W. M. Creations has old-age stipple available in four formulas: A, B, C, and Crusty. Neutral and dark skin formulas are available by special order.
A: Used in a perspiration-free environment. Will give slight wrinkling effect when applied to unstretched skin.
B: Perspiration resistant. Under normal use, gives heavy wrinkling effect even if the skin is not stretched. This is the most widely used stipple.
C: Heaviest wrinkling effect possible. Good for use on hands.
Crusty: Gives the illusion of deeply weathered skin. Great for use on hands. Apply a thin layer of Pros-Aide or Beta Bond before stippling hands for maximum adhesion.
Prep the skin with 70 or 99 percent alcohol.
Decant stipple into a small container, and heat in the microwave for two seconds.
should also be aware of adding any light reflection flares to the design. Although it looks nice, the reflection can be confusing to interpret during the painting process.
At times, it becomes a collaboration between the Makeup Artist and myself. The Makeup Artist will give me a design that I will alter in Photoshop to better fit the contacts to be worn. This would be the easiest way to see what the Makeup Artist wants and how the design can be executed. Most designs are created in Photoshop beforehand, then emailed to me. After discussing what is doable, I’ll sit down to paint. A mock-up is painted first, and, if time permits, a picture is taken to be sent off for approval.”
The most commonly used contact lenses are kept in stock with different curves.
Television shows tend to need contacts at the last minute. Actors would be fitted for contacts right away to be used in same-day or next-day situations. There are times when the contact lenses are not in stock.
The Makeup Artist must have the actor fitted by a professionally licensed doctor. When contacts are being worn, you can get tunnel vision—just like looking through a straw. Everyone is different with their comfort level when wearing contacts. A properly fitting lens should be reasonably comfortable. There is no definite wearing time. It is completely dependent upon the actor’s comfort level. Environmental conditions will have an impact as well. Artificial environments are all irritants to the eye, which affects contact lens comfort.
Artificial snow, smoke, wind, lots of splashing water, and the occasional sand can make all lens wearers unhappy campers.
Colors of the lenses can be adjusted or used in such a way to accommodate media such as bluescreen and greenscreen. Effects can be included with this. For example, green or blue lenses have been used to make an actor disappear on-screen.
Green or blue lenses have also been used to project an effect onto the sclera lens that is being worn. These are just a few examples.
Contact lenses should be the last thing to go on the actor, and the first to come off. Most lenses stay with the Makeup Artist after the shoot. He or she will bring them in to be sterilized and sealed for long-term storage.
If the lenses are to be used again after they have been sitting for a year or so, we ask the Makeup Artist to bring them in to us or any other eye-care specialist to be checked out for imperfections, bacteria, and so on. Also, the artwork on the lenses should be checked for any fading or opacity. If the lenses are in good shape, we’ll go ahead and sterilize them for use.
All Lenses Are Unique (or a word about contact lenses)
There is no such thing as a generic contact lens. Every person has a slightly different eye curvature and eyelid tension. Only a licensed eye-care professional can fit a contact lens. You are putting your eyes at risk by purchasing special-effects lenses from online auction sites, flea markets, convenience stores, or shops, for example. Soft lenses are currently the standard of the industry. Almost anything can be painted, printed, or laminated on a soft lens. Rigid lenses are used for a variety of effects— athough the wearing time is much less than for a soft lens, and rigid lenses take longer for the actor to get used to.
Scleral Lenses
Scleral lenses cover the sclera, or white part of the eye. They are larger in diameter (18— 24 mm) than traditional lenses, which generally cover only the iris (colored part of the eye) and are usually 14-15 mm. Scleral lenses work great for bloodshot eyes, hemorrhage effect, jaundice, full black, demon eyes, and other monster effects, where the entire inside surface of the eye needs to be covered to avoid seeing the edge of the lens.
Contact Lens Information
Cost: The cost of a lens is related to the difficulty and type of special-effects lens design.
Fitting and Exams: All exams include internal and external eye-health evaluation to determine if the actor can in fact wear contact lenses, plus refraction for prescription.
Getting Fitted by Another Doctor: To
purchase lenses without being able to bring the actor in for fittings to your favorite special-effects lens maker, you can forward the information directly to the shop. This is what you’ll need to submit:
1. 
