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Overall, this design on competition day, both the application process and the final result, turned out very effectively for me. Throughout, I showed my ability to work to an order / method to try and make all of the elements of the makeup look maintained by the end of the day, starting with sections such as the hairstyle (an easy element to touch up at the end) and the back (a section that wouldn’t be looked at as much as the front). Additionally, my ability to be organised by setting up my bay nicely prior to the application, allowed me to access resources when they were needed easily - ‘make sure all makeup is organised and that your kit is appropriate to the job you are carrying out.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.) This led me to have a quicker and smoother application. Furthermore, I showed my flexibility and problem solving skills when it came to both needing to fix the lower back body paint after it got smudged and needing to apply a second layer of paint on the chest to make it as pigmented as I wanted it to. I was able to fix and work with these issues without feeling overwhelmed or worried about going over time - ‘Make-up artists need to be versatile and flexible.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 2.)

Moreover, one of the main attributes that provided me with the focus and determination, to not just finish the whole look but make it detailed too, was my resilience: ‘Some attributes that are key to long-term success: Grit - perseverance in finishing what you start.’ (Delamar, 2016, pg 7.) Applying my makeup design for almost 8 hours shows my dedication to my role and my persistence to put effort into the whole application. Following this, my ability to stick to the timings that I had prepared beforehand worked successfully, apart from some elements where I was working quicker from being in the pressure of the environment. This led me to be able to finish the application earlier than expected, giving me more time to check over everything.

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Moving onto the main part of the makeup, the next section I completed was the face. I started with the white blend in the centre and created the thin teal line down the middle of the face. The reason I started with this was because I forgot about the prosthetics before checking my face chart. Due to the fact that I haven’t practised prosthetics on the face with this makeup, I wasn’t familiar with the method, leading me to start with a section of the painting first. However, as the painting was in the centre of the face, the majority of the skin was still clean so I was then able to apply my prosthetics after this. Following this, I was able to colour the prosthetics and the rest of the face to finish the makeup. As a result, the painting down the centre turned out so successfully: it was so precise and accurate, perfectly corresponding with my intentions. For the prosthetics, only a very small section on the right piece had lifted slightly after applying and blending them. Apart from this, the prosthetics and their colouring turned out as planned with an effective blend and an even toned colour on top of them. I was very happy with how the whole face makeup looked: I thought that the prosthetics matched the look so well and the colouring was the best that I’d ever completed for the face.

Finally, I placed the bug eyes bra piece to her face, pinning the material on each side into the hair securely. This element acted as the main piece that really made the look emphasise my character. I loved how this looked with the rest of the design and I was able to pin it in securely enough to last through photos and the judging.

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After finishing the chest area, I moved onto the hands. I applied this part of the body paint towards the end of my application as I knew that my model would be using her hands to do things such as eating and drinking during the majority of the day. Successfully reapplying the extended fingers that I made prior, I started to paint on the effects. I began with the white blended out centre and the individual 3D finger effects on the palms before painting the other finger pattern on the back of the hands. This application ran smoothly and they looked quite symmetrical on both hands as I was checking them regularly throughout. Furthermore, despite making the extended fingers the night before, they still flowed with the body paint nicely, matching my aim.

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Moving on from the arms, this was when I started on the chest area. I began with the white blending first, similarly to the arms so that I could successfully establish the blend before painting the rest of the area. This turned out to be more tricky compared to when I was completing the blend on the arms: on the chest I was struggling to make the centre an even white colour, leading me to apply a second layer of white and do the blending technique twice. Despite this struggle, I was able to create the effect that I wanted: an effective blend with a bright and even white centre. After this, I coloured the rest of the area with the teal paint, connecting it with the painting on the shoulders and the back of the neck. As a result, the chest painting turned out in a way that met my vision as I was able to act on an accuracy issue beneficially and practically.

I finished off the body paint by moving onto the stomach area. As done with the arms and chest, I started with the blending and then progressed to colour in the rest of the area with the teal paint. This application turned out very smoothly and quickly and matched with the placements of the chest, as intended.

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After this section, I moved onto creating the body paint on the arms. I began by painting on the white stripe down the centre first of both arms and creating the blend into the teal paint. This blend turned out effectively and made the transition between the two colours look smooth and seamless, corresponding with my intentions. After creating the blend I moved onto painting the pattern on the back of the arms. Throughout this application, I checked both arms regularly to try and get the shapes on each side to be as symmetrical to each other as possible. Furthermore, when creating the 3D effect, I ensured to make the shadows and highlights be on the opposite side on each arm to make it look as if the lighting was shining down on the arms from the same direction. Something that I did forget was to add the extra details of the small black dots across the arms: I only noticed this after my model had finished being judged. Despite this, this didn’t massively take away from the design as I would have noticed them in the overall check at the end if they were; the body paint of the arms looked complete in my check therefore I felt that they were finished. Overall, the body paint on the arms still turned out successful even though I did forget about the extra black dot details. Additionally, the design pattern matched the back effectively as planned in my body charts.

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While the hair was forwards, this was when I completed the back section of body paint: this was both a good and bad decision looking back. Because the hair was out of the way, this allowed me to paint the back and upper neck with easy access. However, due to the fact that this was the first section of body paint I completed in the design, this became slightly smudged as noticed when I was checking over the look at the end. This was because my model was sitting back in her chair throughout the rest of the day while I completed other sections. Despite this, I was able to fix it during the extra time that I had left over to make it look like how it did at the start of the day. As a result, the back section of body paint matched my intentions: the design was central and even on both sides and the 3D effects went successfully. Furthermore, once all of the smudging was fixed, this lower back section of the back matched the top section, making the whole back flow and seem as if there were no mistakes originally.

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- Delmar, P. (2016) The Complete Make-up Artist: Working in Film, Fashion, Television and Theatre, 3rd Edition. 3rd edn. Hampshire: Virginia Thorp.

- Stokes, K., Gaines, T., Purchase, N. (2021) Theatrical, Special Effects and Media Make-Up Artistry. London: Hodder Education.

- Kehoe, V. (1995) The Technique Of The Professional Make-up Artist. Woburn: Butterworth-Heinemann.

- Davis, G., Hall, M. (2017) The Makeup Artist Handbook: Techniques for Film, Television, Photography, and Theatre. 3rd edn. New York: Routledge.

- Langer, A. (2016) Make-Up Manual. 8th edn. Berlin: Kryolan GMBH.

- Braisdell, B., Lenard, J. (2011) The Hair and Make-Up Artist’s Handbook: A complete guide for professional qualifications. London: Hodder Education.

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Throughout my journey in this project, I have recognised many things that come together to create a successful design and competition day. These things include:

The importance of doing research to develop ideas and understand techniques in depth.

Being prepared through creating face, body and hair charts throughout. Despite these often changing regularly after doing practices and more research, it helps to keep track of developments. Additionally, having these with you for applications can help to keep you on track and prevent you from forgetting steps in your makeup look.

The importance of team work and working collaboratively. This helps ideas to develop through feedback and improvements to form. Furthermore, it lets collaborative ideas be made through communication - for example, the collaborative idea to cater for our team and our models was such a beneficial idea for us on competition day. I have learned that catering for a competition can provide reassurance to yourself, as an artist, and to your model that your well being will be cared for during long hours.

The importance of time management and timing practice applications to prepare for the real thing. Doing this can also lead to you being able to detect timing issues beforehand.

As a result of this project and competition, I feel more confident to be able to attend makeup competitions outside of college: I have learned how I would prepare myself to be able to execute a detailed design to be judged. Furthermore, referring to the project as a whole, I have enjoyed this journey of collaborative and individual preparation that resulted in an exciting competition day.

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The overall image of my makeup and costume design

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Evaluating the structure of this project, we had 10 weeks given to us to complete, excluding three weeks of half-term, to: communicate collaboratively to choose a theme, research into character ideas and develop these ideas through wider reading into makeup artists in the industry and techniques, create a whole character design through charts and a mood board, evaluate practical work of these techniques and eventually mold together a solid character concept that you were confident to execute within a given time frame. Furthermore, during all of this, we needed to ensure that we were working collaboratively with the rest of our team as well as making sure our character concepts suited the democratically voted theme appropriately. Helping to keep us on track, time lines were created as a guide for us to follow. As a result, I was able to successfully research into and develop over time, a thought out and practised character design which was suited to my model, the theme and what I believed could be possible to complete within the competition time frame. Adding to this, I believe that my character choice was very effective in terms of finding a concept that fit in with the ‘In A Land Far Far Away’ theme. Despite having other initial ideas, I chose this one as I was inspired and felt that I could create something totally unique using my preferred makeup subjects of avant-garde and special effects, which I did. I reached this final character design through multiple sets of face, body and hair charts before establishing a detailed final A2 mood board of all of my final design ideas. Furthermore, during this time, I was able to communicate successfully with the rest of my team to give and receive feedback about makeup looks and with a smaller team to prepare a programme for the competition day. I was able to complete all of this under the guidance and support of my timeline that I used throughout the project to keep myself on track and organise time effectively.

As a result of this preparation, knowledge and practical skills I learned over these 10 weeks, I achieved 2nd place at the competition, being just 1 point away from 1st place.

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Before beginning any of my makeup and hair design on my model in the morning, I asked her to put on her costume first to prevent this from causing any issues later.

