But that's ok because I DO have an official IMDB page here thanks to Brian Corder and "Carnies". There's plenty of great production stills on that site including ones of my punks. Carnies star, Lee Perkins was kind enough to let me know that the kids were a big hit at this years' Fango Con as well. This weekend begins filming for the short film, Spek-ter by director, Terrence Kelsey. I'll be doing some full body corpse make-up in this blood and boobs thriller. The Dick Smith course is fascinating and it's fun going back to square one with Dick as my guide. Unfortunately I get so excited it's hard not to jump ahead and read about all the more advanced goodies. posted by: jared  On another note the official website for "Carnies" is now up. It's the Pickled Punks first movie appearance and they're just, well...pickled with excitement about it. And last but certainly not least Dick Smith just called me the other day to accept me as one of his students. I can't begin to tell you what that means to me. I don't even know how things could be better right now. Well, maybe leaving for the airport at sometime other than 2:30 AM could be better but it's all worth it. More in 2 weeks when I get back. posted by: jared
Last week was a hectic 6 days working 16 hours a day but for the best reason, making great movies. I met and worked with lots of great people and in 2 weeks I get to go to Ohio and do it all over again. I can't wait.
Michael Berryman and I
Me and Ruth Buzzi
yeah, that's right, Farah White loved me
preparing the blood pump at Ruth's head.
The dummy child body I prepared in the light of the bonfire. posted by: jared
In just a week I'll be beginning work on my first big film with an amazing Special Effetcs artist and a cast that you've actually heard of! Thanks, Jason <posted by: jared
 "Sawdust in the Blood used to be a Carnie compliment...not a description of a crime scene." "Carnie" even has some seasoned performers like Reggie Bannister and Lee Perkins. This circus slasher was recently featured on the Fangoria website and even got some love from Joblo. Of course you can find all this stuff on the official site but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The Punks will be a part of the sideshow and will get some close ups of their own. posted by: jared
I've been sitting on a few things for awhile that I'd love to share but it's just simply not time yet. Which makes me wonder why I didn't put this up immediately. I'd like to introduce Obscuriosities newest addition to the Pickled Punks family, Isabel. A steamer trunk in a Massachusetts attic revealed this piece of
unwanted history. As descendants place the tale, Isabel was a stillborn
in the 17th century. Isabel's unfortunate mother, Sarah Wilde enjoyed
her life as the daughter of a successful businessman and shared
her charms often. To Sarah's chagrine this lifestyle had it's unwanted
side-effects leaving her pregnant without a husband. Sarah's misplaced
trust in her midwife would spell her doom. The midwife told the
town elders immediately about Sarah's ungodly offspring and the
lamentable mother was taken for trial forthwith. Isabel became the
primary evidence that ended in the execution of the young mother.
Isabel is now available for order. More to come soon including, movies! puppets! handbags!? posted by: jared
I realized today that I haven't been flogging these here as I should be. I speak of course of the craze that's sweeping the world, PICKLED PUNKS! Their popularity is endless and they're shooting off to all parts of the globe. Whether you're weird, peculiar, odd, goth or barren you'll love these sickening specimens. Printed here is their pitch lines that will be included on a card with each punk: Ladies and Gentlemen, Connosieurs of the unusual! What you now bear witness to is the result of many years of searching the American backwoods, the forgotten and the neglected. No cellar left unchecked and no attic unturned to find you the most unique artifacts of American history. The unwanted children, the trophies of battle and the undesirable heirlooms.This is Jeremy. He was found in a wood pile in Carolina. His only protection for the elements was a plastic bag until he was scooped up by a caring soul and delivered to his new glass home. Jeremy has some unfortunate maladies and his right side seems to be covered in tumors or perhaps there's a bit of elephantiasis. Nobody else wanted him so he hopes maybe you will.
A third in the series named Isabel will be released shortly posted by: jared
After a particularly self abusive holiday weekend. I found myself with little more energy than it took to look at a computer screen and move a finger around and click.
