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40 • THE ARTISAN SPRING 2018 go on to expand into widely varied flesh tones that even included gold and metallic interference colors utilized to provide an ethereal "feel." The intrinsic tinting and flocking of the silicone for each house color was as important as the very translucent paint layers and mottling/veining. The final paint masters for each make-up were done by me, Tim Gore, Cale Thomas, Erik De La Vega and Tom Killeen. Masters were retained for continuity. Inexorably, the first day of shooting arrived and we were all there on set in Toronto for the massive two-episode shoot that started the show. Day one, we faced 17 extremely complex prosthetic characters, all at the same time, each with untested and newly designed support systems; none had even been dry fitted!!! Thankfully, a ton of our friends and family from here in Los Angeles were able to head up for the first few episodes and apply with us. Some of the most talented people I have ever met were there to fight the first all-important battle: Hugo Villasenor, Rocky Faulkner, Eryn & Mike Mekash, Richard Redlefsen, Mike Smithson, Bart Mixon, Chris Burgoyne, Bruce Fuller, Michele Monaco- Hetrick, Kevin Haney, Dennis Liddiard and LuAndra Whitehurst were all there supported by an amazing group of Canadian talent. After agonizing over every detail, directing every nuance of each piece, obsessing over edges and colors and translu- cency—this then was it; my moment of Discovery. With James and Michele at my side, we stood on the most beautiful set I have ever seen, the bridge of the Klingon Sarcophagus ship. Watching our monitors intently as the first-ever shot of the new Klingons rolled, my heart went racing … my eyes hon- estly welled up. Over a year's work with Neville and the team had all led to this moment. What I "Discovered" was this … it was all worth it. All the sleepless months were rewarded with the single most amazing moment in my career. I "Discovered" that I was blessed enough to be working with a dream team of artists in whom I could completely place my trust. An entire season was yet to be shot, and in the thick of this was always James, who shared Department Head Prosthetic responsibility with me handling the day-to-day application and scheduling on set. Bolstered by his right- and left-hand lieutenants, Hugo and Rocky as keys, they lived on set for months on end, making every conceivable sacrifice to make this show great. The "Three Amigos" were INSTRUMENTAL in making this show work, with- out them it simply would not have happened. They led a team of amazing Canadian artists through a season that required a truly gargantuan amount of work. We were lucky to have joining us: Chris Bridges, Nicola Bendry, Shane Zander, Patrick Baxter, Allan Cooke, Kyle Glencross, Neil Morrill, Jay Dethridge, Graham Chivers, Zane Knisley, Monik Walmsley-Cross, Andrea Brown, Faye Crasto, Sarah Kennedy, Misty Fox, Katrina Marie Despotovich, Trason Fernandes, Tony Chappell, Jeff Derushie, Steve Kostanski, sculptors had a tangible reference. All of this made it pos- sible to accurately convey the approved art in the finished prosthetic make-ups. As we got deeper into development, I crafted a "Cultural Axiom" document for the Klingon houses. This was one of my main goals with the new series, to infuse all of our Klingon houses with a cultural patina that reflected their respective home world environments. (Klingons are born and raised on many different planets in their empire) in the same way that different countries here on Earth influence the art, architecture, fashion, etc., of the indigenous popu- lation. Based on canon and (sometimes obscure) reference points in the franchise, I constructed some written back- ground concepts for the differing looks … this was all to create a unified impetus for all of the decisions affecting any one specific house. Color, markings, scars, tats, anatomical differences and more, many of which have yet to be seen. We then had to create huge boards to track all of the houses and all of the performers because each core group performer played several different Klingons, each in a different house. This could get extremely confusing extremely fast, which brings me to the next point… Led by the inimitable James MacKinnon, my team in Canada was about to arrive and start prep. They were walk- ing into quite literally HUNDREDS of full head prosthetic make-ups in the first few weeks with very little time to get up and running. The first season of any show is always the most challenging, but when you are trying to establish a massive universe, it is absolutely daunting for everyone involved from the producers down. Particularly when you are working in an already existing and beloved universe! At this point, James and I had only done tests on two things: Saru (two versions) and (very early on) the Klingon prototype, which I had built on Neville. I did three versions of the Klingon paint scheme in grayscale for our one-and- only camera test as I knew this would serve, as does the under painting of an oil work, as the basis for all of our other color variations. It was not "truly" grayscale in that I used many other PPI colors … midnight brown, umbers, blues and reds, mixed with soot (I LOVE that color); but it gave us a great starting point. That palette would later