I first began with the hairstyle as the hair would be able to stay in its style for a long period of time. Additionally, it would be easy to make some final touch-ups at the end of the application if the back combing slightly fell and lost some height over time. Starting with the hairstyle, I began by sectioning the hair and doing the braids first. Because I was now only doing two braids on each side of the head, this allowed me to take a few extra minutes to create more accuracy and precision. As a result, I thought that the braids turned out neat and were placed in an even placement on each side, matching my intentions. After this was when I moved onto backcombing the hair in sections. After each section, I flipped them other towards my models face so that the hairspray could set, leading to more volume once flipped back. After I completed the body paint on the back, this was when I put all of the hair back and smoothed hair over the top. At the very end of my whole application, I went back to the hairstyle as the backcombing had lost some height. This was when I went back through each section to do some further backcombing as well as ensuring that the smoothed hair over the top covered the underneath backcombing and was set into place afterwards. This backcombing section matched my vision as it turned out successfully: it created volume down the middle section of the head and created the punk-rock style effect that I was aiming to achieve.

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My Preperation and it's Effects on the Application

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My Preperation and it's Effects on the Application

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When it came to the application of my makeup design, the majority of the process was successful and went as planned. I believe that this was due to the fact that I practised the different elements of my makeup regularly, helping me to recognise problems and evaluate how I could improve so that I could prevent issues from occurring on the day. Reflecting on all of the body paint practices, these led me to be able to determine the techniques that worked best for me for the painting of both the body, hands and the face. Additionally, practising these more than once, helped me to become more and more familiar with what I was wanting to achieve and how I could do it. Researching into how to create 3D effects with body paint and into the different tools that can be used to create an even base, improved my knowledge on the subject leading me to use more accuracy and technicality in my application.

Moving onto the first practice of applying and blending silicone prosthetics, this helped me to understand the areas of the technique that I struggled with the most, giving me the opportunity to improve on them in a later practice. Furthermore, keeping these improvements in mind, I knew what to focus on when applying the prosthetics on the competition day to prevent myself from making similar mistakes. Additionally, completing individual research into how to apply and blend these prosthetics as well as attending a technique demonstration by my tutor in college massively provided me with the support and guidance I needed to understand the technique. I believe that my research and the notes I made from my tutor’s demonstration were vital in helping me to create a successful application of silicone prosthetics on competition day.  Moreover, through the practices of the hairstyle for my character, these gradually progressed in technical ability as I began to receive a clearer understanding into the particular style I wanted to create. These evaluations of the hairstyles led me to be able to create a successful hairstyle that suited the length and style of my model’s hair while meeting my intentions for the character. The research into a hairstylist and my ability to recall a separate competition I attended allowed me to determine the idea for my hairstyle after needing to adjust my original idea.

Furthermore, the practices of altering a spare bra allowed me to evaluate and learn how I could prevent making mistakes when altering the actual bug eyes bra piece. Additionally, trying it on with face makeup and hairstyle practices made me recognise ways that it needed adjusting in order to coordinate with my model and to ensure it’s security when placed on the face.

Additionally, by creating the extended fingers for my character the night before, this allowed me to complete my whole application within the given time frame. Doing this helped to quicken up the time of my application, stopping me from needing to rush which would have resulted in something less detailed.

Finally, when creating a costume design, my research led me to consider multiple options for my character. After choosing the one I thought suited my character more, I was able to establish the costume as a finished element after trying it on my model with the body paint design. Doing this helped me make sure that the whole costume fit my model and that it created the intentions I hoped for alongside the rest of the design before using it for the competition.

Overall, my preparation and research skills throughout the 9 weeks leading up to competition day have provided me with having a lack of problems during my application - ‘Forward-planning: make sure everything is planned before the job starts.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.) Furthermore, from using my flexibility and problem solving skills prior to the competition, I was able to prevent many mistakes from occurring on the day - ‘Make-up artists need to be versatile and flexible.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 2.)  From using these skills, I have learned that by ensuring that you are fully prepared before a pressured application such as this competition, it leads to having less mistakes and feeling less stressed during it - helping the application to flow much smoother and be done in a relaxed atmosphere.

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In preparation for the day: I cleaned all of my makeup brushes, sprayed any palettes down with alcohol and cleaned down any other parts of my kit that were messy or dirty. Furthermore, before beginning the application, I sprayed down the bay surface with alcohol and set out some bed roll. These practices were done to prevent any cross-contamination issues. Moreover, it helped to make my working space more professional as it became a clean and tidy area for my model and for me to work with.

Additionally, I washed my hands frequently throughout the day such as before and after applying makeup as well as before and after touching hair. This was done in order to prioritise my own health, safety and hygiene along with my model’s as well.

Health and safety is an important feature to uphold as a makeup artist and my ability to maintain this key skill shows my development within the role: ‘The makeup artist should maintain a safe, healthy and hygienic working environment to safeguard actors and colleagues from accident and cross-infection.’ (Delamar, 2016, pg 9.) Furthermore, ‘observe a high standard of hygiene, health and safety at all times… this will help you build a good reputation.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 16.)

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The competition day consisted of long hours for my model: we arrived at the college by 8:30am and finished the application about 5pm. This meant that she was sitting for a while to allow me to apply the makeup design on her. Therefore, throughout the day, I regularly asked her if she was in need of a drink, some food or if she needed to get some fresh air for a while. Furthermore, this was followed by regularly asking her if she was okay and if she needed a break. If she was in need of anything, I retrieved it for her or let it happen as soon as possible. Doing this helped my model to recognise that her needs were valued by me and helped me to ensure that she was comfortable and cared for throughout the day - ‘make-up artists need to understand the importance of professional practice which includes: taking the needs of models, performers and clients into account.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 19.) Providing this support to my model shows how I believe in the importance of individual needs and prioritising the care of my model through applications as a makeup artist. Practising this prepares me for any future opportunities where I would need to apply similar priorities to a model.

Additionally, evaluating the team’s communication and organisation into catering food and drink for our models and artists, this was a very effective idea. By placing the products in the centre of the main table in the makeup room, this allowed anyone in the room to help themselves at any time. Both my model and myself used resources from the catering table when feeling thirsty or hungry, and I noticed the majority of the others in the room helping themselves too when they were in need of anything. This highlights the decision of catering as having the intended results of being helpful and beneficial to people in the room. As a result, I have learned that by providing catering as makeup artists for a long day event, such as this competition, can be very useful and valuable as it ensures that there are resources available to ensure the well being of both the models and the artists involved. When preparing for any similar events like this in the future, I will consider suggesting this as it has proved itself very beneficial.

Finally, at the end of the day, I provided makeup removing products such as wipes and face wash to my model. This was done so that she would have the products available to take off any makeup, if she wanted to, before leaving the college. After the competition, she did want to take her makeup off and take her hair out so I assisted her when doing this. This highlights how the preparation of and the thought that went into my kit was effective as I was able to supply these products despite not being asked by my model to bring them prior.

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Prior to the competition day today, I had practised timing my applications in order to receive an insight into how long everything would take me. This was so that I could determine what time I should’ve arrived in the morning and if there were any elements on the makeup that I should’ve focused on speeding up the application of. As calculated and after establishing some adjustments to certain elements in a prior practice, I knew that the application would take me around 8 hours, leaving me with an extra 30 minutes to check over my look. Because of this, I arrived at college at 8:30 am, leaving me and my model 30 minutes to prepare before starting the application at 9 am. As hoped, during the application, I didn’t find myself needing to rush as I checked the time regularly, ensuring I was on the right track and keeping up with the timings consistently. Furthermore, emphasising this, our tutor kept a live timer on the projection board all day in the room to help us be aware of how much time we had remaining before we needed to be finished. As a result, I finished my application 30 minutes earlier than planned, meaning it took me 7 hours and 30 minutes to complete the whole look. Because of this, I had extra time to really look over my whole model to check nothing was missing, smudged or needing reapplying. This led me to be able to ensure everything was complete and perfect before the judges came around to assess my work.

Evaluating my choice to alter the hair design and application of the extended fingers, I think the main reason why I finished my application earlier than planned was because of these adjustments. Creating only two braids on each side of the head instead of three helped to reduce how long the hairstyle took to complete by about 40 minutes. Additionally, doing only two allowed me to put more accuracy and precision into these braids instead of rushing them due to time pressure. Furthermore, the choice to prepare the tin foil and latex fingers the night before was so successful and beneficial as I was able to just slide them onto her fingers after finishing the painting on the hands. If I didn’t prepare these the night before, this would’ve extended the time of my application by about two hours, which would have led me to not be able to get this element complete in time.

Overall, my time management for the competition day was planned out very well, leading to a less stressful and rushed application. This shows my developing ability to manage my time effectively: I prepared myself by completing a practice of the application beforehand so that I could determine the timings I would need to stick to. Additionally, I have shown my ability to successfully apply creative solutions to aspects of my design in order to manage my time to fit within the given time frame. ‘This is a very demanding industry… you are often working under pressure with tight deadlines and timings.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 2.) Furthermore, ‘time management - It is important to work to a schedule.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.) Therefore, working as an aspiring makeup artist, it is important to ensure that I am as prepared as I can be regarding the creation of schedules or making notes of my desired timings for applications that are needed for similar time-pressuring events such as this competition. This is so that the completion of makeup looks can be guaranteed.

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Bringing punctuality to an early morning start, I ensured that I would arrive at college with enough time to get my model’s makeup done and have her done to be judged in accordance with the 5:30 pm starting time. To guarantee this, I secured a lift to the college so that I could ensure that I would arrive at my desired starting time: 8:30 am. This shows how I believe in the importance of being punctual as a make-up artist and I have proved this belief as I ensured that I would arrive early, guaranteeing enough time for me to set up before starting the application at 9 am.

As a result of successfully arriving at my intended time, this allowed me to work in accordance with the plans of my time management so that I could ensure that my application would be completed in time at the end of the day. This required attribute of being punctual will assist me greatly if I ever have early starts within a future job - ‘Punctuality - arrive at work early enough to set up and be ready for the day. Never rush in exactly on time or late.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.)

