Tales from LA - That Bit Ain't Right

I have searched and searched for images to go along with this post, and after a great deal of looking, I have been unable to locate anything. Which is a shame, because I think seeing the original designs would have helped with this, but no matter, for this post, I quickly scribbled up something to help.

This story goes back to my time working in Los Angeles. We were hired to work on a PSA commercial focused on improving health. Please remember this: this is supposed to be about improving people's health. Another detail to remember is that the two people making all the decisions on the production side of things are British. Picture what they say with the appropriate accent. It is part of the adventure.

The big, amazing, new idea they had to help improve health was so new and so amazing that it took hours for them to try to explain it to me clearly so that I could understand and design it. The best I can explain it is that they wanted us to physically make "fat socks"... but not like that. Imagine someone is carrying more body weight than they want, and they "pull" the unwanted fat off themselves like clothes, but it's flesh and hollow. Just the outer ring or skin of fat... because that is how our bodies TOTALLY work and all our body fat is along the surface. Feast your eyes upon this very quick sketch.

Getting an idea for what kind of monstrosity they wanted us to make? Well, to get to this point, the point where I finally made something similar to what I have posted above, it took hours. Hours with two British men and the shop supervisor sitting behind me as I sat at my computer and worked. And they did helpful things like be super impatient, repeat the SAME not-explanation over and over like it was going to change anything, and the cherry on top, after EVERY mark I made, every choice I made, after I did ANYTHING... the peanut gallery responded in their accent with:

"THAT BIT AIN'T RIGHT" 

For HOURS. And I am not being hyperbolic or exaggerating. It was maddening. Nothing I did was right, and they most definitely could not tell me what to do differently or what they wanted. It was "fat sock" and "that bit ain't right," and that is all I had to work off of. Even today, "that bit ain't right" is seared into my memory. Well, after a Sisyphean design session, we had something, and the two not-at-all-helpful men left. Long story short, the things we made were horrible. They made no sense, looked dumb, and no one understood what they were or what they were doing at the shoot. It was bad, bad, bad. To be honest, I have no idea if the PSA ever got made, completed, or aired, but I cannot imagine for a second anyone watching it would understand it or take away from it that they should eat healthy and exercise... or something, whatever it was they were trying to depict. 

And as a side note, humans carry extra body fat for MANY different reasons, many of which are outside the control of the individual. So the idea that body weight was something that could simply be removed by sliding the fat off always felt callous, disconnected, and cruel. But hey, what do I know?  OH YEAH! I know THAT BIT AIN'T RIGHT! You know what I am saying?! They knew best, and the fact that they were unable to quickly and easily explain their big idea to anyone else never registered as an issue. Good ole LA!

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog, see you back here Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Vampyre (Vampire) Rock in the Papers in 1999

Strangely, I, apparently, have only ever mentioned the project that launched my entire career here on the blog. I shared the trailer and a few thoughts and details in 2017. To catch you up to speed: In the summer of 1999, which was also the second to last semester for me at university, a low-budget vampire movie was filmed here in Tallahassee, FL, mostly using students from the film school as crew and a little bit of money from Roger Corman (yes, that Roger Corman). The writer and director of this vampire movie was Andy Ruben, who had recently begun teaching at the university in the film department. Andy has made films of varying notoriety. He brought in a couple of people from LA, whom he had previously worked with, and that included the person handling the special effects makeup for the film. After a series of perfectly timed events, I found myself working for free on a movie making monster effects and drawing some storyboards. One thing led to another, and when I graduated, I left for LA and did my time in the industry. And we know how that turned out.

"Vampyre" Rock in the papers with zombie face in the upper left by me.

Jump ahead twenty-six years, and over the weekend, two copies of the local newspaper's coverage of the film's production came into my possession. I swore I had one around here somewhere, but I haven't seen this in many, many years. A strange time capsule and a reminder of the unlikely beginning of over two decades of making monsters. While I was not mentioned in the article (because why would I be?), the face next to the title of the article is the very first piece of makeup effects I ever created. The face cast was brought from LA as a raw foam cast. I added details, texture, paint, and finish to the face, and I think that I may have made it into the film. Which, by the way, I finally saw, for the very first time, earlier this year. Andy gave me a copy of the movie in 2017 after we reconnected online after I tracked down his YouTube account. Eleven days after he gave me the movie, he passed away suddenly. Needless to say, it took a little while to get around to finally watching it. It was an amazing time capsule and reminder of that wild summer. I am so glad to have finally watched the results of all of our work.

