Project Evaluation

This unit has been particularly helpful with understand the importance of continuity and things to look out for. It was really tough and I still have a lot to learn and lots of room for practice. I found the Great Expectations task interesting and I really enjoyed the hair sessions and learning more about silhouettes and find that they are actually really important. However, I didn’t find it as enjoyable as the Gothic Horror task. I feel like there was more freedom with the Claudia and Quentin characters rather than creating characters that everyone would have a more similar image of like Miss Havisham.

The Gothic research was really enjoyable and all the technical sessions we had were extremely helpful. I’ve found that its things that I thought I could already do I needed a lot of practice and improvement and now I can put those into action. From here onwards I want to become even more creative and come up with some interesting and original creations. From discussing with others I’ve learnt how self destructive I can be and I need to start believing in myself and have more faith in my ideas as I know I can put them into action well.

Quentin Final Look

Quentin is Claudia's imaginary boyfriend. He's not trustworthy and he suffers by getting abused by her, he has a rough type of look but there's an innocence to him as he is quite frightened by Claudia's actions. 

I wanted to keep the makeup quite simple mainly focusing on shaping out the face by contouring to give more of a chizzled effect to my models face. I used the black down the sides of the nose and going into the brows to give the eyes a harsh look, the blood is simply for dramatic effect. 

I made the hair slightly scruffy as he would sometimes be kept prisoner by Claudia meaning he would have more of a rough and untidy look about him. 

 

Dirtying Down - How to

Dirtying down your model includes getting dirt in the creases of the face, hands and under the nails. There's also a really easy way of making the teeth look unbrushed and dirty.

What you need to create this look:

• Greasepaints (black, brown & red)
• Tooth enamel
• Cotton buds
• Makeup brushes

Blackened Teeth

• Open the mouth and dry the tooth with a cotton bud
• Apply the black onto the tooth and keep the lip raised to allow the colour to dry
• Shade around the edges of the teeth to create a 3-D effect
• Always check the teeth throughout the shoot and have toothpicks to hand

Dirtying Down

• Apply any moisturizer to areas that will appear the most dirty on the skin
• Rub on fake dirt or spray colored hairspray to make the area darken on the skin
• Always remember to use the correct dirt or color for the surroundings that you are shooting the model in.
• Apply water or moisturizer to make the roots of the hair appear greasy as this is the area that becomes greasy first. You can also use brill cream.
• Spray dry shampoo on the hair to make it dull. 
• Always make sure you have dirtied down any areas of clothing that need to be dirtied down.

Claudia Final Look

Claudia she is a loner who isolates herself from the outside world. She gets inspiration for her look from magazines and films and also has an imaginary boyfriend called Quentin. She is very possessive of Quentin and will sometimes keep him prisoner and can be quite abusive towards him.

After playing around with a few ideas and creating some face charts i decided to go with a doll inspired character. I mentioned before that creepy dolls coming to life in movies has always been something that scared me and that's sometimes where you draw inspiration for great creations. 

I went for a typical white porcelain face as that is an obvious trademark for a doll, as for the blush i didn't want to focus on the apples as it made the look a little more clownish along with the style of lip i chose. I previously blogged about a fashion story called Japanese Noveau Glam Goth that included a really harshly applied contour so i attempted this kind of effect which unfortunately softened up A LOT on camera and it wasn't until i looked at the pictures later on that day that i noticed! I applied bottom lashes as well as top lashes to give a wide eye effect which also gives it that creepy look. 

For the hair i stuck with tight girly curls that i was planning on brushing out to give more of a wave but after seeing the finished results i decided to stick with it. I also made an over sized bow using black lace to accessorize the hair which you can see more clearly in the image below. 

Hair idea for Claudia

I know i want to do a hairstyle that has quite a lot of texture and volume as i think dead straight hair is a bit plain and obvious for a Gothic look. When browsing for inspiration i came across this image of Doe Deere and absolutely fell in love with the hair. It's very cute and girly but put with the right make-up look i think i can turn it around. By curling the hair in tight curls and softly brushing it out you can achieve more of a wave effect like in this image.

Dolls

Following up from my previous post i did a little more research on doll makeup and movies that feature scary dolls. There are a TON of doll creations around so it's important to put an individual twist on it and make it your own. I've seen a lot with this cracked, broken skin effect which looks great and is also fitting to the character of Claudia, a broken girl with a lot of problems.

It's something i can get quite creative with and also make it look quite fashion-y as well as creepy!

'May'

May is an American horror that was produced in 2002. It's about a lonely girl who had a rough childhood and is now isolated with her only friend being a doll called Suzie that her mother gave her. May starts to become a little more social and meets a boy, she beings to obsess over him and eventually freaks him out and he leaves. 

