Women in Special Effects: Samantha Lyttle of Weta Workshop

My first make-up experience was at Circus World in 1979 when I got my face painted like a clown with oil based make-up that didn’t wash off for three days. I didn’t play with make-up when I played dress-up because my mom never wore it, so until I was well into my teens, I only wore make-up to be a mouse, a witch and a strawberry at Halloween. Then I went off to college with no idea how to put anything on my face except for Clearasil, which I used a lot of.

In college, I was cast as a hostile, and possibly murderous, drag queen in a one act play called Death of a Diva. It was a no-budget student production for a playwriting class, so we were responsible for doing our own hair and make-up, and I did a pretty convincing make-up job, considering I’ve never been able to apply eyeliner or lipstick correctly. I usually wind up poking myself in the eye and getting lipstick up my nose. So, I can make myself look like a female impersonator, but I can’t make myself look like a lady.

Samantha Lyttle, a make-up and prosthetics artist with Weta Workshop, doesn’t have that kind of problem. Here, she talks to Pink Raygun about working on special effects make-up.
Pink Raygun: Around Halloween, do your voice mail and email boxes fill up with requests to turn people into zombies?

Samantha Lyttle: It did at first but the novelty has worn off!

PRG: How did you get into make-up and prosthetics? Did you start in theater, as a cosmetologist, or was it something you’ve always dabbled in?

SL: I’ve always loved make up as a creative outlet. I’m not the kind of person who wears much, but as a medium, its just so much fun to play with and I’ve always loved the way it can change someone’s face.

As for prosthetics, it was the challenge of taking that to a whole other level that I loved. Once I saw the challenge of creating an illusion through prosthetics, I was hooked and I know I had to pursue it.

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PRG: What specifically did you do while working on King Kong and Black Sheep?

SL: On King Kong my first job was to help sculpt and make over a hundred pairs of vac form dentures for the natives. I also ran all the gelatine appliances that the natives wore. On set I was one of the many effects artists creating character make-up for the native ‘look’.

Black Sheep was very different, in that it involved more creature work and fabrication. Things like foam seaming, fur and fabric dyeing and heaps of fur transferral for all of the sheep. It also involved formulating different bloods and pus that were safe to go on the sheep’s wool everyday, and be removed without staining.

PRG: How was working on each of those projects different?

SL: King Kong was a big budget with what felt like mass production for the many natives. Black Sheep was a much smaller project and involved very different skills. I learned great new skills on both jobs.

PRG: What education and training did you need to do in order to work in this industry?

SL: I did a make-up course at the Frampton Institute in Australia. I specifically chose a course to study that incorporated prosthetics training and focussed on film make up as I knew that’s where I wanted to work.

A course will give you the basics to get started but nothing replaces experience. For that I got out there and worked on anything and everything I could – including heaps of low budget (and no budget) projects. Also I found people I could assist and learn from. I think this is REALLY important. I was lucky to get in with some incredibly talented artists and I considered this a continuation of my training – like an apprenticeship.

PRG: Who did you look up to when you were first starting out?

SL: When first starting out I looked up to all my local industry peers. Make-up artists in Australia who were really multi skilled, especially.

PRG: When creating the overall look of a character, where do you step in and where do you get your direction?

SL: The direction and look of a make up starts off with the director and gets fed down to the design team and Head of Department. Where I step in depends on my role in the particular project. This is why I love being involved in the test make ups as you’re more involved in refining the look of a make up with the Head of Department.

PRG: You do special effects make-up as well as traditional hair and make-up for fashion, film and TV. Do you have a preference?

SL: I do love both but I tent to want to do more make-up effects work than anything – for the moment anyway!

PRG: Earlier, you wrote that you were currently working on different techniques for full body prosthetics. What are some of those techniques and their different results?

SL: At the moment I’m working on developing ‘wing’ like flesh membranes for a make up with the project designer Steve Boyle. He has a certain criteria that are needed, like: translucency, lightness, attach-ability to the body, movement and stretch. We’re trying different methods that achieve all the above criteria.

PRG: How closely do you work with the other departments?

SL: Working at Weta means you have an amazing crew of people around you knowledgeable in other areas. This is a great resource when I have needed advice on various fabrics or techniques that overlap into another department.

PRG: What do you think is the most impressive use of make up and prosthetics in movies recently?

SL: The creature make ups in Pan’s Labyrinth are beautiful and so inspiring and exciting to see. Also the character make ups in Norbit by Rick Baker’s team are phenomenal and continue to push the boundaries of creating realism with prosthetics.

You can keep up with past and current Weta projects at the Weta Workshop website.

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