WonderCon 2008 – Ape Goes Wild!

Cornelius was a splash! The only bummer is that we got there so late on Saturday and didn’t really get a chance to mingle with the big crowds. But we had fun while it lasted.

Dan Morgan

Dan Morgan (pictured above) was on his game as the Archaeologist, Dr. Cornelius of the Planet of the Apes. The folks at the con were gracious as they took photo op after photo op with the friendly simian.

Cornelius at WonderCon

Then off to dinner and a little help to read the sushi menu…

Cornelius at dinner

And why not take in a bit of partying at Maverix Studios
“WonderCon Party”. It was a blast, I must admit!

Cornelius and Charlene

Cornelius and Kids

These appliances were made from a sculpt that I did over a decade
ago and the costume was the one I mentioned in the previous post,
made by Paula Crist for Bill Blake back in the 1970s.

Dan and I are going to put together a “Behind the Makeup”
video of the application process. Stay tuned!

About Administrator

Tom has worked for over two decades in television, advertising, and feature film animation. Tom was Character Sculptor and Effects Animator on the Warner Bros/Lorimar Gumby Adventures‚ TV series (1987-1988) and Gumby Movie‚ the stop-motion feature film (1991). In 1991 at Colossal Pictures, Tom's Animation Direction debut Coca-Cola Watch‚ won a Clio Award. In 2000 he became Co-Partner at Way Out West Prods in San Francisco. Tom joined Maverix Studios in October of 2002 and was a dedicated principal member of the group until September 2011. Tom is now an artist for hire.
This entry was posted in Art Journal. Bookmark the permalink.

10 Responses to WonderCon 2008 – Ape Goes Wild!

  1. Dear Tom,

    This looks great. I am in the process of getting my appliance up to your standard and would love to see your video. I would also love a costume like that. I have a Ceaser jump suit..well just a green boiler suit actually but..

    I have pictures of my experiments on the POTA web under pictures. Called experimenting with Ceaser I think. Would like to know what you think, especially about the edges which I can’t get as I have a copy of the original appliance but made with a mask in mind that I have cut down.

    Hope to speak soon

    John

  2. Hi John. Thanks for the kind comments about the makeup. I had a look at your photos and so far the experimentation is not bad. The hair pieces are helping the overall appearance.

    As for the blender edges, it really is a matter of sculpting it into the design of the appliance. If what you have is cut from a rubber mask, if I understand you correctly, I am afraid it will be impossible to get any blend-able edges out of it. I’ll have a series of photos that will show how to achieve those edges sometime next month. The video itself will cover the application, mostly.

    Thanks for stopping by.
    -Tom

  3. Mine is a foam rubber appliance but had to be cut from a whole face version. It is from the original Roddy mould but the whole face was only available. I will keep trying with it and lokk forward to seeing your video. I especially want to see what make-up (colour) you use.

    Speak soon
    JBK

  4. Ah, I see. Apologies, I mistook when you mentioned mask.

    The photos and video will help explain what I mean by “sculpting the edges into the design of the appliance”.

  5. Alan says:

    That looks amazing! Sad to miss the party and Dan in all the ape glory. Thanks for posting the pics.

  6. Yeah it would’ve been great to you see you there. We all had a blast. Thanks for the ape kudos, Al!

  7. Lynn says:

    By George (wish I knew who George was!), by Chad, that makeup looks absolutely fantastic! More fantastic than a whole herd of fans. (The blowey kind, not the screaming/fainting kind) Looks like a lot of fun. Genius. 😀

  8. I know the “kind”. The kind I’m thinkin’ is that your are TOO kind.

    Thanks for the kudos, Lynn!

  9. Hello again,

    Any news of your video project on the apes make-up?
    Hope you are well

    John

  10. Hi John, I am well, thanks. I hope you are too.

    Yes, Dan and I have the footage of this years WonderCon Cornelius makeup application. The job now is to do some editing. We’d like to make this as comprehensive as we can – so bare with us. Meanwhile I am creating a separate gallery site for our (Dan Morgan and I) work that we have teamed up on over the years. I’ll be posting about that within the week. It’ll include the Apes makeup.

    Tom

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.