Photoshop
Maya
ZBrush
Houdini
Substance Painter
Blender
Unreal Engine
Arnold
Nuke
KeyShot
V-Ray
Mari
Marvelous Designer
Marmoset Toolbag
Substance Designer
3ds Max
3DCoat
Redshift
Faceform Wrap
Lightroom
After Effects
OctaneRender
SpeedTree
Daz 3D
Agisoft Metashape
Fusion
Modo
RealityCapture
Gaea
Cinema 4D
Gravity Sketch
Premiere
Procreate
Clip Studio Paint
SketchUp
SketchBook
Katana
Natron
Mudbox
Quixel Bridge
Quixel Megascans
Quixel Mixer
Substance 3D Modeler
World Creator
Yeti
Ziva VFX
Mixamo
Adobe Medium
Quixel DDO
xNormal
Meshmixer
Storyboard Pro
DaVinci Resolve
TreeIt
World Machine
Gaffer
Corel Painter
SynthEyes
Krita
Massive
Materialize
Unity
Ornatrix
PreForm
Moi 3D
animBot
QuickTime
ReCap
Designing makeup concepts for film and television is an important skill set for concept artists at the Wētā Workshop in New Zealand, known for decades of groundbreaking work. Join Senior Concept Designer Johnny Fraser-Allen as he shares his Photoshop techniques to effectively design character and creature makeups in this four hour workshop, with tips aimed at artists of all levels.
This detailed workshop will teach you how to deliver and lock down approved designs for the film industry. Aimed at the early stages of a production, the Photoshop-based techniques covered will allow for quick ideas to be delivered to the director as well as tackling quick changes needed to rework designs into alternate options for the same brief.
Starting with a quick warm up, Johnny goes through the steps required to build an original creature makeup design, before starting on three Ogre Lord concepts over the same actor. This same process is how he designed and reworked director notes for the BFG for Steven Spielberg, dwarves for Peter Jackson, and goblins for the Jim Henson Company.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Creature Feature Makeup Design: Johnny shares his thoughts on a career in designing characters and makeup concepts for blockbuster films and gives insight into the thought process behind the many makeup concepts he designed for The Portable Door.
Chapter 2: Warm-up with a Quick Goblin Makeup Concept: Using Jeffery Walker, the Director for The Portable Door, Johnny revisits how he designed Goblin makeup for Sam Neil and others in a quick warm-up session.
Chapter 3: Sketching: Johnny shows how a quick sketch — that no one will ever see but the artist — can help speed up the design process and inform some helpful starting points that will lead to the happy accidents found in the final design.
Chapter 4: The Concept Art: Creating his own brief of “Ogre King,” Johnny goes through every step he uses to take a photo of the production’s chosen actor and work up three original makeup concepts to turn him into the creature required for filming. With an emphasis on practicality and retaining the qualities of the performer beneath, this tutorial shows how to use the shapes and existing textures of the actor as well as incorporating other photographic elements to help shape a realistic, filmic-looking concept design using only Photoshop. This then serves as the initial discussion point used to get the ball rolling for the director of the film.
6 Lessons
Johnny Fraser-Allen's workshop provides invaluable insight into the professional reality of character design for film, emphasizing that the process is highly collaborative, iterative, and often unpredictable. Artists learn through these experiences that success comes not just from technical skill, but from adaptability, understanding director preferences, working within practical constraints, and maintaining creative vision while accepting that a design will transform through multiple departments.
Duration: 35m 59s
This lesson goes over that professional creature design for film is not just about creativity, but also about working within real-world constraints and timelines. Johnny's approach of combining photographic references, quick painterly techniques, and knowledge of how physical makeup functions on real actors, allows for rapid iteration while maintaining quality. Most importantly, the process prioritizes adaptability, speed, and collaboration with other departments.
Duration: 44m 2s
Artists learn that concept art serves a specific purpose, communicating design ideas to directors quickly, rather than creating portfolio-perfect illustrations. By layering photographic elements with painterly techniques and strategic use of filters, convincing makeup concepts are produced rapidly.
Duration: 50m 4s
This lesson demonstrates that effective concept art for practical makeup effects begins with loose, experimental sketching rather than polished rendering. Johnny provides directors with a visual menu of possibilities by creating multiple options while maintaining awareness of practical constraints like preserving actor recognition and working within the limitations of prosthetic application.
Duration: 13m 50s
Demonstrated in this lesson is a practical production approach to creature design that bridges concept art and physical makeup effects. Artists learn to treat Photoshop layers like prosthetic appliances and build from photographic foundations toward painted refinement to create designs that are both creatively compelling and practically achievable.
Duration: 50m 4s
In this final lesson, Johnny demonstrates a method for quickly creating multiple variations, allowing directors to cherry-pick favorite elements and combine them into a final direction. Johnny demonstrates that skilled, thoughtful design work that considers production realities remains valuable in filmmaking.
Duration: 57m 33s
Primary tools
For this workshop you’ll need:
* Note that these programs and materials will not be supplied with the course.
Skills Covered
Who’s this Workshop for?
This workshop is designed for concept artists and makeup designers working in film and television who want to enhance their digital design skills. Suitable for artists at all levels, Johnny Fraser-Allen's techniques strengthen the ability to create compelling character concepts using Photoshop.
Illustrators, character designers, and digital artists aiming to break into the entertainment industry will find strong value in learning industry-standard workflows in this training. Johnny shares insight into professional production processes while demonstrating practical skills that translate directly to real-world film and television projects.
Learning Outcomes
On completing this workshop, artists will have mastered the essential Photoshop techniques and professional workflows needed to design effective makeup concepts for film and television productions.
Key skills include:
- How to transform actor photography into professional creature and character makeup concepts efficiently.
- How to sketch preliminary designs that inform and accelerate the digital concept development process.
- How to incorporate photographic elements and textures to create realistic, production-ready makeup designs.
- How to work with director feedback and quickly iterate multiple design variations.
- How to maintain actor characteristics while developing convincing creature transformations using practical approaches.
- How to present polished concept art that serves as effective communication tools for production teams.