Current refraction
2. Keratometric (K) readings
3. Visible iris diameter (mm)
4. Pupil size (mm)
5. Normal iris color (photo if possible)
6. An exact color rendering of effect to be created
7. If scleral contact lenses are the desired lenses, the actor must be fitted by a doctor who has the compatible fitting set. Scleral lenses must be fitted physically; they cannot be determined solely by corneal curvature measurements.
Another great tool for the Makeup Artist is working with and changing the teeth. As with contact lens, changing a person’s teeth to go with the makeup design is an essential tool to create realistic effects. It is also a wonderful choice for character design and comedy. As with contact lenses, teeth that don’t go with the makeup design will take away from your makeup job. For example, you have aged an actor from 40 to 80 years old, and the actor’s teeth are too white. This will detract from all of the aging work that has been done.
It is important to use a qualified professional in both areas when designing characters involving eyes and teeth. The professional’s technological and medical background protects the actor that you are making the changes on.
Gary Archer of G. A. Enterprises, a specialist in dental prosthetics for the film and
television industries, explains the process and current reasons for tooth transformation:
“One of the main reasons for tooth transformation is that in today’s Hollywood society, a perfect smile is essential. Unfortunately, with the latest in porcelain veneers, implants, and cosmetic bonding, we have beautiful smiles in life—but under the lights and in front of the camera, it is entirely too dazzling, and therefore unrealistic. We have had requests to darken actors’ teeth to make them less perfect. We can give them gaps where no gap exists, and stains to represent neglect and poor dental care; have them missing teeth, or have them fall out on camera. We also make “grills,” ranging from single teeth with faux diamonds to full arches with designs and styles on them. We make perfect teeth bad, and bad teeth good! We have also developed a range of fake braces and retainers that will fool the most critical eye. In addition, we have copied smiles of famous celebrities and influential figures of the past to transform the actor’s teeth into whoever it is they are portraying. Plumpers are another specialty to help swell out or fatten a character’s mouth, and are another unique product.
PRO TIP
Plumpers are a great makeup tool for changing facial shape. For example: aging or swelling from a fight or accident.
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SAFETY TIP FROM GARY ARCHER
The mouth is a very delicate place. Be careful what you plan to put on an actor’s own teeth. All the new technology available to dentists in the advancement of "tooth beautification" means that it is very easy to damage a veneer or to stain cosmetic bonding. Stay away from "paint-on stains and colors." They can permanently stain delicate bonding and unsealed margins on veneers.
It is recommended that you use a dental professional when transforming teeth for a character. Gary will show us the process for dental casting:
Obtain accurate dental casts of the actor. Do not use old molds that the actor may have from previous projects. They are usually older than the actor remembers them to be, have been used for a previous prosthetic appliance, and may be damaged or inaccurate.
Gary takes us through the steps of dental casting and dental molds:
stress in the artist-actor relationship, to say the least. Not using enough material can lead to a shortened or underextended impression that doesn’t capture the areas that you need.
PRO TIP
Once the positive dental casts have been done, the design process starts. A diagnostic wax-up can be made to show the Makeup Artist and Director exactly what the teeth will look like. This helps to eliminate surprise on the set, and will enable all parties to be on the same page. It helps to bring it all (the design) together.
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After the designs have been approved, a last wax pattern is cast to fabricate the acrylic veneers. Heat-cured acrylic is used to give the most accurate, color-stable, and realistic look for the veneers. Self-curing plastics tend to have a very monochromatic and dull appearance, so they should be avoided.
Normal process time from design to fabrication and completion of a set of veneers is usually one week. In some cases, GA Enterprises can turn them around faster, but there are certain rules to using dental acrylics, and attempting to rush or speed up the process usually produces bad results.
Gently rinse under cool tap water, and store in the case provided for each set. Add a small amount of mouthwash in the case to keep them fresh tasting.
• To help the actor adjust to something on their teeth, they need to get the feel of them. Have them wear the veneers well before going on-camera to give them time to forget they are on. This also helps with their speech. At first, they might sound a bit different, but this goes away when they forget that the veneers are on. You will need to do this only for the first few days of use. The actor will quickly get used to them, and not need to put them in early. Soon you will be popping the veneers in on-set!