Skin Texture

Despite the fact that my wound didn't necessarily need a lot of texture, I find it interesting exploring how to texturise the skin on clay as I would like to use it in the future and it's an imperative technique when creating realistic prosthetics.

I found an article that outlines steps towards creating realistic skin texture on clay. Paint-sculpt.com says that there are seven steps:

I gather from this page that the primary and secondary textures are the direction in which the lines go, and they are the base. I assume that a sharp tool will be needed for this as they are the deepest lines. From step three, this is where the real texturising of the skin begins. What I think I should do when attempting this is researching how the skin behaves more, and the characteristics of skin, which I can do by collecting photos of skin textures and practising on clay. Also if working on a client, taking photos of their skin and making notes of the details of it and its contraindications will enable me to replicate their skin realistically. 

Despite the fact that this page is about skin textures for final sculptures, the lining techniques are helpful to know for prosthetics. I want to be able to practice these techniques when creating my human hybrid, however I need to better my ability when using the brushes that we were given in order to create these soft lines. On my wound that I created I feel as if it is very one dimensional, which I feel is my first challenge to conquer, and so I decided to watch a video that might inform me further.

For a more detailed explanation that I was able to watch,  I went on Youtube and watched this video about sculpting realistic skin on plasticine:

 

I found that the video was very specialist; the creator had made a lot of his own tools and he was clearly very experienced, however I sat and made notes on what techniques I found useful and which I would use, knowing that I would not be able to use all of them though as I feel as if that would be throwing myself into the deep end. This video helped me understand the use of different tools and materials that I wouldn't have thought of before, and has inspired me to invest in them to be able to experiment with and create more realistic skin textures on clay, which will eventually help me create realistic moulds and prosthetics in the future.

Things I derived from the video:

• Plastic: Plastic looks as if it is a really helpful material combined with the tools. The problem I found when trying to make lines in my mould was that it would also take clay away and create shaving-type effects that I really did not want, however the plastic seems to make the lines without taking any clay away. Hopefully this is a way in which I can avoid that problem now, and so I will invest in some of this plastic. 
• Rake tool: The home-made rake tool that the creator of the video had looked very useful, and while watching I was wondering what type of tools could also create this look. I believe that a sharp plastic fork would give a similar effect, and so this could be something I try if I want to create wrinkles with the plastic. 
• Stippling sponge: The stippling sponge is definitely something I will invest in. Not only is it something I can use in special effects makeup but I did not think of the fact that it can create skin texture, and so I will buy this as it has multiple purposes. 
• Slip: In this video I learnt the term 'Slip'; a pottery term for a watered down clay. It has multiple purposes: firstly to smooth down holes made with a needle to create a goosebumps effect; secondly you can flick slip onto the plasticine/clay and it will texturise the skin further. Moreover, in my last mould lesson Sue told us about 'Naphtha', a lighter fluid, which we could use to smooth the silicone for our mould. In this video, this is what you combined with the clay to create the slip, and so investing in this would be useful for its multiple purposes. 
• Warming the clay: Again, like in one of our lessons, we were taught to do this to make the clay more malleable, however in the video the other purpose of doing this is to create heavier marks in the skin, and so it is something I can experiment with too. 
• Isopropyl Alcohol: This is something we used in class to mix with super baldiez, however in this video the purpose was to spray it onto the clay to soften the skin. I believe that this would be a sensible investment too because clearly it is multi-purpose, and I also know from previous lessons that this is an effective brush cleaner. 
• Talcum Powder: In our lesson we were told to powder our moulds, and the creator of the video also used this technique. For him, it was to soften the texture of the skin and absorb oils. Therefore it is multi-purpose and would be useful in my kit.

Resources: 

Paint-sculpt.com., (Year of Publication Unknown). Sculpting Realistic Skin Texture [viewed 13/10/2015]. Available from: http://www.paint-sculpt.com/tutorials/sculpting-tutorial/sculpting-skin-texture.html

Bray, S., 2014. Sculpting Prosthetics: Skin Textures [viewed 13/10/2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAc2hDCHlQ