For this particular project, I was working for Sam Scalamoni, a director who had been Associate Director of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for more than three years, setting and maintaining companies on Broadway, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Korea. I was provided with his phone number and email address, and was able to email images and have most of my designing done and approved before he even arrived at the theatre.

For research material I looked online at images of other theatre companies who had produced Beauty and the Beast. I knew I wanted to use GM Foam for the prosthetics because of its flexible qualities, this would allow the actor freedom of movement in the face, giving him an opportunity to create facial expressions through the mask.

I decided to go with a two piece prosthetic design, keeping the cheeks and upper lip exposed. I figured this would allow the actor to stay a lot cooler than if I covered his entire face.

Because I traced the actor's photo onto my paper before begining to design the prosthetic, I ended up with a very "smilie" looking Beast on paper. However, this did not affect my ability to imagine what the finished product would look like.