Advancements in the Makeup Industry
STEP: Research Sources
B., K. (2014). The Human Canvas : The World's Best Body Paintings. Cincinnati Ohio: F+W Media.
Dootson, K. S. (2016). 'The Hollywood Powder Puff War': Technicolor Cosmetics in the 1930s. Film History, 28(1), 107-131
Makeup. (2007). In B. K. Grant (Ed.), Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film (Vol. 3, pp. 109-115). New York: Schirmer Reference
Nguyen-Grealis, L., & Kane, H. (2015). Art & Makeup. London: Laurence King Publishing.
STEP: Analysis
Source #1:
The history behind body painting and how many cultures use body painting to commemorate births, deaths, weddings, and the coming of age. The body paintings are used to show emotions and thoughts to show the importance in their lives. Body paintings are a universal idea that stretches all over the world in all cultures. We use ancient ideas to reinterpret new art. Artists such as Karla B. come together at the annual World Bodypainting Festival to compete in competitions to see which artist has the foremost skills around.
“The bodypainting artist is not just an artist; they are a painter, a conceptualist, a choreographer, a director and a photographer.” (Karla 8) “All of these are forms of expression. From the moment we become self-aware, we take action in the presentation of our being. We are human. We are a complex and brilliant concoction of thoughts, actions, dreams, fears and history. We use our presentation and expression as a tool.” (Karla 8) “The festival itself is such a melting pot of artistic talent that many artists count it as one of the forces behind the growth of their careers. Receiving hundreds of hours of broadcast time internationally each year, the World Bodypainting Festival has taken a little-known art form and carried it into the consciousness of everyday people on almost every continent.”(Karla 11)
Source #2:
Over the years in the film industry makeup artists worked hard to keep actors looking perfect on the television screen. But when technicolor television came on the scene the intense lighting would create more work for the artists. With the grease heavy makeup applied and the actors perspiring under the lights makeup artists were constantly on the move. This new technology burdened the makeup artists because their resources began to prove too much for the lighting. Skin tones began to appear unnatural or fake. Technicolor soon resulted in the need to create a new type of makeup.
“The true drawback of the existing greasepaint makeup, then, was that it failed to maintain a natural—that is, white—complexion. The solution to this problem would be a new makeup compatible with Technicolor’s three-strip process that could accurately represent Caucasian skin onscreen.” (Dootson 108) “Arden’s system required at least two colors of foundation to be blended on the skin in order to achieve the desired effect: a primary layer to give “the illusion of velvet smoothness” and another to “model” the planes of the face, helping conceal unattractive features while highlighting more appealing ones.19 Not only was this two-color method a lengthy process that required a high degree of skill.” (Dootson 110) “The scene therefore operates didactically, warning audiences that the chromatic excesses of Technicolor cosmetics result not in the kind of performative racial masquerade that was so in vogue but an undesirable racial othering of the female star. Ironically, this was precisely what proved problematic for Arden when her products were released for sale to the public, an irony enhanced when one realizes that the cosmetics used as props within the scene are indeed Arden’s.” (Dootson 119)
Source #3:
Makeup has been around for over hundreds of years. It has been used to enhance facial features, create characters, and transform a person into something out of this world. There are three types of makeup that are used in the film industry; street makeup, character makeup, and special effects makeup. Early on in film the actors wore thick grease like foundation to make their faces seem as though they were perfect without flaws. Until the mid-teens actors applied their makeup on their own before people learned the techniques needed to become makeup artists. Two important names in the makeup industry were Max Factor and George Westmore, each created new inventions to better the makeup used in film.
“There are three kinds of makeup artists: straight makeup, sometimes called "street," which enhances an actor's features using cosmetics and corrective makeup; character makeup, which transforms an actor through facial prosthesis and other devices; and special effects (FX) makeup, employing mechanical devices such as robotic inserts.”(Grant 1) “Both invented enduring cosmetics and makeup tricks for cinema and each, at times, took credit for the same invention (such as false eyelashes).” (Grant 1) "He always created his own makeup, working with the materials of his day—greasepaint, putty, plasto (mortician's wax), fish skin, gutta percha (natural resin), collodion (liquid elastic), and crepe hair—and conjured characters unrivalled in their horrifying effect, including his gaunt, pig-nosed, black-eyed Phantom for Phantom of the Opera (1925) and his Hunchback in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), for which he constructed agonizingly heavy makeup and body harnesses.
Source #4:
Lan Nguyen-Grealis is the youngest Golden Mask Award winner for makeup art. Lan is self taught and brings us into a world unlike any other with her makeup skills. Lan tells of her life in school and the hardships she faced when people didn't believe in her art. People telling her she needed a real job or marry a rich man. She tells us of her amazing experiences in London and in New York's fashion week as one of the head makeup artists. This book also tells about the different important techniques, materials, and people in the makeup industry.
