Last night at school, we had a makeup artist come in and show us theater makeup. She has been to our school before and has shown us several different types of makeup application and also taught us color theory. She told us that, although there is not a big demand for theater makeup, she enjoys doing it. The foundation is a bit on the cakey side for theater because you really want it to hold and stand out on stage. Some artists recommend using petroleum jelly as a barrier between the skin and the product.
She did a lot of highlighting and contouring to emphasize or diminish parts of the model’s face. We learned that a bright shade of eye shadow, like blue, should be used on the eyelids to really make the eyes pop. Pink blush was piled on her cheeks, which was OK for this particular look, and red lipstick was used on the lips. Although it sounds rather extreme, it looked really great. Up close, it’s a little much, but an audience at a distance would think she looked perfect.
After completing the basic theater makeup look for us, she made her beautiful 18-year-old model look like she was about 60!
This look was achieved by using a darker foundation to add in lines and wrinkles on the model’s face where they would naturally occur over time. She also used an orangey-brown tint to create the look of sun damage on some areas of her face. Her face and lips were powdered to make her look dehydrated and even more aged. It was shocking to see the transformation. She did look really old. Again, from far away, this makeup application really did look believable. It’s amazing how you can transform someone’s face with these techniques.
June 14th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I just had to share how much I love theater makeup! She’s right though there isn’t much demand for it; unless you want to make it a career (i.e. broadway, movies). It runs in my family so I started young but I love the difference you can make with a little shading here, a line there. It’s amazing! Right now, it’s just my community service. I volunteer with a few local highschools and community theater groups a couple times a year.
When you can work with kids and theater it’s especially rewarding because they really do appreciate it and you often get the biggest ‘wow’ factor with them.
=)
Thanks for letting me share.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Alexis - it sounds like you really love what you do! That’s great! I bet the kids get really excited to have that kind of makeup done on them. It’s such a fun and rewarding career. Thank you for the comment. Please share any time! :)
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