The Prosthetics Event

Image from: http://www.theprostheticsevent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/PROSTHETICS-EVENT-LOGO.png

It was a very long drive to The Prosthetics Event in Birmingham (especially as the SatNav took us the wrong way!) We eventually made it there and it was very interesting to sit in the lectures and watch the way Niell Gorton works and learn about the things he does and uses. I found it helpful and took a few notes of what to use and how to do it. I took far too many pictures to post on here, so here are the best ones.

Creating a 'Guardians of The Galaxy' inspired character

 Actor Spencer Wilding was also there, best known for his part in The Wolfman.

Image from: http://www.bgfx.co.uk/_images/portfolio_images/The%20Wolfman/photo2-The-Wolfman.jpg 

The Reel Eye Company

Jemma Puri who works for The Reel Eye Company was there demonstrating SFX Contact Lenses and you can see in comparison to her hand how big they are!

Fangs FX

 Chris Lyons who works for Fangs FX demonstrated his SFX Dentures and how to put them in the correct way. 

You can make a character look great with makeup, but it the finishing touches like the eyes and teeth that brings it all together. I didn't realise this until I watched this demo and it was so interesting watching this character come to life step by step. 

MAKUP - The Academy for Film & Media Makeup

We managed to spot people creating Elizabethan makeup which was interesting to see how other people interpret this look. They stuck to the more original 16th century look whereas we are creating contemporary versions but I couldn't not post it on here as it is so relevant!

Surgery Portfolio

Not only did I get the chance to go to this event, I also got the amazing experience of a one-to-one interview with Rob Mayor! 

I showed him some pieces of my work and he gave feedback and told me areas in which I could improve, he gave me advice and tips on how to create good pieces of work. It was really interesting to learn about his background and the techniques he uses, I found it very helpful and I will take on board all the information he gave me and I will continue to develop my work making the best I can. 

(Had to get my photo taken with him!)

Adapting Face Chart Designs

This image was my original design, I really like it but I feel that it is lacking something. I have played around with this design and experimented with it in different ways to see which works best. Below are my adapted designs. 

In these two images above, I have played around with the intensity of the colour, I don't really like how dark it looks on the cheeks as you can see the lines either side and I quite like it more softer and a blended in. I wanted to make a heart shape in the face to see how it would turn out. I would leave the face pale and then add colour around it to make it into a heart. I don't like how it has turned out, I think it looks too much and you don't really know what to focus on! The image on the right, I have changed the colour of the lips, incorporating the purple under the eyes but I don't like it as I feel it looks too heavy and takes all the attention away from the eyes. I have also decided to add a splash of colour at the top of the head but again, I feel it looks too much. 

As the designs I have adapted look too much, I decided to keep this one really simple to see how it would look. I would block out the eyebrows and not apply the orange to it, just keep the cheeks and purple under the eyes. I have used red and orange for the lips but i feel it looks quite dark, so I would make them a bit lighter. I do actually like this design as I go by the saying "less is more", I feel it could work quite well. 

Practising on myself

 I blended Skin Base Illamasqua with my own foundation (for quickness!) I would mix my skin colour perfectly first then gradually add in the white. 

 I want it to be an off white colour, so it doesn't look too pale. 

I then applied this to my face and buffed it up and powdered so it stays. 

Design 1

 I applied the eyeshadow around the eyes and the cheekbones. I got a small brush and applied purple under the eyes and used Kryolan Supracolor on my eyelashes as I haven't got a white mascara. 

 I used vaseline before to prep my lips and then applied eyeshadow to them to match the colours on my eyes exactly. I chose red and orange and then softened it down with white. I also took my foundation and patted around the corners of my mouth so that it wasn't a perfect defined lip. 

Design 2:

 I applied the orange I used on my cheekbones to my eyebrows and it was difficult as when I was applying it it was taking the white base off the eyebrows, making the hairs visible.

 I thought about how I could try and prevent this from happening and I decided to dab the eyeshadow on my eye and then apply more foundation on it and dabbed it on again. I feel this worked quite well as it wasn't as visible as the other. 

These are my overall designs, I like both of them for their simplicity but I feel it needs some more work. I am happy with the vibrance of the colours as I want it to look quite natural on the face and I am pleased with the choice of colours as these are what I feel represents royalty to me. I like design 1 because I like how natural it looks, but I feel like when you look at it front-on, it looks so plain. I like idea of design 2 because the eyebrows are covered, but because my eyebrows are so dark, its making it harder to cover and I don't like the way you can see through. If I can get the eyebrows perfectly blocked out then that will be the design that I choose. I will get my model to practice doing my design and see how it turns out, it may need some more tweaking and adapting but I think the only way I will find out if it will work is if my model practices. 

Practising and Adapting my Design

This is my favourite design at the moment, and it will be the one I work on and develop to make it look better. I have practised on myself as this will be the design that my model will create on me. 

I started off with blocking out my eyebrows and then I mixed in skin base white with my foundation to create a slightly pale skin colour. I then copied my face chart but I felt something was missing.

I then started to bring the orange down to the corner of my eye and I flicked out the purple underneath my eye to make it look more dramatic. 

I like how soft the colours look but I want to experiment with the colours being more vivid. 

I like the orange lips as it brings out the eyes, but I think they need to be a little bit softer as they are quite bright in comparison to the eyeshadow. 