And as it's occasionally necessary to do so, I found myself checking up on myself. You know the vanity Google searches etc... We all do them. Don't we? Well, I wanted to share some of my findings with you:
Last week marked my Fourth GWAR concert. An amazing group whether you like their music or not. Bringing out the most gory, over the top, revolting props and this being the 20th anniversary of the band I was blessed to see their giant T-rex puppet Gor-Gor. The blood and Gore always flys freely and everyone in the audience wears it like a red badge of courage. Here's mine:
Always eager to help out my friends at B-Minus ComiksI spent Saturday night filming what can only be describes as a puppet snuff film. "It'll be funny in the end, trust me" That's what Marc Nordstrom kept telling me as we set up shots with the helpless puppets. As with all blood shots ( especially when they rely on one take) I was nervous that the blood just wasn't going to look good enough. But amazingly it went off without a hitch. Tiny little sneakers were rinsed off and we packed it up for the night. The night went so smoothly I hardly knew we were filming ( not to mention a cast and crew of three including myself isn't what Im used to). I cursed myself for not bringing my camera that night to record the surrealness of it all. Though B-Girl, AK Smith was kind enough to send me this pic taken before filming that night:
Finally I thought I'd share a sneak peek at my newest Pickled Punk. I just started in on him so he's far from finished. I'm thinking of naming him Gaston. posted by: jared
Hallowe'en season of 2005 is over now and I picked some valuable lessons. Like if you want to sell a product for the season start design and production a year in advance;).This year I helped out my friends at www.b-minuscomiks.comas they did San Francisco's historic Castro Theater's Shock it to Me horror film festival. We did some funny skits including a zombie dance troupe, had some great laughs and saw some classic horror films. I went out with the Isotope crew a couple times and did a couple variations of the Two-Face make-up from Batman on James. You can see pics here. You can also see the freaky Scarecrow costume that Kirsten Baldock made for me that kept people from talking to me all night. This year since I was trying to come up with some fun Hallowe'en items to sell, I debuted my two new children: Jeremy and Randy Jeremy is my ode to the circus sideshow of old. I plan on doing a series of these. I've already started designs this is the only one that I've sculpted so far. You can find him currently on Ebay here. Soon I'll have grapics cards with cool little illustrations n stufff for them. Randy is a stuffed latex doll. I just thought it was a fun idea and wanted to give it a shot. This is the only one I've made so far but I should have him up for sale soon. That's all for now but I'm hoping to get in more pictures from Hallowe'en particularly from the Castro Theater show. And maybe someday you'll see me embarass myself as Igor onstage. posted by: jared
Thanks to my favourite art director, Marisa Lehnert I've now got some pics of my work on "Couch Surfing". It's not what anyone's used to seeing me do and I thought for sure Marisa was going to laugh at my clumsy attempts at the requested Kabuki/glamour make-ups. I thought it all turned out really well and everyone liked the results includng Marisa. Trying NOT to make make-up look natural was my biggest hurdle and I couldn't help but try to inject my own hang ups into some of the make-ups. There's a great slideshow on Flickr if you click the pic.
There's several of the ghosts that you don't see in these pictures as Marisa was clearly only interested in the girls with the pretty hair ( Special thanks to Adrian Bonilla for the fabulous coiffes ). You also can't see just how much the little schoolgirl got into her "Grudge" like character. She knew exactly how to hang her head let the hair fall over face. I really wish I had a picture of that. I just completed a sculpt on a half mask that I'll post up soon and I've got another experiment that I'm going to be getting right on top of that will be sure to please. posted by: jared
I just picked up a quick make-up job for a very cool sounding film called "Couch Surfing" for director Peter Hyoguchi. It's not the kind of make-up I normally do so we'll see how well I can break my own barriers.
So far I've only seen my earliest works completed in film. I'll develop a complex if that's all I have to judge my exposure.
