Saturday, August 20, 2016

How the Part 3 Masks Were (Probably) Painted

As I mentioned in a previous post, the hero mask created for part 3 has been one of the toughest for hock painters to nail down and the color has caused some controversy over the years, mostly due to the fact that it looks different in different photos and screen shots.

Was it white?


Beige?


Or yellow?

How could it look so drastically different from image to image? None of the masks in later installments seem to have this apparent disparity.

Back in December 2009, I contacted Robb Wilson King, the set designer from part 3, who gave me some very important clues. He said the mask was painted an "off white" that was enhanced with what he described as a "slight aged patina" that gave it a "cream color" (all his words).

The original shooting script called for Jason to wear a white mask, so that was the starting point for the effects team. To make the white mask look creepier and fit with the rustic setting of the film, it was evidently sent to King to make it look older and weather-beaten.

Set designers will often use antiquing media found in art supply stores in order to make things on set look old and creepy. You can see the obvious crackling paint used in The Walking Dead in the Season 3 prison interiors, for example.

Robb Wilson King said he used an "aged patina" to make the mask look old. There are two main types of patinas: those used to age metal and those used to age oil paintings.

King probably use the same methods that oil painters have been using for decades to give their paintings an antique look: a combination of an amber patina varnish and a paint cracking medium, such as those made by Maimeri.
Patina varnishes come in several varieties and can give any paint work a subtle golden tone while maintaining the clarity of the underlying artwork. The tone can be deepened with additional coats, which can be applied with a sponge brush.

There is evidence on the original mask that the white basecoat, the yellowish tone and the cracking were three separate layers. You can see it under the forehead and cheek chevrons. In the lower photo, there are still yellow varnished spots but with no cracks.

More evidence of a separate translucent layer: On the part 3 stunt mask, there's a bunch of "skid marks" likely made with a dremel on the cheek you can see in the shower scene. Today that area on the mask is whited out, and some painters interpret this as an alteration to the mask that sanded them away, revealing the white basecoat on the back. Not so. The skid marks are still there in the white area, indicating the white color is actually on the front of the mask where they sanded the varnish away. See for yourself...
 This is pretty solid proof that the yellowish layer was a transparent amber varnish, not a flat spray paint.

So for anyone who has been confused... remember watching part 3 back in the day and concluding Jason wore a white mask? Your childhood eyes weren't deceiving you. The mask was white.

So can a mask be painted just like the originals and come out the same? May as well try it. So I bought the Maimeri patina varnish and repainted a Crash project82v4 with Krylon Dover White. I then did all the weathering right on the basecoat.
Six coats of varnish later, the mask took on the perfect caramel-beige color you see in the movie mask. I ended up with runs and color inconsistencies for lack of a decent sprayer, but you get the picture... 

Once you sand off the nose and some other scuff marks it really starts to look authentic.

After evening out the runs and adding weathering... the final result:
Like painters and fans have been saying for years, you can't get the original mask's peculiar amber color in a spray paint. That's because it's not paint at all-- its an antiquing varnish. In direct sunlight it looks very yellow, but in dimmer room lighting it looks very beige due to the way the varnish refracts light.

Compare with the real thing...
Replica at left, part 4 movie mask at right.
Part 3 movie mask at left, replica at right.
It seems that Robb Wilson King experimented with different styles. For the hero mask, he went with a paint-cracking medium over the varnish, but the stunt mask is hand-scratched right into the basecoat. Ironically its almost impossible to tell the difference in the film. All that work for nothing!

So why does the part 3 hock appear white? It could be that they started shooting before it had properly yellowed, which takes about 3 days. It seems more likely, however, that the bright stage lights they used for night-time shooting washed out the transparent yellow layer and reflected off the white paint beneath. Color timing also played a role: the Jason-Chris battle took place at night, and they used a strong blue-bias in their final film coloring, which would have neutralized the yellow tones in the mask.

So there you have it. This is most likely how the movie masks were painted: a basecoat of white paint, followed by an amber patina varnish. If you want to paint one of these, You may want to add a cracking medium on top of that if you're doing the hero mask. Be forewarned: varnish is tough to work with on a hockey mask, which is probably why David Miller and all later hockey mask painters just used acrylics and oil paints. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE Feb. 5, 2018: So an additional observation... it seems clear to me that the two masks finished by the FX team for part 3 painted them exactly the same way at first: White basecoat, then scuffed the paint, a varnish layer on top of that, then chevrons and final clear coat. Pretty simple design. Through most of production, both the hero and stunt masks showed only the scuffing in the basecoat, which looks darker because its been varnished over:

But by the showdown in the barn, the hero mask had some painted-on weathering added to it in a dull gray or brown. You can see the clear difference here:
 So for those who had observed that the mask was initially "clean" in early scenes, such as when he comes through the window-- I think you are correct. It had some scuffs for sure, but the "dirt" washes hadn't yet been added. So when you're painting a part 3, you have to pick: window or barn scene?

