Bethan Town-Jones Professional Practice

Bethan Town-JonesProfessional practice

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BETHAN TOWN - JONES

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE


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“Every night when her husband was asleep, the bride used to come out of the dog’s

skin and go out of the house. And when her husband found out this, he one night only pretended to go to sleep and lay watching her. And when she was about to leave the

room he jumped up and caught hold of her and seizing the dog skin, threw it into the

fire, where it was burnt to ashes”


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I am a maker, a designer and an ideas machine.

I am inspired by music, space and things that are out of the ordinary.

I appreciate the beauty in the textures and fabrics I use, and

weave stories for the characters I create.

I find satisfaction in creating a physical object that I can hold in

my hands.

About Me


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The three years that I have worked at my illustration degree, I have slowly come to the realisation that my work belongs in the realm of the three dimensional object. I like expressing my own ideas and concepts as physical objects, which I find fascinating and challenging to create, but have the satisfaction of creating an object I can hold in my hands, instead of staring at through a screen. I have always been a manual person, choosing to create something by hand instead of relying on technology. I prefer the overall aesthetics of something hand made, as it evokes a sense that it is special, and one off.

My journey through university had been a slow but fruitful one. Illustration was not all I had hoped it to be, and I struggled with my 2D compositions, often overworking them and losing enthusiasm. My real breakthrough came through when I began to explore a sculptural response to the briefs I was given. Sculpture was always something I had enjoyed

as a hobby, however it had not occurred to me to integrate this interest into my work. My gradual integration with the model making workshop showed me how my skills could be developed and use in industry, which influenced my decision to go on to further education for a second degree in model making to develop my skills.

I have always been deeply interested in fantasy and science fiction, which I believe has been the base of the most visually exciting and diverse work I have seen. I have found myself influenced by mythology, space, the supernatural and the future. I love working with the themes of science and fantasy, where I believe there are truly no boundaries to what I can create. I had no idea that there was a course that pandered to these interests and combined them with hazardous materials and dangerous machinery to create, so realising that course like this existed seemed the only logical step to pursue after illustration.

WHAT I DO


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In the summer of 2011, I participated in some work experience with Hat Trick Productions on the BBC series ‘The Royal Bodyguard. I had previously attended a short course in special effects makeup at the AUCB, which I had inspired me to make a career out of it after I graduated. My work experience involved shadowing the makeup department and maintaining the hair and makeup of the extras on set. I worked with artist Nic Collins, who was kind enough to answer my questions about the industry. From this experience I realised that makeup was not the specialist area I wanted to work in, and that I would also prefer to work in film, rather than television. My experiences seemed to be ruling out the creative areas that I knew I didn’t belong in, which led

me to solve the riddle of where I would belong in the creative industry.

In late 2011 I became involved on a commission with makeup FX artist Steve Bosworth, which I developed alongside my extended major project. This involved designing a full body prosthetic based upon the character of ‘Shuna Sassi’ featured in the 1990 film ‘Nightbreed.’ The brief involved creating a design of the characters body that could be turned into a full body prosthetic. This would then be made by Steve and applied to fetish model Collette Van Tora for a photo shoot to appear in ‘Haunted’ magazine. This brief allowed me an insight into the area of industry I am interested in, and allowed me to start making contacts in the right areas.

Work Experience


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My work for third year led me to collaborate with set design student Rhiannon Price to produce gargoyle sculptures for the set of ‘In Extremis.’ This unit provided me with a first taste of working for a client on a more professional basis. My work consisted to listening to the ideas Rhiannon had and interpreting them through my designs before reproducing these in 3D. I had access to feedback from costume tutors and visiting set designers, which was helped me expand upon my knowledge on things such as painting techniques and how the set design industry worked. While working on this brief, I began planning my dissertation alongside, which tied into my research on set design and the

Gargoylesboundaries of 3D illustration. The turning point for my practice was this brief, as I enjoyed working in 3D so much, I chose to channel my practice in this area by immersing myself in life sculpting classes and sewing workshops run by the university. Life sculpting helped me to hone my skills in sculpture and learn to translate measurements and observation of the face into an accurate life sculpt. A short introductory course in model making kept my hands busy and improved on my practice after I had completed my final major project. I found it was vital to keep busy and keep practising to continue to push myself and my skills even further.