I've also got a great little video of Isotope the Comic Book Lounge. This is what took up all of the rest of my time in June. I did much of the design and construction on this place and I succeeded in what I was trying to do so I have to say I'm damned pleased with it. It's a classy mix of comic book store, gallery, and swank lounge. There's still more work to do, not the least of which is set up the costume and prop gallery on the mezzanine level. Just click the picture to see the gloriousness.
If I don't say anything about how long it's been since I last updated maybe nobody will notice... damn, I just mentioned it didn't I? Well, uhm, let me tell you lots of exciting stuff. I just finished working on "Faith", a new feature length film from Honeycutt Films with Lewis Morphew and Alex Arquembourg. I'm still waiting for them to hook me up with some still photos from filming but I do have some fun shots of a few tests I did. 
A blood spray test for a messy throat slash scene. They cut this scene as I arrived on set that day but a few hours later minds were changed and the glorious blood spray scene was restored even though it wasn't what I originally thought it would be.
I changed my recipe for making intestines this time. I'm much happier with it. In the scene where this is used a doctor is eviscerated. The doctor was being played by an actual doctor and when I asked him what he thought of my intestines he thought I had hit it spot on.
I got a lot of compliments from the doctor that day and I felt pretty good about that.
I'll let you know more about "Faith" as developments occur.
I spent up a good portion of my soul building the coolest comic book store ever. We had a blast at the San Diego Comic-Con this year. Expect to see some some cool new items that I'll be selling. /posted by: jared
That's right, I'm a big fan of cheese. From aged cheddars to a
fine Shropshire Blue I'll try 'em all. But, uh, yeah that's irrelevant. Much more importantly I'm beginning pre-production on "Indignation" , a new horror film from The Chainsaw Mafia. This mess fest promises to deliver plenty of disfigured babies, limbless women and alien rape scenes.
I hope that sounds good to you 'cuz that's going to be a deal for me for the next couple of months. This time around I wont be doing everything myself however, I get a great crew to organize and I'm looking forward to a great melding of knowledge and skills. I have to say that's what I'm most looking forward to on this project. Sure there's some great opportunities to create some
gut wrenching visual effects but sometimes when you're all alone doing this you just don't have a second opinion or an alternate source of knowledge to fall back on.
I found a great website last week that I wanted to share. Autopsy Babies is the site of artist, Jeremi R. Jeremi creates some of the most brutally beautiful baby dolls I've ever come across. There are babies with fliptop faces, babies with their faces stapled shut, babies with bat wings and babies that are just too rotten to look at. I really love that Jeremi included his hate mail on his site. It's always nice to know that people care enough to drop you a line whether it's good or bad. I was going to include a picture here of my favourite baby, Botch but Jeremi doesn't like you using his pictures without permission and I was too damn lazy to get it so you'll just have to head on over to his site and check it out instead. P.S. So as I just double checked those links I realized that Jeremi's site is almost as frustrating as mine and you'll just have to search the site for those items instead. Good Luck! posted by: jared
The first thing I'd like to mention is that Zlice Productions has finally put together a website. I worked on "Blind Therapy" and "Moonlight Run" for Zlice earlier this year and last year. I wish everyone I worked with had a website so I could show you how great everyone is. I believe the Zlice site is still under construction but it looks good already. There's a bunch of great behind the scenes photos as well as trailers for the shorts I worked on (anything else isn't important ;) ). I don't really want to turn this into some kind of soapbox since that isn't the reason I created this space but the special effects make-up world has suffered something of a blow recently.
After a very successful 33 year long career, Rick Baker has decided to retire. Rick's best known for his werewolves and gorillas. After my favourite werewolf movie, The Howling, Rick went on to make An American Werewolf in London for which he won a much deserved Academy Award (The first in Oscar history).
