Okay. Here we go. Now, I don't know if you as a visitor to this site of mine will be interested in this, but I figured that I'd put all of this stuff here anyway because it's just part of who I am. The road to where I currently am has been a fairly long one. Writing isn't the only thing that I do. As I've said in the ABOUT ME section, I like to create sculptures. When I was younger I dreamt of working in films as a special effects artist. Then I became interested in screenwriting and even had a go at making my own films. I worked with a group of artist friends and we all had a shared ambition. I'm still friends with them now, even though we don't work together like we used to, we still get together often to nerd out over monster movies and talk about whatever each of us are working on. They're still such close friends of mine and I couldn't imagine my life without them.
This is the most recent piece that I've sculpted. I know, it was two years ago, but at the moment I'm now aiming to be a bit more active and sculpt some new things, so watch out for some further updates on here and on my social media pages.
The reason I've not been so active over the past two years is just boring life stuff. I've bounced around from several different jobs and it's made things difficult to be creatively inspired. Plus a lack of funds. Materials are pretty expensive and I just couldn't justify spending the money.
Anyway, back in 2022, I really wanted to make a no-face mask, from the animated film Spirited Away. I sculpted it in ceramic clay and made a cheap latex mould of it. Not ideal, but at that time silicone was unaffordable to me, so I had to just use what I already had.
I think it turned out really nice. I sculpted some fine detail and texture onto it as I wanted to give the impression of wood-grain.
After doing the evil dead inspired fridge magnet, I really fancied doing another version of it that was closer to how it looked in the films. I though it would be cool to have one that was an actual diary that you could write in. So I bought a hard-back diary and then textured over it with latex and cotton wool, sculpting and shaping it as I did so. It's a very simple technique but one in which you can create some lovely textures.
Once dried, I then painted it, and added the stitches. I loved how this turned out and was really happy with the results.
The paint that I used for this was just normal acrylic, but I did mix in a little bit of latex so that it would not crack once dried upon the diary.
And the finished piece.
This one was also from 2018. As a fan of Lovecraft, Cthulhu is a pretty appealing character to sculpt. However, I opted to sculpt it as if it were some sort of primitive carving. Well, I thought it was a good idea at the time...
I thought my wife would let me hang it up somewhere at home, but sadly she wasn't too keen.
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This is another one from 2014 - 2018. After making The Engineer, I decided to sculpt Pinhead. I never did get around to painting one and sticking the nails into it. I really should do soon as I still have a couple of blank castings of this.
These photos are of a blank resin casting from the mould. The edges haven't been trimmed, so they look a little rough. Again, this is the same size as the Engineer, 15.5 inches by 13.5 inches.
I'm not sure when I sculpted this piece. During the years 2014 - 2018, I sculpted a few pieces, this being one of them, but not much. It's safe to say that I was in quite a creative slump. I had a busy family life with two children, and was now also a full time carer for my elderly father. But there were times when I'd just need to do something creative so I'd grab some clay and sculpt.
I've always been a fan of the Hellraiser films, mainly the first two, (not so much the rest). One of the strangest creations in that first film, for me, was The Engineer. So I sculpted him/it, and decided to have it on a background of a puzzle box panel.
The photos below are of the resin piece once reproduced from the mould. This is a pretty large piece measuring 15.5 inches by 13.5 inches.
This is another old piece that I sculpted in around 2007, possibly. It had been quite a while since I gotten my hands on some clay, and I really just had an urge to make something. So I chose this. It was a very big piece, life size. I sculpted it on the kitchen work-top, much to the dismay of my wife. I moulded it there too, but after the mess and smell of doing this, it was around a year or so later before I reproduced one from the mould. By then I had the use of a small shed in my father's garden. These photos are of the only one that I reproduced from the mould, but I never got around to painting it.
