Chris Walas's Build-Up Gorilla Bash !...Part 4....Into the "JAWS "of the Ape !!!

Hiya Gang !
Are you ready for more !!!
I hope you are because we're jumping in at full speed !

This time Chris Walas continues his battle with the mouth of the beast.
We continue from part 3 :
To fill in the roof of the mouth, I cut a piece of thin polyfoam and cut darts to help form the shape:

                          

All glued together it should do fine:

It's trimmed to fit, then coated with the cotton/urethane process. I then used the same technique to cover all the unfinished areas of the mouth interior, leaving the edge of the tongue and upper palate.

Now that the majority of mouth interior is done, I use two pieces of canvas to attach the upper and lower jaw. These are simply contact cemented at the back of the jaw, leaving a good half inch at the hinge point clear. Sorry, didn't get a photo of this.

Now because it's not a rigid mask, I added a bit of batting and cotton to the sides at the back to avoid forward/backward movement of the jaw:

Back tot he mouth interior, a section of T-shirt material was painted the coral color and glued to attach upper and lower mouth sections together. You can see I've already started painting the rest of the mouth:

A quick airbrush pass to suggest and darken the back of the mouth:

So now we've got the basic face and mouth done and the jaw hinged. On to the tried and true highly technical jaw return mechanism… rubber bands. There are any number of ways to do jaws and hinges, but for our cheapo suit, we're going with rubber bands like Janos Prohaska and Bob Burns had in their suits.
Make four "S" hooks like this:

I'm using ponytail rubber bands, but you can make adjustments to use most office rubber bands. It's important to pick a standard size as you will want to replace them as needed.
The upper hooks are placed under the cheekbone and glued in place. I latex over mine for extra strength.

The placement of the lower hook depends on your rubber bands. Test the rubber band by hooking it in the upper hook and stretching it over the lower jaw until you feel you have the proper tension. Then mark that spot for your lower hooks:
Your rubber band will probably be stretch near it's 50% point:

If you find you need more tension, you can add a second rubber band or use a larger rubber band doubled over:

Now I want you to see one of the hidden dangers of Latex build-up. Notice in this next shot that the lips no longer touch when the mouth is shut. Latex shrinks as it dries and you may find some distortion over large areas. I may leave the lips this way or I may fix it by adding more build-up to the lips. Not sure yet. Here's a shot of me wearing the as yet un-rubberbanded mask to give you a sense of size:

Meanwhile, I'm moving ahead on the actual suit. Here's the old T-shirt and sweatpants I'm using to make the under suit. I like to have the hands attached to the forearms . I think the elbow connection is less noticeable than the wrist. If you want to attach hands at the wrist, use a long sleeve shirt!

Next time we'll start on the fur for the head and maybe more.

There you have it folks !

The amount of detail Chris is achieving with this build-up is beyond belief !

This mask already surpasses what I was expecting !

So tune in again next time folks, when things start to " get hairy" !

Chris Walas's Build-Up Gorilla Bash !....Part 3 !!!! Monstrous Monkey Mouth !

What do you think so far gang? Is Chris amazing , or what ?!
We left off with Chris "fleshing out " his creation, now Chris turns his attention to primate dentistry !

The inside of the mouth and jaw attachment.

Doing the inside of the mouth in build-up can be the most challenging part of doing a build-up suit. The jaw needs to be aligned and the teeth need to stay out of the way.

The teeh can be made out of almost anything; wood, polyclay, various foams…whatever you feel comfortable working with. I’m using more EVA foam as I’m relatively new to the material and need the practice. I’m doing the teeth in sections so that I can more easily align them.

First up are the upper incisors. I roughed them in with scissors and razor:

 

I used heavy sandpaper and a hot sculpting tool to finish the form:

 

Same for the canines. I'll do the molars once I fit these upper and lower sets. I'm using a professional water-based air dry urethane to coat and paint them, but tinted latex works just as well. Be aware that dried latex will stick to itself until it is set with powder, sealer, silicone, etc.

Mogo is a grungy character, so his teeth need to match. I used coral for the gums and washed over teeth and gums with brown before adding a little black where more definition was needed. I fit these into place in the upper jaw. They have to be place as far forward as possible, while still clearing the lower lip when the mouth is shut:

 

The same goes for the lower set, except they must fit cleanly behind the upper set. I used an additional piece of foam as a riser to get the right height:

 

Next the canines go in. Make sure that all the teeth have the necessary clearance. Sculpting and casting these sets of teeth will allow a much closer fit, but for a cheap build-up suit it is safer to allow more clearance. The Jaw should close with all the teeth not touching each other:

 

I can only fit four molars in the space available and these are formed and fit the same as the other teeth:

 

These were finished off with a hot sculpting spatula:

 

The tongue is simply a piece of regular polyfoam scissored to shape:

 

The same cotton batting is used to cover it using more of the tinted urethane:

 

 

Bongo again gang !

Can you beleive how cool this looks !

And this is only the first part of the mouth !

 

Tune in next time, as Chris faces..." The Jaws of the Ape " !!!

 

Don't miss it !!!!