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I maintained an appropriate and positive attitude when in the professional environment of the makeup room to make sure everyone around me felt comfortable. This included not discussing topics regarding the privacy of other people or having conversations that would be classed as ‘gossip.’ Becoming familiar with this type of professional communication gives me the experience for any similar social situations in the future; avoiding controversial topics during conversations. Furthermore, in stressful situations, such as towards the end of my application when I was starting to worry about time, I didn’t let myself get overwhelmed or panic. ‘The makeup artist who behaves professionally will be more successful than the one who does not. The make-up room should be calm and relaxing. Actors, models and clients all need a restful atmosphere away from the noise of the studio or set.’ (Delamar, 2016, pg 11.) Additionally, ‘Never gossip, treat everyone with respect - professional etiquette counts for a lot!’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 16.) Despite our models just being made up for competition purposes, it was still important for me to maintain professionalism in order to prevent my model, other models and artists surrounding me from becoming uncomfortable.

Overall, this shows my understanding of upholding a professional appearance as a makeup artist as it can display preparation for and commitment to the role.

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To present a professional appearance, I arrived at my role at college wearing black and clean clothing. This helped to emphasise a smart, technical appearance and highlight my sense of dedication to the makeup artist role. Additionally, black prevents your clothes from showing makeup fall-out easily, helping to maintain a tidy look during and after the application. Furthermore, I ensured that my hair was tied up and that my nails were clean before starting the application to avoid any issues concerning cross-contamination. ‘It is important to look professional at all times. This includes having good personal hygiene, neat hair and nails, appropriate clothing and positive body language.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.)

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For the competition, my colleagues and I were judged on more than just how successful our application results were. This gave us a sense of assurance because if our application didn’t go to plan, other aspects of our makeup artist role would be taken into consideration, giving anyone who had made mistakes still a chance of placing. We were judged on:

Professionalism: appearance, attitude, how we would handle mistakes, prioritising individual needs

Health and Safety / Hygiene: arriving with brushes and products clean, washing hands regularly, cleaning down the bay before and after the application

How well our designs matched the chosen theme

The Techniques used and how well they were executed

In my overall evaluation, I will be considering how well I achieved and completed these aims.

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In preparation for the competition tomorrow, I have pre-made the extended fingers for my character design. As mentioned in my previous practice of the whole application, I have chosen to make these the day before in order to give myself more time during the application tomorrow to ensure that I can finish the whole design within the given time frame. Using the same technique as practised using tinfoil, latex and tissue, I went round to my model’s house today to complete them. Once I had finished the technique on all of the fingers, painted them and set them with powder, I was able to remove them cleanly just by tugging on the ends slightly. Doing this didn’t disrupt the shape or colouring and I placed them into a small plastic bag to bring with me tomorrow so that I can reapply them during the application. Doing this shows my ability to consider and act on creature, mature decisions regarding what I think is best to maintain successful time management. Additionally, it highlights how I believe in the importance of being prepared as a makeup artist for my applications.

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In conclusion, the colleagues and I creating this programme today used our teamwork skills in order to communicate and agree on ideas. Additionally, we used our communication skills to collect information from the two remaining colleagues in order to make our programme complete. As a result, this programme is now ready to be printed off in preparation for the competition day on Thursday.

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The PowerPoint document we used to make the programme

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To start, we all logged onto the shared document on PowerPoint to allow us to achieve different tasks at the same time. Separating each slide into two in order to match our intentions of folding the pages once printed to make a small booklet, we began by assigning two members of our team to each slide. Following this, the three of us chose a slide each and began to design the sections according to the topics of everyone's character designs. As I have mentioned in previous write-ups about the programme, we made notes on what our colleagues would like as their background for their section as well as notes on their character design: we used these notes to help us make the pages be suited to and include correct information about each artist’s character design. When making the few sets of slides, we were all able to discuss and try out different layouts to find the one that we all collectively agreed made the pages look the neatest. Eventually we all decided on a particular layout for each page and the titles for each bit of information that was going to be included. It was important that we all understood the layout so that we could make it the same throughout the programme, making all the pages look like they were designed by just one person.

Furthermore, when adding the information and photos from each person, we remembered how we still needed to collect these resources from two remaining colleagues in our team. As everyone in the team was focusing on their own work today, people were in different places within the college, therefore we would need to go find them to get the information from them. We managed to collect the information from just one of these colleagues throughout the day; I have privately messaged the other one after coming back from college so that I can get the information from her too.

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Today I collaborated with the colleagues in my programme team to get the programme completed and printed off before competition day on Thursday. As said previously in earlier discussions about the programme with these colleagues, we had originally assigned roles for us to complete over a period of time before Thursday 5th June. However, we all came together today to make the full thing instead, ensuring that we all agreed on the design and layout. This shows our ability to work in a team and use our communication skills to establish agreements and ideas. Furthermore, it highlights our ability to communicate with other colleagues too as we sourced the information about the character designs from everyone in the team beforehand.

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Because of what I learned in the previous makeup practice, this had led me to make a final adjustment to my design. This final development of my design shows how I have made a further change to the hairstyle once I recognised that the colour didn’t coordinate with the rest of my design. Furthermore, this change also helps the style to look more personalised to my model and make my character look more realistic as a result. Therefore, this development is that the hair colour will now be black to match the colour scheme of my character and the hairstyle will now include the addition of a fringe to match my model.

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The bug eyes bra piece pinned into place

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As a result of this practice of the makeup design, I have been able to identify new problems and apply solutions preventing the problems from first being noticed on the competition day. This has led to further design developments. Furthermore, because I timed the application, I was able to recognise the importance of finding ways to knock time off of my total result in order to ensure that I will be able to complete the look in the 8 hour and 30 minute time frame.

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Looking at the costume once my model had tried it on, I noticed the black fluffy leg warmers and a new problem. As these leg warmers are supposed to resemble the natural hairs that are on the limbs of insects, this would mean that my character’s hair colour would be black. Remembering how I had originally planned to do an orange coloured hairstyle to create a contrast against the skin tone, I began to consider if a black coloured hairstyle would match the design more effectively. Thinking about this further, the main colours in the design are teal, black and white - incorporating an orange hairstyle could disrupt the coordination of the look and make this element look completely out of place compared to the rest of the appearance. Therefore, I have decided to change the colour of my hairstyle from orange to black in order to keep both the hair on my model’s head and the hair on her legs the same colour as well as staying within the colour scheme that has been created. I believe that doing this will help to make the whole design flow together more smoothly and look coordinated.

When doing my model’s hair, I was met with a problem regarding her fringe. For my hair design, I need to backcomb the whole middle section of hair on the head to create a mohawk-like effect. On the mannequins that I have practised this on in the past, they didn’t have any fringes for me to consider how this would look with the style. After creating the whole hairstyle on my model, I was able to see how her fringe looked with it and determine whether I liked this as an addition to the hairstyle. Seeing the final look, I loved how her fringe looked with the hairstyle and felt that it helped to make it look more personalised too; making it seem like the character has chosen her own way to style her hair. However, before deciding on this, I wanted to check how it sat when the bug eyes piece was on and see if it would collide with the eyelashes. After checking, the fringe sat perfectly above the eyes leading me to establish the inclusion of my model’s fringe in my hair design.

After timing the application of the makeup elements, I was able to establish how long each part took me to apply in order to get an insight into how long it will take me on competition day. The hair took me 2 hours, the body paint took me just over 3 hours, the hands took me 90 minutes each and the face (as determined in my most recent face makeup practice) will take me 90 minutes. In total this adds up to 9 hours and 30 minutes which is an hour over the maximum time frame that I have. Therefore, this has led me to consider some small adjustments that I could make to some elements of the design in order to help me to take some time off of this result. These adjustments include doing two braids instead of three on each side of the head for the hairstyle: doing this could knock off about 30 minutes. Furthermore, despite losing one braid on each side, the effect will still be present to maintain my intentions for the hairstyle. Additionally, another adjustment is creating the extended fingers the day before to quicken the application of these. When practising this application, the creation of the special effects using tinfoil, latex and tissue took me about 30 minutes per hand. Therefore, this could knock off an hour off of the application. Doing this won’t disrupt the effect as the extended fingers will just be able to be easily reattached on the day and will be coloured to make them blend correctly with the body paint. Furthermore, I feel that this will also help me to feel more reassured on the day that the claws will look how I want them to and that I won’t go over time trying to perfect them. As a result, adding these new timings to the total in replacement, this will make the whole application take a total of 8 hours, leaving me 30 minutes of spare time in case of mistakes and so that I can look over the whole look. Hoping I will be able to quicken the application of the body paint due to the practices I have completed and the familiarity I have gained from them, I might be able to knock off more time on the day to leave a bit more extra time too.

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Today I completed a timed makeup application on my model that would allow me to view and confirm how the elements of my character design looked together. This included seeing how the costume, the hairstyle, the body paint design and the eyepiece all harmonised with each other once transferred onto my model. Seeing this allowed me to recognise small errors that I may have missed in the design process, leading me to make some final changes to the design that will help to make all the elements suit each other in a stronger and more technically correct way for the final application. This highlights my ability to observe with the intention of fluidity and use my problem solving skills to fix any issues disrupting this - ‘Make-up artists need to be versatile and flexible.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 2.) Additionally, by timing this, this gave me the opportunity to understand how much time I would need for each segment of the application. Following this, I have organised my timings for the application and have begun to consider small changes that I could apply to some elements of my design. This is so that I can ensure that I will be able to complete the whole makeup look with some extra time left over in case of mistakes within the maximum 8 hours and 30 minutes time frame that we have. This shows how I believe in the importance of time management and being able to guarantee the completion of this makeup through organising timings.

