Death Mask

1. Today we experimented with some creation which was a little unusual and unfamiliar to me. The death mask. The death mask is a representation of a real persons face which will be moulded on top. This has been done many times in history in different eras all for different reasons. In the Victorian era the reason behind a death mask was to reflect on a loved one. They would place the piece in their lounge area to remember them exactly. The death mask started in Egypt as a spiritual way to allow that person to follow on to the afterlife. 
2. "A death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person's face following death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits."-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_mask

"The most recognisable belonging to King Tut. The Egyptians believed that the death mask, which would be buried with the individual, would allow the person's spirit to find his/her body in the afterlife."-http://www.biography.com/news/famous-death-masks

In class we practiced the death masks on our own faces. We discovered that taking photos of our faces in different shadows with a light source shining on (I used a torch from an iPhone) it would bring out certain features which a death mask would also do. The skin under this kind of light gives shadow and definition of the bone structure of the face. I found that the skin looks more sallow in these photos due to the harsh light bouncing off different areas of my skin to make me look more 'deathly'. 

The first light source was placed at the side of my face lighting up half my face and giving the other half a lot of shading. 

Here the light is placed below the face making the light seem more dim. I found a lot of shading and light to be focused on the underneith of my chin, my nose and under my eyes giving them dark circles.

Here is my first attempt of a death mask. My shaddows were reflecting on the photos I've taken and show darkness around the jawline, cheekbones, sides of my nose, sides of temples, chin and the light has bounced ontop of my cheekbones to look more skeletal, paled my eyes lips and cheeks out too.

My second attempt was to create a more dramatic and deeper toned skin tone. I decided to deepen the shadows by using supracolour with a grey-black shadow powder on top. I think my blending could've been a little more perfect but I generally like this attempt more as it looks more realistic and death like. 

The more I blocked out my lips I found it helped more. It gives a washed out appearance of the face.