Just for fun: here are some photos of other masks where artists have used Maimeri's amber patina varnish to get that accurate golden tone you see in the movie mask.
 
 
 
 


67 comments:

  1. Good read, and I think you're absolutely right, it looks great.

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  2. Loved it!! Thanks for the handy tips and the extensive research!!

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  3. You are adorable...

    More importantly, a slew of Friday Part II cast members will be at Bay of Blood Wknd in Tampa next month; it would be wonderful [for fans, and for herself] to see Marta Kober reunited with the Crystal Lake sign, in the chance you can make it :)

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  4. Thanks for reading and commenting everyone! I'll definitely keep Tampa in mind.

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  5. Any tips on the weathering part? What tools do you use to make the scratches and whatnot. Looks great

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  6. I just used a cone tip on a dremel and i think some were with an exacto knife. important to draw them on first though.

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  7. So does that mean I am better off starting with a white plastic blank instead of a clear? Or I suppose base coat a clear blank inside and then do the weathered/ scratchy coat and patina on the outside. I'm just trying to make sense of it.

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    1. Good Question, I'd base coat front and back of the clear blank, apply the weathering to the front side and layer the patina on top. That's how I understood it, maybe JL can help us out ;) :)

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  8. To be movie accurate you should start with a clear blank and paint it white on front and back. You definitely want it clear because you will be scratching off a lot of the paint on the front (including on the tip of the nose) to get the right effect.

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    1. jl did you use the crackle or just the patina ? did you use the camel color ? any ? what type of sprayer did you use..... thanks and great artle.

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  9. Thank you. I took it that way too, but got so confused when you said that it wasn't painted on the inside. I believe I have a total understanding now. I was waiting on the answer so that I could finally buy my 1st blank and put my skills to the test. Honestly, I never expected anyone to reply so I did buy a clear blank last night. Very glad I made the right choice. Anyways, that was the most informative and well thought out article I have found on the entire internet for this sought after information. Thanks again, because this made a complicated issue so much more simple. Time to have fun with my dremel :)

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  10. I finally got the varnish from italy. Couldn't find it anywhere else here in europe. It's pretty thick i must say. There is no way i can spray it, looks like it dosent mix with water either. Did you reduce it to get a better viscosity?

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  11. It is sprayable you can get a varnish sprayer on eBay. If necessary you can thin it with turpentine or mineral spirits.

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    1. did you use the patina only ? or did you use the crackle mediu, too by miameri ?

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  12. Can you recommend a sprayer? Does the varnish have to be thinned out?

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  13. I can't recommend a specific sprayer, but generally you want something that can handle a highly viscous fluid, so you want something powerful. Don't think it out if you can avoid it, since the thinner the varnish it is the more you will get runs that are a bitch to fix.

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  14. Looks great. What color did you use to coat the inside of the mask? Almond or white?

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  15. By the way for anyone attempting this technique, it may actually be better to paint on the varnish in thin coats with a foam brush, according to what other hobbyists have been saying.

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  16. Great thread! How would you suggest achieving the cracking layer? Also, if the base white paint is under the chevron, doesn't that mean that the chevrons would need varnished over before doing any varnish? Same goes for the crackle layer.

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    1. Never really done it, but Maimeri's picture cracking varnish is a good starting point. Incidentally I found you can get nearly perfect crack patterns by clear coating it with krylon crystal clear and bending the hell out of it, but parts of the coat will flake off so not the best way to do it.

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    2. As to the chevrons, I think they went on after the amber varnish but before the cracking layer. Its also possible they went on top of everything though.

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  17. What type of Varnish did you use?

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    1. This one: http://www.dickblick.com/products/maimeri-patina-varnish/?clickTracking=true&wmcp=pla&wmcid=items&wmckw=02991-1334&gclid=CjwKEAjwppPKBRCGwrSpqK7Y5jcSJACHYbWY0q9zY_0fjx4fF2g63LiLiAXvPZcefcELlMXP1Y0zxRoCoCrw_wcB

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  18. So for a P3 hock would I do the dirt wash and weathering under the varnish and cracking medium, or over it? same goes for part 4, over or under the varnish?

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    1. For the part 3 you will at least do the paint scratching before the varnish. Whether you do the dirt weathering on top or underneath is up to you, hard to say how they did it on the movie mask. For the 4 if you're doing an end scene-type mask it will be on top.

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  19. Thank you, and for a part three do I do varnish the cracking layer then varnish etc or all 6 varnish layers then one cracking layer?

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    1. Apply all of the varnish first, then the cracking layer on top.

      Also its easier to control the varnish if you paint it on with a sponge brush, but you have to do way more coats-- like 12-15.

