A Day in the Life of a Special Effects Artist

One of the many things that industry members can do during our current strike times is to educate themselves on different areas of the business. We’re here to help with the latest installment in our series all about gaining insight into different disciplines of film and TV.

For this round of A Day in the Life, we’re giving you a peek into the world of special effects art, which can include everything from prosthetic makeup to hyper-realistic heads that exactly match their respective actors.

Gwen Ramsey — an artist in the profession whose credits range from Fox’s The Resident to Peacock’s Angelyne to the latest Halloween film installments — took time out to provide a window into what all her role entails. Keep reading for the incredible, multi-step process that Ramsey and her team undergo with each piece, as well as the Robin Williams film that introduced her to the profession of special effects art.

Thanks so much for taking the time, Gwen, and I’d love to start with a definition of your role for those who might not know much about it. Can you give us an overview of what it means to be a special effects artist?

Thanks for having me. First, I’ll clarify that I work most often in our special effects studio, but I am on set every once in a while. Special effects artists tend to be a bunch of people who are very happy to be a part of the big picture while remaining behind the scenes in the quiet of their studio. [Laughs]

And our job entails a little bit of everything from props to puppets to fake babies to animals. Plus, we do prosthetic makeup, as well. That can be something subtle like a fake nose or something bigger, such as creating the look of severe trauma from a car accident.

Gwen Ramsey working on a character sculpture for a Miller Lite commercial. Photo by Brian Walsh.

It’s a broad spectrum, so a lot of special effects artists have an area of expertise that they lean toward. For example, I got my start in medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1 and Code Black, so art related to that genre of film and TV is my strong suit. That can include creating what’s called a “likeness head,” which is a reproduction head of an actor. But in general, special effects artists have to be ready for anything. We could be working on a very small piece one day, then create a large-scale fake body another day and then do prosthetic makeup on a celebrity for a big feature film.

It’s so interesting to hear about the wide range of work that falls under the profession. Thanks for sharing that big-picture view of it, and let’s switch gears here to an average day in the life of a special effects artist for film and TV. What does the job entail?

Ideas for the project’s special effects art can sometimes be pretty grandiose, so we first establish what’s possible within the budget and timeframe. Then, we’ll see the actor we’re working off of for the piece.

We’ll either do a life cast or a 3-D scan of them to get the most accurate information possible because we’re normally building something that is custom to the person. We want to note all their anatomical details so we can, for example, pick up on their undertones and accurately color-match their skin for our reproduction piece. There’s also the matter of paying attention — as needed — to their hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, freckles or scars so we can properly duplicate them.

Ramsey (right) working on a replica of a cow cut down the middle for a season 10 episode of ‘American Horror Story.’ Photo by Brian Walsh.

Fascinating! And what’s a life cast?

A good reference for it is the scene in Mrs. Doubtfire when they’re covering Robin Williams’ face in that paste-like material. That movie was actually my first introduction to seeing the steps that go into making prosthetic makeup.

For a life cast, we use a medical grade silicone that we smooth on the actor to capture all of their skin detail. Once that cures, we put a plaster bandage over top, which makes a nice shell to protect and keep it in place. Then, we take everything off the actor and have a duplication of whatever it is we want to cast. That could be their hand, their whole head or their entire body. The range of what you can cast and then reproduce is pretty limitless.

It sounds like it! And once you have said life cast or 3-D scan, what happens next?

There are a lot of steps from there to get to the final product. I think people have a lot of misconceptions about special effects art, especially surrounding the process. There seems to be an idea that there’s a giant warehouse we all go to when we need something. We just have to go there, take something off the shelf, slap a little bit of paint on it and then it’s done. [Laughs] But in reality, everything we make starts as raw materials, and we go from there.

To create our pieces, we’ve stolen techniques from various other industries, especially the medical field. A lot of our work involves reproducing a copy of a copy of a copy of something in a different material.

How so?

Once we have our life cast — or 3-D scan — we’ll then mold it so it can be reproduced in clay. At that stage, we can make any needed adjustments. For example, with a medical show, they obviously can’t do an actual surgery on an actor whose character is undergoing a procedure. But, we can sculpt the clay of the actor’s relevant body part to where it looks and functions properly for that on-camera operation. I’ve actually done quite a few pieces involving brain surgeries, which involve researching the procedure and looking at a bunch of real images to figure out the best way of duplicating it.