Towards the end of the City & Guilds course, I attempted another short film. This one was a vampire film. I got my cast and crew together, but made a conscious decision to not have lots of make-up FX in it. I was going for something very low key. Plus I just couldn't afford it. I managed to get the Whitby Dracula Society involved and gained permission to film in Whitby Abbey and St. Mary's Church, beside the abbey. I was all set to go, when the day before, I was told by my college teacher that the equipment was broken and would take two weeks to get fixed, so no one could use it. So I lost my 'window' to get this film shot. I later found out that the equipment was not broken. The teacher had got himself a paid gig in Scotland shooting an advertisement and wanted to use the college equipment for this. I also heard that I was annoying people there at the college because I was using the equipment too much and it was getting in the way of their dodgy side hustles.
After I'd completed the City & Guilds course, I was wanting to move on to something a little more advanced. I got a place on a HND Film course at Cleveland College of Art and Design. I learned so much more about screenwriting, digital editing, and I even got to work a little using 16mm film. After the first year when it was the break for the summer holidays, I bought myself a video camera and started to shoot the Vampire film that I'd previously planned. I re-wrote it a little to suit some different locations as I'd chosen to film it locally instead of at Whitby.
However, it became yet another uncompleted project as the actors lost interest and what I'd got filmed didn't really look so great either.
I didn't have the time to start something else as after the summer holidays were over, I was struggling to keep up with the other college work. I was also working at a cinema and I was taking care of my father as my mother's death had taken a big toll on him. So in the second year of the course I just kind of drifted away. I'd gotten a bit disillusioned with 'college life' and film making. It felt like there were no opportunities or support in this area for what I wanted to make. The sculpting and make-up work had gone nowhere after many years of trying. When I applied for funding for my film projects I was refused, with someone even saying that "We could not be involved with funding any film projects of yours as they could potentially bring our company into disrepute." How about that...? At college I'd hoped to learn about the business side of film making, especially funding. But it felt to me that the course was only focused on pushing you to the next level course. Many of the questions that I had were unanswered, and no one could point me in the right direction.
Below are some photographs of the vampire film. I know, a vampire film shot in the daylight... but I'd planned to use some filters and FX in editing to make it look like night time.
These are some storyboards that I did for a scene involving a crucified vampire being brought back to life. However, I was unsure of how to work this scene into the film. I was thinking of doing it as a small model. These were badly damaged as I'd kept them in a box in the attic and they'd gotten wet thanks to a leaky roof...
A few pictures of the skull mask worn by the Priest. The mask was made by me. I took these photos recently as I still have the mask. It's a favourite of mine.
I'm jumping forward quite a bit here. In 1997 my mother became ill with cancer. I took a step back from sculpting and making things as I wanted to spend more time at home. I couldn't focus on anything really. After she passed away, I wasn't sure on what to do. I was still in my early 20's but felt that there were no artistic or creative opportunities for me here in the North East. I didn't have the means or money to relocate elsewhere. John was still sculpting and making things, but the other artists from our group no longer had as much time to be creative as they needed regular paid work and had family responsibilities. It felt that all we'd tried to do over the years, everything that we'd made collectively and individually, had been for nothing.
So in 1999, I opted to enrol on a City & Guilds course for TV and Video Production. I wanted to learn more about film making, and have access to equipment that I couldn't afford. I was once again dreaming of making some horror films.
I started filming a short zombie film, inspired by the Resident Evil video game. I loved that game and thought it would be cool to make some sort of a fan film. I sculpted and made a bunch of things for it, as did John. Even Paul and Juliette came to lend a had on a few filming days. I'd also met a guy called Dan who was a stage technician at a local theatre. He was really into lights and pyrotechnics so he came on board to do special lighting effects, bullet hits, and other explosive effects.
This little horror project got some good coverage in the local newspaper and as a result of that I was interviewed for a piece on 'Look North News' for Tyne Tees Television.
