! The paint is still rubber cement, so it will stay adhesive until a layer of baby powder is applied to it. Keep this in mind when painting, also. Touching or folding the foam while you are working on it will cause the cement to bind to itself, and that never ends well!

Photo 32: Now that it is not sticky, I poked some holes in the foam and threaded some hemp twine through the stitched areas. Anything that can be done once its glued down I will do later, but I didn’t want to be poking around Eric’s face with a needle if I don't have too!

Photo 33: Happy Halloween! Oh, wait. That was weeks ago…Well, it was Halloween when this photo was taken. We started about 6ish, so Eric could be ready for the party circuit. It took about an hour to apply the whole thing.

Photo 34: I made some quick teeth out of Magic Sculpt, and tied them onto the loose strings hanging from his chin, brow, nose, and ears. Despite the hellish make over, Eric found this to be the most disturbing part of the whole make-up!

Photo 35: Here he is in all his ghoulish glory! Hopefully he scared the crap out of you if you ran into him that night! It was a lot of fun to do, and I hope there were a few useful hints in the process for your make-up adventures. Send pictures!

Happy Birthday, Eric!