Andorian prosthetic make-up
Andorians
Andorians are a humanoid species originally from Beta Quadrant. They come from a moon that orbits a gas giant with rings. Andorians can be easily recognized - they have blue skin and two supercranial antennae. The skin hue ranges from pale blue to turquoise. Andorians are more or less of the same height as Terrans. They usually have white or slightly blond hair.
(Andorians: Star Trek: Enterprise, Aenar: Star Trek: Enterprise)
(Andorians: Star Trek: TOS, Star Trek: Next Generation)
(Andorian: Star Trek: Hidden Games)
Lifecasting
As with all prosthetic masks the very first step is lifecasting. In this case we need to create a copy of the actor's forehead. For the actual molding plaster bandages are used.
Before the actual use of the plaster bandages the actor's hair has to be hidden beneath a rubber swimming cap. Petroleum jelly is used on his brows. This way the plaster can be removed without taking out the hair. A separator is used in the mold so that the liquid plaster can be removed after it has the required shape. The resulting positive is used for modeling andorian forehead.
Andorians' features from Enterprise series are used as reference for our fanfilm - bigger supraorbital ridges which lead to two antennae on the top of the head. The whole model is created from a sculpting clay. After that detailed plaster mould is created.
When the mold is cleaned up latex can be layered in it. After casting the forehead prosthetic is taken and placed on a artificial head. Antennae have to be created as well. The molds are created once again from plaster. Separator is applied and the mold could be cast. Expanding foam is used to keep 'solid' form of the antennae. The cast is taken out and cleaned up. Antennae are then glued onto the prosthetic mask.
Turning our actor into an Andorian
The day when our actor should look like an Andorian is here. The actor comes three hours before the shooting session. He gets dressed into his uniform which gets covered by protective plastic poncho. He has to put on a rubber cap once again, this time because this version of mask will use also a wig.
The prosthetic is put on his forehead and parts that would need to be cut from it are marked. This way the actor is not limited in blinking or in his field of view. The mask is then glued on the skin/rubber starting from the nose outwards towards actors¨s ears and top of his head. To create a smoother transition between the prosthetic mask and skin latex is used. At the end of this stage the whole mask is covered with thin layer of body color to unify the shade.
The rubber cap has to be painted blue as well otherwise some parts of it would be seen through the wig. After this the blue paint is applied on the remainder of the actor's visible skin - mainly hands. Airbrush pistol is used for this purpose. Details are painted with brush and sponge.
Our actor looks almost Andorian. The last thing that needs to be added is the wig. The wig was especially done for this mask. Cheap wigs from costume shops are not good as they are really thin. That is the reason why we had to create our own (another article about wig creation will be later posted on this site). The wig was trimmed to the desired haircut and temporarily attached to the head by doublesided adhesive tape.
Final look of the Andorian
Andorian Thren th'Zdreht. The hair is inspired by the original Star Trek series (TOS) whereas the foreheads are more resembling to those from Star Trek Enterprise. Photos are from the shooting of Star Trek Secret Games in front of a green screen.
Andorian Thren th'Zdreht with his superior - chief medical officer of USS Avatar - Bajoran doctor Zayra Mirat.
Translated to English by S"Tsung