I separated this practice over two days, completing the hairstyle and body paint (excluding the face) on one day and completing the hand special effects and painting on another day. Furthermore, I used the same techniques that I have used previously for these makeup looks.

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The bug eyes bra piece after alterations

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Over the past three weeks, I have been gradually adding to the bug eyes piece in order to make it match my intentions - Build your props and clothing supplies gradually.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 211.) I have added all of the gems to imitate the texture of bug eyes and eyelashes to make them look more realistic. This piece will help me to bring more authenticity to my character and help to make it clear as to what my character is. Completing this piece, I will be able to see how it looks on the face and how I will be able to apply it to my model’s head next week during a makeup practice.

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The Google Document where I made the notes

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When collecting the information from everyone today, I went up to each person with a small list of what I needed to know: the name/being of their character, a description of the character/context and what techniques that they are using in the makeup look. Making this list beforehand helped me to ensure that I kept on track of the correct information that I needed from everyone. Additionally, this list also had the names of everyone in the team and therefore I would know if I was missing anyone out. Asking for these particular details to be put in the programme will help to give the judges and visitors a clearer view of what each of our character creations are for the project.

When asking each colleague for the details of their design, if they were struggling to give me a lot of material I would try and push them by questioning them on certain elements of their design - for example: what will the hair look like, what will be included in the costume and are any props being made? Doing this helped them to think about their characters in more detail so that they could provide me with a more specific summary of the designs.

As a result, I was able to gather the information for the programme from everyone successfully apart from two colleagues who were absent today. I plan to collect the information from these two members when we arrive back at college after the Half Term so that I will have all of the details I need when adding to the programme.

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Additionally, this afternoon, I also went around the makeup room gathering information from each artist about their characters and makeup looks that they are creating. This was done for the programme so that my collaboration team and I would have access to the information that we need to help make our programme informative and individual for each artist and their design. Alongside retrieving a photo and small biography from everyone, our collaboration team had discussed this idea in previous conversations and I decided that I would gather this information today for us so that we will be able to apply it to the programme soon. As a result, this shows my ability to collaborate and communicate with my team members and makeup team colleagues to ensure that I provide valuable information to the programme. Furthermore my organisation skills show how I was able to recognise the absence of some of my team members, leading me to arrange how I was going to gather the information from them too.

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We began by bringing up the topic of model care, and the fact that we had previously talked about supplying food and drink for our models and artists in early meetings on the project. Establishing how we could do this, we highlighted the fact that we could all contribute by paying £1 into the team to buy these resources. This would give us all the opportunity to provide for the team and their models, as well as making the situation fair for everyone. After everyone agreed to this idea, one colleague suggested that we could all give her our £1 and she would go to the shop for us to see what we could get for the £14 in total. Everyone highlighting the want for water in particular, we all agreed with this idea as we would be able to organise the money towards one person and prevent causing confusion.

As a result of this small meeting, we have been able to recognise the importance of catering for the competition day and been able to organise how we would achieve this. We now have a plan put into place so that we can prioritise the needs of our team and models on competition day; this will help to ensure everyone’s well being is looked after during long hours.

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This afternoon the makeup team had a small meeting regarding the collaboration of our ideas for catering and model care before breaking up for the May Half Term. This helped the team to receive an understanding into how we were going to prioritise model care in two weeks time for the competition day. Overall, this small meeting highlights how the team and I realise the importance of individual needs, especially as the competition day will consist of long hours for both the artists and the models - ‘make-up artists need to understand the importance of professional practice which includes: taking the needs of models, performers and clients into account.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 19.) Therefore, we were able to discuss how we could and what we could provide for everyone through our successful communication and teamwork skills to make sure that everyone is cared for during these long hours.

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Furthermore, another colleague today was asking the makeup team for some feedback on a makeup practice that she had completed for her practical session today. This was the first time that she had practiced her design in the makeup room as she has been struggling to settle on one particular design idea. Therefore I felt that it was important for us to give her some honest feedback about ehr work. Her design consists of a cyborg character with exposed wiring and burns on the face - today she had applied the half bald cap and made the 3D wiring effect alongside some face paint. She was asking about how the 3D wires looked in particular but she was also just wanting us to give opinions on the look as a whole. I mentioned how I thought that the 3D wires and the painting of small cogwheels made the cyborg character seem so realistic as it looked as if the mechanisms of the cyborg were exposed. Furthermore, I gave her the feedback that I really like the idea of the half bald cap on the side of the exposed wiring and the burns on the other side with the human face as I feel that this will make the character come across very clearly to the audience.

Overall, providing this feedback to my colleague highlights my reliability when being asked to give honest opinions on someone’s work - ‘one of the main qualities of being a successful make-up artist is having reliability.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 395.) Additionally, it shows my team work by being a supportive and helpful collaborator towards others in my group.

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During the practical session today, one of my colleagues was struggling to come up with a hairstyle idea for her character. While playing around with a mannequin head, she asked me if I could provide her with any ideas. Due to the fact that this colleague is designing a siren for her character, I was thinking that it would match her intentions of making it slightly creepy and weird if she kept some of the hair down and gave this hair a wet effect, making it seem like she had just come out of the ocean. Telling her this, this helped her to come up with connecting ideas such as creating some small plaits in the hair and weaving pearls in and out of these plaits to add to the siren/ocean theme. As a result, she was able to try out a hairstyle on the mannequin head and develop a new idea for the hairstyle of her character.

Overall, this teamwork shows my ability to provide support and ideas to a colleague in order to help to spark inspiration - ‘Professional make-up artists use feedback to improve their skill level and ensure they are delivering the expected or desired looks.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 41.) Furthermore, it indicates my creativity and imagination skills as I was able to come up with an idea that would match the intentions that she had for the character.

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As a result of this practice, I have learned that this idea has the potential to work successfully: I have discovered how I could pin in the straps so that the material is hidden nicely. However, this technique will need to be checked on my model’s head so that I can establish if I could pin the piece in the desired position correctly and securely to her. Based on its results, this will help me to understand if I could begin to consider using this for the competition day. I plan to try this out on my model next week during an application to receive clarity on the situation.

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Before practising this idea, I first plaited the hair like I plan to for my design in order to give myself a realistic insight into how I could pin the straps into the exact hairstyle of my character. When trying to pin in these straps, I needed to cut them down so that I had a smaller area to hide. Furthermore, I found that putting the pin into the end of the strap and twisting the material before pinning it into the hair helped to hide the material more too. However, after trying to practice this idea, it was difficult to get a reliable result as this mannequin head is a different size to my model. This was when I realised that this idea would be best practised on my model instead to ensure that I could rest the eyes in the correct place and check that the pinning in the straps will definitely correspond with her head shape and size.

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Today I also practiced an idea that could solve the issue of applying the bug eyes bra piece to the face. As I talked through after my most recent face makeup practice, I highlighted how I needed to come up with a plan to attach the piece to the head securely without a back strap. As a result, this new idea was to pin the straps into the planting of the hair in some way. Following this idea, as I was unsure as to how this would look, I tried it out with my spare bra on a mannequin head today in order to get an insight into how I could do this successfully so that the straps could look hidden in the hair whilst also keeping the piece secure on the head. This shows my creativity skills in my ability to come up with ideas that could solve problems within my design - ‘As a hair and make-up artist you will need to be able to generate creative ideas.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 269.) Additionally, noticing this issue highlights my attention to detail when considering the elements of my design and how I could prevent problems from arising on competition day.

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As a result of this practice, I have been able to improve on my previous mistakes and understand how I can maintain these improvements in the future by ensuring I am correct in my technique. Additionally, I have established how I am going to colour the prosthetics in order to make sure that they will match seamlessly to the colour of the body paint on the face. Realising that I can use the same body paint on the prosthetics and on the rest of the face means that I will be able to create a smooth transition from the prosthetic to the skin in order to guarantee realism and accuracy in the colouring of my character’s facial features.

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Comparing this practice to my previous one, I was able to achieve a finish that had close to zero air bubbles towards the ends of the prosthetic due to the fact that I was pulling the edges further before sticking them down. However, near the centre, there were areas that I hadn’t fully covered with adhesive underneath and you could see the colour difference. Although, this wasn’t a big concern and it won’t be if it reoccurs in the future as I will be colouring over the whole piece anyways and these areas won’t be visible. Furthermore, for the colouring, using a small amount of alcohol with my Ben Nye body paint worked successfully as it gave a vibrant finish on top of the prosthetic.

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The prosthetic after blending (without colouring)

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Using the method that I researched in the Easter Half Term and the same notes that I made on my tutor’s method, I followed the same procedure for the application but with more focus on correcting my previous mistakes. This time, I applied much less Pros-Aide adhesive to each section and ensured that I pulled the prosthetic tighter across the surface before sticking it down to the skin. Furthermore, after the whole prosthetic was stuck down, I waited for at least 5 minutes for the adhesive to dry before blending away the edges. In terms of the coloring, I know that alcohol based paints are usually used to colour silicone prosthetics: when painting silicone prosthetic pieces, colour palettes activated by 99% alcohol should be used. (Delamar, 2016, pg 244.) However, I don’t have an alcohol paint that would match the colour of my body paint well. Therefore, I tried using my Ben Nye body paint as it is powder based and can be applied straight to the skin (as I found out in my research into the product). Using it just as a powder, it didn’t apply to the silicone material in a very pigmented way, therefore I wet my brush with a small amount of alcohol, dipped this into the body paint and tried this instead. This created a much more vibrant colour on the prosthetic.

