Wow
what an amazing 2 years, it’s been the hardest and most stressful time of my
life but also the most rewarding. It’s amazing to look back through pictures of
my work and see the progress I’ve made without really realising. From a Gibson girl
to a London bombings victim to Marilyn Monroe, I feel as if I’ve covered so many
different styles and genres! Some yes I could do better if I did them now but
overall I’m really proud of all I have accomplished over the two year period!
My
favourite lesson has got to be period hair with Sam, when I first joined the
course I was adamant that I wanted to do special effects and now after
finishing the two years with the amazing teaching from Sam I have fallen head
over heels for hair (not knotting though!). I love everything about it all the
ways in which you can manipulate it, all the techniques both modern and old
fashion, and of course all the styles over the years. I feel I have a natural
flare and love for it which makes it not feel like work for me, I become really
relaxed as I do it. I have surprisingly
enough despite the never ending logbooks enjoyed period hair and makeup the most
and hope to be able to practice it in the industry!
Fashion
in first year was amazing also, that really helped me with achieving different bases
for different skin types, and also knowledge of the colour spectrum was great
in this lesson, which is a must to learn, and its one of those things that once
you know you can never forget. I really enjoyed the freedom and creativity of
the fashion classes; I would say they really helped me in gaining more self
confidence when it comes to free styling which is something I definitely
needed!
Theatre
and special effects were both incredible, being able to learn and design
character makeup is something I’ll never forget, the lessons were also so much
fun, like who doesn't want to make themselves look 80 years old one day and
look like their dying the next?! These particular lessons were the ones that
helped me so much in gaining vast product knowledge as well as insider tips and
tricks that you would never think of! I thoroughly enjoyed creating burns in
particular, the shock factor of people thinking they’re real is great!
Even
theory lessons I enjoyed which I thought I would hate I found so interesting, I
think Fiona has an exceptional way of teaching that really draws you in and
makes you want to know more. I could tell you all there is to know about the
Victorians and its all down to her!
The
class I struggled with the most was body painting, I don’t have a natural flare
for it so found it really difficult to do, although saying that I thoroughly
enjoyed the group project and working as a team to produce a final design!
The
thing I found hardest was time management when it came to theory work as I work
full time and my days off were at university so there were many sleepless
nights, I think if I could give anyone advice doing the course it would be to
not work full time hours if they don’t have to and to write up the lesson and
its evaluation after each class, it makes it far easier when going to do a log
book, as often when it comes to writing out your step by steps and lesson
evaluations you can’t remember exactly how you were feeling or what you thought
you could’ve have improved on at the time.
As for our final project I thought it went amazingly for everyone
the final show was incredible! For myself personally I found find a reliable
model (emphasis on reliable) very stressful, I had 3 models cancel on me before
the shoot so had to use a classmate! As my brief for a model was very specific
(I had to have a ballet dancer) it was a lot harder! I had to sacrifice doing a
ballet inspired photo shoot as my classmate had to stand in which was a shame
so I decided to make my photo shoot more editorial so made a swan out of the
hair used my handmade hair headdress and applied a striking, clean, makeup. I decided
to focus more on the actual ballet for the show!
So show day arrived very quickly! I managed to get a beautiful
model/dancer who has been practising Ballet among other styles since she was 2!
We went through timings and choreography that was appropriate for the show. Changes
I made from the shoot in terms of the makeup and hair were I didn’t do the swan
in the hair as it wasn’t stable enough to maintain its form with the dancing.
So I did a slicked back up do with a beehivesque feel to it, I then dressed the
bun with black feathers and a grey feather hair accessory at the back, so the
swan theme was still very much part of the look. I kept the face makeup the
same as it was so striking and I thought it brought the theme and music choice
together perfectly! I put my model in a black sheer, high neck leotard and
customised the cuffs of the sleeves with black feathers to tie in with the
hair. The skirt remained the same but had to be trimmed as this model was a lot
shorter than my original model I had planned on using and whom the skirt was
made to fit. The disappointing thing was that I couldn’t use my headdress as it
was made for my original model that was blonde, whereas Claudia is a brunette!
Overall I am extremely happy and proud of myself and all my
achievements over the two year period at West Thames College. All the lessons
and lecturers have more than prepared me to put myself out there and become a
full time working makeup artist, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
