Aquaman, Mad Max, The Pacific: Valuable Advice from Emmy Winning Makeup Effects Artist Sean Genders
We easily remember the names of our favorite artists and directors of our favorite films. Though the work of most members of the film crew remains, as they say, behind the scenes. For example, those who can create a fantastic makeup on a person transforming them into truly a different persona and character. They are not magicians at all, they are Special Effects makeup artists and do it with the help of artistic talent, special cosmetics and various sculpting and prostheses. In this blog, we want to tell you about one of the top SFX artists in the industry — the talented makeup artist Sean Genders. You may have seen his work in films such as Elvis, Mad Max: Fury Road, Aquaman and Kong: Skull Island.
Sean Genders came into film and Prosthetic Makeup Effects over 30 years ago — after meeting Special Effects Makeup Artist Jason Baird of JMB FX Studio. Sean was already dabbling with 'making monsters' using paper maché, faux fur and leather and had started to explore latex and tissue paper makeup effects through the one makeup effects book that his local library had at the time which was the classic ’Three Dimensional Makeup' by Lee Baygan. “There was only one makeup store in town that sold latex and fake blood and the owner of the store put me in touch with Jason who by then was already beginning to work in the industry. We were the same age and had obvious similar interests so we quickly developed a friendship around making monsters, and he introduced me to the process of sculpting and mold making.” — Sean remembers. Over 30 years later they still work a lot together, and make monsters together in their spare time, just like they always have.
Sean was not immediately convinced that makeup effects could be a career for him: “I’d done a few things here and there through my 20’s…Until Jason became Supervisor on Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones and he asked me to work on it with him as an additional artist. That was in Sydney in 2000 and I have continued on since then.”
Even after that, Sean started with no ambition for a film career — he just wanted to make things and enjoyed the challenging process of working things out creatively. “Art was my passion and outlet.” — he says.
Eventually people found out his talents and they began to ask him to create for them. Sean started on a few short films, building wounds, props, masks and costume elements, and eventually commercials and then feature films. He entered a competition on a Saturday Night TV variety show called ‘Hey, Hey It’s Saturday’, where he had to impersonate Elvis: “For my rendition of Jailhouse Rock I created a zombie face out of latex and tissue and re-animated a dead Elvis. I won the competition and used the winnings to buy a shed where I could dedicate time to practicing my art.” Sean remembers that there were no classes or courses back then so everything was learned by trial and a lot of error: “Which is still my suggestion to young and aspiring artists… Stay home, make a lot of stuff… Don’t expect your first one to be great but keep going… By the time you’ve made a hundred wounds you’ll be starting to get there!”
Previously, there was not such a large abundance of materials easily available. So much has changed since then in terms of products. Sean told us that he began with tissue and latex and of course everything else was made with foam latex, which was a much more difficult learning process than today’s silicone. “To begin with, all foam latex is opaque, so you had to learn to paint it to make it look translucent… It’s much easier now with a translucent silicone and inks! Also there were less ways to receive self-gratification for your work, which I actually think was a great thing. There was no social media to post on, no-one to ’share’ your work with other than by photographs, so the focus was always on simply expanding your own skills and not trying to impress others. There were only a few makeup books available at the time and we would read film magazines like Fangoria, Starlog, Famous Monsters, Cinefx, and would view every image in detail from inspiring artists in the field such as Dick Smith, Rick Baker and my favorite of the day Rob Bottin. Often we were looking at pictures of an artist's work station for clues as to what they were using… Nothing was overlooked.”
Speaking about the materials and tools that Sean uses now, he noted that he does try and look at new products when he can but he thinks it's hard not to become addicted to things that you have success with. “I use a lot of Bdellium brushes now, especially for glue, and if you want to do FX makeup you simply must use their sfx tweezers!” His favorite brush for painting when using inks is a Winsor & Newton 000 Pure Squirrel as they last a long time and can add either a wash or the finest broken capillary. Sean uses various Skin Illustrator palettes but mostly ‘Bluebird Inks' from Allied FX: “I started using these on Mad Max: Fury Road and have now come to rely on them. The strength of ink and their color range is second to none, and I do love their sealers, I used to mix their gloss and matte to make a satin but thankfully now they have a satin sheen as well!” His go to glue is Telesis: “A lot of artists found it hard to leave the 5 but 8 is great! I’m loving the 8(F)!” On set he always needs Mac's Matte cream. “You always need to have your ‘get out of trouble’ key items on board, and I’m sure most artists will agree that we all carry too many things for ‘just in case’.” — Sean shares.
Of course, we couldn't help but ask Sean to tell us more about working on his favorite projects.
