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Fursuits and anthropomorphics in the media. A listing of resources on makeup, movies, books, and related.

Cinefx
I highly recommend that those of you out there to get it. Issue 62 features the movie Congo and has some wonderful information on the animatronics and creation of the gorillas.

Cinefantastique
Make-up Artist Magazine

From: Len Canders
Subject: Makeup References (books) - (long)

following is a list of various (primarily) makeup and costume published reference materials which may be of interest to the list. i started this list a while ago for someone who wanted a source list. admittedly it is weak on the costume aspect, but i have not yet found a furry costume book worth buying … i guess furry costuming is more of a renaissance art form combining aspects of various arts. the comments following each source are my own general observations; i haven't read each book, but have consulted them when the need arose. please feel free to add your own comments, etc., for the benefit of the list. also, they are not in any particular order except for the lee baygan books — imo, his books are the best.

Techniques of Three-Dimensional Makeup by Lee Baygan, $19.95, paperback, 182 pages Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1988 (Paperback Edition), original copyright 1982, Catalog Card Number 82-1847, ISBN 0-8230-5261-3 pbk. [The best and most detailed guide I have found on making and using foam latex prosthetic makeup items; only problem is that some of the appendix material, e.g., particularly sources of materials, is dated.]

Makeup for Theatre, Film & Television by Lee Baygan, about $35.00, paperback wire-bound, 182 pages Drama Book Publishers, 260 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001, copyright 1982 (reprinted 1989), ISBN 0-89676-093-6 (US); also reprinted 1989 by A & C Black (Publishers) Limited, 35 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4JH, ISBN 0-7136-2430-2 [ You may find either US or UK published versions. The subtitle is “A Step-By-Step Photographic Guide”, and it does provide much useful information utilizing black-and-white photos, but seems to assume that you know some basics about makeup, etc. Even so, it is a good, if somewhat over-priced supplement to Baygan's other book above.]

Stage Makeup, 8th Edition by Richard Corson, about $46.00, hardback, 411 pages Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632, copyright 1989 (last date; original copyright was 1942!), ISBN 0-13-840539-5 [A very good overall resource which covers everything about makeup from Basic Principles to Planning the Makeup to Applying the Makeup. It has so much information that it is almost intimidating although you feel you really ought to be trying to do various things and learning the differences between techniques and materials, if you could afford to do so. Sources of materials list is somewhat dated. Overall, a worthwhile resource book especially if it could be found at a reduced price.]

Film and Television Makeup by Herman Buchman, $19.95, 224 pages Paperback edition reprint 1990 by Back Stage Books, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, copyright 1990, originally published 1973 by Watson-Guptill Publications, a division of BPI Communications, Inc., (address same as above), ISBN 0-8230-7560-5 [Has good detail on some aspects of makeup, e.g., constructing beards, using wigs, or using some alternative techniques, but overall seems to be of mixed utility. Worth having if it can be found used for maybe half the list price.]

Grande Illusions by Tom Savini, $15.00, 136 pages Fifth edition 1991 by Imagine, Inc., P.O. Box 9674, Pittsburgh, PA 15226, copyrights 1983 and 1991 (was also published by Harmony Books under the title BIZARRO), ISBN 0-911137-00-9 [The book's subtitle, “a learn-by-example guide to The Art and Technique of Special Make-Up Effects from the films of Tom Savini,” pretty much says it all. The author shows off his capabilities using his film work as examples and some of the effects are quite detailed. There are scattered useful and interesting hints, but the book seems to be more showcase than instructive, certainly showing what he did, but not enough about how he did it. I wouldn't go out of my way to find this book.]

Dick Smith's Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook by Dick Smith, $13.00, 108 pages Third printing by Morris Costumes, Inc., 1990, originally published 1965 by Imagine, Inc. (see address under Grande Illusions above), copyrights 1965 and 1985, ISBN 0-911137-02-5 [Surprisingly, a good basic step-by-step guide to making a number of quite simple and some complex characters, but includes good basic explanatory information and the techniques can be applied to other situations or cases. Worth having and reading.]

