Career as a Makeup Artist

Last week I had my first experience of being a makeup artist on a collaborative photoshoot. It was a great experience and gave me a taster as to what it would be like working as a makeup artist. I loved the thrill of having to work under pressure and working as part of a team. The creative process was a lot of fun and the end result was really fulfilling. This experience made me sure that this was the career path I wanted to follow.

I have a friend who is an aspiring stylist and is currently in her first year of a fashion styling degree at Middlesex Uni. She had a major photoshoot/styling project where she was collaborating with a second year photography student and asked me to be the makeup artist/hair stylist on the shoot. This was a great opportunity for me to network (make contacts with photographers), gain valuabe experience in my chosen field and to improve/build on my portfolio.

They made a facebook group to which I joined which made it easy to discuss ideas and prepare for the shoot. I have been extremely busy with my own personal projects and it was mostly their project so I was very inactive in the group at the beginning and didn't contribute until later on. Alot had gone on and the group had faced some setbacks. Their initial theme was Roadkill but then very close to the shooting date they had to change the theme because they were unable to present the Roadkill theme in a shoot for reason's I cannot remember. When I became more active in the group the concept and look of the shoot was still a little blurry. I stepped in and contributed ideas to help the group and project come together. The new theme was clowns. Both of the other group members were clear that they wanted the concept to be quite dark. The photographer had a fashion designer friend and was able to get his hands on these outfits (below) for the shoot.

Each group member had there own interpretation of the theme but these ideas were able to intertwine and relate. This was good experience for the future where I will be collaborating as part of a team and we will all need to make our ideas work as a whole.

 I did my own quick research on the theme to inform my makeup designs. I started with the history of clowns to get some inspiration. The inspiration for my makeup concept came when I came across a very famous clown of the 1930s called "Weary Willie", played by Emmett Kelly (below). Weary Willie was a tragic figure and based on the "hobo" clowns of the depression era. While he achieved huge success with his character, his wife eventually filed for divorce, claiming that the character had taken over his personality. Their son, Emmett Kelly Jr took on the role of Weary Willie after his father's retirement but his wife also thought it took over her husband's personality. Paul Kelly, son of Emmett Kelly Jr began performing as Weary Willie after he lost a leg in a train accident. Simultaneously, he slid into a life of drugs and sexual freedom. He was eventually arrested for the murders of two of his homosexual partners, to which he both admitted. He was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder shortly after.

I liked the concept of this persona taking over the subject and making them go gradually insane. I wanted to represent this concept by having a few different makeup looks but where each look built on the last, with the makeup gradually getting more intense and dramatic. I shared this idea with the photographer and stylist and they loved it.

I wanted the intensity to be in the eye makeup and the rest of the makeup to be simple. Below are my first ideas of how the makeup could gradually "grow": 

Although we were shooting in a studio, the photographer wanted to include bare branches in the props/scenery to give the shoot a dark atmosphere. I generated these designs where the eye makeup resembles branches and in each makeup look, the branches appear to grow and develop:

I then decided to scrap this idea because I wanted the makeup to match the bright warm colours of the clothes. I decided to go for a warm pallette of bright oranges, yellows and bronze for the eyes. I wanted the model to then have bright red lips. I thought this would compliment the clothes and the rest of the makeup very well. Although it was pretty I didn't like my branch idea for the concept as it did not show the model going crazy. I thought I could have the makeup gradually running (as if crying) and the colours becoming more intense to show the emotional distress of the subject. These are the designs I came up with:

We all had a meet up the day before the shoot to discuss our ideas, prepare for the shoot, and see how our individual work would come together. The feedback of my designs was great. They both loved the drama of my designs and thought I should keep it exactly how it is. We all agreed that the makeup should start of "normal" for the first few shoots and then start to get intense. The model had been sorted by the photographer. He found her on modelmayhem.com and she has offered up her details and seemed reliable.

The night before I prepared for the shoot. I have learned from experience of other shoots that it is very helpful and makes your work much more efficient if you write up a step by step plan of the makeup and also make a list of all the tools and materials needed.

On the day of the shoot I planned my journey to get there early. I got to the studio in good time to set up my station so I could begin quickly on the model when she arrived. 

An hour into the studio booking, the model still had not arrived and had not got in contact despite us calling and texting her several times. We had also asked her to get there an hour before we had booked the studio for. We were all panicking but the photographer ran into someone on his course who fit the clothes (the studio was at the university) and she agreed to fill in as the model. Our original model was black and the new one was white and I had only packed base makeup for black skin. My model was already wearing foundation and had good skin so I worked with this and kept the rest of the makeup design the same. I thought this was good experience of set backs that can occur on a shoot and how to deal with them. I will now know for future that it is essential to always have base makeup i.e. foundation and concealer for every skin colour with you on every shoot you go on. I also found out that it was useful to carry hair bands and bobbypins in your kit. Me at work:

I worked very efficiently and within the timescale and the photographer and stylist were really happy with the makeup. On the shoot I realised that intense studio lighting can wash out colours So makeup may need to be more exaggerated (not like real life). I may need to invest in highly pigmented professional products that can overcome this. My work might have been improved if I had applied the makeup in lighting similar to that of how it would be on shooting, although I did apply it underneath a bright light. These are just a few images taken from the photoshoot:

This was the most professional shoot I have ever done. I'm really pleased with how it went. It was shot really well and captures the makeup really well. Like I said before the colours/pigments could be a little more amped up and if I was better prepared I could have made her skin look even more flawless but I still think it looks good. The photographer was very kind and said I could use any images I wanted for my portfolio. He will send me the retouched versions when he's done with them. I thought this was a great experience as I improved my portfolio, learned a lot and gained a new contact.