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  20. Say JL1980, did you thin the Maimeri varnish, and if so, what did you use ?
    I ask because as far as i can tell, this stuff is much too viscous to apply as is...
    I'm doing test coats on some scrap plastic, and thus far water seems a bust.
    I've got a few different types of solvents/thinners i can use, and some Acrylic medium, but since most of them aren't exactly cheap, i'd like to know what you did, so i don't end up wasting a load of the varnish.
    It was hard enough to track down here in the Netherlands, i'd rather not go through that process again :-/

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  21. Hi Anonymous, I did thin the varnish with turpentine. I've heard that spraying, while more efficient, is more problematic, so I'd recommend using a good quality sponge brush to apply varnish. The maimeri varnish is oil-based so you will need something that can dissolve oil to thin it.

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    1. Turpentine it is then, and that's an upside for me, as some of the other solvents wouldn't work very well with my equipment.
      As for the sprayer, duly noted, i'll see if i can get a good enough consistency for my airbrush instead, or i'll just use one of my large hobby brushes if i can't get it to a consistency i can spray easily.
      Thanks for the info and the research you've done on this, your posts about the masks have really helped me to consolidate my plans to paint up a mask from every film where the mask was based off the part 3 :-)

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  22. man i really wish you did a video on this lol

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  23. The Krylon Dover white paint you used.. Was it the flat primer or Gloss?

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    1. It was just the regular can... I think it was matte or satin but it really doesn't matter as long as its an off white

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  24. Sweet, thank you! Very awesome read. Love your blog. Keep up the great work!

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  25. Why doesn't someone pay Douglas White to carry out the process he says was used and see how it turns out?

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    1. Mask artists have attempted that, and it doesn't look right. White said for example that the blank was only painted on the back, which is rubbish.

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  26. Hey, bud. Would you by chance know the accurate dimensions of the part 3 chevrons? I would very much appreciate you if you could pass that little info along if you do know. Thanks buddy

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  27. Sidewinder420: if you are still interested, this chap has created a printable PDF of the chevrons for several masks. Think they are based on ones bought from JDF studios: https://homemadehits.com/mask-chevron-templates/

    I used this myself and the sizes seem accurate.

    JL1980 - this article has been a godsend in lockdown. Thanks very much!

    For anyone in UK/Europe - an easier to get hold of alternative to the Maimeri varnish is 'Lefranc and Bourgeois Ageing Varnish'. Works a treat.

    Cheers!

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  28. Do I need to use a thinner for the varnish or is that recommend

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    1. Probably don't need a thinner if you paint it on with a sponge brush

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  29. So I have two questions, one is how did you even out the runs? And two is where can you find blanks in 2021 lol

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    1. Hi, you can even out the runs with sanding, but honestly I would not use the spray technique i used above. Just get a sponge brush and apply that way. I may start producing my own part 3 blanks in a few months. Keep an eye on the blog for announcements.

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    2. I actually used a sponge brush on my first part 4, I probably should’ve thinned it a little as it was hard to get it to settle and it was far more uneven than yours, you make it look easy lol, also sanding through the varnish is hard, and seemed to leave an interesting texture where it was more uneven, i found out that it’s also difficult trying to get down to the white basecoat, without ending up sanding through it in some areas, oh well, trial and error, thank god I practiced it on an eBay blank

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  30. How did you remove the varnish did you sand it off or like peel it off with a razor blade

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  31. What are you using for the blood

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  32. Sanded it down so it was even. Blood is just acrylic paint.

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  33. Whats the best none varnish paint like acrylic cause im trying to make a mask for my brother fir his birthday I saw another post you made that camel acrylic works do you have any photos with that paint sorry to ask alot your the only mask maker that doesn’t hog all the info on how to make one have a good day

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    1. Any muted yellow-beige like Naples Yellow will work. https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW9021-naples-yellow

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  34. Yooo idk waht happened but it made me post the sale question 3 times idk what happends sorry lol

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  35. What grit did you use to rub off the varnish

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  36. Nice to see my hock in there Jason cheers :)

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  37. Great information! I am having trouble finding proper part 3 clear blanks. Are you producing your own or do you (or anyone) have a recommendation on where I can purchase it?

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  38. Hey did you clear coat it at the end after you weathered it?

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    1. Yeah, altough it cracked and the mask got thrown out eventually. In retrospect, I think a polyurethane clear coat would have worked better.

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  39. would it be possible if i weathered it before the varnish and achieve the same look and also would it be better if i sanded down the areas where the varnish is missing or mask it off

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    1. Yes, weathering before varnishing is what appears they did with the movie masks (that way you get the paint in the scratches).

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    2. would it be better to tape off the rubbed off varnish or sand it thanks

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    3. Just cut it out with a knife

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  40. Look at how far back the top right picture in the collage containing the differentiated hero and stunt mask pictures shows (if you zoom in enough) that they cut out at least the left eye hole of the hero mask!

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  41. I was wondering when I read that 2017 update elsewhere on here what kind of Dover white paint - matte, satin, gloss - and then I just stumbled upon that answer later on here!!! I also found the answer to another question I had by way of that very screencap I mentioned in my previous comment. Specifically, I wanted to find out whether or not regular, thin waistband elastic was used for the straps. Well, the waviness/kinks in the top middle strap that you can see pretty clearly in that image make it apparent that that IS the case.

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