Special Make-Up Effects by Vincent J-R Kehoe, Dick Smith, $21.95, paperback, 134 pages Focal Press, copyright 1991, ISBN 0-240-80099-0 [Excellent source of much information on basic and special make-up effects; reportedly this book includes the best of Kehoe's $60.00 Techniques of the Professional Make-Up Artist. Well worth the fair price.]

Stage Make-Up Techniques by Martin Jans, $23.95, paperback, 112 pages Players Press, Inc., copyright 1992, ISBN 0-88734-621-9 [A sound step-by-step guide to stage make-up showing using varied examples which include color pictures of the specific steps involved. Nothing particularly wrong with the book, but it's just not much to get excited about.]

Stage Makeup Step-By-Step by Rosemarie Swinfield, $21.99, hardback, 128 pages Betterway Books, copyright 1994, ISBN 1-55870-390-X [Basically similar to Stage Make-Up Techniques described above. Interesting, but not exciting.]

The Costumemaker's Art edited by Thom Boswell, $24.95, paperback, 144 pages Lark Books, ISBN 0-937274-70-4 [Just a picture book of great costumes in historic, fantastic, and futuristic categories. Unfortunately, there is virtually no information provided on how the costumes were constructed, but it's nice to look at.]

The Prop Builder's Molding & Casting Handbook by Thurston James, $19.95, paperback, 236 pages, ISBN 1-55870-128-1 [Primarily aimed at, as the title says, making props, but has good info on various methods, techniques, and materials covering such subjects as the mold itself, mold releases (water, foil, petroleum jelly, pva, etc.), casting, and vacuum forming with thermoplastics. Discusses various materials such as plaster, rubber latex, silcone rtv, urethane, breakaway glass, thermosets, water-extendable polyesters, and even hardware store products. Except for an extremely annoying lay out, a worthwhile source to complement other references. Boswell has published two other books, Theater Props Handbook and another on mask-making methods & techniques, but I felt this was the most useful volume.]

Prop Builder's Mask-Making Handbook by Thurston James, printed 1990 (Paperback - ISBN 1-55870-1664, Hardcover - ISBN 1-55870-1672)

No Strings Attached : The Inside Story of Jim Henson's Creature Shop by Matt Bacon More than 300 full-color photographs and artworks, step-by-step illustrated explanations of how animatronics are created, never-before-published storyboards, sketches, and interviews, and inside stories on the films, TV shows and commercials that have made the Creature Shop famous. Hardcover, 192 pages. Published by MacMillan Books. ISBN: 0028620089

Behind the Mask-Secrets of Hollywood's Monster Makers by Mark Salisbury and Alan Hedgcock, Dick Smith, Stan Winston, Rick Baker, Bob Bottin, Steve Johnson and their creations. Films greatest monsters from The Exorcist to Jurassic Park. 125 pages, 1994 ISBN: 1-85286-488-5

MEN, MAKEUP AND MONSTERS by Anthony Timpone Here you'll find profiles of twelve masters of screen magic, including Dick Smith, Stan Winston, Tom Savini and Rick Baker. ISBN: 0312146787, Paperback, 256 pages, St. Martins Press, LLC. $20

Professional Modelmaking by Norman Trudeau Promoted as the only up-to-date reference on modelmaking today, with more than 100 new and old materials discussed- including resins, foams, plastics, wood, clay, solvents and adhesives- as well as state-of-the-art techniques, professional tips and tricks of the trade. This is not a book on how to build model airplanes from a kit. This is making models from raw materials. 176 pages, Paperback, Color and B&W Photos throughout, 1995 ISBN: 0-8230-4098-4

The Encyclopedia of Model Making Techniques by Christopher Payne & P. Quarto. ISBN: 0785806148, published by Book Sales, Incorporated. Hardcover, 192 pages, $20.

