Creating a human Hide

CookFX Productions

CookFX Productions

Well-known member
i do post production and ive been asked to create a skinned Human hide. I have a idea, but i think its to grand. I was thinking of buying some wall mud and making a small wooden frame and filling it with a small amount mud and letting it dry a bit before putting a body outline in it by someone laying in it. Id then wait for it to dry and fill the mold with a couple layers of liquid latex, I dont know how much to use, since this is just a ruff idea. But in theory if it works id have a thick enough latex outline to string an make it look like im tanning an streching human skin, or so i think.

This is my ruff idea, need some more ideas to work with mainly with making the mold.

If you got anything ill take it.

Thanks a ton guys.

Brian C.
 
Could be a bit more precise than mud.

You could lie your actor down on a big flat peice of fibreboard or similar, and then make an outline with plastecie or something,a nd then paint on the latex. Once its peeled off, the edges will curl round, and will probably look allright as it is... maybe build details in like bumps along the spine etc....
 
You might want to paint it on a mannequin or body casting, I have used liquid latex for stage effects and to make it thick enough to handle when painted on, it takes many many many coats and a long drying time to get it thick enough to peel off and handle.
 
Me Myself & I said:
This is one of the few forums that can have that subject line and not be under investigation :)
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I was thinking that exactly!! So now I posted on the thread... I did not want to miss out on being on the watch list!! :shocked:

To make a full body skin suit/hide you would probably want to make a full body casting of an actor and build up the layers of hide/skin from out of the negative mold. This would be some serious mold making and I would want to consult someone who has some experience doing that. Look around; there are a lot of effects artists looking to break in.

I have worked with the liquid latex and painting it on a person then peeling it off would be painful for the person, unless they are completely hairless! Painting it onto a mannequin is an interesting idea. The stuff builds up in very thin layers so after about five or six layers, I would probably want to put something down to give support to the "Skin" when you peeled it off. Maybe something like medical gauze, then continue to paint layers over it to get rid of the texture.

Liquid latex or foamlatex (in a negative mold) are some of the materials you can use, but there are some new materials, like silicone based products, that might work also. I would search for effects or art supply websites to see about that. One thing that is going to be a concern is getting the color right. Most of the stuff, like the latex, that says, "Flesh" colored, is this sickly pink color and probably would not be right for a human flesh hide. Coloring these types of materials may take specific techniques unique to the material. For example, I know that regular greasepaint won't work with latex, as the latex absorbs the grease and turns the paint chalky. They make castor oil based greasepaint (Rubber Mask Greasepaint) specifically for this.

Good luck. When you make it, post pix... that ought to be interesting.
 
I think the answer also depends a lot on how the 'hide' needs to appear in the film:
- stretched out flat like most tanned animal hides? If so, it may not actually look all that human, any more than a stretched out cow hide looks particularly cowish - although admittedly that depends a lot on what you do with the head and hands etc, such extremities are frequently removed from animal hides (except hunting trophies)
- or lying in a crumpled up heap? Latex is the obvious way to go, but I'm concerned the result could look more like a deflated balloon than an actual human hide :)
- and will it need to be moved, touched, folded etc? I think you need to know what type of shots it will be needed for.
 
you might want to make a duct tape body cast like the type used for making dummies.
get the actor in tight fitting clothes, wrap them in duct tape then cut it off in the same way you want to skin the actor then stretch it out ad coat it in flesh colored latex. it will take a lot less latex and be able to withstand the stretching and handling it will probably go through and it will be the correct shape
thanks
-k-
 
Does it need to be human sized? I made several smaller pieces and joined them with liquid latex as an adhesive. I needed to make skin for a giant frog and used liquid latex, oil based clay and plaster from the hardware store. I filled the bottom of a cake pan with the clay. You can use sculpey or something similiar to make a little 'stamp' from the skin of an orange or old suitcase. The stamp is just a little lump with the impression of the orange skin on it that when pressed into the clay gives you the look of pores in skin. I used a couple of different textures because I wanted my devil amphibian to have real looking skin. After you texture your clay, give it a light spritz of soapy water and pour your plaster into the pan on top. You can use more professional types of plaster that will give you a heavier-duty mold, but I'm too ghetto for that. Let the plaster dry and gently pop it out of the pan. At this point I used some disposeable foam paint brushes to slather liquid latex around on the plaster negative form. Let the latex cure until it's not tacky. Smooth some baby powder lightly around so it won't stick to itself like this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRplaGgWG60
 
drk3p said:
Would you F* me? Id F* me.

Good-bye horses ... I'm flying over you...........
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What on earth???

As for the question.....I'm a low-tech kind of guy myself. I'd take a full body leotard and dye it flesh colored. Wrinkle the heck out of it for that 'shrivelled' look. Add little nuances like moles, hair, etc. Then just figure out the head.
 
Personally, I'd use silicone. It's much stretchier than latex, and being translucent it's also a lot easier to pigment and color. Of course I'm also not a fan of latex, and like stuff I make to look as real as possible, both in camera and in person. ;)
 
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