After that it was Michael Jackson's Epic Thriller video and history was made. Very early on Baker made a name for himself by changing the way people saw Gorillas. First by redesigning the standard gorilla mask that was used with all Hollywood Ape costumes and then creating (and wearing) the King Kong costume for the 1976 version of the film.
Many more great Simian jobs followed but Baker always had a soft spot for the werewolves. After years of struggling and taking jobs just so that he could keep his crew working and paid Baker saw retirement drawing close but he really wanted to make one last werewolf movie. And it would have been a great one if Cursed had not fell prey to a rushed production schedule that didn't allow it to work out the kinks before filming began.
In late 2003 with only a couple of weeks left before completion of fabrication the plug was pulled on the original Cursed so that the whole story could be rewritten. Shortly after this Baker closed the doors of his 60,000 square foot FX House, Cinovation Studios.
posted by: jared
With primary photography on Bad Penny wrapped I was slacking a little so no updates. Last week was very busy with the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. This convention just gets better every year if you ask me. I was also very glad to see the full cut of the new episode of Hel On Ice along with DVDs of the show at the B-Minus Booth. There was also some very cool very creepy sculpture and film work from Brad Isdrab. Ooh, you should also check out Daniel Merlin Goodbrey. Daniel was the winner of this year's Isotope Award For Excellence in Mini Comics. He does some fascinating work and I'm very pleased he took the award this year. I realize that this is all comics related stuff and I try to stick to my subject here but I'm kinda left in a holding pattern on things here. I'm waiting for a greenlight on one film a couple of others drifted into limbo and another has presented itself to me recently. My frantic, super busy year has decided to show me the very dull teeth of the film industry. I guess that would be the molars. I'm at the starting gate ready to take off but they keep on putting their hand up for me to wait. I'll be sitting down and playing with my shoelaces pretty soon here. But that's cool, I'm adjusting. What I really wanted to rant about here was funerary practices. I really haven't been to many funerals myself so maybe I'm totally wrong here but why is it that
the make-up artists that prepare these people have to make them look like undead clowns? I was very disturbed by this as I noticed a close up of the deceased Pope's face on the cover of a newspaper.
I have to say it was just ...well... disturbing. The picture I have here isn't the same and is not as scary as that one but you get the idea. I don't know, maybe it's really complicated to apply make-up to dead flesh but I know that there are artists out there that can make plaster look like human flesh using an airbrush.
In general the results I'm seeing don't look like they are dead or alive. I suppose maybe people don't want to think of their loved ones as being either of these things at this point. I guess maybe people are willing to spend an arm and a leg for a casket or services but make-up is FAR down the list.
posted by: jared
So, when I originally posted my production journal for BAD PENNY I had to remove the link because the forum where I was presenting this wasn't public yet. Well it is now and here is the corrected LINK.
It was a little strange writing this thing on a forum when I knew that it wouldn't be read for almost a month but I did it anyway and I hope it's at least interesting to people.
posted by: jared
There's just a few more days of filming left on Bad Penny. That's both good and bad. It will be nice to not have to worry about this project anymore and move onto worrying about the next one. However that means I wont be seeing the people I'm working with on a regular basis. I always meet new people and make friends on set and I usually can count on meeting them again on another project but who knows when that will be. I have to think that it would be even more difficult for people in short contract positions in offices and the like. I figure you're just not making any friends, there. Maybe that's just an unnecesaary distraction, I don't know. But certainly on a movie set everyone's gotta be on the same team because everyone is inextricably linked. The actor is going to feel the make-up and work with it, the wardrobe designer is going to make the make-up look more believable, sound will catch the subtle swish of the fabric every crew members silence means less sound work in post production. That may be a little half-assed but it gets the point across. Everyone is relying on other cast and crew so you've got to make if you want to be successful. Not only are they going to make you look good but they're also going to make sure they tell others about you and that's the kind of advertising you can't pay for. And as promised here's some pics of the little sculpt I did last week. Isn't he adorable? posted by: jared
I had a great day of filming on Saturday. The location was so excellent it was like we were making a snuff film. "What's so excellent about that, Jared?", you may be asking. But you just really have to appreciate the rich environment and the limted crew on hand that really made the atmosphere. It was a torture scene after all. We were lucky to have an actress that was experienced with bondage and could tie a DAMN fine knot. There was some great acting but after hours of being tightly bound, the pain started getting a little more real. Maybe somebody shoulda been a little more careful the night before, wink wink. Bobby, Jesse and Alison show how much each of them likes to be tied up. With a couple days off I was actually able to do a little sculpting. I'll show you soon. posted by: jared
Well, Wednesday night was a long one, First the day job from 9 til 9 then a midnight shoot on Bad Penny til 5 am and then back to the day job. I'm just feeling human again and the SanFrancisco weather is absolutely beautiful! And now it's time to head to the next "Bad Penny" location with a stop at my supplier, Kryolan along the way. I really want to start some new sculpts right now but I'm just not seeing that in the near future.