MOLD MAKING AND CASTING GUIDES: MOLDMAKING GUIDE, CASTING GUIDE, SOURCE GUIDE, BONUS GUIDE Moldmaking Guide is 63 pages. Casting guide is 77 pages. Source book for 186 sources of 210 materials is 28 pages. There is also a bonus guide with charts and other valuable information. The covers are plain and are stapled together, but they contain the best collection of practical information ever seen in an easy to read format. Covers procedures used extensively in Special Effects and other industries. 4 BOOK SET, 8.5×11“, Stapled Photocopies, Illus., 1994

Monster Maker's Mask Maker's Handbook by Arnold Goldman A photo-documentary of the step by step process of creating a Halloween-type latex mask, including sculpting, mold-making, casting and painting. A very good place to start if you've never done a mask before. Contains many valuable tips and tricks learned by hard experience. 43 pages, Soft Cover, Color Insert, 1994

SPECIAL EFFECTS SOURCEBOOK by Robert E. McCarthy Lists film commissions, special effects services and suppliers, and pertinent unions worldwide. Sorted by country and state or province, this guide will lead you to the right special effects people and supplies wherever you are working.

ROBOT EVOLUTION- The development of anthrorobotics by Mark E. Rosheim - The history of robotics.

FX SOURCE BOOK & FOAM LATEX OVENS Gary Boham's two excellent reference books. The FX Source Book consists of the updated and expanded reference guide from Dick Smith's course. Contains contact for 480+ materials sources sources and companies for special makeup. Foam Latex Ovens provides the information you need to build just about any kind of oven.

FOAM LATEX SURVIVAL MANUAL & DONNA DREXLER'S FOAM LATEX 911 In these two indispensable guides, Donna Drexler, one of the make-up industry's premiere foam latex experts, offers beginning and advanced techniques for running great foam latex appliances.

THE ILLUSION OF LIFE: LIFELIKE ROBOTICS by Gene William Poor, Ph.D. This is the only book that deals exclusively with the specialized art of Mechanical Animation. Contains dozens of company profiles, bios, contacts and rare photos of the workings of these sophisticated robots. Is not a “How to” type book. 96 pages, 98 Color Photos, 1991 ISBN: 0-88157-000-1

SECRETS of HOLLYWOOD SPECIAL EFFECTS by Robert E. McCarthy Excellent “How To” with over 200 illustrations and photos of equipment. Includes snow, smoke, pyro, weapons, chemical effects, flying stunts and more. This volume, published in 1992 is the most up-to-date Special Effects book in print. 185 pages, Illus. B&W photos, Hardcover, 1992 ISBN: 0-240-80108-3

Industrial Light and Magic : The Art of Special Effects by Thomas G. Smith Hardcover, 279 pages, Reprint Nov. 1991, 1.39 x 12.36 inches.

The Whole Costumer's Catalog
A 224-page directory for costumers, crafters, home sewers, and others, containing a listing of at least 1,100 companies. You name it, they've got just about all of it. The catalog is $20 including postage. Email the editor, Karen Dick, or send a SASE, to check the current price. [A Whole Earth-type catalog for just about anything related to costumes; updated annually, it consists of contributions made by various individuals describing resources from armor to wigs. Undoubtedly a valuable resource if you can tolerate calling or writing and then waiting for things to come in the mail; if everyone listed had an email address for ordering catalogs and/or getting information, this would be a fantastic resource.]

Castle Blood (http://www.castleblood.com/)
PO Box 207
2860 Main St.
Beallsville, PA 15313-0207
Phone: 724-632-3242
Fax: (724) 632-6376

Industrial yellow pages
Word of mouth from another area costumer. But “industrial” yellow pages are a good place to start - that's how I found a dental supplier (dental stone) and a medical supply house (plaster bandages for casting)

Mechanics for SPFX Make-up and Mechanical Puppetry #1 by Steve Kalman How to make mechanical elements including jaw movements, eyebrows, eyelids and eyeblinks. Covers basic tools and materials and where to get them. Walks you step by step through many devices you can make from things purchased at any hardware store. Mr. Kalman demonstrates a talking ape head and talking skull. Mask-making and skin attachments will be covered in future videos. 1993, VHS.