"If you can't find a friend, make one."

She starts to talk to the doll as if she were real and drives herself a bit crazy, that's when she starts killing people and cutting off their limbs to eventually create a new person who she names Amy. 

I felt there were a lot of similarities between May and Claudia and the film as a whole inspired me on this project. The characters are both strange and isolated to the outside world which makes it hard for them to make friends and talk to people. They have controlling personalities and both end up creating a person but in a different way. 

Quentin is just imaginary and is whoever Claudia wants him to be, May created Amy in a far more brutal way but i still connect the two. The doll Suzie is also key to this story, May is so alone that she begins to think the doll is real and that it is forcing her to make wrong decisions which got me thinking about other horror movies that feature doll characters like The Bride of Chucky and Dolls.

All things lace

 I've been pinning away on my inspiration board for Claudia and have come across some really incredible creations. A lot of images i am drawn to have been involving lace which is always something I've associated with the word Gothic.

I originally wanted to incorporate a lace lip (see image below) that i had seen on Instagram a while back but since researching i have found more interesting ways of using lace to make an effective look.

This image to the right really stood out to me, i like how the lace covers more of her face and it looks more mysterious which i think is fitting as Claudia is a mysterious character, she doesn't really know who she is and is definitely a person that would step outside the box with her look.

I have also thought about using lace as a stencil so instead of sticking on the lace to the face i could airbrush or paint over it so the pattern transfers onto the skin. The image below inspired that idea and also shows how it doesn't need to be black to show Gothic elements.

Stitched mouth - Quentin

I came up with the idea of my character having a stitched up mouth as one of her punishments. I researched for inspiration images and came across some ideas to help me put this idea together it's really simple to do and all you need is some black thread, spirit gum and grease paints.

Japanese Nouveau Glam Goth

So here i am again with a brand new project, this time i will be creating 2 characters based around Gothic horror. I am going to be pulling inspiration from fashion magazines, horror movies and music videos and the first thing i came across was this awesome fashion story. 

It's titled Japanese Nouveau Glam Goth and is a black and white fashion feature styled by Dan Sin. The hairstyles caught my eye as they are similar to creations Seema showed us during our last session, particularly the sharp, shiny bob with the fringe. 

Being a Gothic based project i wanted to throw in a pale base as it's a strong representation of a Gothic image, i also wanted a strong contour to make my model appear gaunt. However, i tried this in class and all it did was SCREAM Miss Havisham so when i saw this image it gave me ideas on how to contour in a more contemporary way. 

I love the over the top contour and the make-up as a whole has given me a lot of inspiration to design a different and creative look. 

 

 

Cuts using moulds - How to

Today we created wounds using moulds made from gelatine, it was very quick and extremely easy to do! 

All you need is...

- Prosaide
- Cotton buds
- Greasepaints
- Blood
- Pro-clean

Sue had already made the moulds in preparation for us so all we needed to do was take them out carefully using a T-pin. Now that the prosthetic piece is out of the mould you can apply it!

• Clean the area you will be applying the prosthetic to, remember NO GREASE! This means no applying moisturizer on this occasion as it will make the piece difficult to stick to and maybe slip off! 
• Apply prosaide to the flat side of the prosthetic using a cotton bud, make sure you get product all around the edges to ensure it sticks to the skin!
• Place onto the area and roll the edges down using a cotton bud to flatten it down, it will sick down pretty easily and quickly
• Damp a cotton bud and press around the edges to blend them into then skin
• Now you can powder to take away shine if necessary and paint your piece! 
• Add blood to make it more gory!

Estella Final Look

This week we created our final character designs for Estella to finish off our Great Expectations unit. Time has absolutely flown by this year and it was a challenge having to design and create our Estella character so close after our final Miss Havisham look.

 The photos were shot in black and white as well as color images for our reference.

I really should have made certain parts on my make-up heavier in order to show up in black and white, though i wanted a traditional Victorian look i would have liked the blush to be more obvious on the cheeks. 

Becky has a natural contour to her cheeks and lovely long, curly lashes which definitely helped me out. I had been debating weather or not to use a light layer of mascara to make the lashes more defined but decided against it as i thought it might look too theatrical though i now wish i had as it looks a bit unfinished!

I also blended a small amount of brown eyeshadow into the crease to add some natural definition to the eye.

Now for the hair, i love the profile but from the front it's absolutely awful! I can only blame myself for not practising beforehand, she has extremely thin hair and i thought i could get the shape i wanted without any padding, how wrong was i!

