Hybrid assessment evaluation

Overall I am pleased with my final hybrid images and how they turned out, after all the hard work I put into the making and application it was nice to see the final transformation. I found this assessment and whole process so much more complicated and stressful than the wound assessment due to the fact that it took a look more research to come up with an idea, as for our wound we were given a type of injury each and all we had to do was research on that specific wound. We also had to make multiple sculptures, then moulds and then prosthetic pieces ready for our assessment day, where as with the wound assessment it was only one sculpture, one mould and one prosthetic piece to apply. On the day of my assessment I completely underestimated how long the transformation would take, ending up being in the classroom from 9am till 4.15 in the afternoon!

I found the actual application of the pieces to my model quite tricky and very time consuming as I had five to apply altogether. Once I had applied them to the face and neck I struggled for a very long time with trying to blend the edges of the baldies with alcohol. My technique and patience for this stage of the process still isn't as good as it could be, but considering it was the very first time at doing this on a larger scale I can't complain about the results, they didn't affect my overall look too much but just ate up quite a lot of my time. I couldn't keep track of how my IPA and cotton buds I was getting through, the amount of mess I managed to make just blending alone made me realise how important it is to have a well organised and spacious area if possible and a small bin at hand for all of the bits you need to dispose of. As I didn't have a huge amount of space and bin I kept having to clear my area and re-organise which also took up precious time. 

When the pieces were applied and blended to the best of my ability and I could begin painting I really started to enjoy the assessment as the painting and adding colour and different textures to pull the look together is always my favourite part! Once I had finished making up the silicone pieces I was really pleased with how the texture of the scales popped out on the face, and the shading gave it more depth so it stuck out. Now I have seen how it all came together, if I could do this again I would make more silicone pieces for the chest and shoulder area as I think it would have looked even better with more scales on the exposed areas of the body. 

I was pleased with the extra details I bought to complete the look with such as the scale fabric from Fabric Land, this really helped bring my mermaid to life and the shade went perfectly with my colour scheme. I also bought strings of sequins from Fabric Land to cut into bits and glued to the chest using Duo Adhesive to finish the look, I saw the sequins while browsing the store and thought it would help enhance the sea theme and was inspired by sea weed. If I could go back and get more styling details for the look I think I would look into sea shells and maybe purchase some to see what I could to with them and if they could be incorporated into the hybrid design.

Overall I am happy with this part of the project and the final outcome, I found the skills I was able to develop during this section from the unit invaluable after learning it during the wound unit and will be able to use these skills, techniques and knowledge to create something a lot more complex next time. Realising what I struggled with and had to overcome difficulties made me realise how much we have learnt as now I know how I would be able to do things differently in the future to produce a higher standard of work every time I create something new inspires me to reflect like this on everything I make.