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Chris Walas's Build-Up Gorilla Bash !....Part 2 !!!

Holy cow gang !
Can you believe how cool this is ?!
Chris continues his incredible Build-Up , and gives his ape some skin !
And I turn over to the capable hands of Mr. Chris Walas !


Chris Walas ;

I had a couple of hours early this morning and got a little further ahead. I finished up the foam on the head;

I'm ignoring the lower jaw now until I have the main face finished. This is so that it will be easier to fit the teeth and jaw when the upper face is a little stiffer.
I'm using cotton batting and latex for the final surface. I start by gluing batting to an area;

Then I butter on some tinted latex. This is thick old latex from another project, but it works fine for this;

I work in sections. It's easier to fit the batting and make sure the overlaps are nice and flat.

The latexed batting can be sculpted to a degree by dragging tools across it carefully. Here's the above batting roughly sculpted into place;

And here's the entire "Non-furred" upper mask covered with more sculpting added;

Once this layer is dry, I'll be adding another stippled coat of latex for thickness as well as adding any other details I may need to. Mogo is coming along pretty well so far. I'm doing the head first because I believe the head defines the scale of size and detail for the rest of the suit. I've picked up a pair of Vans to use for the feet and found an old pair of gloves for the hands. This is going to be one cheap suit!

Bongo here again !
The beauty of this series is that through Chris's generous efforts you'll learn techniques that will give you the skills and know-how to tackle any type of character your imagination can come up with!..Well, within reason of course !

To Be Continued...Same Ape Time...Same Ape Channel !

Chris Walas's Build-up Gorilla Bash !

Boy oh boy !
Huge news ape fans, Oscar winning Special Effects Make-Up Artist Chris Walas Has come on board to bring us the ultimate "How To" series, Chris Walas's  Build-up Gorilla Bash !

In this Hollywood Gorilla Men exclusive, Chris will talk us through the steps he uses to build a professional gorilla suit, using build up methods....and on a budget !
And for the huge surprise...It's Starting right Now !

From here out, Chris will guide you :

Here's the first installment of my "Build-up Gorilla Bash".

Amidst work on real projects, one of the things I'm working on is a webisode puppet series. It's a long term project as there's a lot of stuff that has to be built in my spare time, which I haven't any of. One of the characters is a monstrous gorilla guard from Lemuria named Mogo. He's definitely an old school gorilla, so I'm building the suit out of a couple of really cheesy gorilla costumes I bought off Ebay for $50. The suits had no feet and the faces were pretty much useless. The hands are actually fine for a Halloween costume, but I'm redoing them as I need fingers with better support.

                                                                    The suit;

 

 

Normally, I would just sculpt the head, but this time I'm trying something else just for fun. I'm going to attempt to do the face, hands, chest and feet using old-fashioned build-up techniques. My plan is to use one of the suits as surplus fur to add to the other suit to adjust for padding and such. The fur is really pretty bad, but I'm hoping with some paint and treatment, it will be presentable. The good thing is that this is essentially a comedy suit, so there's a lot of leeway. And in its final form, it will be wearing a set of armor of some sort.

I started by using a painters hood as a base for the head construction. I picked up a ton of free scrap foam from an upholstery place off of Craig's list. It's all different colors, densities, etc., but it shouldn't make a big difference… I hope.

Here's a quick sequence of the foam build-up;

The foam is cut out and trimmed to shape with a pair of sharp scissors. It is then glued down to the cotton painters hood with a spray adhesive used for foam and fabric.

Continue building up foam shapes to block in the gorilla's facial anatomy, Don't worry about overlapping the foam, we're just focusing on building up the basic shapes.

Continue blocking in shapes until the entire face is roughed in.

 

Now start to refine the detail by cutting smaller pieces of foam in shapes that mimic the contours of a gorilla's face. ( you can study photos right here on HGM !) You can make simple bulges by bending the foam and taking a long snip along the bend. The piece that pops out will have a nice rounded effect like the pieces above to the right and left of the nostrils on the muzzle. Spray adhesive on the side you cut with the scissors and apply it to the foam under layer.

I'm planning on a simple opening mouth and that's it. There's more foam work to do, but it's time for my real job, so it'll have to wait. I threw the suit fur on it just to get a feel for how the fur will work with the forms. So far, so good.

 

 

NEXT TIME

Chris Walas puts some skin on this big ape !

So the Fly and a Gorilla walk into a bar........

Hiya Gorilla gang!
Old Bongo is happy to announce another member to our monumental fraternity of Hollywood Gorilla Men!
This gorilla, while not having seen action in movies, has the heart of a true genius behind him !
If you've ever marveled at the amazing creatures in The Fly...The Fly 2....and Gremlins, then you've seen the work of Oscar Winner Chris Walas.
Chris built this gorilla suit in '78 or '79..  for Rob Bottin and his crew, who were doing a Haunted house in El Monte. Rob asked Chris to do a gorilla suit for one of the rooms. $150 and a couple of weeks was all he had. Despite the budget and deadline, Chris had fun with it. Chris explains ; "This was the only gorilla suit I ever made and it was never used in a film as such. I made a cyclops eye and horn for it for Galaxina and a new head years later for a Donkey Kong commercial (the head is still at Bob Burns house). It's got a lot wrong with it, but I sure loved it at the time! Just thought you all might like a look."
Guess what Chris? Your absolutely right!