A pic from Wednesday night's filming, posted by: jared
After a last Friday night production meeting everything was set in motion and filming on "Bad Penny has begun. I discovered that the production company, Working Stiff Films has put up a website HERE. There's not much there right now but I'm hoping that they'll have it up and active soon. I've started a production journal over at the Isotope Board. I hope to give an interesting inside look at indy filmmaking there. I've also put up another Raygun auction. You can see that HERE. Lastly I thought that I'd post up a teaser fro Bad Penny so here ya go,
posted by: jared
It was back to the assembly line for me today. I've been making fiberglass masks and rayguns for a while now. The masks are for the Jesse Kerman production, "Bad Penny" while the rayguns are just so that I can bring in some extra cash. I'm really hoping to start Dick Smith's Make-up course this year and every penny helps.
Mostly I worked on the display bases for the rayguns but I was also working on the paint on some and laying up the fiberglass for another mask. As soon as I'm done typing this I have to head out for a production meeting. Filming on that begins this weekend. I don't have a lot to do right away but the project is now staring me in the face so I've got to make sure I've got everything in order so I can present myself as the professional I am.
Ok, I think this is going to be the last picture in the shop/ studio tour. This is the shelf unit where I keep supplies and miscellany in my studio.
I don't see anything particularly exciting here to talk about...except maybe those oversized comic book covers on the top. They're the covers to 2 of Kieron Dwyer and Steve Niles' Remains published by IDW.
I got those when I did the ZombieFest event with them at the Isotope. So I got that going for me.
I had no idea why all of a sudden people wouldn't stop calling me about tickets to Evil Dead: Live yesterday and today
until I got a hold of director Sean Madeira and found out that the San Francisco Chronicle wrote up a favourable REVIEW and printed a couple of pictures as well. Need less to say the remainder of the run sold out shortly afterwards.
... so, yeah, here's a picture from my studio. It's just a bookshelf that I have containing a bunch of sculpting, molding and casting videos as well as some of my favourite books. Like, Stage Makeup by Richard Corson,
Do-it Yourself Monster Make-Up by Dick Smith, and Grande Illusions by Tom Savini.
The San Francisco mainstream comic convention, WonderCon was this weekend. I got a real kick out of being able to get in as a professional. It wasn't all that exciting though.
I have a better time at the Alternative Press Expo or the San Diego Comic Con.
This picture just isn't very exciting at all. It's just a shot of one of my shelves showing some silicone and plaster molds. The one thing that I think is interesting here is the large piece of metal on the right side of the shelf was something I made for a short film where one actor is killed by a large sheet of metal becoming lodged in his face. It's too bad that film will never be finished. I was able to do some cool things and the overall look was really interesting.
Now that I've spent a bunch of money on new airbrushes and a new compressor my airbrushing is really starting to improve. There are effects that you really can't get any other way. I'll be sure to post some pics of what I'm doing soon. For my next shop picture I've got some random plaster molds from Evil Dead Live . That production starts this Thursday here in San Francisco. posted by: jared
Nothing ever goes as smoothly as planned. It always seems that my great ideas never work out as easily as I plan. However sometimes that means that I find new and better ways of accomplishing my ends.