Sadly, this short film was not completed. I'd gotten around half way through and then had to break for the summer holidays. The college wouldn't let me keep the equipment over this time. (I later found out that this was because the teachers there had a side hustle shooting wedding videos for people!). After the holidays, I assumed people would be wanting to film some more and get it finished, but most of the actors had lost interest and just wouldn't return. I didn't know what to do, so I had to abandon it. I still have all of the footage from this project. Maybe some day I'll edit some of it together.
Below is a selection of photos from the making of this. Most of these photos were taken by a guy called Jamie who came along and offered to be a 'behind the scenes' photographer. He took some really great shots. There are some things that I made for this film that didn't get photographed, including a very impressive 12ft long arm that bursts from a TV to attack someone who is sat playing a video game on a Playstation. I may try to get a screen-grab of it from the footage some day. It was a really cool effect with Dan rigging the TV to explode.
John and myself, checking out his sculpture for a Licker. Unfortunately, I'd stopped filming before we got a chance to finish and film this creature.
Pictured below are a few pieces that I sculpted in around early 1997, possibly.
Throughout the 1990's, myself and my artist friends would get a little coverage from the local newspaper. It usually ended up being me in the photo as the others were a bit camera shy. When we were applying for funding from the regional arts council, we thought that things like this would be a help to us, but sad to say, they were not.
The furry white creature in the image below, was not made by me. This was one of Juliette's pieces.
Below, I'm pictured with a life size Predator. The bulk of the sculpting on this was done by John and Juliette. I helped out a little with some of the armour. Myself and Juliette made the mould for it, and together we also reproduced one, then painted it up.
Below was a piece on my ill fated Resident Evil zombie fan film.
It was roughly in the mid 1990's, that I, and my friends, were asked to do some concept work for a low budget sci-fi horror film. My friend John had been approached by a first time Producer/Director asking for some advice on fight choreography. John was a well know figure within the martial arts community as a fighter, journalist, and magazine editor. One thing lead to another and when John showed him some of our sculpture work, we got involved doing characters designs and other conceptual work. By this time, John and I had been joined by two other artists, Paul and Juliette. Once we began working on this film project, I brought in a guy called Andrew, whom I'd been friends with for a while, to work on some of the concept art and storyboards. Between us all, we were a pretty good team.
There was no money to cover our own expenses on sculpting and making things. The producer could not give us anything, but he did want us to come up with some designs etc, that would help sell the film and also show what we could do, to a degree. So we did what we could, but because we were all struggling financially at that time, we were limited on what we could make.
Unfortunately, the film never happened, which was a shame. It was a fun time though, and very inspiring for us all. We got some coverage in the local newspaper so more people became aware of us. We even had some students from the local Art College coming over to visit us and wanting to work with us.
Below are pictures of some of the things that I sculpted.
There were a lot of drawings, storyboards, and artwork created for this project. The ones below were done by me for a creature transformation scene.
After things didn't happen on the sci-fi horror film, John and I spent some time writing various scripts. We'd gotten a taste of film making and producing, and wanted to write our own ideas for horror films etc. No one here in the North East was making anything horror related. We'd been approached a few times by different people wanting us to do a few make-ups for them, but when we started talking about budgets, and the cost of materials, they would balk at the thought and we didn't hear from them again. People seemed to think that all of these things could be made for nothing.
So John and I wrote. We packaged our ideas together along with some concept art and storyboards created by our friend Andrew. We sent them to the regional Arts Council as we new they had a film division, but they were not interested in helping us. There was no internet back then, so trying to find out any information on whom to send things to, was very difficult for us. We did send our pitch-packages to BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The head of development at Channel 4 did reply and was interested. However, after corresponding with him for a short time, we suddenly had all of our material returned to us. It turned out that he'd left to work somewhere else and his replacement was not interested. We tried to find out where he'd gone to, but had no success.
