Bruises, Cuts, Burns & Scars Research

Here is some research into what actually happens to the skin when a trauma happens, like a cut, bruise, burn and a scar. I wanted to do some research in to this so I know what happens to the skin, it will then be easier to recreate it on the real skin if you have a background of what it should look like in real life.

Bruise

Bruises are so common these days, you fall over and you get a little bruise that appears under the skin or even worse you have a fall and a huge bruise appears! The impact of the fall will make the blood cells deep in the skin appear near the top of the skin in a dark red or black/blue colour. Over time as it starts the heel the bruise will turn greeny yellow in colour. They only usually last about a week or so and they don't effect the skin in anyway it is just under the skin. 

Creating a bruise on the skin is tricky but the colours you need are easy to find, red. blue, yellow and purple are widely used and you can mix them together to get the colour you need to create that bruised look. 
Kryolan do some really good bruise wheels that are in a selection of different colours and shades - they are oil/cream based make up 

Cuts

A cut to the skin can either be as little as a paper cut or as big as a slash through the skin, the medical term for a cut is a laceration - a break in the skin. Little cuts still hurt the skin and can cause discomfort, blood is very possible to be visual too from the cut - this is just a breakage of the skin nothing too deep but a slash of the skin is much worse. The object that cut the skin could go through muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels and nerves! Therefore more blood and discomfort. When the cut first breaks the skin the blood vessels go in to over drive to try and clot the blood from coming out, over the next few days chemicals are released from the body to help heel the wound, a scab is formed - called epithelialization, this is where the skin created new skin cells to cover over it like a protective barrier which is like having a scab. Over the next few weeks whilst the skin underneath is still healing, the capillaries are sending oxygen and nutrients to the wound which gives it the pinky purple look. After 2/3 week the colour starts to go more normal in the skin and get stronger. 

Creating cuts on the skin you need to use wax, latex, blood, sculpting tools, oil based colours and even puss, fake glass and dirt depending on how the cut was made.
Kryolan and Niells Materials have some really good products to create these cuts.
Kryolan do some great bloods like in the veins and arteries blog post

Burns

When the skin is burnt it can be affected differently depending on what burnt it and how burnt the skin got. 
A first degree burn will make the skin become red and very sore and painful and it only effects the top layer of skin. When the burn is heeling the skin will start to peel and the new skin will develop underneath it. 
A second degree burn will effect more than just the top layer and goes further into the skin which causes blisters and redness. It will also be very painful and the blisters can pop which makes the skin look wet. 
A third degree burn is the worst kind of burn you can get, it effects the skin and could go all the way down to effect the muscles, blood stream, major organs and could even cause death. 
The skin will be very red, could be burnt with black on it, pussy and yellow, possibly bleeding, the skin will look leathery and waxy brown in colour too. 

Creating burns on the skin is quite easy I find, I like to use gelatine to create burns on the skin as it creates a lumpy effect on the skin with the added make up it makes it look more realistic too. 
On Neills Materials you can purchase gelatine to create the burns too, you can get it in a clear colour or flesh toned.