Neill Gorton is one of the busiest people in the makeup industry.
He heads up millenium fx who design and create anamatronics, special effects makeup and prosthetics for film, tv and theatre including the creation of some of Dr Who’s most memorable monsters and creatures. Neill’s materials is another of his companies, it sells special effects products hand picked by Neill.
Gorton Studio is Neill’s training school, graduates of Gorton studios have gone on to work on films including Maleficent, World War Z and Hellboy 3 to name a few. The training school is run by the amazing Danny-Marie Elias. As well as the fantastic choice of courses available at Gorton studios, Neill firmly believes in investing in the future of makeup artistry by training the lecturers who are providing education for student makeup artists in up to date technology and techniques. I am overjoyed to be one such lecturer!
Having trained in theatrical makeup around 8 years ago and regularly attending seminars, trade shows and demonstrations, it has become clearer to me with each demonstration I see that the industry is fast moving and things have changed. I need to update my skills and learn about the products being used in industry today so as to equip students with the best chance of success in this competitive business. With this in mind I made enquiries with Gorton Studios and booked onto a bespoke makeup course to learn how to apply and paint silicone prosthetics.
Well it was THE BEST DAY EVERRRR!
Myself and a couple of colleagues from City of Bristol College, Kate and Tara got to spend the day with Danny-Marie, learning from her experience and expertise.
I was the model for Danny’s demonstration. She turned me into a lion!
The encapsulated silicone lion face was created by millenium fx and was made up of two pieces, the chin being separate from the rest of the face.
After applying the top half of the lion, we had a break and then Danny showed us how to apply silicone prosthetic wounds which we had a practice at, to varying degrees of success! Then Danny applied the chin to the lion and we had a lunch break… eating a sandwich with a face full of silicone is just about as awkward and hilarious as you’d imagine it to be. Though the silicone is surprisingly comfortable to wear, it moves with your face and you have a full range of facial expression.
After lunch Danny showed us how to paint our prosthetics using alcohol activated paints, most of the paint work was done with a flicking technique which creates a fine spray of paint almost as if you were airbrushing, the result is phenominal, it looks a lot more natural that way and not just “painted on”.
I learnt so much on the course and would recommend Gorton Studio to anyone. Danny is so friendly and helpful, she is a talented artist and educator. I am now looking into the next step which is a course on casting, molding and making silicone prosthetics.
If you are curious to see what a lion looks like attempting to eat a sandwich, you should definitely have a look at my youtube video on my Gorton experience!
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this little post
Jo x
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