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...
No comments:
Post a Comment