SECRETS OF DICK SMITH This tape offers footage from some of Dick Smith's best known films, some shot in his own private laboratory. Plus interviews with the stars he has transformed. So go behind the scenes and see movie illusions in the making. Running time approx. 25 minutes.

Using GM Foam Produced by GM Foam with Gil Mosko Learn the basic chemistry and technique of foam latex. Learn how to use foam successfully to create your own special makeup effects. Foam latex is the same technology used in the film Mrs. Doubtfire. not to be confused with Halloween mask technology. Foam kits are also available from Special Effect Supply. 35 minutes, 1995, VHS.

Moldmaking Techniques using Latex Rubber Two video set, with Roger Beebe Comprehensive course in mold-making for serious artists and craftspersons. Advances through eight projects from easy to advanced. Tape One covers; mold for a plaque, glove molds for small figurines, glove mold with a seam for larger pieces, one and two-piece backup mold and two-part urethane plastic backup mold. Tape Two covers; mold with “windows” or holes through the model, complex molds, basket mold, plus fiberglass materials and mold venting. Complete examination of all molds, typical to Roger's approach. 1996, 3 1/2 hours, VHS.

Latex Mask-making

The Michael Burnett Series - The Art of Special Make-up Effects Volume One: Introduction to Make-up Effects Use easily obtained materials to create three different spectacular make-up effects: gelatin make-up, cotton and latex make-up and wax build-up make-up. 1989, 30 min. VHS $14.95. Volume Two: Basic Foam Rubber Appliance Shows you how to create your own prosthetic appliance make-up, from making the life cast to applying the foam piece. 1989, 45 min. VHS $14.95. Volume Three: Cable Controlled Mechanical Mask Shows the more advanced make-up effects enthusiast how to create a full head cable-controlled mechanical mask. Video covers; design, full-head life cast, sculpture, underskull, mechanics, cable controls, moldmaking, foam rubber finish work and costuming. 1989, 60 min. VHS

A compilation of feature films related to anthropomorphics - http://www.io.com/~hmiller/furfilms.txt

Another listing of movies - http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/realms/368/movies1.html

- Goosebumps series
- Tank Girl

From: Lynx - VFP
Subject: Tank Girl Book !

Hi all !

I just purchased a really cool book called “The Making of Tank Girl” which is chocked full of full colour still photos from the movie, including lots of ripper shots and full page detailed head shots of the rippers so you can closely study the makeuep, and there is a nice section in the book on how they made the ripper costumes, which I will quote from in a bit….

There are also stills in the book from scenes that never made it to the movie, including the one that we all KNEW was in there, which was a bedroom scene with Booga and Tank Girl.

Theres lots of funny antidotes in the book about how Tank Girl has this thing for wanting to make out wiht marsupials, The producer was not sure how to sell a script to MGM that contained bestiality, so they slipped it in after 2 or 3 revisions, Since we never saw anything I guess that the film industry still has a major problem with cross species sex :)

Anway after trying to get many different FX house to make the rippers they got a call back from Stan Winston at the last moment, who they were positive they would not be able to afford, but Stan was so hyped up about the movie and wanting to do it, he said that his guys were really *desperate* to do this, these are the best characters we've had the opportoonity to do and to show that they wanted this job they cut their prices in *half* !

Anyway ther is a lot of stuff about the costume design and creations and some really excellent in the workshop pictures of various stages of creations and the systems created to control the ears and tails.