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Today I had the opportunity to work on my practical and technical skills within an element of my design. After thinking about what techniques I needed to improve on, I decided to complete another application and blending of a silicone prosthetic. After my previous practice, I identified my areas of improvement through highlighting my strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, this time, I knew what my aims of development were that I needed to focus on to try and advance my practical skills in this technique. Practising this technique helped me to understand where I went wrong previously, leading me to improve from my initial mistakes to enhance my accuracy as I move closer to competition day. Furthermore, today I tried out my body paint on the prosthetic to see if the consistency would adhere successfully to the silicone material. This helped me to establish whether my body paint would work well on the prosthetic or not, leading me to solve the problem of how I was going to cololour the piece to match my character’s skin tone.

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This morning the social media collaboration team asked the members of our team for a small biography and a photo of each of us that they could post on our team’s project competition Instagram page. Due to the fact that the programme team and the social media team agreed to collaborate in sharing the biographies of everyone because we are both in need of them, this means that Sophie and I (the ones in charge of putting the information and photos in the programme) will soon be able to also use these resources when making the programme. This shows our ability to collaborate and communicate successfully with multiple colleagues in our team so that a number of us, across two different collaboration teams, will be able to benefit from this information. Additionally, this shows our ability to communicate successfully as we were able to identify that both teams were in need of these resources, which has now led to a lack of confusion for ourselves and the remaining members in our team: ‘Good communication skills are essential for makeup artists… poor communication often leads to confusion, misunderstanding and mistakes.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 17.)

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Today was a practical day in which the members of my team were able to practice their technical skills on any element of their character designs. Furthermore, each time we complete a practical session, this gives us the opportunity to ask for and receive feedback if wanted. One of my colleagues, creating a Coraline themed character, asked for our feedback on a change of the face makeup. Previously, this artist completed a makeup look that included prosthetics to give the character the effect of multiple eyes. However, she was now contemplating whether the makeup look would look better if these eyes were painted on instead. Asking for feedback, she showed the new makeup look to the group to receive their opinion, comparing this look to the previous one. Considering the different techniques in her makeup look, I gave her the feedback that the painted-on eyes did look effective; however, having the prosthetics instead would give her makeup look dimension through incorporating a 3D effect. Overall, I mentioned how I felt that the prosthetics enhanced the realism of her design more.

Through this feedback, I have shown teamwork and communication skills by providing my honest opinions about technique on a colleague's design work -  ‘Be aware that looks may change and that the make-up look will be discussed as a team and worked out together. Make sure that you contribute to these discussions.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 24.) Furthermore, giving my feedback, alongside other peers, provided this colleague with multiple opinions that could lead her in coming closer to solving this problem that she is having in her design.

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Today I have made some final body charts as a result of establishing the body paint design of the arms and the body paint and special effects of the hands: this concludes the creation of all of my final charts. Through practicals and challenging my technical skills during this character design, I have been able to test out ideas, evaluate their effect and confirm new ideas to lead me towards this stage of finally forming the elements of my character’s appearance together. Assessing each element of my design with the focus of my character’s intentions, sometimes creating more than one to receive a vision into multiple options, has helped me in creating thought-out charts that I feel are most suited and appropriate.

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In conclusion, this practice has led me to understand how this 3D effect looks with the body paint skin pattern and has therefore led me to determine that I want to include this technique in my final design. As a result of this practice, I will now be able to move towards creating a final body chart through the establishment of this new idea to assist me during future practices and the competition day.

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Comparing the appearance of this technique to the previous arm body paint practice I completed, I preferred this practice much more as I felt that it provided dimension and could give my character more realism. This is because the 3D effects made sections of the skin look raised, resulting in more of a creature-like, abnormal look that correlates with my intentions more successfully. However, the white highlights got slightly lost therefore I plan to make these look brighter next time to make them stand out more.

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After completing the usual technique of the body paint pattern of the teal base, painting and detailing of the black shapes as well as the extra small black dots across the whole arm, this was when I applied the 3D technique to the main shapes. Using the knowledge gained from both the hand body paint design of my character and the research that I did into 3D body paint effects before that, I began by choosing a direction of shadowing. With a black eyeshadow, I blended this underneath the shapes, making the pigment get gradually fainter and more blended into the skin colour as I moved away from the edges. Additionally, after this, I created the white highlights near the top of the shapes in order to match the placement of the shadowing. My choice of the shadowing and highlight placement indicates that the light will be coming down onto my character from above - due to the fact that there will be overhead lighting in the room that the makeup will be seen in, I thought that this would be the best placement to match the environment’s lighting. ‘A light source positioned above the head or from one side often creates deep shadows.’ Therefore, because elements of my body paint are supposed to look 3D, like they are coming out of the skin, it is important that I make these effects match the lighting in the environment that it will be judged in - ‘Lighting - this can affect the way the make-up is seen, so you may need to adapt your product choice and application techniques, depending on the light the make-up is intended to be seen under.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 104.)

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Today I have completed a practical that tested my idea of using 3D effects on the arm body paint. This idea arose after my previous practice of the arm body paint where I considered whether the skin pattern would look more effective if the main shapes looked as if they were raised and coming out from the skin’s surface. This shows my ability to consider areas of development creatively and to stay resilient through these last few weeks to keep pushing for new ideas that could improve the overall appearance and presentation of my character.

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In order to keep a track of the design ideas that I have established for my project character so far, I have made a new mindmap of ideas. This mind map shows the development and progression of my ideas throughout the project, highlighting the changes and improvements I have applied compared to my previous mind maps from Week 3 and 4. As a result, this resembles my development skills and creativity skills through my ability to adapt ideas in accordance with new problems and to suit my overall intentions effectively. Additionally, it points towards my research skills as I have needed to find new ideas to solve problems or research into techniques to ensure that I can create intended effects successfully. Furthermore, this mindmap of final ideas will lead me towards making a detailed visual of all of the elements in my character’s appearance for my final moodboard. This moodboard will be presented as a part of the project to the judges and visitors on competition day to display the overall ideas that come together to create the look of my character. Moreover, this will also imply the role / context of my character by showing a small overview to make it clearer to this audience about what I have created. ‘Creating a moodboard is an excellent tool. This visual aid will help to pull all the ideas together.’ (Delamar, 2016, pg 104.) Additionally, ‘Presenting themed photos on a mood board helps to develop and plan the hair and makeup designs, and provides a visual guide for the look and feel of the final image.’ (Braisdell, 2011, pg 269.) Therefore, by creating this final moodboard, this will help to provide me with the full visual of my design, keeping me on the right track when using it as guidance on competition day. Furthermore, this will also provide a full visual of my design to the judges as they assess my work.

When creating my moodboard, I used these tips in order to help me to create an effective and detailed moodboard for my design.

‘Moodboards should include the following elements.

A title or a theme

Visual images

Text and annotations

Textures, accessories and materials

Sketches

Face, body and hair charts

Techniques and products’

(Stokes et al, 2021, pg 62.)

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In conclusion, I have learned that I prefer the backcomb ended braids style as I felt that it made both the top and side sections look more connected, resulting in the hair looking like one big hairstyle and not two separate styles. Additionally, once complete, it gave a unique finish which will help to emphasise my character’s individuality further. As a result of this practice, I have been able to choose this hairstyle as my final hair design so that I can now progress in the final development of my whole design.

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The hairstyle with the backcombed braids

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I found that the sectioning looked much better this time and by doing the three skull plaits on each side of the head, I loved how this looked and I felt that it displayed just the right amount of braid sections on each side. For the side in which I did the full braids, when looking at it from the side, I felt that it looked detached from the rest of the hair and prevented all the sections from joining together to create one hairstyle. Furthermore, when looking at it from the front, I felt that it gave the same effect and made the hair seem like it was separated into two hairstyles. In contrast, for the backcomb ended braids, looking at it from the side and front, this style created an effect that made all of the hair look connected and more complete. Additionally, I felt that this style looked very unique and individual once finished, matching my intentions.

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For both styles, I used the same technique that I used for the previous practice for the backcombing on the middle section of the head and the braiding of the skull plaits. However, I just ensured to make the sectioning more accurate by having less hair in the middle section and more on the sides (as learned from the previous practice) as well as doing three skull braids on each side rather than two. Additionally, for the full skull plaits hairstyle, I just braided them all the way to the ends of the hair and for the backcombed plaits hairstyle, I just braided them to the base of the skull and then backcombed the remaining hair.

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Today was a practical day where I could work on my individual development and focus on finalising ideas as we move closer to the competition day. Being prepared through the drawings of the two hair designs I did yesterday, today I am practicing my two hairstyle ideas with the aim of trying to decide which one I prefer and the one that I feel gives the most unique and fitting effect to match the individuality of the rest of the design. For this practice today, I decided to do the three skull plaits on each side of the head instead of the two skull plaits in order to give myself more of a challenge on the day and show more complexity in the design. This shows my ability to challenge myself by using complex techniques and indicates my resilience skills by trying to push the difficulty of my design.  As a result of today, I have been able to establish my final hair design and confirm the full hairstyle that I am planning to use for the competition day, helping me to move closer in finalising my character’s design as a whole.  ‘Hair design is used within hairdressing and is often expected of a make-up artist. Being capable of both is key to becoming successful in the industry.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 288.) Through creating these hair designs and practicing them, this helps to provide me with more experience of hairdressing through being able to practice different techniques and gradually progress in their accuracy through evaluations. Doing this helps to give me more of a range of abilities as a makeup artist in preparation for any future opportunities or jobs when hair skills are needed.

