Steve Johnson Visits CMS!

A packed house looks on as Steve shows a clip of some of his SFX work during the open class on August 23rd.

8/23/2012

Makeup legend Steve Johnson (Videodrome, The Abyss) visited Cinema Makeup school for a wild, wide-ranging discussion of his past work, the state of the makeup industry, and the process of creating creatures and characters that impact audiences.

CMS Director of Admissions, Lee Joyner, led a lengthy Q&A punctuated by a number of clips from makeup tests and demos made at Steve's company, XFX. Steve also took questions from the audience, which was comprised of CMS students, graduates, members of the general public and at least two other legendary makeup artists: Steve Wang (Predator, Blade: Trinity) and Kevin Brennan (The Howling, American Werewolf in London, Tron: Legacy), who both worked with Steve Johnson in the past. Kevin and Steve were great additions to the class and were never shy about adding to the free-wheeling discussion from the audience.

Before and after the lecture, both Steves took some time to tour the CMS labs and offer pointers to many of the young effects artists toiling in prosthetics class. 

The result was a fun and hugely educational event; the kind that can only come together at CMS!

Steve Johnson, imparting words of wisdom during a Q&A with Lee Joyner

Steve Wang shows Ve Neill Scholarship winner Anna Cichon a thing or two about sculpting.

From L-R: Lee Joyner, Steve Wang, Steve Johnson and Kevin Brennan

Steve Johnson with the Ve Neill  Legends of Makeup Scholarship winner Anna Cichon

Steve Wang taking a look at student Melissa Jimenez's work.

Steve Wang ponders a werewolf puppet by CMS grad Alan Carnes.

Lee Joyner posing a question to Steve during the Q&A.

   

Cinema Makeup School Comic Con Roundup

It's been just over a week since the CMS team returned from a whirlwind weekend at Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego. As the dust settles, we wanted to offer a full day-by-day recap, complete with plenty of photos.

Day One - Thursday

CMS arrives on the scene and sets up as a guest of Famous Monsters of Filmland in booth #1509. The first day featured a demo by Miranda Jory working on Harry Uhlhorn. The demo, a variation on Miranda's makeup for the "Rat Family" she collaborated with Nelly Recchia on for IMATS, is a big hit greeting convention goers.

Miranda Jory at work transforming Harry Uhlhorn into the Rat.

Harry greets convention goers outside the San Diego Convention Center

Harry making friends with other costumed characters

Harry's rat makeup was very popular.

Day Two - Friday

Day Two again featured makeup applied by Miranda Jory and modeled by Harry Uhlhorn. This time, Harry was transformed into a hooded demonic fantasy figure. The action caught the attention of CMS's Comic-Con neighbor, Giorgio Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens and internet fame. Giorgio made a habit of visiting the booth to spread cheer (and ALIENS!) all weekend.

Miranda working on Harry

Miranda and Harry with Giorgio Tsoukalos

Harry with Suicide Girls

Harry with FaceOff judges Glen Hetrick and Ve Neill.

Day Three - Saturday

A big day for the convention and CMS, Saturday featured Christine Thompson in makeup designed by Miyo Nakamura and Gilbert Tang and applied at Comic-Con by Miyo and Josh McCarron. 

The look was a huge hit, with photos showing up on EW.com and Tested (a website maintained by Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman), an appearance on Kassam G's highly rated YouTube show, a Twitter shout-out from celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and viral mentions on Reddit, 9gag and other social picture sharing sites.

Josh McCarron works on applying Christine Thompson's makeup.

Josh, Miyo Nakamura, Christine, and 3-time Oscar winner Ve Neill

Christine with Bela Lugosi, Jr.

Christine, Josh, and Miyo braving the crowds

Christine in front of a display of trolls from The Hobbit

Christine with some favorites from the Star Wars prequels.

Christine in the EW lounge with actor Silas Weir Mitchell.

Christine at EW with male castmembers from Vampire Diaries.

Christine with Nina Dobrev, star of Vampire Diaries

Day Four - Sunday

On day four, artist Josh McCarron and model TJ Loza took center stage. Josh and Harry Uhlhorn worked feverishly to apply "Wicavondrakein" (a dragon/human wizard look originally designed by Josh and Wayne Anderson for IMATS LA) to TJ. The hard work paid off with a huge crowd reaction. The rest of the day, TJ had fun walking the floor in full makeup and posing with fans, closing out a hugely successful Comic-Con trip on a high note.

Josh at work on TJ Loza's makeup

Look who's back! Giorgio Tsoukalos stopped by to say "hi" to TJ.