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Final Major Project

With the intention of playing to my strengths for my final major project, I decided to work to the brief of creating costumes based upon the context of animal characters from folktales instead of choosing an overworked narrative such as fairy tales. This gave me much more flexibility on the visual outcomes, as the folktales I used were very simple and straightforward, which left the brief very open ended. Many of the animal characters featured in the stories were wronged or mistreated in some way, but never retaliate in the tales, so I used this to develop the costumes into some kind of character, as a response to their treatment in the stories. I imagined them bitter, angry and resentful, and was excited to portray this in my work.


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“This is a marvellous work that has been compiled. From the costumes to the incredible music, the art direction, direction and performance soar. I was completely enamoured with the piece and

immediately wished I could have watched far more, in a theatrical performance”

-Gene Lythgow


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After researching into mask making techniques, I started experimenting with mould making and casting techniques. I had the intention of making hard, shell like animal masks that only covered half of the face, to represent the characters transition between animal and human. I was inspired by the realistic animal costumes created by Clockwork Creature studios, in which an animal mask is built over a strong resin ‘skull.’ I decided to adopt this approach for building my masks.

I begun sketching ideas for costumes over Christmas, and looking into theatre costumes such as those from “The Lion King.’A trip to London to visit the British Museum and the V and A Museum gave me inspiration to start designing and making the masks that would provide the basis of my costumes. I had narrowed my brief down to two folktales ‘The Woman Who Became A Horse’ and ‘The Dog Bride.’ Both stories feature an animal that changes into a human form, which I thought was an interesting piece of imagery to base my work on.


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I sculpted the masks in clay over a mannequin head and took them into the workshop to make moulds of the sculpts. As I had never made a silicone and fibreglass jacket mould, I relished the opportunity to learn a sophisticated method of making a mould. The first problem I encountered while beginning to cast my sculpture, was that I had to cut the fibreglass mould into extras pieces, due to the cast locking itself in the mould. The second time I made a mould it became

much easier to plan ahead while sculpting the piece to consider where to split the mould up.

The casting process was a big learning curve in that I had to be sure to locate the silicone mould into the fibreglass ensure a perfect replica. The first couple of casts I made came out slightly warped as a result, but I managed to get out some successful ones after some practice.


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Inspirational Work

‘Simba’ The Lion King 1999‘The Domestic Akita’ Qarrezel 2008

‘Ronins Fox’ Qarezzel 2009‘Scar and Serabi’ The Lion king 1999

‘Pan’ Pan’s Labyrinth 2006

‘Centaur’ Matthew Barney 1995


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Aside from mask making, I had to design and create the body of the costumes. I was inspired by the costume work of Elizabeth Chap-man, and her stage interpretations of the three witches from ‘Macbeth’ I loved the floating, ethereal quality to each one, and how the charac-ters jumped to life with the correct lighting and the performer under-neath. With this in mind, I had to be sure to design something I could make well. I had previous experi-ence in costuming from my years entering costumes in masquerades as a hobby. I am not particularly confident with pattern making and using a sewing machine. I decided to rely solely on hand stitching to create an organic look, with the consideration that both of these characters were half animal, and had to look ‘wild’ and untamed.

I also distressed them by dying sections of the fabric and using paint in a spray bottle, a technique that I had previously used on other costumes.

When deciding how to present my final pieces of work, I had to be sure to push my presentation skills further and really think out-side the box. After a discussion with tutors I decided to produce a short film of each costume. I advertised for a dancer to perform a short improvised piece in each costume, to emphasis their move-ment and beauty that photographs would not do justice. I received a response from Rachel O’Hare, an acting student with a background for contemporary dance.