"It isn’t simply about craft but imagination, concepts and creative ambitions that take you beyond, into an artistry that is unlike any other discipline." (Kane 7) "Makeup is an art form but there are lots of technical aspects that must be deployed in order to achieve a style. You can recreate the same look over and over again, but it’s the face of the model that makes the makeup look new."(Kane 139) "Layering up textures is an important skill when developing a look as it adds extra dimensions. Using wet-to-dry products has been a big development in makeup art and there is a lot of choice when it comes to cream bases, powders and, more recently, velvety finishes in the products." (Kane 154)
STEP: Outline
First paragraph: Introduction
The movie industry has shaped our society into what it is today.
But without the makeup artists and makeup that is provided for the industry the movies wouldn't be close to what it is today. Makeup allows for interpretation of characters, the creation of fiction characters, and the use of imagination in film.
Makeup has given light to the many components needed to create characters in movies and television.
Body Paragraphs
Over the years body painting has shown its importance in cultures around the world. It has become a universal art form. Body painting has spread around the world as a new way to interpret emotions and thoughts through art. This art form is also used in the film industry to construct the characters in the movie. Artist use body paints to create monster with different techniques and colors. With body paint artists can make any actor look like other worldly creatures. Body painting has become a popular art form that artist from around the world come together and compete in competitions. These competitions allow authors to show their skills and techniques they have gained over the years of practice in making bodies into art. “The body painting artist is not just an artist; they are a painter, a conceptualist, a choreographer, a director and a photographer.” (Karla 8) This quote shows the time and work that is put into the art of body painting. They are expected to do all the painting and also represent the work through photos, videos, or performance.
Over the last 200 years the film industry has introduced the business of movie makeup. Directors have made it their personal job to hire people to make sure that the actors look good on screen. But when technicolor television came about,in 1916, the intense lighting proved to be a challenge for makeup artists. The early makeup for television consisted of greasepaint and other heavy cream foundations. These foundation created a problem for actors because when under direct light they began to perspire making the greasepaint to melt off their faces. Makeup artists had to work twice as hard to keep up the constant applying of the foundation so the actors would have the perfect complexion on screen. Thus creating the need for a lighter foundation. This need for foundation formed a competition between two big makeup companies of the time Max Factor and Elizabeth Arden. “Arden’s system required at least two colors of foundation to be blended on the skin in order to achieve the desired effect: a primary layer to give “the illusion of velvet smoothness” and another to “model” the planes of the face, helping conceal unattractive features while highlighting more appealing ones." (Dootson 110) Arden's technique demonstrated the perfect balance between light but efficient.
Makeup has been around for over hundreds of years, primarily in theater. On stage actors need makeup in order to embody their character. Makeup is worn to enhance facial features, create characters, and transform a person into something out of this world. There are three types of makeup that are used in the film industry; street makeup, character makeup, and special effects makeup. Street makeup is the basic corrective makeup that creates flawless skin tones and enhances actors facial features. Character makeup is when the makeup artist alters an actors face with prosthetic pieces in order to produce a completely different person or being. And finally, special effects makeup which is constructed with mechanical inserts and prosthetics to create a look similar to character makeup but more advanced. "The craft began in the nascent film industry with stage techniques but quickly adapted to cinema's peculiar problems, especially those posed by film stock, cinematic lighting, and the close-up." (Grant 1)
The makeup industry has proven to shape the life of others through a bold career choice. One artist in particular,Lan Nguyen-Grealis, has shown the work and hustle it takes to be an artist in this society. Lan is the youngest Golden Mask Award winner. She is a self taught makeup artist which gives her an advantage on having her own style instead of repeating other artists work. Lan began to be interested in art as a young child drawing. When she won a competition at her school she knew that she could do anything she put her heart to. "I would often be told that I should get a real job as a doctor, lawyer, teacher or even a musician – anything but an artist! Or marry a rich man ... in keeping with tradition in the Vietnamese culture at this time. This was probably the catalyst that drove me to succeed." (Nguyen-Grealis 12) Even when people tried to keep her from her passion she perused what she loved and has become one of the well known makeup artists in the movie and television industry.
Conclusion
Makeup has shown a light upon artists needed to makeup our movies great. They are the people who shape our characters that we all know and love. Without makeup artist our perceptions of actors on the screen wouldn't be the same. Actors wouldn't be the flawless people we think they are without makeup. Artist have grown and shifted to respond to all the changes that occur in the industry.
Makeup has more of an impact on everyday life then most of us realize.