Being able to show them some practical elements - How the eyes and mouth would be shaped - in addition to sketches, allowed them to better visualise how the finished mask would look.
Tony wanted to keep away from the green of the original Slipperman. He also didn't think yellow would work, as he didn't want to look like 'Sponge Bob'. After discussion it was agreed that a red mask would be distinctly different.
Tony also asked if it would be possible to create, not just a mask, but an entire costume? We both thought of the Slipperman as being like a leper - in a colony of lepers. That put me in mind of simple sackcloth clothing. Crudely made with bad stitching, dirty and stained.
I knew I wasn't capable of making this, but I also knew my wife, Janet, was pretty handy with a sewing machine ...
(Above) Working on the main elements ( spurred on by the music of 'Rush' ). Though it was always my intention to cover the mask in lumps ( as per the song's description ), for some reason I didn't put them on the nose. I had to go back and rectify that. The yellowish stuff you can see on the nose is Milliput, which is the modeller's saviour. The eyes are basically poly spheres, cut in half, then thin strips of poly shaped around them. These are then glued into the eye surrounds.
As I was carving into the poly - mostly to give texture - it reminded me a little of the cracks in volcanic rock. Like when the lava is breaking through. That became the theme for the final look. I Imagined the dry skin of the Slipperman cracking, revealing a more oozing layer beneath.