I also had a nightmare with the front, i wanted to create the soft finger waves that i wrote about in my previous post and even though i was aware Becky had a fringe i didn't think about how her thin hair would affect the style.

After drying it i found there just wasn't enough thickness to create the texture i wanted so i brushed it out and curled the end pieces to tie in with the soft curls at the back.

I am chuffed with how the back looks, if i could just submit this to be marked i would! The only thing i would change is the placement of the clips under the pin curls. 

I like the softness of the curls and how the top section of the hair flows nicely into the curls at the ends.

A few small adjustments would have make my overall look much better but it's taught me a lot about planning and practicing designs, particularly with black and white photography!

Estella Face Chart

After researching Victorian make-up i came to find that they wore very little so i decided to keep my design very simple.

I like the idea of a pale face still but not as dramatic as Miss Havisham, a natural English Rose type base with slightly flushed pink cheeks with a soft pink lip to match.

For eyes i decided to give the socket a little definition just to give some depth to them by blending a very small amount of brown in the crease. I will also be curling the lashes to accentuate them but wont be applying mascara as this will take away from the natural look i want to achieve. 

Though the make-up is very simple i think along with my hairstyle i will achieve a very traditional look that will be true to the Victorian Era. 

Miss Havisham - Final Look No.2

Today i created my Miss Havisham character for the second time as part of our continuity task. Here's how it turned out... 

Got to say the hair was quite difficult to get similar. My design was a non-structured bun which made it hard to recreate this time around, looking back i should have gone for a structured bun which i would then mess up. I think the front of the hair turned out well but could have been bigger. 

As for the makeup i think i got it as spot on as i could have! The lips were the most difficult part as you can really control how the glue will crack but other than that i am pleased with how it came out.

This task has really taught me how important it is to plan your designs and know exactly how each part is created in order to get it exactly the same next time.

Estella Hair Trial

I wrote in a previous blog that i decided i wanted to use finger waves for my Estella character but brush the hair out to soften the wave as my character is at the point in the story when she sees pip again after the death of her husband so she is not so cold. 

I like how the waves turned out, though i love the defined look of the wet finger wave these soft, brushed out ones are more suited to my character and give off more of a gentle vibe. 

I added pin curls to make the back look a little more interesting and i think they look quite romantic and girly which is the idea i wanted to go for. 
 

Creating finger waves

Creating finger waves is something I've struggled with since i started learning to do hair so when i arrived to my practical lesson that morning and saw the images on the board of what we were going to be doing i wanted to leave immediately!



I decided to just get my head down, listen and practice over and over until i got it. Seema taught me so really useful techniques and gave me tips on how i could improve and to my surprise i FINALLY got it!

It really is all in the direction you comb the hair as this is what gets that really defined wave. I am so pleased that i was able to create this as i think if you can get it right it looks beautiful, i have decided that i am going to incorporate these waves in my final character look for Estella but would like to try brushing the waves to give a softer look.

Miss Havisham - Final look No.1

Today was the day i created my Miss Havisham character, as this assessment is based on continuity i will be recreating it again next week... EXACTLY the same, eek! 

So, here is how it turned out...

 I won't deny the fact i am not entirely impressed with myself! The lines are a little too orange on the face though i do like the base itself, it's pale yet not too theatrical. I think i could have gone in a bit more with the Duo glue on the lips to create more dryness too. 

As for the hair, what a let down! As i said in a previous post, Terri-Anne has lots of layers in her hair which made my hair design very difficult to recreate. No excuses, i just should have practiced more!

Though it didn't turn out how i wanted it to i am glad i kept my design simple in order to be able to recreate it as best as possible next week.

Makeup in the Victorian era

Makeup was very subtle in this era, they would purchase different paints, powders and pastes from local pharmacists or doctors. Wealthier ladies would often order from specialists abroad whereas the poor would sometimes use home-made versions. Men would also use pastes as moisturizers or to hide scars and blemishes.

Though not as extreme as the Elizabethans the white face was still the trend, lemon juice or vinegar was applied on the face or consumed to achieve this look. They concentrated more on getting perfect skin as using face paint would be associated with prostitutes and actresses.

The ever so popular yellow hair of the Elizabethan era went out the window and in came the brunettes. This hair color was often complimented by using rouges made from lip dyes.

Estella

I have to admit i am a little more excited to create my Estella character than i was for Miss Havisham as i have way more ideas running around my head, particularly for hair! 

I definitely prefer the 2013 movie version of Estella to the BBC series, i think her hairstyles were a lot more girly and elaborate which is how i envision her to be.

