Wig Work With Seema Chopra

Seema Chopra with Madam Peripetie, taken from www.seemachopra.com

Had the amazing good luck of a workshop with the amazing wig artist/dresser, Seema Chopra. She has an amazing skill and I learnt a lot from her. Unfortunately my skills with natural hair will most likely never be able to match her talent.

Just looking at her shoots with Madame Peripetie is inspiring! Such gorgeous design from costume, to make up and more importantly, the wigs and hair pieces.

Seema Chopra with Madam Peripetie, taken from www.seemachopra.com

Seema Chopra with Madam Peripetie, taken from www.seemachopra.com

The previous two images are so amazingly 'Wild Kingdom'esque it is untrue. Such gorgeous work! I especially love the hair piece in the second image. Put together on the day with only a headband, crepe hair and copydex glue, Seema is a true genius! 

The make up in that same image is truly stunning as well. The effect on against her skin is incredible!

Image I found through google for experimentation with Seema Chopra. From www.hji.co.uk

I found this random image on the day of the work shop, and haven't been able to find it since :/. Thank goodness for watermarks on images! I'm sure someone will be able to find it on their website! It is an amazing hair piece... I wasn't quite up to scratch...

My attempt at the image from www.hji.co.uk, with Kat Armstrong

... My attempt on recreating it on Kat didn't go so well, even with Seema's help. I ran out of hair, even with the extensions I put in, and then ran out of time! But I'm so glad I got the oppurtunity.
We all agreed that if I was to do this again, it would be best to create the look as a full hairpiece and just pop it on the model on the day.

SO MUCH FUN THOUGH ^^

Make Up for Runway

Face Chart for Runway Look for Females

The base of this look, for both males and females, would be very plain to keep the red, black and white looking bold on the runway. The eyes and lips will be free of colour, only prepped with the base to keep them muted.

I want the red areas of the face chart to look as though painted on to the skin with natural elements. To do this, I tested layering streaks of aqua colours, adding highlights of lighter shades over it.

Although I think this look would look good on all models, to keep them looking individual, the red could be changed to a variety of earthy tones, and the placement of the streaks can be moved around the face. I.e: for fairer skin, a deep orange could be used instead of the red. Or for a fuller face, the streaks could be moved to the hollows of the cheeks to create added contour.

Hair Designs for Females - Changes depending on natural hair type

To keep the 'tribal' aspect of the hair, I want to keep it looking 'natural', as though it had been untampered with. To do this, the hairstyle for women would change depending on their natural hair type. As seen in these sketches and annotations, I have designed four key looks, which would work for almost all demographics of womens hair. 

The hair stylists behind the scenes, would work to these four designs for all the models, using their natural hair colour.

Notes on the Body Art for Models - Same for both male and female

 For the body, I have modified the body painting I did for the scarification. Using streaks or blocks of black, red or the base colour of choice used for the streaks on their face, the Make Up Artist would create individual patterns on each model.
The placement and shape of the blocks painted on to the body would vary, based on the model's wardrobe for the show, body type and hair style chosen for them.
The streaks would be drawn in a similar way to those on the face, to have the effect of a dry, streaky paint on the skin.
The design overlaid on these will be the same collection of scores on the skin, and stripes between them. The colour is down to the artist, again, the choice of white, black or the red tone used.

Scarification

In session at uni today we looked at the act of scarring oneself and tried to replicate it on our skin using rice, popping corn and latex! The effects were stunning!

I can't find my images of what I created :/ I'm a little worried! I may need to redo them on myself to show you properly how awesome it looked!

After watching this on National Geographic's YouTube channel:

...I was completely hypnotised by the easy slicing of the skin, the way in which the practitioner made perfect scores into it, all of them the perfect length and distance from each other.

It inspired me to try this.

I used a similar pattern to the one that Benin had cut into his skin in the video. I used the red to show the blood, and added the white and black to make it look as though it was truly a cut into the skin. Of course it was more for impression, for artistic licence than for realism.

I like how it came out. Because I used aqua colour and an angled brush, the original red lines were neat and sharp. The white and black I added, however, were deliberately less so, to keep the hand-crafted, finger painted style that one would associated with "tribalism"

Giving it a go... Tattooing

Let rip on my boyfriend with the same design I took from Jean-Luc. Not as neat as I would have hoped, but I think that was down to lack of practice and the consistency of the product.
I used a MAC 210 liner brush and Kryolan black Aquacolour.
I used that hoping that it wouldn't smudge. But because I had to keep adding water and playing with the viscosity, I often ended up with an over loaded brush.
I would need to use a wet water based product next time, so that it dries and doesn't smudge, but also allows me to keep redipping my brush.

Trying to be Mr. Moerman

Soooooo... I gave it a go! Just tried to copy a little section of Jean-Luc Moerman's work into my sketchbook! I definitely don't have his finesse! Then again, his is digitally edited!

Got to now try this on a person :P WAAAAY MORE FUN!!

In the Studio...

As a make up artist, it is my duty to steal all of this loveliness and turn it into art for the body!!

Freehand body painting attempt 1...

I selected a pattern and painted it with a FAT paintbrush and a Snazaroo face paint to to Lauren's chest. Given the largeness of her breasts and the brush, I don't think it came out too badly :P! That blue is STUNNING on camera too!!!