I did this make-up in around 1995, I think. I'm not 100% sure, as it was so long ago. It was for a production of The Pirates of Penzance, at the Little Theatre, in Middlesbrough. When I was on my make-up course, I did some make-ups for a kids theatre show of The Wind In The Willows. The lady who was the choreographer for Willows, had kept my contact details and she got in touch to ask if I was interested in working on Pirates.
I created what was my very first multi-piece prosthetic make-up for the character of the Major General. I even managed to get the cost of the materials covered by the production. I used the John Woodbridge duo-cast foam latex system to create the appliances. I was also make-up supervisor for the rest of the cast.
The show went well, even if at one point I fell down a flight of stairs and had to go to hospital to have my head stapled! There was talk of the show being put on again in Manchester and I was hopeful that I'd get to recreate the Major General make-up as I felt that I could do it better. But, that didn't happen.
After this, I tried to get some more theatre work. I sent letters and samples of my work to various other theatres around the north east. I figured that if no one was making any horror films around here, then maybe I could do some more character make-ups for theatre shows. Always with limited funds, (story of my life!), it was expensive for me to do this, sending colour prints of my sculptures and make-ups. But, I never got any replies.
These pieces are from the early 1990's. Probably 1993-ish. The Rat creature was from a design by my friend John.
The other piece was just something that I'd made up. I think, at that time, I'd been watching Japanese cyberpunk stuff like the movie Tetsuo: Iron Man, and Japanese anime too, of which a lot was being released over here at that time. So, they were a bit of an infulence.
This is me with a face-cast. I think it may have been the very first face-cast that I did. My friend John helped me with it, if I remember rightly.
It was around 1994, I'd finished my time at Art College and completed my BTEC Diploma. Most students would then go on to do a HND, or a BA (Bachelor of Arts) or an MA (Master of Arts). I didn't, because I couldn't really find a place that catered to what I wanted to make. I did go to a few interviews at other Art Colleges, but once I began talking about the types of things I was interested in making and showed them my sculptures, they were not interested in offering me a place there. My stuff just didn't fit. I did find a Private College that actually taught special effects make-up. I went for an interview and was offered a place, but because it was a 'private college' I couldn't get the costs covered by the government grant scheme. So it was a no go. I did however find a course on theatrical make-up at a local college, so I enrolled there. It was one class per week, but unfortunately it catered more towards 'beauty' make-up and not character make-ups. I did get to do a couple of fun things whilst I was there though.
Below are some of the sculptures that I did whilst at Art College.
I spent a few years at Art College. I think it was from 1991 to 1994, or 1995. How I ended up there was purely by chance. I was in my last year at secondary school. I knew in my heart that I wanted to do something creative after leaving school, but I had no idea on how to realise that. My parents couldn't help me with this as I think that they just couldn't understand why I was so interested in horror/monster films and weird stuff. It was all completely alien to them. My dad wanted me to go into the building trade as he said "There'll always be work for brick-layers, joiners, plumbers and electricians." He was right. People in those jobs earn a lot these days. If I'd taken his advice, the odds are I would now be in a much better position financially. But my heart wanted art. Sorry, I know that sounds cheesey.
My teachers at school were, for the most part, no help at all. With the exception of one teacher, none of them really cared about anything. Most of them seemed to actively hate children and were pretty abusive towards them: physically, mentally, and verbally. The one good teacher was my CDT (craft, design, technology) or woodwork class teacher. For my GCSE I made a weight-lifting bench, with leg extensions, and an extra frame on the back for doing squats. I designed it and welded it all together and it turned out pretty good. Because of that, he suggested me to a local company for an apprenticeship as a Toolsmith or Tool-Maker. It paid a lot. But I turned it down because by then I'd set my heart on going to the local College of Art. This came about from a visit to my school by a careers guidance officer from the local council, and she actually took the time to ask me about what I was interested in. What would be my dream job? When I told her what I loved, she then showed me a brochure for the Art College showcasing the Theatre Crafts course. On this course they made things that were really appealing to me. So that was where I wanted to go. My art teacher at school laughed at me when I said this. My parents were pretty unhappy that I'd turned down the toolsmith job. My dad especially. He thought Art College was a place for hippies and freaks and that I should get a proper job. In my town, at that time, if you dressed a little differently, had weird interests, and grew your hair long, then you were a target. When I was eighteen I got severely beaten-up and was in hospital, just because I was 'one of those freaks'. One of my eyes was hurt so bad, I thought I was going to be blind in it.
