I haven't done anything make-up-related this year. I silicon-molded two headcasts for future use in mask-making, but that's it.

Instead I got into writing. I wrote a lot of sketches for a tv comedy-show (the one I made this [link] for) and I'm currently working on some audioplays. Then there's my weekly comedy-podcast "Das Büro des Todes / The Office of Death" [link] (sorry, german)and of course my Bad-Joke-of-the-Day homepage "Witzeglas / Jokejar" (german too).
So, I WAS busy, just not blood-and-guts-busy. Too bad!

But since I hate to see this site die, I decided to upload some old stuff. Stuff, I didn't like or was ashamed of. Is it really that bad? You be the judge.

As you may remember I have been an intern for Christian Lau, the man behind the special effects for "Staplerfahrer Klaus - Der erste Arbeitstag" (Forkliftdriver Klaus - First day on the job) a while ago.
If you don't know this cult-classic already, then read up about it here:
Staplerfahrer Klaus on IMDB
There are also a lot of illegal copies on Youtube: [link]

In my time as an intern for Christian we worked together on Andreas Schnaas'([link]) new film "Don't wake the Dead" ([link]).
Andreas is well known for his legendary trashy gore movies like "Violent Shit I-III", "Demonium" or "Nikos the Impaler". He is one of the 3 (or 4 if you want to count in Timo Rose) big german underground directors of splatter-movies, the others being Jörg Buttgereit, Olaf Ittenbach and Andreas Bethmann.

It is almost two years now, but "Don't wake the Dead" finally has a release date in Germany.
The rental will be out on january 30th and the sales-version on february 20th. Here's some german product information with a picture of the DVD-cover ([link]).

You can already pre-order the DVD on german Amazon for only 8.99€ ([link]).
AND there's a trailer over at Youtube!
[link]


The trailer features a bit of my work! You can see my exploding head very shortly and also a fake heart I made.
Working on the film was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was a lot of stress and not always very pleasant, but aslo a lot of fun!

I have seen the film already one year ago on its Hamburg premiere and it came out very well.
It's not as over the top brutal like Nikos or the Violent Shit movies, but stays a little more down to earth. There are a lot of special effects on gratuitious amounts of Blood and breast though, just like you expect from a Andreas Schnaas movie.

It's not great movie art, let's be honest about it, but it really is a fun movie if you don't expect much from it. The tone is much darker and the whole movie has a very professional approach.

Expect a very bloody, partially sleazy and entertaining feature about undead templars, nazis, vampires and girls in a castle, then you won't be disappointed!

Every year again I say to myself "I'm making myself a cool mask for Halloween this year!"
Every year I failed horribly, because I'm a terribly lazy person.
Last year I came close. I did a make-up for someone else and everyone was very happy with it.

I'm not really a party-person. I don't like being with people I don't know and making a huge make-up for a little private party is just too time-consuming. Plus I'm an attention whore, so IF I dress up and glue something to my face, I want people to see it. A lot of people!
Unfortunately that somehow collides with my above-stated dislike of being among strangers. Damn! ^_^

This year I said to myself "I'm making myself a cool Halloween-mask this year! When I just start early enough, I'll be done in time!"

I didn't start early enough.
Plus, the Halloween make-up I did last year, brought me two new comissions this year. So, I'm working on two comissions for friends and try to finish my own project in time. Let's see how that works out!

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My projects for this year's Halloween:

1. The Joker's scars
- Done! Facecast in silicon, plaster-positive, sculpture in plasticene and finished appliances made out of foam-latex. Easy as pie and totally great-looking!

2. Unlucky tourist with shark-bite
- Work in progress.
As I write this entry, I'm baking foam-latex in my oven. If everything turns out good, I'll paint the extra-large bite wounds on friday. On saturday my friend comes along and we set him up as a unlucky "jumpy" victim. He shouldn't have gone to Australia! ^_^

3. My own "Dr. Bob - Mad Scientist"-costume
- Work in Progress
I didn't get much done. I have a labcoat, long black rubber gloves and goggles.
I'm currently sculpting my own set of goggles and I hope to get a face-appliance done in time.
For next year's Halloween I want to sculpt my own gloves and a multi-purpose raygun. And there are still a lot of details missing: I'll need a tool-belt, black pants, heavy, cool-looking boots, and some electronic accessories.

What are you doing for Halloween?

Last week I had to make a mask from foam latex again and I had some trouble with it.

I had to use another foam, because I couldn't get my old one and the new foam is so ridiculously hard to handle that I wasted 5 batches before I got one good mask out of the mold.

In case you want to avoid it, it's the Monstermakers-brand "McLaughlin-Foam". It's very easy to work with actually, but also very sensitive to temperature and humidity. It's way finer than my old foam and even cheaper, but I think I'll stick with my Kryolan A150.

The premiere of "Das Jahr Null" was very satisfying. The Film turned out great and everyone was happy with it. A lot of people were actually surprised because they expected more of a cheap zombie-themed splatter-movie and instead they got this atmospheric, at times scary character piece with occasional zombie content.
I'm really proud of this movie.

The next job came around just a few weeks later, when one of the cast members approached me. He liked my foamlatex appliances and wanted something similar for his next project.
I won't talk about it in detail yet, because... well, this gig is a little bigger than usual and I'm kinda nervous that I might screw it up. So you'll get the details when everything is done and everyone is happy. ^_^

Only this much:
It's zombies again and it's a comedy this time.