Estella was raised by Miss Havisham for one thing, to break hearts! She even tells pip at one point during the story that she has "no heart". After a painful and abusive marriage Estella is finally free from Drummle, she learns a lot from this marriage and finally comes to terms with her true feelings. 

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching. . . . I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.”

I have decided to create my character based on this part of the story, where she is grown up and has finally become a woman who is no longer controlled by anyone. I will be keeping the makeup fairly simple, not only is Estella a true beauty but in that time era makeup would have been extremely subtle. 

Burns - How To

To create a realistic burn makeup you will need the following products:

 
• Latex
• Tissues
• Spirit Gum
• Greasepaints/bruise wheel
• Gelatine
• Hairdryer
• Makeup brushes

 

Before you begin you will need to check that your model is not allergic to any of the products, once this test has been done you can clean the area you will be working on.

 

• Start by roughly ripping up pieces of tissue paper and using spirit gum glue them to the desired area, it doesnt have to be need or completley flat as it will give more of a realistic effect once painted
• Dry it with a hairdryer to speed up the process if neccesary and add more tissue where needed
• Now you can heat up your gelatine, do this by putting it into a bowl with cold water and putting it in the microwave for 60 seconds, check the temperature on your wrist before putting onto your model
• One the gelatine is in place and dry you can paint over it to give it some dimension and colour
• To finish off you can use puss to make it even more realistic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice - Miss Havisham

After testing out my hair design for my Miss Havisham character I tried it on my model before the final assessment. I'll be honest it turned out totally different to how it was on my dolls head and I wasn't too pleased with the results. Terri-anne has lots of layers and a short fringe which made it difficult to blend into the rest of the hair but on reflection I think that it gives the style a lot more texture and it's not as structured as when I used the dolls head. 

I wanted to keep the makeup quite simple so went with a pale base and added bags under the eyes, I love how this turned out and think she looks really withdrawn and sleep deprived.   

I wanted to create a dryness to the lips so I did this using duo glue all over the lips using my finger to dab it on then asked my model to put her lips together when tacky to pull it apart. 

The final thing I did was to brush the eyebrows upwards using a small amount of the foundation left on my hand with a mascara wand, I think it looks naturally grey rather than if I had used a grey hair spray.

For my assessment I'd like to make the wrinkles in the face more obvious as they haven't come out on camera clear enough, other than that I'm happy with my design. 

Miss Havisham Face Charts

I came up with two different ideas for my Miss Havisham character. I wanted to have very different options so with one i tried a younger woman and the other an older woman. As much as i like the first face chart i think i want to do an older character to stray away from it looking too pretty.

Young Miss Havisham

Old Miss Havisham

Cuts & scratches - How to

Creating small cuts and scratches is easier than you may think and you need minimal products to do it.

 

The products you will need:

 

• Collodium
• Tuplast
• Fixer Spray
• Derma Shield
• Grease paints/bruise wheel

In our practical session we created cuts on the lip, start by applying derma shield to the area desired to protect the skin from the collodium as it is very alcoholic.

Apply the collodum to the area where you want the cut to be, work fast as it drys quick! Squeeze the lip together to create a deep cut appearance like in the image below.

 

 

Blow it with a cool hair dryer to dry it and then its ready for makeup! I used a mixture of colour from the Kryolan bruise wheel to get the results for my cut.

 





Next we did scratches, this was very simple to do! Apply lines of tuplast where you want the marks to be, you can use a small amount of powder on a cotton pad to take the shine away and flatten it out.

 

 

 You only need to use a small amount of color on top of this and dab at it with your finger to blend and make it look less harsh, if you want it to look fresh just add blood!

 

Estella hair inspiration

Unlike Miss Havisham, i imagine Estella to be very glamorous and well groomed. I see long hair with curls, a lot of height and embellished accessories. I searched through pinterest and found a few really beautiful hairstyles that i think would be perfect for her character.

Hair trial

 I have been researching victorian hairstyles for my Miss Havisham character and came across the Pompadour which was a popular hairstyle for a Gibson Girl. I thought it would be a simple style to do and quite easy to adjust to make it a messy and decayed look. The image below is where i found inspiration from.

 

 

 

My first attempt wasnt so succesful as it didnt flow so the next time i made a clean parting from one ear to the other and made and another from underneath the ears and used the middle section to make a high ponytail on the head.

 

I then backcombed the remaining hair and bit by bit added it to the middle and secured with grips, sure enough what i ended up with was a bundle of messy hair on top of the head but it was easy to play around with it to create this messy bun shape. Im happy with the style and think with a few accessories it could look really interesting.