Reflection #2

Nothing much has happened since last month because I've been so busy.  I did try a black and white skeleton face paint look inspired by Tate in the first season of American Horror Story.  To start off, I painted my face completely white, then started drawing the main shapes which were the teeth, mouth, cheekbones, eyes, and nose.  The first struggle I had was laying down the white base.  I couldn't get the white to come out evenly, so it was very splotchy.  Also the brush I used for black wasn't thin enough, so the lines were very thick and awkward.  When I tried to blend the black to make shadows, it just smeared into a weird mess. Some things I will do different the next time I try this is using a thicker white paint, a thinner brush, and blend in a different way.  I still want to do the looks inspired by Ryan Burke and avante-garde, but I will probably need some new colors or materials, and hopefully I get the time very soon.

Reflection #1

My specific goal was to try at least 3 different products or materials while doing makeup, but the general idea was to just broaden the looks that I do.  I wanted to try different, new, and eccentric things that I usually wouldn't even try.  For this purpose, I bought new materials such as body paint, scar wax, and gelatin, both of which I have never used before.  So far I have used two of those products, and I am going to experiment with the body paint soon.  I have a few pictures and videos I have used for ideas and have picked out a specific one posted by madeyewlook on youtube.  She did a video on how to paint anatomically correct face and neck muscles.  Also, I have always had a love for avant-garde looks, so I've looked at some artists who do that style for inspiration. One of my favorites is Ryan Burke.  He does very bright, experimental looks and uses lots of materials, and I am in love with his creativity.

Christmas sfx Makeup Look

Since it is Christmas (well it was when I did this) I wanted to incorporate it into the look. I couldn't find a Christmas one that I really liked, but I came a cross a picture of a guy with a pencil shoved through his nose for the back to school season which inspired me to just substitute the pencil for a candy cane. The materials I used were scar wax, fake blood, liquid latex, and black eye shadow. To start off, I broke the candy cane into 3 pieces and threw the middle piece away. Then I decided what angle I wanted it to be at and drew a line with black eye shadow. Then using a fluffy brush, I blended out the bottom side of the line. For the bottom of the candy cane I just put liquid latex on the candy cane and glued it to my face. Be sure not to put the latex in your nose and as a warning, liquid latex smells like cat pee. Beware. Then I did the same thing to the top piece. Scar wax isn't as easy to find as the other materials, but its a great thing to use for SFX makeup. Make sure you put a lotion or oil on your fingers or the wax will stick, and you have to warm it up before you use it. Take a small ball of it and cover up the edge of the top piece of the candy cane. Blend the edges into your skin with your fingers and cover it with a foundation to match your skin. Lastly, add darkness to the wounds if you want with dark eye shadow and add lots of fake blood.

Second Exposed Hand Attempt

After looking back on my old SFX makeup pictures, I decided to redo the exposed hand and correct my mistakes. I did the exact same process with the cotton balls, cotton swabs, and liquid latex. It worked more so than last time, but it still wasn't completely right. The latex/cotton fake skin wrinkled up and made it look there was fat attached to it, and the edges weren't ripped and raw like it would probably look like if you got the back of your hand ripped off. The coloring worked out better because I put a matte brown eye shadow on before putting the skin color. I also got a new foundation that covers more and stays really matte. Next time I try this, I think I will put on thinner layers of cotton and latex, so it looks more like skin and shred the edges more to make it look like it was roughly ripped off.

BeetleJuice Makeup

Halloween is coming up, and I decided my costume would be the main character of one of my favorite movie, Beetlejuice.  I started off my makeup by using a white foundation and putting it all over my face and neck, and then setting it with a translucent powder.  Beetlejuice has big, purple rings around his eyes, but I wanted to a girlier look, so I used purple eyeshadow to do a smokey eye.  For the mold on his face, I used liquid latex and ripped it to make the texture.  Then I used green face paint to color the mold and to contour my face and neck.  I teased my hair and added a little bit of green hairspray for color. I wore a black sweater, black and white striped leggings, and black boots to imitate his signature striped suit.  An optional step is to use black tooth enamel to make your teeth look like they are rotting like his are in the movie.

First Exposed Hand Attempt

This weekend I tried a sfx look using liquid latex, cotton balls, and cotton swabs. It worked to an extent.  I used the cotton swabs to make bones in the back of my hand, and then ripped up cotton balls into strips. Then I soaked the strips in liquid latex and used them to make fake skin around the back of my hand that I could rip up and make it look like there was a whole in the back of my hand.  The only thing that did not really work was the coloring.  The liquid latex dries an off-white color and if you put foundation right over it, it's not the same color as your real skin.  You need to put a darker color over the latex first, but I forgot to do that.  Also the bruising I did around the wound tuned out really fake looking,  but the inside of the wound worked.  Next week I think I'm going to try a look using simple everyday products like gelatin or everyday beauty makeup.

My 20Time Goals

I'm doing my project on special effects (sfx) makeup. My goal is to try at least 3 different techniques to do at least 3 different makeup looks, I want to do a look using gelatine, liquid latex, and one with just regular makeup.