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Today I drew up some hair designs as a result of the hair style practice that I did last week. Due to the fact that there are two hairstyles that I am splitting between and will be practicing tomorrow to confirm my preference, I wanted to make a hair chart for each design to help me to establish a visual for both. This will help me in preparation for the practices tomorrow and will help me to remind myself what my aims are for each of the hairstyles. As a result, this shows my preparation and organisational skills regarding my ideas and wanting to keep them as reference for when I practice to ensure I understand what I am wanting to achieve as well as keeping clear on the differences between my designs.

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Reflecting on this practice, I was able to recognise a new problem that I was able to solve prior to competition day. Furthermore, by timing this application, I provided myself with valuable information when trying to calculate an overall time for my whole application later on.

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Overall, the body painting of this design went so much smoother than the previous practice and resulted in a makeup look that was much more effective and connected to my intentions. Moving forward, I will be using the same body paints and method for this application, as well as the technique of applying the white first, as these elements worked out very successfully and in accordance with my vision for the makeup. Additionally, in terms of the bug eye piece, I love the effect that it gives on top of the makeup: I feel that it clearly demonstrates what the character is. However, due to the new problem that has arisen, I plan to practice a way to solve this using my spare bra soon to see if I have found a successful solution or if new ideas need to be considered. After timing the application, this body paint design took me about an hour to complete. To recover more of a valuable insight into how long the face will take, I am adding an extra 30 minutes to the result to take the application of the prosthetics into consideration.

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The half-finished bug eyes bra piece with the makeup

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Evaluation of Bug Eyes Bra Piece with Makeup

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Evaluation of Bug Eyes Bra Piece with Makeup

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Holding up the bug eye piece to the face, I was able to see how it looked with the makeup and its size compared to my model’s face. Looking at the completed side of the piece, I loved how this looked with the makeup - I feel that it imitates a bug’s eyes effectively. Furthermore, the gems on the cup gave the intended effect of that bubbly texture that bug eyes have when looking up close and the eyelashes add to their realism. Overall, I think that once the piece is fully completed, this will help to bring my character to life and will act as the main piece that will get the intention of my character design across to the audience and judges clearly. Additionally, I think that this piece will emphasise the purpose of the patterned body paint and clawed fingers that add even more character and relation to insects.

Although, despite its accuracy in meeting my intentions and vision for the character, I realised that there is a new problem. Due to the fact that I am now going to be using my model’s real hair for the hairstyle, this means that the bra back strap can’t be hidden under the hair (which was the original plan with the wig). Thinking about a way to hide the back straps in the moment, I thought of a new idea: I might be able to cut the back straps so that they are just long enough to go past the ears and then pin this leftover material into the skull plaits of my hair design. Additionally, to ensure security, some spirit gum may need to be applied to the face where the cups meet the skin in order to make sure that the piece will stay stuck on. However, as I am unsure as to how this will turn out, I want to practice this idea with my spare bra soon to see if I would be able to achieve this successfully. If not, I will need to consider a new possibility in which I could make the bug eye piece stay on the face without clipping the straps at the back of the head.

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Comparing this application to the previous application, the body paint was more vibrant with just one layer, they blended better into another and the application turned out much more even and smooth. I believe that this was due to the quality of my new body paints as well as the experience I have gained over time from the other body paint elements I have practiced too. In particular, the white applied so much brighter, meaning that I used less layers which led to less cracking, and I was able to blend it much more seamlessly when applying the teal paint afterwards. Additionally, the technique of applying the white first, which I have previously used in my hand and arm body paint practices, helped me to make both the blending and the placements more precise. Moreover, the thinner brush that I used for the straight and centred teal line helped me to create a much more accurate and precise application, making it correspond with my face chart design very closely.

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For this practice, I used the same tools and blending techniques for the body paint as the previous face makeup application - however, I just changed the order that the colours were applied in. This time, I began by applying the white paint first, keeping the pigment bright at the centre and more faded out at the edges to give myself a nicely blended white centre. Following this, I painted on the line down the centre using a very thin detail brush to help me to get the line very thin and straight over the nose and mouth as well as helping me to create the straight triangle-like shapes on the forehead and chin. Finally, I painted the rest of the face in the teal body paint, making sure to blend it nicely into the white by making the sponge slightly damper when blending these areas and using the small fan brush.

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Today I completed a practice of the face makeup design for my character. In this practice, I was able to test out my new Ben Nye body paints in order to allow myself to become familiar with the way the product applies, its consistency and its pigmentation. Doing this helped me to understand the product in preparation for future applications. Additionally, in terms of the body paint technique, today I had the opportunity to try out the technique of applying the white paint before the teal paint on the face. After my first face makeup practice in the Easter Half Term, I highlighted how I might have been able to create more precision in this application in the future, as well as make it match the accuracy of my design more, through doing this. This shows my ability to respond to my own feedback and creative solutions in order to help me to develop the efficacy of my applications and techniques. Furthermore, I was able to use my half-finished bug eyes bra piece to see how the completed side looked with the makeup design. This helped me to receive an insight into how the two ideas looked with each other and the effect that they gave once put together. Additionally, through this insight, I was able to recognise a new problem and use my problem solving skills to come up with a solution that I can try out in the future to test its effectiveness. For this face makeup practice, I timed the application in order to give myself an awareness of how long that this design will take me to complete. This will help to give the understanding into how long this will take to complete on the final day. Taking the fact that I will be applying prosthetics on the day into consideration, I will need to add extra time to this result to make up for the special effects that I will also be creating on the face on competition day. This shows how I believe in the importance of time management and understanding the time scales of the elements in my design, soon helping me to calculate the overall time I will need to complete the whole look. ‘This is a very demanding industry… you are often working under pressure with tight deadlines and timings.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 2.) Therefore, by practising applications like these, I have learned that these can be crucial in understanding timings in order to prepare for pressured applications that are set within a given time frame.

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Reflecting on this, creating these costume designs helped me to understand how both of my ideas would look with the body paint of my character. Furthermore, establishing the choice to include the vinyl trousers in the costume was a successful decision as it created the same effect that it did on the drawing, which was my intention. Additionally, on the competition day, I finished my body paint and makeup with about 30 minutes to spare, excluding the time I took to assess the final look, which I don’t think would’ve been enough time for me to paint the legs if I had chosen the skirt.

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In conclusion, I have been able to make a decision based on what I think suits the rest of the design and the time frame of the competition day best: the vinyl trousers option. This is because I loved the effect that this gave when with the fluffy leg warmers on the design, making it seem like my character has black shiny legs that end with black fluffy feet. Additionally, choosing trousers over the skirt will prevent me from going over time with my makeup application on competition day.

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Looking at this second costume design on top of the body paint, I immediately felt that this suited the look better. As the trousers would be a vinyl material, this could make the legs look like black shiny skin. Additionally, with the fluffy leg warmers on the calves, this makes the bottom half give the illusion of insect-like legs: shiny skin on the limbs with fluffy feet. I loved this effect that it created alongside the body paint. Furthermore, this would help me to focus time on painting the upper half of the body on competition day instead of worrying about painting the majority of the body like I would need to if choosing the skirt option.

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Looking at this costume design on top of the body paint that I will be completing, this helped me to recognise that if I chose this option, I would need to also complete the body paint on the legs too. This made me consider if this option isn’t the most suited as more time will be added to my application if I need to paint the legs alongside the rest of the body. As a result, taking this into consideration, this made me realise that this would probably be too much for me to do on the day, possibly leading me to not be able to complete the whole makeup design ready in time.

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Today I created some costume drawings in order to help me develop a vision for the costume of my character. I have recently researched some possible costume ideas for my character, leading me to be indecisive about whether to include trousers or a skirt on the bottom half. To solve this problem, I wanted to receive an insight into how they would both look with the body paint and hairstyle of my character. Therefore, I have drawn two costume designs: one with vinyl material trousers and one with a leather material skirt. Both suit my intentions of including texture in the costume, however, I was just unsure as to which one I felt looked better with the makeup design. This shows my ability to act professionally and creatively when met with problems within my design. ‘Sketches of designs and inspirations could be included to show off your artistic flair. For example, you could sketch the costume design if you do not have a visual picture of it.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 62.) Doing this helped me to consider which one I felt suited the rest of my design the best. ‘Costumes are of utmost importance in planning the stages of make-up and the make-up artist needs to take costume into consideration when deciding on what make-up to use and do.’ (Braisdell et al, 2011, pg 387.) When looking at the designs once complete, I used the intentions that I had for my character while taking time management into consideration to help me make my choice.

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Reflecting on this practice, this helped me to determine how I could develop and improve my technical skills regarding sectioning and backcombing techniques in particular to help make future practices look more effective.

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In conclusion, I have discovered that the backcombed technique looks more effective and will be able to cooperate with the length of my model’s hair more appropriately compared to the knotted buns technique. Additionally, despite the fact that there was a problem with the sectioning, the technique turned out successfully and gave the effect of being unique and having a punk-rock style to correspond with the image that I want my character to possess. As a result, I have learned that I will need to include either three skull plaits on each side or do two bigger sized skull plaits to make up for the extra hair that will be in these sections next time. Furthermore, in my next practice, I want to try out both the fully braided skull plaits and the backcombed skull plaits in order to give myself a visual into how they both mesh with the backcombed mohawk. Doing this will help me to establish which style I prefer, leading me to finalising a full hairstyle for my design.