$150.00 and two weeks to make this ? Nothing short of incredible !

To further endear Chris to our crowd, he also sculpts mini busts of legendary Hollywood Gorilla Men !

Years ago Chris sculpted these amazing busts of Charles Gemora, and George Barrows in their ape form.

The likeness's are keen and the sculpting is top notch.

These were released as resin castings.

As you can plainly see, the detail is awe inspiring !

If Chris were to ever continue this line (hint, hint) then you can count on old Bongo to let you know !

Let's all take this great opportunity to welcome Chris into or HGM family !



So you want to be a gorilla man...part 1

This is it folks !
This will be a step by step guide to creating your own "Classically Styled" gorilla suit.
This won't be a Rick Baker suit you can't tell from the real thing, but more along the lines of Crash Corrigan and Charlie Gemora.
There will be several routes to take with this process, and we'll try to cover them all.

In this first instalment, we'll take the simplest route. We'll modify an off the shelf costume.
The costume I'm using in this demonstration is from, https://www.gorillasuits.com/Gorilla-Costume-and-Suits-Home.html
This is the "beige" gorilla.

I'm using a light colored suit, as it photographs much better to demonstrate the steps.

This demo will cover the most important aspect of the suit, from an acting standpoint..the eyes !
Most off the shelf masks have eyes, or eye holes that protruded a distance from the face of the wearer.
Our objective is to make the mask look like part of your face, rather than something that is just sitting loosely on your head.

To begin, you need a gorilla mask ! I recommend a mask that has a neutral expression with the mouth closed, or nearly so.
 You need a face form of some type , to do your build up work on..
I've used an old life cast of my face in this demo, but you can also use a prefabricated head form.
If you are unable to acquire a head form of some type, don't panic ! You can also use one of those inexpensive plastic masks from a craft store, (and) a Styrofoam wig head.

You will also need the following supplies:
Liquid latex rubber
a small piece of foam robber, or polyfoam. 12" square is plenty.
Canvas material, from a fabric store. This needs to be untreated . (not waterproof ! )
Cotton balls
Q-tips
Very sharp scissors.

Got everything ?
OK, lets start !
First, stand in front of a mirror and put the mask on. Look closely at the eyes...do the eye holes fit snugly to you face ? Probably not.
The mask I'm am using here is the worst possible scenario, just to show you how dramatic a change we can make with this technique. The Mask I'm using has molded on eyes !
I forgot to get a close-up of the mask with the eyes still in place, so this is the same mas, but in black.

The face itself looks pretty good , but those molded on eyes have got to go!

Using the scissors carefully cut the eyes out of the mask if it has eyes
put the mask back on and check it again.If the mask has what looks like eyelids, they too have to go.

Now you should have fairly decent sized openings. While wearing the mask, us your fingers to push down the eye holes so the rubber of the mask, touches your face. If any part of the hole covers any part of your eye, trim it away. (With the mask OFF so you don't injure yourself !!!)

Now set the mask aside and we'll start on the next step.
We'll need your face form for this.
Cut the canvas cloth into small strips and squares of various sizes. (around an inch or so.)

Then take small strips and squares of canvas (or similar) fabric and dip them into liquid latex. Place these all around the eye area of the head form. Use a lot of layers, and overlap them as you go. Allow to dry.

This will build up a thick, fairly rigid mask that will fit your eyes very snugly. Trim this Eye mask to even it up all around, and trim out the opening for your eyes to look through. Test fit it to your own face, and adjust where necessary. Once the fit to your eyes is good with this mini-mask, apply a coat of contact cement to the front of the eye mask, and to the inside of the eye area of the ape mask.

With the eye mask on the head form, carefully put the ape-mask onto the head form being careful to not touch the contact cemented surfaces together yet. Line the eyes of the ape mask up with the new eye mask. Starting from the center of the nose between the eyes, gently press the ape mask down so it sticks to the new eye mask. Position the ape- face into a position that conforms to the eye plate and continue pressing down.

What all this does is to permanently glue the ape mask down to a inner mask that fits your face nearly exactly.

Once the masks are glued together, use scraps of foam rubber to "fill in" any voids or open areas.

Then you can use liquid latex to laminate cotton down to the foam . Wet the foam first with the latex (use Q-tips for this). Then stretch the cotton out flat and tap it down to the foam. Using a rolling motion, wet the cotton from the center going out, re wetting frequently to keep the Q-tip from sticking.

 

Once this is smoothed out, (you may need to laminate toilet tissue down in little torn bits to smooth the surface)you can stipple more liquid latex over the area to blend it all together

As a final step, you can mix a small amount of acrylic paint with liquid latex, and "stipple" this colored latex on the rebuilt area with a piece of the foam rubber.

If all went well, you should now have a mask that fits your eyes very closely .

NEXT UP...

 

The Moving Mouth !!!