But this also means that things I think should only take a couple days take at least a week while I figure out a new way to do it and then figure out that it was best the first way if only I had changed one or two things.
I just gotta say it's really hard to learn to walk when you have 150 different feet and some of them you don't even recognize as being feet.
So aside from design stuff that I don't want to share right now this is what I was working on in December:
I just finished up with two very long days on set for a short film by Zlice Proctions. I wish I had a link to stick in there but they don't seem to have a web presense, yet.
I have to say that this was probably the most professional crew I've worked with. I was really impressed. Unfortunately I didn't have as big a role as I'd have liked. But, hey, it wasn't a horror movie.
I'm hoping to find myself working with these people again. Maybe next time I'll feel more necessary.
Some pictures from Hallowe'en 04. This was done just before beginning my night of work for Gyro's, so not a lot of work went into Hallowe'en make-up this year. I promise next year will be much more impressive. I promise!
Now that Hallowe'en 2004 and Gyro's Fear Factory are in the past I can look again to the future. Me, I like to be optimistic about these things despite getting dragged down a little bit lately.
I have some new things I want to mention but I want to wait a couple days. First I'd like to exorcise my October demons and show some of the work I did for Gyro's. These are mostly me using very limited supplies and even more limited time.
Last night night was the premier party for Hel on Ice. I have to say the whole tongue scene looked pretty good not to mention there was a whole new look for the show that added a lot to the end result. I'm sure this show's just going to get better as it progresses. Perhaps it's destined for something greater than cable access.
I just finished making up a couple of stunt tongues for San Francisco's own Hel on Ice
. It's a great cable access tv show that mixes gross humour, funny puppets and old science fiction and horror movies. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.
I've just begun working on some ghoulish props for "Little Red Vs. The Undead". It's a funny jab at Fairy Tales. The show plays October 28th until the 30th at the Off Market Theater.
This is much of the same crew that put together the Evil Dead Live show that I was involved with earlier this year.
A couple films that I worked on are being shown at a film fest here in Oakland. I'll just let you read the copy: THE CHAINSAW MAFIA INDEPENDENT HORROR FILM FESTIVAL! That's right, we are having our first film festival EVER at the Parkway Speakeasy Theater www.picturepubpizza.com and it's going to be a gorey blast! On October 26th @ 9:15PM a sold out crowd will be celebrating the indie horror filmmakers of the bay area! This will laso be a chance for you to get exposed to the makeup artists, musicians, actors, producers, and others artists that create the horror community of the Bay area. Please come out and cheer for these hardworking individuals, who make blood and guts into an art!
The Chainsaw Mafia Indie Horror Film Festival
I'll be there. You should be too!
Thought I'd show off a sculpture that I finished a little bit ago.
This is the bust for a full size prop that I'm making.
This li'l feller will about three feet tall and have poseable arms and resin eyes.
He'll be just like the child I never wanted.
the news page is up and flourishing! good news for those of you
who read it. altho technically no one does cuz it just started and
you can't witness genesis til it actually happens, i think. well
whatever here you go. do with it what you will!
9.30.04 news is good. i like bloody zombies. how about you?
9/28/04 test. this is only a test. when there's no more room in hell and the dead will walk the earth.
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This one's made out of cold cast aluminum from a silicone mold. Iwant to try a nickel/ silver version as well as a plain painted resin version.
This particular ray gun was a Christmas gift for a good friend of mine but I've already taken a request for another and I'm sure a few more will come after that.
Much of this was an exercise in learning to sculpt more hard services. That's something that's been a real block for me. But I think I'm on the right track now and I'm sure there will be more like this in the near future.
But first I have deadlines coming up. A short film that includes a zombie this month, 
