Here is my drawing of the size and shape I want my pieces to be and where I am going to place them on the face and neck of my model, I used this drawing to help me create my sculptures ready for moulding. In total I need to make 5 prosthetic pieces in order to follow my design.
I really struggled with making my sculptures as I was worried that the details would be too small so that when I made the moulds and added the silicone mixture I didn't want the silicone pieces to set and get stuck in the cracks, this is because my design is covered in the small details of the scales. Because of this I had to keep re-moulding my clay sculptures until I thought they were going to work for my mould and flat pieces.
These are my sculptures for the face, the forehead and two cheek pieces. I sculpted these onto a large plastic tray from IKEA.
A close up of the forehead piece.
The right cheek piece.
The left cheek piece.
The gills, I will be using this mould to make two flat pieces as it will work well on either side of the neck so I didn't have to make two separate sculptures and moulds.
I am happy with my final sculptures and am ready to turn them into moulds, I am looking foreward to seeing the final finished pieces!
This is the face chart I will be using for my assessment of my final hybrid design. It contains a list of products and everything is clearly marked as to where I will be applying each silicone piece and extra details. I have also included notes for my hair style. Below are inspiration images of hair and make-up looks that I found on Pinterest which helped me create my design.
A mermaid is a creature of myths and legends that lives under the water like an aquatic creature that has the tail of a fish instead of legs but the torso, arms and head of a human. The name Mermaid comes from the word "mer" meaning "sea" in French. The male equivalent of a Mermaid is a Merman. Mermaids are mostly associated with being the most beautiful, benevolent, sacred creatures as linked with goddesses in mythology, and tales of them falling in love with humans like fisherman, but there are also stories told of them being monsters of the sea and they have been portrayed as ugly too as they have been linked with floods, storms, drownings and shipwrecks.
One of the first stories of Mermaids to be told was one about the ancient Assyrian goddess Atargatis who was the chief goddess of classical Antiquity, transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame and punishment for accidentally killing her human lover who was a shepherd. She cast herself into the sea hoping to become a fish, but as she was so beautiful she couldn't simply become a fish, but instead only her bottom half became a fish and the top half remained a goddess. Atargatis is called Great Mother and Goddess of Fertility of the Earth and Water. Doves and fish were her sacred animals, the doves symbolise love and fish symbolise her being the fertility of the water. In Ascalon, her home in Syria no one ate fish from the lake near her temple out of respect, it is said these fish were as tame as pets when approached by people and had jewels on their heads.The story of Atargatis spread from Assyria to Rome and Greece and is said to have influenced the worship of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.
In Harry Potter they portray the Merpeople as the ugly, montrous type of mermaids which are cruel, evil and not pleasing to the eye. Not the kind of mermaids portrayed in childrens tales or that are often painted off.
The opening Fashion Film for Alexander McQueen's 'Plato's Atlantis' S/S 2010 made by Alexander McQueen, Nick Knight and Ruth Hogben starring Raquel Zimmerman.
Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis catwalk show S/S 2010 McQueen set the Plato's Atlantis collection was set in a future world describing it as a world "in which the ice cap would melt, the waters would rise and life on Earth would have to evolve in order to live beneath the sea once more or perish. We came from water and now, with the help of the stem cell technology, we must go back to survive"
"The body parts I focus on change depending on the inspirations and references for the collection and what silhouettes they demand." - Alexander McQueen
In April I was lucky enough to go to the V&A at my home in London to see the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition, I spent over an hour in the most amazing exhibition I believe I will ever see and I had to come back to this particular collection I got to see in the flesh for this unit as it is all about the sea, fish, scales and underwater life which is important to my project as I am creating a mermaid for my hybrid creature. This collection was inspired by McQueen's memories of being a child and swimming at his local pool.
The make-up looks at this show reminded me off prosthetic looks I would use to create a fish/mermaid look as the prosthetic pieces imitated gills and shapes that you would see under water.
Here are some of the images found on the Vogue website that inspired me most from the collection. These were the images that inspired my design most due to the ocean and sea life references each piece contained where it be referencing water and the way the sea moves itself, to the scales found on fish and under water creatures, shapes and structures inspired by coral reefs, underwater plants, rocks, shells etc.
The combination of a male grizzly bear and female polar bear. If reversed and it was to be the combination of a female grizzly bear and a male polar bear the outcome would be a Pizzly bear.
A Leopon:
The result of a combination between a male leopard and a female lion. The head of a leopon appears to be very similar to a lion while the body looks more like it belongs to a leopard.
A zonkey:
A zonkey occurs when the cross-breeding takes place between two separate species of the horse family, the zonkey is a mixture between a zebra and a donkey.
A Zony:
The zony, like the zonkey occurs when the cross-breeding of two different species belonging to the same genetic family (the horse family) takes place. A zony is the mix between a male zebra and female pony.
A Liger:
The liger is made when a male lion mates with a female tiger, two different species belonging to the cat family. The opposite way around is the Tigion.
A Tigion:
The Tigion is the opposite to a Liger, when a female lion breeds with a male Tiger.
A Savannah cat:
A cross between an African Serval and a domestic cat. Savannah cats are known for their tall and slender bodies with large ears and spotted print.
Now we are done with our wound assessment, we are on to the bigger and more scary section..The Human Hybrid! Kat gave us our task, we will be using the concept of physical transformation as inspiration and we are going to design a creature character for our theme 'The Brave New World'. Our aim is to create a new understanding of beauty, one that is derived from creating a human hybrid that is a link between nature and the body.
I am going to do a lot of research on hybrids for this unit before deciding on what I am going to do, I am going to look at hybrids in film created using special effects make-up, costume and computer effects, hybrids in Disney animated films and real life animal hybrids as well to give me inspiration on what kind of creature I can design. I am also going to look into fashion as inspiration to see what designers create collections with animals, natures and hybrid creatures as inspiration. I am very nervous about this uni as I have the feeling a lot of expected from us and I don't really know where to begin with the word 'hybrid'! I am also worried that my technical skill won't be up to scratch with certain designs so I want to make sure I design something that I will realistically be able to create when it comes to our assessment.
The
definition of a hybrid is something made by combining two or more
different elements, the could be a plant or an animal for example. There are a large number of different types of hybrids as listed below:
Single cross hybrids - The result of two true breeding organisms. This creates an F1 hybrid, this means Filial 1 which means first offspring.
Double cross hybrids - The result of the breeding off two different F1 hybrids.
Three-way cross hybrids - The result of a F1 hybrid and one from an inbred line.
Triple cross hybrids - The result of the crossing off two different three-way cross hybrids.
Population hybrids - The crossing of plants or animals in a population with another population, for example crosses between different breeds.
Hybrid species - a hybrid population evolving reproductive barriers against their own parent species
The term hybrid is derived from Latin 'hybrida' meaning the "offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar" and "child of a freeman and slave".
Some examples of hybrids most people are familiar with already:
Mule - A female horse crossed with a male donkey
Zorse - A zebra bred with a horse
Liger - A cross between a lion and a tiger
Bengal cat - A result of a domestic cat bred with a Asian leopard cat
Over my next few posts I am going to begin my research by looking further into real animal hybrids and what some of the most interesting combinations have been.
A mule - http://a-z-animals.com/media/animals/images/470x370/mule4.jpg
A Zorse - http://www.theequinest.com/images/funky-zorse1.jpg
A liger - http://www.liger-hercules.com/liger-hercules-rajani-ferrante/rajani-ferrante-riding-liger-hercules.jpg
A Bengal cat - http://www.koppiekatz.com/images/rio_IMG_6826_web.JPG