Some of those mentioned were missnamed - oops!

I often wonder where everyone who worked on Vampire Rock ended up. How many are living the LA dream still? Who have we lost? What new adventures did they make for themselves in the last twenty-six years? I know the answers to a few from that summer of vampires. I hope everyone found what they were looking for, because I know I did. It just took a few twists and turns to get there.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. 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

Why I left Los Angeles Twenty Years Ago.

I have waited a long time to share this. I wondered at times if I would ever share it. But now, after twenty years, I feel that it is time. This is not about the abusers. This is about me. And it is about me moving on, growing, and becoming more than what they saw in me. But I still need to have the final word. I still need to have a voice in this matter. I need to share why I had to leave LA.

The Demon Skip and I on the set of Angel - likely around 2003.

Twenty years ago, well, right about now, we left Los Angeles for Florida. We left friends, work, and more so that I could take a position at FSU, where I have worked ever since. Up until March 2005, I had been working in television, movies, music videos, and more. I designed and made monsters with a team of skilled artists and technicians, making amazing things with little to no time and a shoestring budget. You could say it was a dream job. A job that I dreamed about and one that I traveled across the county for and uprooted not only my life but the life of my wife. It was something extremely important to me.

For the last twenty years, when someone asked me about LA, expressed interest in LA, or wanted to know how they could see their dreams of living and working in LA a reality, I usually answered with, "Living in LA is hard." I still stand behind this answer, but it is so complicated. I am twenty years out of date, but for us, LA was expensive and crowded, traffic was a nightmare, and it took forever to do anything with anyone due to the size of the city and commute times. We were barely scraping by most of the time even though we had reduced (not free) rent for being the onsite managers for two apartment buildings. Being the apartment managers meant we had zero peace in our home life, and we were surrounded by 39 apartments worth of people who, at all times, hated us. At least I was living the dream and had an amazing job making monsters for movies!

Only I wasn't.

I will not mince words - I was the victim of verbal and physical abuse and sexual harassment for the last three years that I worked in LA in the industry. This abuse primarily came from my employer, but others in leadership positions participated and encouraged my mistreatment. I am not here to name names; some are now dead, and others I care not to engage with. My employer, who I had considered a good friend, took great delight in my abuse. The verbal assaults were constant and consistent - I was a bad artist, I was color blind and couldn't paint (even though I am not color blind), I was fat, I had X, Y, or Z physical defects that needed constant reminding, I wasn't smart, I wasn't good enough, etc., etc., etc. This continuous abuse, of course, emboldened others who would add their mix of insults for me. I would have cigarette smoke blown in my face whenever folks needed a laugh because, at the time, I still had extreme allergic reactions to smoke. My eyes would begin watering, my nose would run, and if there was enough smoke, my throat would constrict. All of this was daily or even hourly. I worked hour to hour in fear of being fired because I was told I was incompetent while being given extremely important duties to complete. Every level of my artistic expression was questioned, and most of the time, I had my work and ideas laughed at and ridiculed. I would have my work held up before me and told it was garbage and bad. I would be forced to listen to monologues about how I was not a skilled or talented creator. I was told that all my ideas were old and tired, and I simply lacked the ability to draw.

When the everyday antics were not enough, my employer, sometimes joined by other coworkers, would stand behind me as I was working at my computer. They would place their crotch on the back of the chair, directly behind my head, and unzip their pants while making suggestive comments and would ask me if I would sexually gratify them. This harassment was a weekly occurrence. My employer would announce that it would be happening and would come in alone or gather up someone else to join in, so I knew it was going to happen, and I was expected to keep working while they unzipped and zipped their pants behind my head. It was worse than you imagine, but not as bad as it could have been.

Then there was the original sin of the boss using his friendship with me to lowball my pay and then made sure I didn't know how badly he was paying me. He never gave me a single raise but got me to do FREE work at home with the potential 'if we get the work, you get more money' dangled in front of me. Strangely, the raises would never happen. I had a coworker who began to shake with anger when he learned how little I was being paid. My insulting low pay was one of the reasons we were just scraping by and were so dependent on working at the shop.