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My biggest challenge was creating a professional looking film to document my costumes in action. I overcame this filming at 50fps and slowing the footage down in postproduction to capture the motion of the costume. Except for my experience in creating a stop motion animation, I had not made a film before, so I advertised my project and got a response from Phil Andrews, an AUCB graduate.

Arranging all the details to film proved stressful to co ordinate. Filming outside on the beach, turned out to be nightmare to arrange to film during a week of terrible weather. We compromised by filming underneath Bournemouth Pier, which turned out to be a more suitable location. The location had a similar colour palette to my costumes and provided a more suitable atmosphere and eliminated the hassle of colour balancing the film in post production. It was a

breezy day which worked to our advantage in that it would pick up loose sections of the costumes, which looked very effective in the slower frame rate. The resulting film I was extremely satisfied with, as I felt had captured my intentions for my project successfully.

I arranged a photoshoot with Marta Fjellheim adding an element of hijinks and cheekiness to the costumes I wanted to capture, to contrast with Rachel’s ethereal and flowing performance. Something I found interesting was the visual outcome of Rachel and Marta’s interpretation of the costume character. I gave them both little instruction on how to act, preferring to see their individual responses. I was reminded of how the performer inside the costume is vital to bring the character to life, and Marta to the costumes and giving each a different personality through her actions.


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“One day when the people were travelling over a large

open place they saw a band of horses, and the woman among them. Her arms and legs had

also changed considerably; but her face was still human, and

bore some resemblance to her original self.”


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Shortly after exhibiting my plush toys at Café Boscanova for ‘Bespoke’ exhibition, I opened up an Etsy store and sold my plush toys and small sculptures. The items I sold the most of were various soft yetis I made, intended to raise money for my final degree show. One yeti was bought by a primary school teacher and used as class mascot, and I received a couple of commissions through Etsy for customised yetis as presents. I found this an enjoyable way of fundraising, as I enjoyed creating 3D monsters, with the plush toy aesthetic adding to the appeal. I made the decision to showcase my work at our final degree show ‘Feral.’ This would be an opportunity to showcase my film and costumes to the public, with the opportunity for them to be seen by set designers and other people from the industry alike. I knew my pieces would stand out, due the film raising questions of its origins, and viewers being encouraged to access my blogs and websites to learn more and see more of my work.

Fundraising And Exhibiting


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ONLINE PRESENCE


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Upon graduating with a degree in illustration, I will be returning to the Arts University to expand my skill set and study for a degree in model making. By combining the techniques and knowledge from both of these courses I hope to pursue a career in the film industry, creating and designing prosthetic makeup, film props and character concepts. The film industry has plenty of opportunities and jobs to gain a foothold on, and by utilising what I have learnt from both of my degrees will provide me with an edge over other graduates breaking into the industry. Speaking to model making students has left me at ease, seeing the contacts they have and the jobs waiting for them after graduation. This has put me at ease that there will be a place for me in this specialist industry, due to there being hundreds

WHERE TO NEXT?


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of jobs with not as many young professionals to fill them. Experiences in the third year and experimentations with sculpture for clients has opened my mind to the possibilities of could apply modelmaking skills to a professional career. Getting the opportunity to work closely in the workshop with modelmakers has given me constructive feedback on my sculptural work and suggestions of where it could be contextualised. I have enjoyed working in a workshop environment, which has given me an insight into the types of people I will work with and the kind of machinery I will be using. Pursuing an extra degree after illustration will teach me the specialist skills I will need to be equipped to work in the film industry. I can’t wait to start the next leg of my creative journey.

‘The Three Witches’ Elizabeth Chapman 2011


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“At last they let her free. The following year they saw her

again. She had become almost entirely horse, and had a colt by her side. She had many children

afterwards.”


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