TJ posing with the trolls from The Hobbit.

TJ poses as part of a wild fantasy tableau in another booth.

TJ and the CMS crew really captured the Comic-Con spirit.

All in all, it was a great time! We're already looking forward to next year!

CMS thanks Josh McCarron, Miyo Nakamura, Miranda Jory, Harry Uhlhorn, Christine Thompson, TJ Loza, Vicki Payne, and Becky Hawk for all their hard work at the convention.

Special Makeup FX Legend Neill Gorton Visits Cinema Makeup School!

SFX legend Neill Gorton and CMS student Victoria Goldberg

Being Human, Torchwood, Children of Men, Judge Dredd, Doctor Who…what do they have in common? Besides being beloved classics (or inexplicable Sly Stallone adaptations of beloved classics) of British science fiction, all also feature the special makeup effects work of one man: four time BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)  and RTS (Royal Television Society) award winner Neill Gorton.

Gorton, in Los Angeles for IMATS over the weekend, decided to pay a visit to CMS to check out the state of the art facilities.  He toured the campus with Director of Admissions Lee Joyner and offered his thoughts to some lucky students and grads working in the labs.

Gorton owns and operates Millennium FX  Ltd. out of Chesham, England. His work goes well beyond science fiction including projects as diverse (yet universally loved) as Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and the raucous Little Britain sketch comedy show. But for many fans, he will always be associated with science fiction and his iconic work on over 40 episodes of long-running cult BBC show, Doctor Who, spanning the years 2005 to 2010.

Here at CMS, Gorton’s visit has left us with a mix of emotions: incredibly happy we got the chance to spend some time with him, somewhat surprised that he chooses to travel by car and not TARDIS, a bit worried that any one of us might inspire his next brilliantly grotesque Little Britain character, thankful for the wisdom and knowledge he shared while touring the labs, and—most of all—relieved that he didn’t bring the Daleks. 

Thank you, Neill!

Neill with CMS student and Doctor Who fan Kelby LeNorman.

Lee Joyner shows Neill around the FX labs.

Neill discusses a werewolf suit job with CMS grad Alan Carnes

Ve Neill Scholarship: The Results Are In!

Makeup Legend Ve Neill and CMS Director of Admissions Lee Joyner review materials

After long deliberation and input from a panel of top makeup professionals and instructors, Cinema Makeup School—the premiere makeup training institution in the world—and Fangoria magazine have chosen Anna Cichon, a Polish national living in London, England, to receive their  $10,000 Legends of Makeup Scholarship.

This year’s prize was named for Ve Neill, a three-time Academy Award winner and eight-time nominee. Ve’s work appears in such films as Beetlejuice, Mrs. Doubtfire, Edward Scissorhands, The Pirates of the Caribbean series, and The Hunger Games, and she regularly appears as a judge on SyFy Network’s FaceOff. Ve herself selected Anna from a pool of finalists.

“I’m very excited and honored to be a part of the Legends of Makeup Scholarship,” said Ve. “And I would like to congratulate Anna and applaud her beautiful work.”

To make the finalist pool, Anna’s work was selected from submissions from all over the world by a panel of top makeup artists and CMS instructors.

“We had such a hard time choosing the winner of the Legends of Makeup Scholarship this year,” said Lee Joyner, Director of Admissions at CMS and a panelist. “There was a large amount of fantastic applications from around the world. It’s always hard finding the final winner, and Ve and the Scholarship Panel thought long and hard on this difficult choice.”

Still, Anna’s work managed to stand out.

“Dedication and passion for the art of makeup and all of its facets are two of the main attributes of a fine artist,” said Leonard Engelman, the Governor of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch of AMPAS, who chaired the panel. “[Anna] obviously has both of these.”

Panelists hard at work (L-R): Kevin Brennan, Craig Reardon, Lee Joyner, Mike Spatola and Leonard Engelman

Anna (pronounced Ahn-YA) originally hails from Poland. That is where she began pursuing makeup work five years ago before moving to London in 2011 to try to break into the British film industry. In her young career, Anna has already had work featured in Makeup Artist Magazine and assisted on multiple feature films. Anna plans to use the scholarship to attend CMS’s Master Makeup Program and take advanced courses to expand her already impressive skill set.  

The other finalists will not be walking away empty-handed. Due to the quality of the work submitted, CMS has decided to extend three additional $1,000 scholarship offers to Angela Davis (Advance, NC), Margaret Caragan (Oakland, CA) and Lakey Yonglei (Shanghai, China).

Next time you see Anna, she’ll be at the School’s booth at Pasadena IMATS alongside her CMS classmates and instructors.