These are only the highlights, the stuff that was happening every day. These were the things I grew to accept as part of my workday. But there was one final event that marked the turning point. This final event took place in January of 2005. The shop was hard at work on some 'hero' dead bodies and parts. We were working on a new show and needed our work to be top-notch to impress production and ensure that we stayed on the show. So, with all this important work going on, it was, of course, the exact time my employer and shop manager went to a film festival in another state. It was the eleventh hour of the project, and the top people at the shop just packed up and left. The art director was left in charge, and I was told to send constant updates to those attending the film festival.

There are several stages in the production of makeup effects that can't be rushed because there are setting, curring, or drying times that take as long as they need to take. So, if you are working with silicone, latex, or gelatin, you have to schedule for different setting and curing times. We were running up to one of those pinch points on the project. The sculpture needed to be molded (which takes time) so that it could be cleaned (also time) so that it could be cast in silicone (even more time). And even once you have the silicone cast, it needs to be cleaned, seamed, painted, hair applied, and so on and on. These things take time, and multiple people are involved at every stage. We had to move forward with molding the head so that it would be completed and on set when it was needed. That was our reality - we HAD to start molding so that every other event after molding could happen, and we could be on set with a dead body. If we waited any longer, there would be dire consequences, and we would likely not complete our work. I frantically texted, emailed, and called my employer and shop manager about the situation. We needed their blessing as they watched movies.

The shop was in a holding pattern for what felt like hours. We waited and waited for word. It got to the point that others were trying to get ahold of anyone so we could get permission to move forward. Finally, the shop's art director made the call. He said that he felt the sculpture was as good as possible and that we had to move forward. He told us it was his call and we would mold the head. I once again reached out to the bosses and updated them. The molding of the head began. Once the silicone was poured, the boss checked his phone and email. They were not happy. They were not happy with me. In fact, they were downright irate with me. They were screaming at me over the phone... at ... me. Twenty years later, I still don't really know why they were angry at me. Well, I do know, but there is still no actual reason for them to have been angry at me. And let me be clear: they were not mad at ANYONE else. It was me, and me alone that their wrath was targeted. It was me, and me alone, that had somehow DESTROYED and RUINED everything. Somehow, it was all my fault. Everything that was going badly and crashing and burning was my fault (but what exactly was going bad or crashing was unclear). I had advanced the project without their knowledge or approval, ruining everything and costing everyone their jobs. You get that, right? Things I didn't do, decisions I did not make, and things that hadn't happened were all my fault. And they kept calling me to yell at me while I was trying to work.

They rushed back to LA at the twelfth hour to 'save the day' and fix the horrible mess I made. They rolled into the shop all angry and puffed up. They looked at all the work and loved it all. They were thrilled with everything, except me. Oh, were they furious at me because I was still destroying everything... somehow. I was apparently actively making a mess of things right before them. The art director actually stepped up and got between the bosses and me and told them they were wrong that HE had made the call. That it was HIS fault if there was an issue. The bosses said no, that wasn't true, and that it was clearly my fault, and they proceeded to yell at me in front of the entire shop and all my coworkers. I was maddeningly torn between devastating confusion and gut-wrenching anger. Nothing made sense. I sucked it up. I took it. And I went back to work with my coworkers staring at me. I gave it a little time. I approached the bosses about it a day or two later, addressed the situation, and asked for something, maybe an apology or at least clarification of what transpired. They picked up where they had left off, that I was nothing more than scum that destroyed the project and cost everyone their jobs. The dead body went to set and was a massive hit. There was nothing but praise heaped upon us and the shop. The shop worked on that show until it was canceled. They needed to yell and scream because they felt powerless for a moment, and I was the one they knew they could unleash on. I was the one at the shop who was supposed to accept that treatment. Me and only me. They didn't treat anyone else in the shop like they treated me. And I had had enough. My eyes were finally opened.

Within a month, I interviewed for the position I now have. A month after that, we were back in Florida. That was twenty years ago. Thankfully, most of these things feel like they happened twenty years ago. I have worked on the parts that do not. Within three months of returning to Florida, I was working for Wizards of the Coast, designing miniatures. My artistic skillset exploded, and I made most of the advancements in my abilities in the following few years. Leaving LA saved me. Leaving LA allowed me to become the artist I am. But I had to go to LA for these things to happen. It is complicated.

I will add that before leaving LA, I had begun documenting everything that was done to me. The time, the event, those involved, the duration, and the outcome. I had a pretty involved and lengthy document. I had planned to move forward legally if things had not changed. One of the things that held me back from pursuing legal action was my concern for the livelihoods of my coworkers who were not involved with anything of this. I didn't want them to be without a job if things played out as I figured they would. Maybe I should have done more, but it was clear that I was the chosen recipient of the abuse.

