befores & afters: How you can access Hollywood-style digital make-up effects

This article is featured on befores & afters.

Special thanks to befores & afters journalist Ian Failes for reporting on how Hollywood SFX make-up artists utilize Character Creator and SkinGen to successfully expand their business beyond their industry into animations, games, AR/VR, and much more.

Ada Productions gives filmmakers and content producers access to high-quality SFX makeup, which are digital alternatives to traditional prosthetic makeup. With the benefit of being reusable, SFX makeup comes in easily adjustable designs that can fulfill a variety of needs.

The main aim is for people to have access to really high-quality cinematic effects. […] We want others to have the ability to create something very quickly, very easily.
Simone Boria, CEO of Ada Productions

Both founders have extensive industry experience for the past 30 years. Simon Boria, the CEO, and founder of Ada Productions has worked as an art director, fashion and theatre designer, and broadcast journalist, and has taught film and media art analysis at the University of Art and Design Linz.

Stuart Sewell, another pillar of Ada Productions, has an impressive record as a prosthetic makeup and animatronics artist for Hollywood films since the 1990s. His SFX makeup have contributed to famous titles such as Frankenstein, Saving Private Ryan, The Hours, The Sea Inside, Lost in Space, and many more. What motivated Simone to found Ada Productions was the inevitable wave of digitization within the entertainment industry.

There was a worry that practical prosthetics would be removed from film altogether, but actually I think it’s like a complementary thing. I’ve seen quite a few makeups that have been enhanced by digital.
Stuart Sewell, Chief Product Designer of Ada Productions

This creation relied on the DMFX design tools by Ada Productions.

With an open mind toward CGI production, they have had many trials with different 3D tools. In the end, they settled on Reallusion’s pipeline solutions due to unrivaled convenience and interoperability. The Reallusion ecosystem of solutions allows for seamless connection with other 3D software, enabling them to transfer their interdisciplinary knowledge, immense experience and artistry into the digital realm.

With something like iClone and Character Creator, what I like about them is that they’re iterative and elastic. They allow you to change things on the fly.
Stuart Sewell, Chief Product Designer of Ada Productions