“Utilizing our state-of-the-art curriculum, [Anna] will be immersed in a world of advanced training and one-of-a-kind networking,” said Lee. “We’re excited to have her here at CMS.”

Speaking to Anna, Ve continued to offer the young artist praise. “You have a great start on being a top-notch makeup artist across the board. We all look forward to seeing your progress.”

While Anna celebrates her achievement, all eyes will turn to next year’s scholarship contest. Ve Neill will again lend her name and expertise to the 2013 award and competition is sure to be stiffer than ever.

For Anna, however, the journey is just beginning. “Cinema Makeup School will be life-changing to me...I need to learn more to keep up with the competition and pursue a career working with something my heart beats for.”

We’re excited for you, Anna! Check below for some images of Anna's winning work.

CMS Classes Tour Some of the Industry’s Best FX Labs

Last Monday, CMS Students got the chance to tour two legendary Special Effects Shops: The Character Shop and ADI. Sounds like the coolest field trip that we’ve ever heard of!

CMS Intern, and Dick Smith Scholarship Recipient, Wayne Anderson gives us his report:    

Our first stop was at Rick Lazzarini’s “The Character Shop” where they specialize in animatronic animals, puppets, robots, creatures and characters. Feature films [they’ve done] include Aliens, Mimic, Snakes on a Plane, Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghostbusters II,  and many, many more. They’ve also worked on a pile of commercials for major companies like Cadbury chocolate, DiGiorno pizza, Sprint and Budweiser.  

Rick Lazzarini shows us an animatronic Puma. Foam latex is used for the skin of the Puma and the skull is made out of vacuform plastic, the whole thing’s hollow so Rick can run all the cables and servos. Rick used radio controls to give the Puma life. Just the head can be outfitted with 20 plus servos! Rick explained how the radio controller transmits to the servos that pull and push cables to give the puma expressions.

In the front you can see the “Foster Imposters,” a pair of goofy chicken character puppets from TV spots for Foster Farms. On the upper shelf are a grinning trio of “Desperate Hyenas” from Cadbury ads. The hyenas have rod-controlled head and legs, with animatronic facial expressions .

Just looking around the Character shop you’ll be inspired to start creating your own animatronic puppet! 

Next stop was ADI. ADI is known for animatronics, animals, specialty costumes, makeup and human replicas.  Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. are the owners of ADI. You can see their work in some of the biggest hit movies like: AVP: Alien vs. Predator , Death Becomes Her (Academy Award Winner), ALIEN 3 (Academy Award Nominee), Hollow Man ( Academy Award Nominee), and Starship Troopers (Academy Award Nominee). We couldn’t take many photos at ADI because they’re working on a new movie that is strictly confidential.

As CMS students arrived, we signed disclosure agreements and handed over our cameras so pictures were limited.

We did get to snap one shot of the Predator bust from AVP and models of the Aliens to its right.

We had a really great time at both shops! The pros were very nice, super knowledgeable and happy to answer all of our questions! 

-W.A.

Rick Lazarrini, via Twitter, had even higher praise for Wayne and the rest of the group from CMS:

“It was AWESOME! Lots of talented and interested students with great questions took the tour. Hope to see ‘em in the workplace!”

CMS Team Helps A Place Called Home Turn Inner City Girls into ‘Cinderella’ for Prom

The CMS Team (from L-R): Danielle, Audrey, and Martha

On April 27th and 28th, CMS Instructor Wendy Ann Rosen and a group of dedicated students hit A Place Called Home’s youth center in South LA to take part in the annual Cinderella Project.

The Cinderella Project is an annual volunteer drive for at-risk teenage girls that, according to the center, “not only gifts them with a beautiful gown, but also empowers them to develop their inner-beauty and esteem through signing up for volunteer opportunities that will make a tangible difference in their communities.”

The CMS team helped teach the girls makeup techniques to complete the look with their newly donated gowns and shoes and prepare them for prom.

“It was awesome” says Martha Sanchez, a CMS graduate who worked at the event. “It sort of reminded me of when I used to be a cosmetic trainer for L’Oréal USA, in terms of coaching and demonstrating.” 

Wendy Ann also had a glowing review of the event, and added that she might invite some of the girls to participate in her CMS class as models in the future.

   

Register for Advanced Classes Today!

Call today or email info@cinemamakeup.com to register or request info.

CMS advanced classes are one week long and focus on specific professional skills.

Upcoming classes:

5/14/12

Digital FX w/ Tim Turner

Creature Maquette w/ Don Lanning

5/14/12 (night)

ZBrush w/ Kevin Brennan