But that is, thankfully, all behind me now. I know who I am. I am someone who no longer allows others to treat me like that. I am also a good artist who makes cool monsters.

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Store Updated with MORE Buffy the Vampire and Angel Concept Art

Following in the footsteps of Friday's post about the addition of my 2024 Grand Bazaar art going onto my store, I am pleased to share that MORE original concept art that I produced for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel is also now available!

If you visited me at any convention in 2024, you had first access to the first two waves of concept art from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel that I have made available to the public. Now that 2025 has begun, I have updated my store with all the remaining art pieces. Now is your chance to own a piece of television history with these one-of-a-kind pieces. If you have any questions, please let me know!

New art and a lot more can be found on my store!

That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. See you back here on Wednesday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Kellogg's Fruit Harvest Commercial - Fat Dog Suit

I feel like I have shared this repeatedly over the years, but no matter how hard I search my blog and other social sites, it would appear that I have yet to fully share about this project. I have shared the final commercial before, and I may have even shared the photo of the completed suit, but I never shared them both here on the blog before, so that is what I am doing today.

In 2003, I worked on a commercial for Kellogg's Fruit Harvest cereal. We were tasked to make a fat suit for a dog performer. It was another typical day in LA when you need to create a fat suit for a dog. There were only a few of us working on the project as it was a small project with a fast turnaround. I was there for the entire length of the project, but I can not find any additional photos from working on it, save for the image I am sharing below. My work on this was to paint the finished fat suit to match the dog's real body. The suit was made with white fur, so I was required to paint with inks that would adhere to the fur we used. Here is a look at the final fat dog suit.

The fat dog suit used in the Kellogg's Fruit Harvest commercial, "I've fed muffin."

She is shown here without her RC tail that we attached to the back of the suit.

Everything was moving so quickly that I didn't have time to freak out about painting with materials I had never used before, on material I had never painted on, all with a quick turnaround, little to no room for delays or errors, and nearly constant abuse from the boss. Everyone was thrilled with how it turned out, and I actually received some praise for my efforts. The dog was a champ, super friendly, and really enjoyed wearing the suit. I did not go to set for this one, but I was told it all went swimmingly, and we really pulled it off. Here is the finished commercial featuring the fat dog suit I painted.

The Kellogg's Fruit Harvest commercial in all its glory - before it was pulled from airing.

And so concluded another project. But alas, it was not the end of this project. After the commercial began to air, there was a massive outcry that the dog in the commercial was being abused and that Kellogg's was endorsing animal cruelty. Looking back now, it is all incredibly stupid and pointless, but at the time, I was really frustrated. Individuals who were never a part of the process complained about a thing that was long done and forced the commercial to be pulled from the air. As the dog in question was never in danger or hurt, and really enjoyed being in the suit doing all of this only hurt real humans. The actors in the commercial had their residuals severely hit by the ad no longer playing. The people behind the commercial likely took a hit as Kellogg's would be less interested in working with them again, which meant we would likely not get more work from that production company. So, in an effort to protect a dog that was never in danger, a lot of humans were harmed. I had hoped, but I never got a chance to see the commercial air on TV.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. 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

From the Archives: Ubervamp (Turok-Han) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7

Today, I have a monster I worked on for season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This particular monster appeared in multiple episodes throughout the seventh season. I worked on each of its appearances, including the series finale, where the Scobby Gang fought an army of them. This one was a very big deal as it was the main physical threat to the world controlled by the First. And since it was a big deal, there were a lot of hands involved, and we received a lot of opinions.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought these monsters to life, but this time around, I was present at all stages, but my focus was on the design work, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

As I said, this one was a big deal to to the show, and the writers, producers, money people, more money people, Joss, and anyone else available were giving input for how this thing should look. If I remember correctly, going into this, no one had any ideas for what this thing should look like. But they were quick to tell us everything that it didn't look like - and that would have been all of our designs. Eventually, we got there, but not after a lot of work. Typically, early in the season, if there was a solitary Ubervamp or a close-up of a hero makeup, that would be Camden Toy. Camden was an amazing suit performer, actor, and friend. I treasure my memories of working with him. Eventually, the Ubervamps would be played by extras and stunt performers, but all the hero shots are Camden. My work on this one is all over the place, too. I did do some design work, sorta - I will explain below, a bit of shop work and a TON of painting. I painted so many of these masks and makeups. The on-set makeup artists got a little wacky sometimes, but that was to be expected. Here are shop images, set images, and more for the mighty Ubervamp.

