RAWR! I'm the Hainsley Demon! ...and I like chain necklaces, long walks and holding hands. Did I mention I have orange eyes?I was able to find some time to take a fresh pass at... you guessed it, another of the the demons that I designed while working on Joss Whedon's Angel series. This time around the Hainsley Demon was the lucky winner of making me cringe more than all the others. Time to get the hard part out of the way... here is my original design for the Hainsley Demon from 2003...
Behold my furrowed brow and spiky bits, I must be a scary demon of genericness."*YAWN*... oh look, I believe that could possibly be a demon, I think, that is pondering to attack us." Still not sure why he is slouching, maybe the Hainsley Demons are characterized by their bad posture and hairiness.
© 2003 Almost Human
To make matter worse, the above design was not my intended submission. I had produced a first draft that was so thoroughly mocked and derided in house that I produced the above updated design. You are in luck, I am feeling generous in sharing my shame and here is that initial design...
WHO'S THE CUTEST LITTLE DEMON? YES, THAT'S RIGHT! YOU ARE!I just want to pinch his little cheeks. Nothing as frightening as a demon with a little half grin and a sheepish look about him. Trouble was, when I finished this first version I thought it was so "badass" and "demony". Between you and me, I think the final product looks and feels more like this version then the second (no fault to anyone).
© 2003 Almost Human
I don't remember all the details with this guy but as far as the episode there was something to do with souls and host bodies and possibly his soul going into a new body... or something like that. On our end though, they wanted a new demon for the episode and being the master wordsmiths that they were fifth season asked for... "a demon with glowing orange eyes". That's it. That is all we got for a description or direction with where to go with the deigns. Sometime their vagueness allowed us to produce some of our best work, not this time. We created a LOT of designs for this demon, I think there were at least three of us designing on it and nothing was hitting the mark. I think they in fact had something in mind for this demon, they just weren't going to share. After passing on a ton of really great designs they finally settled on mine and the rest is now TV history. SO, in an attempt to rewrite history I moved forward on a reworking of the design and came up with something... newer...
Taking the Hainsley Demon back!© 2011 Christopher Burdett
The frilly nose, horns and cleft head are his outstanding features so I tried to keep those while just having some fun and make something cool. If only I had that mentality when I worked the show originally... instead of all the stress and pressure to produce the next big revolutionary design. In the end I am not sure if it is a better design, but I am much happier with the drawing.
While going through my archive looking for photos and designs I realized I had a ton of photos from the production of this demon. The fact that I designed the concept and painted the makeup may have had something to do with it. I will share with you some of what I rediscovered, here are some images of the painted makeup before it went to set and was put on the actor...
Painted Hainsley Demon makeup.© 2003 Almost Human
It was a two piece makeup consisting of a face piece and cowl. The cowl would go onto the actor first. Then the face piece would be glued to the face of the actor with the edge blended seamlessly (hopefully) onto the cowl and around the eyes creating the illusion of a unified creature.
Demons have a lot of trouble keeping their eye open apparently. They also have poorly blended areas around their eyes that make them look like they are wearing a mask.That is all for today! See you back here on Friday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
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