Sunday, October 23, 2011

Corpse Nails

"Fumsmusings" has posted hundreds of makeup and special effects tutorials on Youtube, including this one on creating the ragged fingernails of a corpse. It's obviously useful if you're doing any kind of undead costume for a live action event, but the technique would be ideal for prop use. Mummified hands are a perennially popular occult artifact. Most of them look less than convincing because the fingernails are added as an afterthought and look too flat. This approach would go a long way towards making a believable reproduction.

4 comments:

  1. You know the makeup effect is a winner when the finished version makes you squirm. Thanks!

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  2. The last shot in the video made me notice the only thing I would change: Prior to applying the nails to the finger, I'd smudge/paint the underside with brown acrylic paint or other suitable color so that the undersides weren't that stark plasticy white color. Give it enough brown or black so it really looks like you clawed your way out of a grave or whatnot.

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  3. Thank you for mentioning my video :-) Glad you liked it.

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