This is the hero photo of Camden in the full makeup that the boss took on the first day of shooting. I cleaned up the photo and got it ready for promotion, and it ended up being used everywhere. Camden wore silicone makeup, but all the stunt performers and extras wore foam latex.

I said I did do some design work. And here it is!

While on the set of Angel, as an episode of Firefly was on the TV in the makeup trailer, I got a call from the boss to start designing the 'Uber Vampire' while I was working on the set that night. So, that is what I did. I found some paper, and I had some pencils and markers with me, and I got to work. Mind you, I received little to zero input on what I was supposed to be doing. I was told to start drawing, and that is what I did. I did these crude warm-up drawings while on set, working with some other monster. I was trying to figure out what an 'Uber Vampire' looked like, but it wasn't this.

And it wasn't this either.

I wish I had had more time... I would have liked to have had any time to work on these. I was given brief moments on set doing my job to come up with these. The funny thing is, if this was presented to me now, I wouldn't think anything about it; I would start drawing and would likely come up with something neat in quick work. But this was twenty-two years ago, and I didn't have the skills yet to pull that off, so we have these scribblings.

These two were never even finished.

I did as much as I could on set, and by the time I was back in the shop the next day, things had long since passed me by, with the shop's AD taking the lead. He had over a day's lead on me by now, and I had a couple of crude sketches. I fell back to support and processed and prepped his work as fast as he could make it.

If anyone is interested, I still have all of these drawings.

One thing I did design was the Ubervamp's contacts.

The final lenses didn't look like these at all (I think they just used stock lenses), but I designed something to completion, at least. I think these would have been fun, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I did say that I was responsible for some painting.

These are the background makeups and masks for the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It felt like I was working on these day and night, and I was. There were a bunch of us seaming and patching the heads and hands, and then I would paint them.

And here is me from the distant past with the things I painted.

I miss that shirt.

Here is an early version of the Ubervamp. I do not recall the sculptor, but I think this version would have been great. It feels different and unique, but that is likely why they hated it.

Here are some more sculpt variations.

At the end of the day, they had loads of issues with the nose, and they freaked out about anything that wasn't a normal nose... on a vampire... and was UBER. Again, the sculptor is unknown.

Now for some more Camden love with set pics!

GRRRRR ROAR! I'm a monster!

Ubervamp has had a bad day, Ubervamp needs to lay down.

Lastly, here are some set pics with the Ubervamp army. A mix of masks and makeups, and on set, the masks always migrated up close to the camera for some reason. These were all painted the same, but as I said before, the makeup artists took a lot of liberties with these and went WAY off the style guide way too often. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. RAWR!

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

From the Archives: African Portal Demon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5

Today, I have a monster I designed and worked on for season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode fifteen, Get It Done. Looking back, I am a little shocked at how many times I worked on multiple monsters for a single episode. Yesterday, I shared with you another monster I worked on for this episode, the Assassin Demon.  

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought these monsters to life, but this time around, I was present at all stages, but my focus was on the design work, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

This was a weird one. This demon was meant to be a one-and-done monster. Meaning that it had only a very small role in the episode. It would be filmed in a day and would never be seen again. But the fates had a different plan for it. Through a comedy of errors, something kept happening with the shots they needed to get. First, they ran out of time, then they ran out of time again, then the footage they got didn't work, then they needed some more shots, and there was some more running out of time mixed in there as well. Needless to say, this one-and-done monster ended up on set MANY times, and we had to keep making new makeup pieces each time. I ended up on set a LOT with this one over many weeks as they tried to get all the shots they needed. While I was not the person who originally painted the makeup for the first day, I ended up painting all of the new makeup that was needed for the additional shooting days. I designed the markings on the face and body, but those images are not worth sharing. Here are photos from the set and our effect shop of the African Portal Demon. 

The African Portal Demon in all its glory on set.

Oh wow! It's some idiot and a demon! RAWR!

This was a very cool cave interior set on the Buffy lot. It was made using an expanding foam or material to create the rocky texture. I am not sure what happened, but one day, I walked across the set and left massive bootprints across the entire set floor. I got out of there really fast and didn't get near that set for a few days. Thankfully, no one was there to see me do it. It was likely not a big deal, and bootprints on the floor would never have been seen on the show, but I definitely didn't want to be associated with the imprints. There was always someone looking for a reason to yell at someone lower on the food chain than they were. ...which reminds me of another story from another time working on Buffy, but that story will need to wait for another day - if ever. It's just about someone yelling at me for no reason because they liked yelling and screaming at subordinates.