Below is a sculpture that I did for a prehistoric fish, again whilst still at college. I made a plaster mould of this, but never got around to reproducing one from it. To be honest, the joins on the mould were pretty messy. I was helped making the mould from a guy who worked part-time at the art college teaching the 3D students. He ran his own company making displays for museums. When he got a contract for a dinosaur exhibition, he offered me some paid work sculpting. However, it only lasted two weeks, once he realised that he could get other students to work for free and class it as work experience through the college. Some time after he'd fired me, he contacted me again to ask if he could borrow my mould for the prehistoric fish as he wanted to make one for the exhibit. I said that I would make him one, for a price. He wasn't happy with that and refused.
This last one is the only photo that I have of this piece as it had a very unfortunate accident before I completed it. I wanted to sculpt some sort of gill-man, so came up with this. I thought of it as some kind of soldier, so gave it armour plates over its head, like a helmet.
And then there's this...
I'm jumping forward a little here, though not too far. By the time I worked on this make-up, I'd been studying at Art College for maybe a year or so. There's a bit of a story around that. I'm not sure it's worth telling here, but it was one of those key moments in my life.
Anyway, so, I was at Art College. A comic book shop had opened in town. I found out about it from one of the other students in my class. So I started buying my horror movie magazines etc from there, though I did still go through to the one at Middlesbrough as they often had old back issues that I would pick up. At my local comic shop, I got chatting with a guy there, told him what I was interested in, and he said he had a friend who was into all the same things and that I should meet him. So I did. This was John. Meeting John was another one of those key moments because it lead to so many other things, and new friends. John and I became fast friends. He gave me some much needed advice on sculpting and moulding. Told me where I could buy latex and moulding plaster from, there was actually a place locally! What I learned from him was invaluable. We're still very good friends to this day, all these decades later.
This make-up was done by John and myself, possibly during 1992 or 1993. Somehow, though it was so long ago I can't remember, the local newspaper found out about John and I and the odd things we made, so they asked if we could do something quick for them and this was the result. Again it was done using the build-up technique with latex and cotton wool, then painted with grease paint make-up. We had a small piece on us featured in the paper along with a photo of this. I had kept a copy of the news paper with this in for many years as I'm something of a hoarder. But sadly, though I'm not sure how, it has since been lost. I should look to see if I can get a replacement from the paper's archives...
These are my very first attempts at some make-up FX.
I had no idea what I was doing really. I think I'd read in a magazine that you could do make-up FX with latex and cotton wool. I just covered my arm with the stuff, dried it with a hair-dryer, and then painted it with some grease paint make-up.
I can't remember exactly, but I'd say this was done at around 1990. I was maybe 15 or 16 years old. Back then, it was pretty much impossible for me to find out how to do make-up FX. I would buy Fangoria magazine, and Gorezone, and look at pictures of make-ups being applied, photos of them being sculpted and moulded, but it was still hard for me to fully understand how it was all done. I had no idea where you could buy any of these materials such as clay, latex, grease-paint, moulding plaster, in the UK.
By chance, when I was in Middlesbrough making my monthly visit to a comic book shop there, I walked past a shop called Backstage, which sold costumes etc for kids that were learning dancing. In the window they had a small selection of theatrical make-up. So I went in and asked if they could get me some grease paint make-ups etc. They could! and gave me a small catalogue for a little supplier that they used. I was finally able to get my hands on some proper make-up and even small bottles of latex. So that finally got me started.