One of them is Mad Max: Fury Road. Sean says there’s a bunch of reasons why this project is one of his favorites. “Designer Lesley Vanderwalt gave me the gig and the character of Slit, performed by actor Josh Helman. We can often get locked into ‘what we know’ and for me 'Fury Road’ gave me a giant step up in terms of skill in both the workshop and makeup application. FX Supervisor Damian Martin was generous with his knowledge of silicon appliances and was an easy going, even-tempered team leader, that was there for us all as artists. He was there purely for the art and pushed himself really hard at times to get things done quickly when things changed, all in the name of making great FX makeup! I also learned the importance of my role as an artist in support of the actors' performance. It’s not about me, it's about the character. I am there so that the actor can forget about how they look and focus on the inner depths of their character and performance — this was a valuable lesson that I believe has allowed me to continue on as I have — I am in service to the character, be calm and clear, don’t make a fuss, don’t make it about you, it’s not.”
Sean also talked a lot about the wonderful Elvis movie: “Once again Lesley Vanderwalt put me forward and I had the opportunity to learn from Prosthetics Designer Mark Coulier.” According to Sean, this gig was as challenging as it was rewarding and he studied and practiced hard to up his skills for it. “I was fortunate to work alongside Jason Baird again, not only as Department Supervisor but also as co-artists on the application of Tom Hanks’ prosthetics. My very good friend and artist Emma George was with us as Austin Butler's Key artist. Austin has prosthetics on in every single frame of the film.
Emma did an amazing job! Mark Coulier was very generous with us and came out to Australia with his key artists and sculptors Josh Weston and Steven Murphy who undertook all of the original test make ups with him. I learnt so much from Mark and his approach, truly a masterclass from a gentleman of the craft. Jason and I put a great team together including Artist Antony McMullen and assistant Sophie Thorpe joining Emma on Austin Butler, and Brittany Jones was assisting us with Tom Hanks, a young artist that had been with me for the past 3 years with a great attitude to the craft. Jason’s team at JMB FX Studio worked hard to provide prosthetic appliances for a very demanding schedule including silicon and some gelatine prosthetics for both lead characters. A truly rewarding experience.”
Another great project Sean worked on is Kong: Skull Island: “It was a great project because of the team leader, Designer Bill Corso. You won’t find a nicer and more talented man working in the film industry. Creating the looks of the ‘Iwi’ tribes with Jason and Bill will always be a memorable experience, and these were 5 hour makeups that we did in Australia, then with a new team in Vietnam, and then again in Los Angeles for pickups with an amazing tent of L.A’s finest artists including Andy Clement, Thom Floutz, Ken Niederbaumer, Kevin Haney, Allan Apone, and SO many more!”
About Aquaman, Sean said that it was a hoot and a lot of hard work. “My friend and artistic genius Matt Boug and I were overseeing the Makeup FX department for Justin Raleigh of Fractured FX (you can find an interview with Justin Raleigh in our blog too!), and while that comprised mostly of large scale urethane costuming, I was also asked to assist Jason Momoa’s personal artist Jen Stanfield with the daily application of the Tinsley designed full body tattoos. Working with Jen and makeup artist Tia Stephanou on Jason was such an easy going, fun and pleasant experience. We worked hard but we laughed a lot.”
Sean also mentioned the HBO series The Pacific. He was on this series for about 16 months including the workshop build and as on-set supervisor for the makeup FX department and had to wrangle a lot of artists and a lot of makeup FX. “A gig that big and long is rare and just such an incredible experience. Jason Baird was Designer and Supervisor and led the team to an Emmy Award win. To be a recipient of an award myself for my work for him was an absolute honor and a very proud moment. Of course I met my wife Traci on that series so that for me was the icing on the cake!”
Sean shared with us that for the past 10+ years he returned to writing and is now focusing on that for the future. “I've co-created a series concept with Jason over our shared love of monsters and myth that will be coming out as a graphic novel later this year, with the aim of developing it into a live action series in 2023. I have several other writing projects in the works with other writers that I aim to create into graphic novels/live action series in the near future. Of course they all involve creatures, monsters, and characters with great makeup FX.” Wow! Well Sean, we wish you the best of luck with your projects and look forward to seeing them!
Of course, Sean left his advice and inspiration for aspiring FX artists: “It is simple. Remember that the key word is ‘artist’. Find your passion and exercise it daily. Don’t wait for a job, practice your skills, explore your artform. The Japanese masters in the field of martial arts would say that you must do every technique 10,000 times in order to master it… So get going, sacrifice other things for your art, explore techniques, do not be afraid to fail — that is where the true learning lives. Have fun, be nice, laughter really is the best medicine. Eat well, exercise, and drink plenty of fresh water. If you get on a film set it takes its toll on you physically and at times mentally. Have something outside of work, a hobby, an interest, quiet times in the park with a book. Don’t let the job be all consuming.”