This is literally a millisecond before I sprayed adhesive into the demon's armpit to patch up a hole. The adhesive ricocheted back and barely missed my eyes and coated my hair. Luckily, some rubbing alcohol took care of the adhesive in my hair, and I wasn't blinded at that moment. 

Man, I miss that shirt.

The actor in this makeup has a SEVERE allergy to latex. This makeup, cowl, and upper body suit are all made of... YOU GUESSED IT! Latex! It was a topical reaction, but he looked like he was dragged across gravel when he came out of it all. And yes, he was aware of his allergy. He was aware of what the suit and makeup were made out of. He still did it all, on numerous days, for the money and fame.

I will say he was one of the more charismatic people we worked with. He wasn't the best we worked with, but he was really, really good. He had a lot of fun with the role and could really emote and come through the makeup with his personality.

Here are some photos of the face and cowl sculptures.

Again, these weren't mine, and I do not remember who was responsible. I have a slight guess, but I am likely wrong at this point. I still love the bite mark on the head and shoulder. The chin tusks may have been a reused item but were likely new for this one.

That's all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

From the Archives: Assassin Demon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7

Today, I have a monster I designed and worked on for season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode fifteen, Get It Done. As today is Halloween, it seemed like a good day to share this one. We only ever knew it as the Assassin Demon, so I am not sure if it ever acquired a different name.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought these monsters to life, but this time around. I was present at all stages, but my focus was on the design work, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

This particular demon is one that I had shared before, which consisted of the same single image, but I never shared any of the other photos, details, or designs. While I have designed and painted a lot of monsters for Buffy and Angel, this is one of my favorites. I was given a lot of room to do whatever I wanted to with the paint scheme, and so I went a bit crazy. I also designed it from a very crude sketch from the art director. It was more of a general direction, and I fleshed it out the best I could. Here is a never before shared photo of the Assassin Demon.

RAWR! The Assassin Demon!

This demon is forever tied to my favorite nights on set for Buffy. I needed to go over to set to check on things and to drop some items off. In the process, I also took a lot of photos and spent some time on set. As it was after hours and a last minute call for me to do this, I was able to bring my wife with me to show her Sunnydale and what I 'do at work.' We had a blast walking around the sets, letting her see where the magic happens and as an added bonus, they had absolutely amazing tomato soup with cheesy bread for late snack at craft service, and I think about that soup often. A really good memory of my time there that I try to hang onto. Now for the designs!

I was told my initial design was approved, which is the above image, but later, I was told to make edits to it and give it another pass, which I did.

My second pass had some edits to the forms and shapes, and I better defined the design with shading. Now, if you are thinking that the updated design really doesn't look like the finished product, you would be correct. This is yet again another example of what I did the first time being used, and the updated version was ignored. I have no idea how, when, why, or what led to this, but it was not uncommon. 

 

This is the photo I have always shared for this particular demon.

You might notice that the demon has lavender around the eyes. This was a unilateral decision made by the makeup artist who applied the makeup. We were not there to stop them, but I guess they wanted to make sure that this looked like a mask by calling attention to the eyes and giving it a COMPLETELY different color just under them. Not darker or lighter versions of the surrounding color, but a contrasting color. Sadly, they all can't be perfect, even though this one got so very close.

And one more photo of the demon for good measure.

Lastly, here are some better images of the face piece and cowl I painted for this monster. Like I said before, I was given a lot of room to just be an artist who makes cool monsters on this one without all the bullying and punitive revisions. I recall I even received a compliment for the work I did on this one.

The used face piece and cowl for this one remained in my possession as one of the few physical reminders of my work on the shows. It has been stored in a dark climate controlled environment for over twenty years which has allowed this piece to hold up fairly well.

That's all for another exciting Thursday on the blog. See you back here tomorrow! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

From the Archives: Black Death Demon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7

Today, I have a monster I designed and worked on for season seven of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode seven, Conversations with Dead People. This particular monster reused a lot of existing parts and pieces but required a new head and back detailing - which is where I come in.

