The Magic of Makeup

In Season 5 of Stranger Things, the evil, mind-controlling wizard Vecna is back—and scarier than ever! Transforming the very human actor Jamie Campbell Bower into the to/too/two creepy creature took up to nine hours each day. First, artists glued a “jigsaw puzzle” of fake monster skin and thorns onto Bower’s body. Then the designers attached to/too/two oversized mechanical hands so Bower could control Vecna’s long clawlike fingers. The effect was so frightening that co-star Millie Bobby Brown cried
the first time she saw Bower in costume!

Building Pandora, the stunning world of the Avatar series, relies heavily on computer-generated imagery—or CGI. And while CGI was used in the third movie in the series, Avatar: Fire and Ash, traditional makeup was used to/too/two. To become the brave warrior Neytiri, actor Zoe Saldaña had to/too/two be coated in turquoise makeup. Then CGI artists covered her in motion capture sensors, which recorded her body and facial movements. Later the artists enhanced her character’s look digitally using data from the sensors. 

It’s not easy going green. Just ask Cynthia Erivo, who returns to/too/two screens this month as the misunderstood witch Elphaba. To get into character, Erivo was first painted from head to toe in a custom blend of green makeup. Then she was outfitted with green contact lenses, prosthetic ears, and temporary tattoo eyebrows. The entire look required more than to/too/two hours in the makeup chair daily. But Erivo preferred real makeup to/too/two digital effects. “I wanted to see the transformation every day,” she said
of the process. “I wanted to turn into Elphaba.”