So, with that example, everything would be sculpted into the clay copy of that actor’s head — the details related to the surgery, as well as the fine anatomical details unique to that person. We’d then check the reference photos to make sure we’re as close to a likeness of the actor as possible, which includes everything from the size of their pores to little wrinkles in their skin. Because, even if you don’t know why, your eye can detect if something is just a little off with the duplicate. Our goal is to make it as realistic and accurate as possible so that it doesn’t take away from the viewer’s ability to believe whatever is happening in the scene.

Likeness head — with blood rigging — of Halloween Ends character Doctor Mathis (Michael O’Leary) that Ramsey helped make for the film. Courtesy of Gwen Ramsey.

That makes sense. And what comes after the clay mold?

The piece will be remolded again so it can be reproduced in platinum silicone, which has a very lifelike feel. And we can adjust the silicone’s density to make it as soft or as stiff as needed so that any interaction with the piece on camera will look as real as possible.

Using the headpiece example, the person’s cheeks would likely be softer than the skin on top of their head that is right above their skull. So, we’re taking that into account when casting the silicone, as well as other details I mentioned like skin tone — the silicone is tinted accordingly during this stage. And once we’re done with the silicone mold, there are still a few more steps to go.

Wow.

[Laughs] So from there, we’ll smooth out any edges caused by seam lines that transferred from the mold. We’ll go in with more silicone to get rid of those so it all looks like one continuous, organic piece. Then we’ll paint it according to our reference photo of the actor, incorporating in any details that need to be added for the scene in which it’s being used. Whether the piece is for brain surgery or attached to a character who suffered serious trauma, we’ll need to add a lot of fabrication and paint to bring the relevant situation to life.

And then?

Then the piece gets its hair, a process which is mind-blowing to me because all the eyebrows and lashes are punched in one hair at a time.

It takes a whole group of people to make one piece possible, and Sasha Camacho oversees all the hair work on our team. I also have to shout out her husband, Vincent Van Dyke, who’s my boss. He’s an incredible mentor and talented in every aspect of this industry — I owe my career to him. I’ve been at Vincent Van Dyke Effects for nine years now, which is unheard of in this field.

We all have a personal investment in our work and take a lot of care with it. There’s often a very short turnaround to get things done — it can be less than a week to complete a piece from start to finish.

Likeness head featuring a removable neck tumor that Ramsey helped make for an on-camera surgery in an episode of The Resident. Courtesy of Gwen Ramsey.

That does not seem like a lot of time to complete the process you just described.

It’s crazy. Oftentimes, we’ll have a runner picking up a piece really early in the morning or late at night. When people ask me what my hours are as a special effects artist, I say, “You stay until the job is done.” A lot of love goes into the pieces, though. It would be nice to have more of a social life outside of work, but there’s so much personal gratification in seeing a piece — that you’ve had a hand in making from start to finish — go to set.

I bet! And before we wrap, can you share a standout moment from your career so far?

Our studio actually won an Emmy for working on Star Trek: Picard. At Vincent Van Dyke Effects, we specialize in realism, so being challenged to think outside the box with some of the really cool and unique alien designs was fun. Seeing the team put together something special for the show was definitely memorable, especially considering that my boss started our company with about three employees. And now we’ve grown to be capable of handling a beloved show that requires a massive scale of special effects. So, that was a standout job — I got to experience how we communicated effectively, pushed ourselves creatively, and still kept the love of the craft.

We couldn’t let the interview end without asking the obvious question that comes to mind after hearing about the extensive amount of medical research Ramsey conducts for related projects. When queried about the likelihood of her raising a hand on an airplane during a medical emergency — at least as the next best choice if a doctor were not onboard — Ramsey answered with a laugh that hinted at no.

“It is crazy how life plays out, though, because I’d originally planned on going into the medical field,” she added. “So I don’t know that I’d be competent in an emergency situation, but I might at least have an idea of what was happening.”

Those interested in learning more about Ramsey’s job as a special effects artist can find her on Instagram, where she shares examples of her work.

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This interview has been edited and condensed.

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