Before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. I was one of many who brought these monsters to life, but this time around, there were only a couple of us working on this one. I was present at all stages, but my focus was on the design work, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

For this one, we used an existing body suit, feet, and hands that we had previously made for other monsters. By combining different pieces from different monsters, adding additional details and elements, and a unique paint job, these preexisting parts become something wholly new. For my part, I designed a new head and a back element to make this piece its own monster. Here is the only photo of the Black Death Demon that I know of that I took in the makeup trailer on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

RAWR! The Black Death Demon.

I have no idea if this monster ended up with a different name, but Black Death Demon was what it was referred to by production, and that's what stuck. I am unsure if this monster was even real on the show or if it was an illusion or dream sequence. But no matter, it was real enough to me. This monster marked the first time I designed a piece, and the shop's art director did the sculpting and perfomed in the suit as the monster. I was the set tech that day and got him into the suit and mask. As it was a mask and not a makeup, I could do all the work, and a makeup artist was not brought in. 

From what I could remember, there was not a lot of direction at first for this one. It was all very vague. I remember the mention of a black specter of death, lots of black, and no budget (hence reusing so much). The ambiguous nature of all this likely was why I was assigned it and allowed to do whatever I wanted. Here is a look at my design for the Black Death Demon.

Initially, the monster had wings as they wanted an interesting back element for this one. For filming, the monster runs into a room with its back to the camera and leaps upon a couch. Upon the couch is the lifeless body of Buffy's mother. The monster lingers over the body, ignoring Buffy as she looks on in horror. I am not sure the face of the monster is ever shown on the show. I wanted it to have piercing white pupilless eyes and a distorted extended face. These designs are sold and no longer available.

 

The wings were shot down immediately with no explanation. The eyes were also an issue. After brainstorming with the shop AD, we settled on tiny hands that would grasp the shoulders, and strangely, everybody liked them. The eyes got updated to whatever these are, and those, too, were approved... for some unknown reason, as they are horrible. With approved designs, it was time to make a monster.

I have nearly no photos of this monster's creation. I do not recall why this is, but the images in this post are all of the pictures I have. This is likely due to the extremely quick turnaround that we likely had to make this, and I was probably busy on other projects as well. Here are photos of the head sculpted for the Black Death Demon.

I am sure you are saying to yourself, "Man, the design that this sculpture does not look very similar to your designs," and you would be correct. The AD who sculpted this just kinda did what he wanted, as he usually did. I don't have a problem with how it turned out; it just bothered me that I designed something, it was approved, and then he did something different. That said, he went with the original eye design, which is far superior to the orange swirl mess that was approved. We lost the weird chin, which is fine, I guess, but it would have been interesting to see it in the design. At the end of the day, you never see the face (I believe), so what we did never really mattered - which is sad, really.

The tiny arms on the back were fabricated with armature wire, hot glue, foam, latex, and artificial nails. If I recall correctly, the AD started one, and I followed suit on the other. Also, since the eyes on the final mask were the white forms used as placeholders on the sculpture, the AD couldn't see anything when wearing the mask. For filming, we popped the eyes out so he could see as he ran into the room and leaped upon the couch with the actress on it. I have very solid memories of being on set that day and watching the shot filmed repeatedly. Craft service also brought sushi in for afternoon snack, which was really cool.

Now for a little story! The AD and I arrived at the crack of dawn for filming that day - as you always had to, no matter what time of the day they planned to film you. As the saying goes, "Hurry up and wait!" Well, that day, there was a lot, and I mean a lot of waiting. It took no time to get him into the suit, so we were ready to film about 30 minutes after we got there... only production wasn't. So, we waited and waited, and the day ticked by. The suit was never meant to be worn by the AD, so he soon found himself in a bit of discomfort, and as he could be called to set at any moment, he couldn't take the suit off for a break. One of the reasons the AD was in the suit as he was already a member of the Screen Actors Guild. I would soon be a part of SAG, but at the time, only he was. Sometime in the afternoon, as we continued to wait and the AD continued to be in discomfort, a SAG rep made a surprise visit. We explained the situation, the discomfort, the waiting, and the rep got really serious, a bit angry, and disappeared. Within moments, production was at the trailer, getting us for the shot the monster was needed for. The shot went extremely quickly, and we were wrapped for the day, and the AD could get out of the suit. Gotta love those Union reps; they got stuff done!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog. See you back here after IX in a week and a half! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

From the Archives: Werewolf - Angel Season 5 (PART 2)

Welcome back! Today is part two of my look back at the werewolf I helped bring to life for the fifth season of Angel, episode 3, Unbound. If you missed it, you can catch up on PART ONE, which features my design work, a lot of photos from the completed werewolf on set, and some storyboards I did for the episode that may or may not have ever been looked at by anyone outside the shop. 

