Tom's Art Adventures

Cornelius was a splash! The only bummer is that we got there so late on Saturday and didn’t really get a chance to mingle with the big crowds. But we had fun while it lasted.

Dan Morgan (pictured above) was on his game as the Archaeologist, Dr. Cornelius of the Planet of the Apes. The folks at the con were gracious as they took photo op after photo op with the friendly simian.

Then off to dinner and a little help to read the sushi menu…

And why not take in a bit of partying at Maverix Studios
“WonderCon Party”. It was a blast, I must admit!

These appliances were made from a sculpt that I did over a decade
ago and the costume was the one I mentioned in the previous post,
made by Paula Crist for Bill Blake back in the 1970s.

Dan and I are going to put together a “Behind the Makeup”
video of the application process. Stay tuned!

Rather than miss the opportunity to join in the celebration
of the 40th anniversary of the original 1968 film, I thought
I would share a little history about how Dan Morgan and I
came to attempting the Cornelius makeup.

As complete novices, back in the late 70s after
becoming huge fans of the ‘Apes’ films and later
the TV series, Dan and I were obsessed with trying
to figure out how these makeups were created.
Believe it or not, we thought they were using
some sort of putty. It wasn’t long before we found some
fanzines at the local comic store that revealed mask-
making techniques using latex rubber. We thought,
that’s easy – we’ll sculpt an ape face, approximately
the right size to fit Dan’s face, cast it in plaster of paris
and make a latex rubber copy. Well, as turns out, I used
pottery clay and it hardened in the plaster. The mold
was useless.

So, we went to the 5 and dime store and bought
a rubber monkey mask, cut it up and applied the
pieces to Dan’s face with – get this – Silly Putty!
We were proud of our achievement, sort of. But it
really didn’t look like the Apes in the films.

Eventually, we found more literature in the fanzine
section at the comic book store and found out about
Foam Latex. What a breakthrough! By the early 80s
we were experimenting with foam latex appliances.
And behold – we created this! Costume made by my mom!

We promptly attended the CreationCon – Comic Book &
Sci Fi convention in Oakland California back then and
entered the costume contest where 1 of the 3 judges was
Paula Crist (more about her later) and that same day we
met John Stanley, local “Creature Feature” TV Host.

Guess what? We won the first place prize for best makeup!
Soon our Cornelius creation was invited on the Creature
Feature TV show and an appearance at a local Movie theater
with Stanley himself.

And it was this makeup that caught Paula Crist’s attention.
It just so happened that her career as a stunt woman in
hollywood had her connected with our favorite series of films,
you guessed it…Planet of the Apes!

She had worked in stunts on “Battle”, “Conquest” and the 1974
Planet of the Apes TV series. This lead her to connections in
the makeup department and partnering with Bill Blake. They
made scheduled appearances in full makeup for 20th Century
Fox as Zira & Cornelius along side Kim Hunter & Roddy
McDowall. Crist created the costumes for Bill and herself
from the very bolts of material used for McDowall’s & Hunter’s
film costumes.

The partnership between Bill Blake and Paula had since ended,
but then she was approached by the company Martin Marrieta
(now Lockheed Martin) for the Ape couple to appear at a company
retreat and week of parties in St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands.

Well, to Dan’s and my surprise, Paula offered the job to Dan to
resurrect his Cornelius/McDowall impression and join her on
this once in a lifetime experience. With permission from 20th
Century Fox, Paula Crist and Dan Morgan were whisked off to
the Virgin Islands in 1982. Here’s some shots of her and Dan
in the very costumes that she and Bill Blake wore in those
previous promotional appearances.

First a Polariod snapshot:

And here are some 35mm shots:

Now to be fair, this sculpt was done by a friend named “Chip”.
At the time, Chip was working at a makeup shop in SF
(Cal Theatrical) and was helpful in teaching us how to get
those membrane-thin “blender edges”. That was one area that
Dan and I hadn’t mastered until after the Virgin Islands trip.
The convention makeup that won the prize and Paula had judged
just months before was only flawed by that slight margin,
but it gave us, and mostly Dan, memories we wouldn’t soon forget.

Dan Morgan purchased the Bill Blake/Cornelius costume that
Paula made and will be wearing it at the WonderCon this Saturday.
Hope to see you there!

Well, after much discussion – Dan and I have decided to stay with
foam latex and the last prosthetic sculpt we generated. Why try
re-inventing the wheel, right? The tried and true method for those
makeups in the original “Apes” films we feel, shouldn’t be tampered
with – as cool as silicone gel is. We still have the molds and we can
still generate some great foam appliances. And, as a matter if fact, we
have a couple of appliances left over from those days.

Here’s one of them:

Here’s a photo of the last makeup we created from that sculpt I did back
in the 90s and this is what you’ll see at the WonderCon this year:

There is an event that I haven’t participated in since the
late 1980s and early 1990s and that is a comic convention
costume contest. Now I have never graced the stage myself
physically, but the make up that I had a hand in creating has.

This year, at the San Francisco WonderCon 2008, a make up
that has been recreated numerous times in the past will make
a rare appearance – Cornelius of the 1968 feature film
“The Planet of the Apes”.

That’s right, my good friend Dan Morgan will be performing his
glorious Roddy McDowall impression in full make up and costume.
Which, by the way, was made from the same bolts of material that
the original McDowall costume was made from in the film.

I’ll soon be sculpting an entirely new prosthetic once again after
over decade. This time though, the prosthetics won’t be made from
foam latex as they have been since John Chambers, the make up
artist that developed it, created the make up for the films. Instead
we’ll be using Platsil Gel 10 Silicone.

Stay tuned for pictures of the process. Meanwhile here are some
studies of the character based on dvd captures.

I can’t let a winter in the Bay Area go by without drawing
a girl I’ve seen from memory. As always, the most memorable
ones are the easiest to recreate and this young lady was absolutely
gorgeous! It was during a sunny day, a break in the rainy weather
we’ve been having here lately. She was on the corner in the South
of Market area of San Francisco waiting for the signal light to
change and it was just long enough to burn the visage to
memory – and a couple a few days later, here she is. Done using
Sketchbook Pro on a cintiq tablet.

Hope your Winter encounters are as lovely as she was.