SFX Makeup: Michelle Meola
Photo & Retouch: Michelle Meola
Model: Giulia Timis
"On a planet far from us, in a distant galaxy, 3 main aliens coexist. 3 guardians who control time, space and reality. The 3 siblings belong to a peaceful race of aliens dedicated to knowledge and particularly evolved. The queen and the strongest alien of the 3 is Cerebra, capable of bending reality to her will, reading minds and creating psychic waves that break down any obstacle.When she uses her powers, the gem on her forehead glows as does the core of her brain. This priestess sees and hears everything, rules from the top of her palace full of manuals, controlling the flow of things like a meticulous librarian..."
For the design of this alien I was inspired by the underwater world and some species of fish and marine animals. For the shape of the head I was inspired by cuttlefish while for the coloring and the spots I was inspired by the ability of octopuses to camouflage themselves and change colour. For the ears I was mainly inspired by a specific type of shell, the Cauri. In fact, it has a very characteristic shape and grooves that I tried to reinterpret during the sculpture phase. The use of the blue/violet pigment instead is directly connected to the ability of some deep-sea fish to light up and to my intention to introduce the "Bioluminescence" factor to my creature.
This character was created for the Effectus 2021 event. The process began by sculpting the makeup in Monster Clay Medium based on a generic female face cast. For the face I sculpted four 3D prostheses which I then made flat to facilitate stocking and application. For the ears, I took the impression of a pair of generic male ears and later I made a copy in resin to be able to handle them in total safety, thus avoiding any breakage during the molding phase. The two prostheses were sculpted in 3D and printed with relative counter-moulds. The prosthesis behind the head, on the other hand, was sculpted flat and applied directly to the bald cap. The bald cap was made in baldiez but to change the shape of the model's head, I had to create a pointy under-structure in flexible polyurethane. The whole head prosthetic was then colored with alcohol colors and duochrome pigments using an airbrush. The stone on the forehead was made by me with transparent resin, below it and in the center of the brain I then attached colored LEDs. I also dealt with the creation of costumes and props using mainly wood, eva foam, resin and fabric.