Once again, before I go any further, I must remind everyone that this work is a collaboration of many skilled artists and technicians. Designing and making the werewolf was a massive undertaking for the shop, and everyone was working on it. I was one of many who brought this thing to life. I was present at all stages, but primarily, I was on the design team, paint and finish, and set crew. After twenty-plus years, I cannot properly give credit to everyone else involved. Sorry, but people's names were the first to go after I left LA.

In part two, I am sharing a look at the werewolf taking shape in the makeup effects shop I worked at. It was all hands on deck for this one. We needed a full body cast of the stunt actor, a fiberglass form of the actor to sculpt upon, separate forms for the head, face, arms, and ears, molds of everything, casts of everything, arm extension forms with wire-controlled fingers, a set of teeth with a tongue and palate, seaming on everything, paintwork on everything, hair work, and finish & detail. And it all had to be done in a week or two. It was a crazy, fun time, to say the least. Looking back, I try remembering the good times and hope they outweigh the other times. First, here is the completed werewolf on set about to leap from a second-story window.

I have some very blurry images of the werewolf going out the window, but sadly, they are too recognizable to share.

The stunt actor getting his full-body life cast. We work extremely hard and fast so that the actors are not in the mold any longer than necessary.

And like magic, there is a completed sculpture of a werewolf ready to be molded. Things were moving so quickly that it was hard to document everything at times. While I have a LOT of photos, I need to be careful what I share, be respectful of the dead, and pick images that share a distinct moment in the process.

I may have hated working with fiberglass the most. I only had to deal with it a couple of times, but it is nasty, dangerous stuff. When dealing with a sculpture of this size, there is no other option than fiberglass. There is a lot of planning that goes into a project like this. It goes all the way down to making sure the mold is properly reinforced and cut down correctly.

One of the two arms with the mold walls set up. Plaster would be used for these molds. Once this side was completed, the entire thing would be flipped over, the clay mold walls removed, and then the second half of the mold would be built by hand.

 

The body mold is shown here in the midst of getting filled with foam latex. I never learned what method was used to determine how much foam latex was needed to fill the various molds.

The opening of a foam latex mold is a unique experience. For me, the worst was the fiberglass molds. Plaster molds tended to absorb more of the funk than the fiberglass, or it at least seemed that way. When you cracked open a big mold like this, you would be hit with a sulfur egg blast, and the latex would be wet, slick, and nasty. It was so cool!

The sculpture for the face of the werewolf. The ears will be cut off and molded separately so that they can be cast in a slightly translucent material. Molds of the gums and empty palate are also made so that the teeth, tongue, and mouth interior can be sculpted and cast with appropriate materials.

A much younger and heavier me painting the werewolf suit. This was late at night, and there were only a couple left in the shop, but the work needed to be done, and we had to stay till it was. There is always another step after the one you are working on, and that next person is waiting on you.

The werewolf suit takes shape with paintwork.

A look at the arm extensions with the wire-controlled puppet fingers... or paws.

And the finished werewolf arms. They still need hair, but this should show you how they look. The color is off because of the quality of digital cameras twenty-plus years ago. It was very difficult to get good, consistent photos where the colors and lighting remained the same.

The werewolf's face in the early stages of paint work. There are times I look at these early stages of the work we did and wonder how we ever got it completed in time and how it ended up looking as good as it did. It is a magical transformation to watch a pile of latex bits get put on an actor, and suddenly, it is a monster.

Here again is 2003, me painting some werewolf paws.

Yes, I was blonde-ish for a time in my LA days.

And finally, after a great deal of time, work, and frustration, we have a completed werewolf suit ready for set. Knowing how we rolled, this was likely completed the night before this needed to be on set at 5AM - actually, it filmed on a lot of night shoots, so it could have been it was needed at 5PM the next day. A ton of people put a lot of hours into this so it would be ready for the show.

One more photo of the completed suit. It feels like a million years ago and a week or two ago. I can smell this picture for all the good and bad. I can feel being back there. I spent a lot of time over a few years in this space and did a lot of amazing things and had some horrible things happen to me. It is a mixed bag, but it is nice to share the work that the team did after all these years.

That is all for another week on the blog. See you back here next week! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com