Joel Harlow

Joel Harlow is a professional special effects and makeup artist.  He is also a painter and sculptor specializing in the fantastic and surreal.  In addition to being a two-t1me EMMY Award winning makeup artist, Joel’s work has been featured in art galleries, specialized art houses, and numerous books and magazines.

Joel credits the original “King Kong” as giving him the inspiration needed to create his first art piece, a miniature version of the mighty ape.  The film also inspired what would become a life long fascination with the fantastic.  Says Joel; “I enjoy experiencing art of all kinds, and surrounding myself with other peoples work.  The boost of creativity I get from seeing people create is the fuel I use to drive my own creativity.”

Presently, Joel’s work can be found in over two hundred motion pictures and television programs, as well as print work and Internet sites.  He has worked with many of the entertainment industry’s most prolific directors, such as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Gore Verbinski, Paul Schroeder, Tim Burton, Tony Scott and Clive Barker.  Twice the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences have celebrated his work with its Primetime Emmy award.  In addition to his Emmy awards, he has received several Cable Ace nominations, as well as recognition from his peers for his original work.

In 2001, Joel founded Harlow FX.  Initially created to handle the fabrication of effects for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. It wasn’t long before “Harlow FX” was tackling bigger projects, including WAR OF THE WORLDS, HBO’s CARNIVALE, Paul Schroeder’s AUTOFOCUS, DOMINO, any much more.

Using his Makeup effects experience, Joel jumped at the chance to create the prosthetic makeups for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3.  “I have a wonderful relationship with Gore, and he allowed me to realize some truly fantastic characters.”

“Of all the characters in the two films, the most creatively satisfying for me is Bootstrap Bill.

The idea behind the character of Bootstrap Bill is that of a cursed pirate who has been condemned to the depths and is gradually becoming encrusted with barnacles, muscle shells and other sea creatures. As Bootstrap, Stellan Skarsgard undergoes a progression makeup of three stages in Pirates 2 and an additional two stages in Pirates 3. 

After receiving the initial designs from Mark “Crash” McCreery, it was my job to translate the illustrations into makeup.  I knew I wanted the barnacle and shell aspects of the makeup to be rigid so, when they contacted each other, there would be no compression to ruin the illusion. I rough sculpted the makeup over a life cast of Stellan, including all the shells. Once approved, I carefully removed each clay barnacle and shell cluster from the makeup.  Each intended rigid element was then molded, cast, and labeled with a number or letter that corresponded to its “socket” on the prosthetic. Casting these pieces presented challenges of their own.  In the later stages the shell clusters get rather large, making weight an issue.  Eventually, we decided to slush cast a layer of plastic to capture surface detail and then backfill the shells with a rigid foam (which provided strength with little additional weight).

I decided that the actual “skin” elements of the makeup would need to be silicone due to the fact that the majority of Bootstrap’s scenes are played opposite a variety of CG characters, and silicone would give the natural translucency of long submerged flesh.

Typically the makeup took between 2 ½ to 4 hours to apply, depending on the stage. The silicone elements were applied first.  Once they skin elements were adhered, blended and painted, the long process of attaching the barnacles and shells came next. Fortunately all of these pieces could be prepainted and glossed, saving precious hours.  The finishing touches consisted of a verity of seaweed and sea plant elements interspersed throughout the barnacles, as well as dentures and contact lenses.”

While working on Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, Joel ventured into a slightly different arena in designing a line of Pirate themed jewelry.  “When I began my work creating the make-up effects for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels,  I decided it would be appropriate to search out a “Jolly Roger” themed ring to ride out the duration of the show with me.”  “Though there is a multitude of jewelry with this theme, nothing struck me as the piece of jewelry I wanted to memorialize the show with, so to this end I decided to create my own designs, incorporating traditional pirate themes as well as an attention to skeletal anatomy.” Said Joel.  The rings took off like wildfire amongst the cast and crew, and will soon be offered through Disneyshopping.com.