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Practising a basic skull plait beforehand gave me the opportunity to get familiar with the process: doing this helped me to create more effective skull plaits when practising the main look. Furthermore, I really liked how the skull plaits turned out as they looked quite neat. However, when it came to styling the top section, I realised that I had sectioned too much hair so this means that next time, I will need to either make three skull plaits on each side or make two bigger skull plaits on each side to make up for the extra hair. Moreover, in terms of technique, when creating the knotted buns, this didn’t give the effect I was hoping for: the bun shapes were too visible and big, making the sticking out hair look much less effective. Furthermore, due to  the fact that the mannequin head I was practising on had shorter hair than my model’s, this would mean that this problem would look even worse if I were to use it on my model as there would be more hair in the buns. In contrast, the backcombing technique created a much more successful effect. This created an effective mohawk like style through the technique of backcombing: this will comply with my model’s hair as this method can be done to any length. When doing this technique, I found that I was able to apply more control to the backcomb when using smaller/thinner sections, giving me the opportunity to make the backcombing as neat as I could near the scalp. Furthermore, by backcombing these sections a little more as I went down the back of the head, this helped to keep the curve of the mohawk consistent and uniform. When smoothing the front piece over the backcombing, this helped to deliver a neat and tamed finish to the look - hiding the untidiness of the backcomb underneath to make the hairstyle look more controlled. For the backcombing of the braids, I liked the look that this gave as it helped to make the braids connect to the remaining hair. However, I want to take the idea of doing full braids into consideration as I want to see how they would look compared to the ends of the braids being backcombed; I want to practice these next time to help me to establish which ones I prefer.

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To start, I sectioned the hair into three main sections, the top/middle section that would be turned into the mohawk-like style and the other two sections on the sides of the head that would be skull plaited. I began by skull plaiting one side of the head first using the tutorial to just get familiar with how the process works. This was so that I could receive an insight into how to do a plain skull plait before needing to use more precision. After feeling more confident about the process, I then plaited both the sides of the head: two skull plaits on each side, finishing them once they reached the back of the head. This meant that only the top section was left for me to style:

Starting with the hair knotting technique to create a mohawk look, this consisted of sectioning the hair into rectangle-like shapes all down the head. Then, taking the first section, I wrapped the majority of the hair around my finger, as if I was creating a bun hairstyle. Following this, I then used the leftover end of the hair and knotted this through the bun, leaving a sticking up piece coming out from the centre of the bun to create a mohawk-spike effect.

For the second technique, I began my sectioning a front piece and leaving this out while I worked on the rest of the hair. Using small sections one at a time, I backcombed the hair right down to the scalp, using hairspray to create a texture that I could backcomb easily. As I moved further down the back of the head, I backcombed each section a bit more as I travelled downwards to ensure that the height remained a similar level to the rest of the hair. After backcombing all of these sections, I used the sectioned front piece that I left out to smooth this over the top of all the backcombing. I then finished the hairstyle by backcombing the leftover hair from the braids to tie the hair all together.

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Cara Delevingne Hair Tutorial + How to Braid - The YouTube video I used to support me with my braiding

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Today I have had the opportunity to practice the two hairstyle options that I have considered as options for a new development in my hair design. This development is due to the multiple problems that have arisen regarding the wig and length of my model’s hair which I highlighted yesterday. Both the research I have done and my recalling of the April Makeup and Hair Competition, these sources have provided me with inspiration for these styles that could work as a successful alternative to my original mohawk spike hair design. Due to the fact that I want my character to portray a punk-rock style in order to give her some personality, it was important to me that I found alternatives to this particular hair style so that I could keep the style consistent throughout the look. Furthermore, as I was practicing skull plaits today too and I didn’t feel confident enough to complete these without guidance: I used a tutorial I found on Youtube throughout to support me in understanding the process. Overall, the preparation coming into this practice and the use of the tutorial during the styling both show my ability to use my research and preparation skills in order to ensure that my knowledge of techniques matches up with the practical I am completing.

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Cara Delevingne Hair Tutorial + How to Braid

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Tomorrow I will be trying both of these hairstyles in order to provide myself with multiple options in case one turns out unsuccessfully. Additionally, this will give the opportunity to establish which hairstyle would work more effectively, considering both the length of my model’s hair and the rest of my character’s appearance. As a result of these practices, I will be able to determine the better hair option so that I can begin to practice and develop this further, getting myself closer to establishing a final hair design and the creation of a final hair design chart.

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Thinking back to the creative hairstyles created at the Hair and Makeup Competition from April, there was one that I remember in particular that could help me to develop my own. This hairstyle consisted of a couple braids on each side of the head that were tied with the rest of the hair in a ponytail as well as some backcombing of the hair on the top of the head to create volume. The backcombing has inspired me as I could create this volume down the whole centre of the head to make a deathhawk-like hairstyle that could work as a successful alternative to my previous idea. I also plan to try this idea tomorrow to see how it looks.

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The tutorial of the knotted buns hairstyle on Paul Jones' Instagram Page

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Paul Jones, Professional Hair Stylist based in London, is ‘celebrated for his innovative approach and artistry,’ and known for his elegant and creative approach to hairstyling. Jones has collaborated with big names within the industry as a result of his diverse career that involves creating editorial, fashion and celebrity hairstyles.

Looking through Jones’ Instagram page, he has created many elegant hairstyles recently for celebrities attending award events. However, as these hairstyles are more smart and sophisticated as they are for professional events, these hairstyles don’t meet with my intentions. Additionally, I am looking for something that I could use to replace a mohawk, therefore I am looking for something more unique in order for it to match the uniqueness of my character’s makeup design. Scrolling through the different hairstyles on his page, I came across this knotted mohawk hairstyle that could work in accordance with my model’s long hair: as seen in the video, multiple buns are made down the head in order to create a mohawk-like effect. I plan to use this video as guidance when trying out this hairstyle tomorrow in addition to the skull plaits to help me establish if this hairstyle could work successfully.

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In order to establish a new hair design, I am going to do some research into Hairstylist Paul Jones. Doing this may be able to give me a clearer sense into how I can make a hairstyle that would create a similar punk-rock effect to a mohawk for my design. Furthermore, I will be recalling some hairstyle looks that I saw being created at the Hair and Makeup Competition that I went to in April. The hairstyles that were created at this competition were very unique and distinctive: getting inspiration from these hairstyles could help me to add individuality and creativity to my design. Overall, this shows my ability to use my research skills successfully in order to develop and introduce new hairstyle ideas to my hair design and help me achieve effective problem solving.

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Today I have developed my hairstyle design due to a new problem that has become clear. This shows my ability to problem solve and come up with effective solutions in order to ensure authenticity in my design. ‘Make-up artists need to be versatile and flexible.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 2.)  Having flexibility skills is important when a makeup artist, as shown in this example with my hairstyle, as problems can arise in design plans and applications that need quick and effective solutions. Practising my flexibility and problem solving skills are important as they will help me to move through any sudden problems that could happen in a future career.

The wig arrived today, allowing me to check it to see if it would work successfully with my design. As my mohawk spikes and skull plaits hair design would make areas of the scalp visible, I was worried that this wig would show the lace structure underneath when I lifted the hair up in sections as it was a cheaper wig. When checking for this, the black lace under the wig was becoming clearly exposed meaning that it wouldn't comply with the intentions of my design. This was when I realised that I will need to come up with a new idea and solve this problem.

Due to the fact that the scalp will be visible, I think that it would be best to use my model’s real hair so that the character will look more realistic. Furthermore, I could just use an orange coloured hairspray in order to make it correspond with the complementary colour theory in my design. However, my model’s hair is at a long length and therefore if I stick with the mohawk spikes idea, this will make the hairstyle look very extreme and excessive, distracting from the effect of the makeup. Therefore, I want to come up with a new idea that keeps the plan of the skull plaits at the sides of the head while involving a hairstyle for the centre section that is more appropriate to the length of my model's hair.  In order to receive some inspiration I am going to research Professional Hairstylist Paul Jones and some of the unique hairstyles that he has created.

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Reflecting on this practice of the tinfiol, latex and tissue technique, this led me to establish how I was going to create the extended fingers effect for my character. Furthermore, this led me to be able to make a final instructed design chart in which I used to support me in my successful final application on competition day, creating the insect claws for my character.

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Overall, as a result of this practice, I have learned that this technique will be able to successfully help me to create the effect that I am aiming for for my design and character: it creates a secure and realistic outcome resembling an insect claw-like appearance. Furthermore, this has helped me to develop my final idea for this design and come to a conclusion regarding what technique I will be using. Because of this establishment, I will now be able to create my final hand design chart for my competition application.

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The use of the tinfoil as the main structure created a secure shape that I could successfully build on top of. Furthermore, the layers of liquid latex and tissue helped to thicken the extension while covering up the wrinkled texture of the tinfoil, helping to achieve a much more natural appearance. Additionally, the extra little layer over the base of the tinfoil gave extra security to the extension, resulting in it feeling more fixed onto the fingers. As a result, the overall appearance of the fingers once the whole painting was complete, created the successful effect that I was hoping for of a natural looking form.

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For the technique of making the extended fingers, I began by making the tinfoil structures first. I did this by wrapping a section of tinfoil around the index and ring fingers and then molding them to create the intended shape. After ensuring that the tinfoil was securely wrapped around the fingers, I applied a layer of liquid latex to the whole extended finger, stuck on thin pieces of cut up tissue and then fixed this down with another layer of latex over the top. After the latex had dried, I repeated this process again. Additionally, I applied an extra layer of latex and tissue to the area where the base of the tinfoil ended to ensure that the extension would stay attached and in place. Once both fingers had dried, I was able to apply the black body paint over them, for the hand painting design, successfully without any issues.

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Today I had the chance to work on my own individual technical skills and lead myself to establish ideas. I practiced my hand body paint today with the addition of trying to create an extended finger effect with tinfoil, latex and tissue. This practice helped me to understand whether this technique would work accordingly so that I could either establish this technique for the design or learn that a new technique will need to be considered.