Quote from the book….. (pardon the typos)

Knowing that they would need to incorporate, the Stan Winston Studio art department began the process of sculpting the heads, once they were happy with the look of each individual character, the sculpture has to be broken down into pieces mould makers and foam runners in to the actual prosthetic parts which would be worn by the actor: “I broke down the head make-up into a muzzle and upper lip piece, then a left and right cheek, a forehead piece, a front and back of the neck and a re-useable headpiece that had the mechanical ears with cables whicc ran from the back of the skull cap…………… they had a more animal muzzle which wouould have to be operated by motorrs so they could snarl.” Meanwhile Alan Scott was working on the technical side to ensure that the Rippers ears and tails would come alive without being so cumbersome as to make acting impossible: “All the actors had fully articulated ears. Two of the rippers had extended mechanical snouuts which were remote controlled or could be controlled by the actors lips. The snouts were operated by servo motors. because this was a prosthetic makeup and was glued directly to the actors face we attached very fine cables to the actors lips linked to a potentiometer, so that when the actors moved their mouths it would trip the potentiometer and activate the servo motors. the motors were also on remote, so if we wanted the Ripper to snarl or to speak all we had to do was hit a switch. Then we had the tails. We sculpted tails for all the rippers. All the rippers had articulated ones which could be poseable, they were made of honeycomb aluminum and light graphite. They had to be light because the actors would be wearing them for eight hours at a time, but they had to be durable for the action. We also had stunt tails whihc were lighter and made of polyfoam. In all there were eight principal tails and sixteen stunt tails, they had to be able to move around quickly exspecially in the fight scene. We also had one fully operational articulated tail which would be used for inserts and other shots. As Alan explains, everything did not go according to plan: “In the early ripper makeup test we discovered that the actors had problems with the servo motors on their heads.” A combination of factors made it impossible to keep the sevo pack on their heads. they were too cumbersome and in the desert the actors were too hot and no heat was able to excape throgh the head piece. “So we took the servo pack and shifted it back down onto their bodys and ran cables from the skull cap down to the servos. this had another problem, how to disguise the servo pack. There were ten servo motors, five for each ear. We created a prosthetic hump to cover the motors so you couldn't see them, it worked out really well because it helped with the look. Before you had this huge head and a huge tail and with the hump it created a gradual curve which linked the head and tail and made the characters more real.

……. It was important that they be believable, particularly as Tank Girl falls for Booga. he had to be a very real character so that their one, brief love scene would work. Actually the touching love scene between Booga and Tank Girl was shot twice. Once artfully draped with sheets and once without. It was very, very real, in fact since Booga was designed and built as “anatomically correct”!

So there you have it, I hope theres a directors cut, just so I can see that love scene !

- Titan: AE - every alien race aside from Humans and Dredge were anthro or semi-anthro

- Dog Soldiers - movie about werewolves

- The Howling (series) - more werewolves, and I think the 4th one had were-thylacines

- Most Disney animated movies

- Antz - CG movie about anthro ants with a few other anthro insects

- Dragonheart, and Dragonheart: a New Beginning - while technically not anthromorphic, they are sentient dragons

- Fright Night 1 and 2

- Altered States - A mad scientist turns into an apeman.

- Cat People - It's about a pair of incestuous werepanthers.

- The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977 version) - Dr. Moreau decides to turn a human into a beast.

- The Shaggy Dog - A magic ring turns a teenager into a sheepdog.

- The Shaggy D.A. - It's a sequel with a similar theme.

- Willow - A Circe-like witch turns soldiers into pigs.

- The Witches - In this Roald Dahl story, evil witches turn children into mice.

- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Besides werewolf Remus Lupin, this film also features shapeshifting dog and rat characters.

- Harry and the Hendersons

- Finding Nemo

- The Planet of the Apes series

- The Guyver - Both of them were live action films, the first starred Mark Hammill, but the second was better.

- Mimic

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

- Dr. Who - Season 26 - Survival - This episode has cheetah people. These are good-looking close-fitting cheetah suits, and the heads are quite nicely done, with some makeup.

- Halloweentown

- Kaze: Ghose Warrior - actually a 30 minute long piece, but it's all furry (sans tails unfortunately).

- Spirited Away - Haku, the dragon, turns into a human

- InuYasha - Shippo, InuYasha, Sessomaru. All are anthro canids, and if you see the series, Royukan is an anthro wolf as well as many of the demons being talking, giant bugs

- Warriors of Virtue - 5 Kangaroo's who fight evil on the world of Tao

- CJ Cherryh

- Brian Jacques' Redwall series

- Mercedes Lackey