Battles With Bits of Rubber

By Stuart Bray and Todd Debreceni

Arts Education Visual Arts Hobbies

What's Battles With Bits of Rubber about?

This podcast is a joint venture with Stuart Bray and Todd Debreceni. It's all about the making of stuff for makeup effects and prosthetics.

Todd is author of 'Special Makeup Effects For Stage And Screen', what many consider to be the modern makeup FX bible.

Stuart Bray is a working makeup FX artist with many years experienc. Credits include 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Dr Who' and more recently 'Game of Thrones'.

If you have any FX questions you would like to see made into a featured blog post, then get in touch: [email protected]

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#71 - Daniel Parker

01.08.2021

Daniel Parker has recently been praised for his work as makeup and hair designer on The Queens Gambit (Netflix) and Chernobyl (HBO). He has an extensive range of credits spanning 37 years. We talked about how often simple techniques and ...

Battles With Bits of Rubber episodes:

08.20.2017 #21 - Allen Hopps: Scaremaster Allen Hopps is the director of Dark Hour, a huge haunt attraction in Plano, Texas. I wanted to take a tour and chat with Allen about what it takes to keep people scared and the business of running a haunt ...
04.03.2017 #20 - All About Cap Plastic Cap plastic is big....and it's not just for bald caps. Cap plastic is so called as it was originally pretty much used only for making bald caps, so those with hair could temporarily be without it. Over the last ten ...
03.27.2017 #19 - IMATS LA 2017 This podcast episode is the belated accompaniment to the blog post. We had a blast, learned some stuff and made some new friends. It was amazing, and I can't wait until IMATS London when I'll be back! Until then, please ...
03.09.2017 #18 - All Aboard The Freit Train part 2 In part 2 of our discussion, Rob Freitas talks about the value of knowing about the unknowns. He sheds some light on the importance of knowing to look at what was before and honours great artists like Gil Liberto (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0508847/) ...
03.05.2017 #17 - All Aboard The Freit Train part 1 Rob Freitas is one of the best-known mould makers in the industry and has a phenomenal reputation. Not only is he incredibly skilled at making moulds but he has a passion for the provenance of the techniques which he uses ...
12.27.2016 #16 - Rob Smith Master Of Blood: Part 2 Rob Smith continues his chat with me about foam latex, blood and other FX related goodies. Also, Todd and I talk about our favorite podcasts, and whether or not the word 'mustard' is actually an expression. Todd and I will ...
12.04.2016 #15 - Rob Smith, Master Of Blood: Part 1 Blood ! Podcast #15! It's something gets thrown around a lot in film, TV and theatre. There's bad blood, good blood, mudbloods, blood thicker than water and blood brothers. This episode we're talking about blood, and our guest this time ...
11.26.2016 #14 - Scanners & Schoonraads A little look at the influence of digital technology on the practical effects workflow. Bear in mind the problems we try to overcome - namely to create an illusion which appears real such as a decapitation, an injury taking place ...
08.25.2016 #13 - Mitch at Brick In The Yard Brick In The Yard isn't the most obvious name to give to a successful FX material supplier. There is a good reason for it though, as you will hear in this podcast. Mitch Rogers is the evil genius behind Brick ...
08.17.2016 #12 - Rob Burman Rob Burman is a damned nice fella and kindly took some time to share some of his wisdom, and we are all grateful he did. Thanks, Rob! If you don't know the name 'Burman' then you must be pretty new ...
08.05.2016 #11 - The One With Thomas Surprenant The last time we talked about making foam latex, the craft and materials involved in actually producing the foam. This time around, we figured it would be a good call to look at painting and art finishing. Painting foam latex ...
07.22.2016 #10 - Foam Latex: It's Smelly But Good! Podcast #10 - Foam Latex: It's Smelly But Good! Foam Latex was the main material appliances and pretty much anything skin-like was made of for long time. It is only relatively recently that silicone has taken it's place, and with ...
05.18.2016 #9 - Symmetry, Schools & Fools #9 - Symmetry, Schools & Fools Symmetry in sculpting appliances Whilst teaching a class recently, a student was hung up on getting the nose perfectly symmetrical. I explained as I often do that the human face isn't symmetrical, so going ...
04.24.2016 #8 - Start Making & The Lowdown On Cap Plastic Blog post on this podcast is here: It seems it would be handy to have some sensible steps to actually start making things. So check out the podcast on this very subject and also the lowdown on cap plastic.After all, ...
04.16.2016 #7 - Geoff Portass Interview (pt2) In the second and final part of the interview with Geoff Portass, we talk more Ken Russel, Pinhead and FX stories plus some insights into the right way to go about learning some of this crazy stuff. Leave feedback and ...
04.10.2016 #6 - Geoff Portass Interview (pt1) Hey folks, it’s just me today as Todd is pretty sick with a bad cold, so get well soon Todd. Hope you get fixed up and back on track soon. We’ve got a great interview with someone who was the ...
03.31.2016 #5 - Colour theory In Practice Colour theory is a crucial part of makeup, especially if you are in the business of trying make a portion of the face out of rubber and make it look like it belongs there and is the same as the ...
03.27.2016 #4 - Appsolute fools Todd and I have been chatting, as we both let the blogging slip because of work - so we are back with a plan to do more podcasts to give responses to email questions on a regular basis. So, we ...
03.16.2016 #3 - Shooting at Meat. No, really. Read the blog post to accompay this podcast: www.learnmakeupeffects.com/shooting-guns-at-meat This time we take an interesting approach to capturing the tissue damage caused by gunshots and being able to safely recreate the three dimensional effects by moulding the results. It's a ...
03.15.2016 #2 - Lifecasting tips and tricks Check out the blogpost on this subject too: www.learnmakeupeffects.com/lifecasting-tipstricks/ Lifecasting is an essential, basic skill used in makeup effects and prosthetics - whether to create a custom fit appliance or to make a lifelike prop without sculpting from scratch. In ...
03.14.2016 #1 - Sticky Situations: The Zen Of Prosthetic Adhesives & Removers This podcast is the first joint blog post venture with Stuart Bray and Todd Debreceni. Todd is author of 'Special Makeup Effects For Stage And Screen', what many consider to be the modern makeup FX bible. Stuart Bray is a ...

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