I didn't have any white mascara to hand, so I used white Supracolor to give the impression of white eyelashes which I think works really well. I like the pale complexion and how my cheeks look as it I feel it gives it a nice warm feel. I think I need to either add more layers of soap to cover it, or add a thicker layer of the white skin base and then put my eyeshadow on as you can see the hairs coming through the colour. Overall I do quite like this look but I will continue with my face charts and adapting it to see if I can make it to the best of my ability. 

I then wanted to try out my other design that I liked, just to compare the two and see if it turned out better.

I added on the red base of eyeshadow and used Supracolor to add the flicks on the eyes and the Black underneath. 

I then used my red shadow and contoured the cheekbones and around the eyes. 

I then painted the lips red to match the eyeshadow and then I mixed the red and black together and painted on a heart shape. Although it is contemporary, I think it looks too heavy for an Elizabethan look and I do prefer my first design. This has helped me make my mind up for exactly what I want to do. I will continue to adapt and change my design to see what works best. 

Practising One of My Makeup Designs

Unfortunately, I was unable to work with my assessment partner, so I paired with someone else to practice my makeup design on her. 

Firstly, I blocked out the eyebrows using soap and white skin base Illamasqua. Although she has blonde hair, her eyebrows are a lot darker and quite thick so this made it harder to cover completely. 

I then applied the orange to the eyebrows, blending into red and orange on the cheeks. I then added the purple underneath the eyes to compliment the orange. 

I do like this design but it definitely needs some work. I need to work on blocking out the eyebrows and maybe even the intensity of the colours because it is lacking something. I will practice this design on my face and see if I can improve the look of it and maybe adapt it to make it better. 

Inspiration for Designs

Below are some historical and contemporary images that I have collected from films I have watched and artists and designers that I found found etc.

Elizabeth The Golden Age - 2007

Whilst watching this film, I looked hard at the colours, costumes, hair, makeup and accessories. I wrote down notes of what I found interesting and what I could potentially used in my designs. I found   colours such as red, yellow, gold, black and purple - which to me are the colours that come to mind when I think of royalty.

I am heavily inspired by the outfits they wore - the beautifully coloured big dresses and gowns and I want to incorporate these in my designs as I think the costumes are an important element in the Elizabethan era because they show wealth and royalty.

Image from: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/11/arts/12gold600.jpg

I just love this colour purple, it is so bold and makes such a statement. I definitely want to include this colour in my design somewhere.

Image from: http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31700000/Elizabeth-The-Golden-Age-elizabeth-the-golden-age-31785853-500-250.jpg

Gold is a symbolic colour when people think about royalty, I have to include it in my designs because of this.

Image from: http://englishessaykce.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/elizabeth4.png

I like this colour because it is a mixture of red and orange and I want to include it in my design, not only because red is a royal colour but also because I think orange symbolises the colour of Queen Elizabeth's hair.

Not only was I majorly influenced by the costumes, I also took into consideration the makeup, hair and accessories. In the film, Queen Elizabeth has blocked out eyebrows which is something that I want to include in my design, she also has rouged cheeks and lips.


Alex Box Cracks

Image from: http://patternity.org/search/rankin

I like the blocked out eyebrows in the design, I also like the strong contour, although it is in black and white, I can almost visualise the colours that I would use.

Caroline Saulnier

Image from: http://annramirezagency.com/galCSaulnierEdito.html

Image from: http://annramirezagency.com/galCSaulnierRankin.html

I like the softness of the face and the colours used in the top image, and also the blocked out eyebrows. I like the purple in the bottom image and I like the shiny lips, it looks like a heart on them where the light hits it.

Theatre of the Nameless / Illamasqua

Images taken from the book

I like how strong the colours are in these images, they are very bright and vivid and I like how defined the features are because of this. I do also quite like the black lines on the face as it makes it stand out. 

Ayami Nishimura

Image from: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/5f/84/5d/5f845dc185671d7f9fbc364f97c1aaf2.jpg

Image from: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/8e/7c/8f/8e7c8f1121984ddd317cb734ae4604e6.jpg

I like the idea of these images, I like the pale face and the placement of the makeup. I want to cover up the eyebrows with the colour and the bring it round the face like the bottom image. I wouldn't use the colour green in my design as I feel this doesn't resemble royalty and the Elizabethan era to me.


I want my designs to have the pale face but I don't want it to be really white, I want to contrast this with a splash of colour all over the face. The colours I have picked out will be the colours that I am most likely to incorporate in my design.


Makeup designs

The colour red pops into mind when I think of the Elizabethans, I think its because red represents royalty. I didn't want it to be too harsh on the pale face so I softened it down by using more pink tones. I would block out the eyebrows and then use the pink on the eyes and flick it out to shape the eye. I wanted to try something different so I contoured the cheeks and again, I wanted the lips to appear smaller so I painted on a heart shape for the middle and then I softened the rest of the lips out with a lighter pink. 

I wanted to keep this one more Elizabethan than contemporary. I would use white skin base and then mix it in with foundation to make it ever so slightly pale and apply white eyeshadow to the eyes and a white mascara. I would need to block out the eyebrows and use orange eyeshadow on the eyebrows and around the eyes and use purple underneath as these colours compliment each other. I would then bring the eyeshadow down to the apple of the cheeks and ombre the lips using orange and yellow colours. I have used all of the colours that I have referenced from the film above as these symbolise royalty.