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In preparation for an application tomorrow, I wanted to try and establish a technique that I could use for making extended fingers. As suggested after the Adrien Morot research, I thought that I could try and use foam clay to create this effect. However, after testing this out, there was no way that I could remove the foam clay from my fingers, so that I could leave it to dry, without it losing the shape. This was when I knew that I needed to think of another technique that I could use to create this effect. After discussing this problem with my tutor, she suggested that I could use tinfoil to create the shape and then cover this with layers of latex and tissue to secure it to the skin. Doing this technique would also improve my technical skills of my makeup as it would allow me to create full special effect pieces on the competition day, showing a wider range in my skills to the judges. Therefore, I am planning to use this technique for my application tomorrow to test it out. If this technique goes successfully, I will be able to use it for the final design / application.

As a result, this shows my ability to problem solve and consider new options through feedback. Additionally, it shows my ability to stay determined and resilient with an idea when problems arise. ‘Here are some attributes that are key to long-term success: Grit - perseverance in finishing what you start.’ (Delamar, 2016, pg 7.) As stated here, having resilience as a makeup artist is a valuable attribute to have as it gives you the determination to be able to finish and accomplish ideas. Because I have this attribute and this project is making me practice it more, I have recognised its importance as it prevents me from giving up when problems arise. This will act as a valuable attribute in any future careers I may work in as a makeup artist.

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I have ordered my silicone prosthetics in preparation for my competition day. Due to the fact that I have been able to practice the applying and blending process of silicone, I feel more prepared towards applying these for my final design.

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Reflecting on this initial practice of applying and blending silicone prosthetics, I was able to determine my weaknesses, leading me to improve on my second try. Due to this, I was also able to know what to focus on when applying my prosthetics on competition day to prevent similar mistakes from occuring.

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For next time, I will need to apply less Pros-Aide in order to help the prosthetic to dry quicker. Furthermore, when sticking down the prosthetic, I will need to pull it a bit more before pressing down to make sure that there are no air bubbles under it. Finally, I will need to ensure that the Pros-Aide is fully dry, all of the adhesive has turned clear, before blending the edges to prevent any from rolling up.

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I found that by applying the Pros-Aide to a small section at a time, by lifting a small area then sticking it down, this allowed me to ensure that the prosthetic was fully covered in adhesive and accurately secure on the skin. However, I applied too much Pros-Aide and this led to the adhesive taking a long time to dry and remain a white colour under the prosthetic for a while. Furthermore, when sticking the prosthetic down, I don’t think I was pulling enough before pressing it down as there were still a few air bubbles left underneath. Additionally, due to the fact that I hadn’t waited long enough for the Pros-Aide to dry, this impacted how my blend turned out: a few edges had rolled up as the adhesive was still wet. Excluding these rolled up edges, the edges of the prosthetic that were more dry had blended much more successfully into the skin.

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Today our tutor brought in some spare silicone prosthetics from her studio in order to give other team members and I an opportunity to practice applying and blending this product. This will help to make us feel more familiar with the method and receive an insight into how it works so that we can feel more prepared and experienced with the material for when we apply it on competition day. We were able to practice our practical and technical skills with this method and material today, giving us initial understanding and feedback into how we can improve -  ‘Professional make-up artists use feedback to improve their skill level and ensure they are delivering the expected or desired looks.’ (Stokes et al, 2021, pg 41.)

In order to give my other colleagues and I a method to follow, my tutor gave us a demonstration of the process. After watching this, I made notes on the method in order to remind myself of the steps for when I would practice this method myself. Additionally, in preparation for this practical today, I read over the research I did into silicone prosthetic applying and blending from the Easter Half Term prior to this, so that I could hold some additional information that would ensure that I understood the method in detail.

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Reflecting on this research, this has helped me to acquire a product that works accurately when applied; these products have led me to achieve a vibrant even base and a lack of cracking from longevity, helping to improve the precision of my makeup and the realism of my character.

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This review is from a body paint makeup artist, therefore I feel that this will help to give an unbiased, professional opinion as she is someone who is experienced in the industry.

The products are powder based, can be used dry but become thicker when used wet

Good to use in hot weather as they are less likely to melt

Matte finish = good for film projects (suits my intentions)

Very vibrant

Can achieve solid strokes and base work

Overall, her review highlights the body/face paints as being very effective and precise. Due to the fact that they are powder based and activated with water, this helps to achieve thick and vibrant applications that can withstand warm weather conditions. Furthermore, as they have a matte finish, she stated how they would be appropriate for film projects - this suits my intentions as my character has been created with the context of being in a film production.

As a result, I have established that these paints may be the way forward for my makeup design as they will be able to help me achieve my intentions effectively. Therefore, I am going to buy both a white and teal colour for my design.

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‘Water-activated MagiCake Aqua Colours feature a collection of hues across the colour spectrum with versatile application purposes. These colours dry to a matte finish on their own and don’t require setting powder. The wide colour range and easy to use formulation makes the MagiCake colours ideal for use by cosplay, drag, theatrical, festival, fantasy, special effects, and body painting makeup artists. To reduce staining, apply a primer or moisturiser under the paints to reduce the direct contact of pigment to skin.’ - https://www.bennye.com/product/artistry/face-body-paint/magicake-aqua-paint-cf/

Due to the fact that the brand states that they are ‘ideal’ for special effects and body painting makeup artists in particular, this helps me to believe that they will be able to provide me with much more effectiveness and accuracy. However, as this information is from the company’s website, it is most likely to be biased. Therefore, I want to find another source that will help me to acquire a more honest opinion.

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I am doing this research into the Ben Nye magicake body / face paints in order to receive some information into the effectiveness of them. I have recently learned that my cheaper face paints that I bought for this project are not very effective: they easily crack once on the skin and they need to be layered a lot in order to create an even base. After asking a student who is on Level 4 of my course about what body paints she uses for her projects, she stated that she uses Ben Nye Magicake body paints to get the best outcome. Because of this, I have decided to do some research into the products to decide if they will be worth the price and if they will be able to work in accordance with my intentions.

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In conclusion of this discussion, we have been able to gather our ideas and establish roles in order to give us a clearer understanding into how we will all collaborate successfully in the creation of the programme. Overall, these are the ideas that we have gathered. Making a note of these will help me to recognise exactly where we are with the planning and help me to acknowledge next steps as well as what covers my role.

The programme plan:

Design of the front page

Design of the photos and biographies (need to gather these resources and information - collaborating with the social media group)

The order of the makeup team

Still need to establish sizing

Kelly = in charge of design and layout

Sophie and me = in charge of information

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The notes and sketches made for the programme

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Beginning our discussion, we talked about ideas into the design and layout. For the main page, my colleague proposed the idea that we put a main image in the centre that corresponds with our theme for the project - ‘In a Land Far Far Away.’ After agreeing with this, she also suggested that we have this theme title in a rainbow type shape at the top of the page as well as involving the college logo and social media handles in the corners. To give us more of an insight into this idea, I suggested that she could make some quick sketches on some paper to show the main details into how it would look. These sketches helped to give us all more of an understanding into how the design would look. As a result,  I liked these ideas for the front page as I think that they will clearly depict the theme to the audience and judges as well as giving them the opportunity to look at the college and course into more detail through the information linking to social media pages. Moreover, for a colour scheme we had an initial idea to use pastel colours throughout the programme however this may be changed in the future as we haven’t settled on this fully.

Moving onto the content inside the programme, we already knew that we wanted to include a small section on each person on the course - as established in the conversation that we had in our private group chat in the Easter Half Term, including: a photo of them, their name, a bio into who they are, their favourite subjects in makeup and their next steps after the course as well as a small description into the character that they have created for the competition. We decided that in the next couple of weeks, we would gather this information and these resources from our colleagues so that we could add it to our programme and get this completed at an appropriate time on our timeline. A different colleague in our group heard us talking about this idea about involving small biographies in our programme and she said that her collaborative group is also wanting to collect photos and bios from everyone as they are working on the makeup team’s project instagram page. Because of this, we decided that we could collaborate with this separate group in order to help both of our groups collect information on everyone that could then be shared across both the instagram page and our programme.

Furthermore, we talked about how we could design each person’s section according to the colours and concepts of their characters in order to make each section individual and unique. We collected this information today: we went to each person, making notes on their characters and if they would like us to use a particular colour scheme or theme for their design to make it more suited to them and their design topic. We have taken a photo of these notes to ensure that we do not lose this information when it comes round to making our programme. In terms of the layout for this, we mentioned how this would depend on the size of the programme - for example, if we are doing an A5 sized programme, we would do one person per page, however if we are doing an A4 sized programme, we would do two people per page. For the size, we were going to determine this once we completed the programme and could print off both sizes to establish what would be better. Doing this would provide us with physical copies of both, giving us the opportunity to make a more effective decision.

After deciding on who would be assigned to what task for the programme: Kelly said that she would be happy to create the design and layout, therefore Sophie and I agreed that we would create all of the information. However, even though we have made these roles, we agreed that if any one of us is needing help in their task that the rest of us would undeniably give them support to ensure that their task gets completed.

Finally, in our discussion, we conversed about what order we should put our makeup team in for the programme. I came up with the idea that we should make the order match the order that we will be seen in the hall. For context, our makeup team’s set designer has established the order that we will be in for the competition day - we can use this to decipher our order too. My two other colleagues agreed with this idea as I also mentioned the fact that this will help the audience have a clear understanding of who everyone is: for example, Neve is placed first in the hall so placing her first in the programme will help the audience and judges to understand who she is.