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E-mail StoryArtist molds a career out of body casting, and you can learn too
| Tuesday, Mar 25 2008 8:21 AM
Last Updated: Monday, Mar 24 2008 10:44 PM
Few things weird out George Troester.
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What: Body casting workshop
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bakersfield Museum of Art, 1930 R St.
Cost: $80. Participants should bring a model and three large plastic bowls. All other materials are included. Sign-ups end Wednesday.
Details: 323-7219 or e-mail georgetroester@gmail.com.
Photos:
George Troester works on a project at his Bakersfield apartment.
Special effects artist George Troester of Bakersfield created this radio-controlled gorilla suit for a movie shot last October in the Mojave Desert. (Photo courtesy of George Troester)
Troester's work includes an alien, foreground, and a gorilla, center.
George Troester at work in his apartment patio.
The professional special effects artist based in Bakersfield has worked on a 30-foot-tall tea kettle for Hong Kong Disneyland, a talking peanut and a life-sized gorilla suit with a radio-controlled head.
“It’s kind of a part of the job,” he says about some of his bizarre projects.
Troester will hold a workshop on body casting, the basis of prosthetic makeup, Saturday afternoon at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Reservations must be made by Wednesday.
Students should bring a friend to play the guinea pig, someone willing to have a face or hand encased in a molding material and immortalized in plaster.
“It’s difficult to do it on yourself, so I am requesting they bring a friend or son or daughter to actually cast whatever body part (they’re) going to do the impression,” he says.
And just to get this one out of the way: No, you can’t cast private parts.
Troester, who moved to Bakersfield two years ago for a personal relationship and because of the low cost of living, commutes to Southern California. Armed with a degree in industrial design from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, the 21-year-old is paying his dues in the industry by working on commercials and small independent films.
He created that radio-controlled gorilla suit for a film shot last October in the Mojave Desert, “The Adventures of Umbweki,” starring Gary Busey, Lee Majors, and Antonio Fargas — the original Huggy Bear from “Starsky and Hutch.” Set for release in the fall, the comedy follows a young African tribesman who loves ’70s TV shows and travels eight years to get to Hollywood and find stardom, says the film’s executive producer and writer Emil Lewis.
Troester controlled the gorilla’s head movements while an actor wore the suit. The gorilla gets into a fight with Umbweki and plays a major part in the film.
“The final effect looked wonderful,” Lewis says. “I mean, it’s on the cusp of looking real. (You think) ‘Is it real?’ It’s not cheesy.”
And for Romaire Studios in Burbank, Troester helped create a talking peanut and chocolate bunny for Kellogg’s Corn Pops Chocolate Peanut Butter cereal. In the ad, a peanut and juice-slurping chocolate bunny appear shocked and offended as a boy enjoys the cereal.
The bunny and peanut were sculpted out of polyurethane foam. The peanut was coated in fiberglass and the bunny received a covering of resin plastic, Troester says. Troester detailed the models and prepared them for animation.
Troester also teaches in the Bakersfield museum’s Art Smart program, an initiative to bring painting and sculpting to public after-school programs. In addition, he teaches at Elegance International, a Hollywood makeup and special effects school.
His goal is to work with the big-name special effects artists — Stan Winston, who handled the “Terminator” series and the new “Indiana Jones” film, and Rick Baker (“The Nutty Professor,” “Planet of the Apes”), the star of the industry.
The Buffalo, N.Y. native decided as a young teen that he wanted to be a special effects artist after watching indie horror films.
“I was looking at some of the special effects and thinking, ‘If these guys can do this ... I should be able to, also,’” he says.