Introduction

Here I am in my second year and in my chosen option of Special Effects. I have been a huge fan of sci-fi movies since watching Star Wars with my mum as a child and it's that genre of film that really sparked my interest of being a SFX Artist. I'm always so blown away by the amount of creativity and hard work that gets put into the characters the artists create, during my first year of university I discovered the TV show Face Off and from then on I have been utterly mesmerized by the industry.

I touched on basic special effects 2 years ago when I did a hair and makeup course at West Thames College in London and also during the first year of my current course at Southampton Solent University. I love creating the wounds and bruises but now I'm keen to take SFX to the other angle of morphing the human body. I'm also lucky enough to have had the chance to work as an assistant alongside my incredibly talented friend on a recent war film and at a special fx workshop. It was an amazing experience that gave me such a buzz and constantly pushes me towards this route of makeup.

My eyes have already been opened to the possibilities of human transformation and it's made me think about attention to detail. False nails, eyelashes and dying your hair are all ways of transforming your body so it doesn't necessarily have to be a huge change. It was really interesting to find out about Lucy McRae and Bart Hess and see how they get materials and experiment to see what creations they can come up with. Special Effects is thinking outside the box and these artists are proof of that.

http://lucyandbart.blogspot.co.uk/

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Matrix, prosthetics are used in this film to create the characters plugs on the backs of their heads and down the spine. This film also includes several transformations in the characters as they are constantly going back and forth from The Matrix and the real world where their appearances are different in each place.  

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/114208540522111516/

Levi Van Valux was mentioned in this first session and I was really drawn to the image below right, it made me feel a little disturbed seeing a human hair covering every inch of his face but fascinated at the same time. Every single piece of his work is so detailed and unlike anything I have seen before that I can't take my eyes away from them! 

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/levi-van-veluw/#_

I found another article that related to transformation about 3 artists that create artwork from domestic objects. It reminded me a little of Lucy & Bart as they also create art from materials they can find around the house, shops or markets.  

http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x1071194069/Three-artists-who-transform-found-objects