micmacs

So I'm just finding out about this movie but it just shot to the top of my must-see list. And it's by Jean-Pierre Jeunet?!?!!? Sold! It's written and directed by the man for Amelie so how could it not be wonderful?? Plus the posters and stills are sooo pretty.

Sadly, it's so close to finals that I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks before I can see it. =*( I guess I'll just have to watch Amelie for the millionth time while I work on projects...

zombie makeover

My first three frozen zombie attempts

Zombie Makeover

Because we're working on zombies for our class, we also got a crazy fun makeup demo. He mainly used water based colors, corn syrup, gelatin, bread crumbs and cereal to get the effects.

Anthony never looked better, no?

Rick Baker's Fabulous Studio

Last Saturday I got to go and see makeup extraordinaire Rick Baker's studio. Nobody special, just a winner of 6 Academy Awards and designed creatures for movies like The Grinch, Men In Black, Planet of the Apes, Wolfman, and the Nutty Professor.  It was better than Disneyland (OK, I've ever been to Disneyland, but I'm pretty sure this tops it).

His studio is an enormous area full of creature creating cubicles, make-up rooms, Gothic inspired architecture and a graveyard. Yeah that's right, a graveyard! There also was a mini-museum area where the creatures he created were on display. Naturally pictures needed to be taken to document everything.

Eyebrow Gluing: You know, just a normal Thursday night...

Gotta love studying costume design. We get random but fun homework assignments like this week's "blocking eyebrows" task. Last night I blasted a Queen/David Bowie/Abba mix and got to work. 

The formula extraordinaire is:

- Brush and coat eyebrows with Elmer's stick glue -

- Using a brush, powder and glue again -

- Repeat gluing and powdering until eyebrows are completely smooth and flattened -

- Apply an extremely thick concealer over glued brows until fully covered -

- Blend into make-up until brows are invisible -

***Drag makeup optional**

This was my first attempt but it seemed to go relatively well. My brows are narrow but are dark and super dense making them difficult to camouflage. I had to coat and coat and coat them to discover that no matter what I tried you could still see the eyebrow ridge around the section by the bridge of my nose.  With practice I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem..... or it's because I'm just abnormally hairy.  ;)

I've sewn a costume to her face...

Here's a sneak peak on where I'm at with my oh-so-fancy Ascot dress I stitched last night while watching Titanic. I'm a little bummed because the stripe is too small to see except close up *sniff*.

Ideally I wanted wider sized stripes but ended up not finding the right size anywhere. Sheesh, who knew perfectly striped silk would be impossible to find?! I kinda wish I went with the silk polka dot fabric I would have chosen if it was period correct {darn those nit-picky project rules!}. Even though I'm suffering from fabric remorse I know everything will turn out fine in the end. It just needs some big ol' trimming and it will be fabulous.

my first zombie

Aw yeah, it's zombie time! Behold my first draft of zombie makeup I'll be doing at the end of the quarter.

I'm still working out the specific disgusting details but this is my initial look for a frozen zombie. I want to have patches of frostbite and possibly frozen snow or frost encrusting. Naturally, being dead and all, there also needs to be some flesh decay but I'm not sure how much. I've been watching some really gross youtube videos on zombie makeup. There is some crazy, crazy stuff out there.  Even though a lot of it is really nasty, it's still really amazing to see everyone's tricks. I watched waaaay too many of them last night.

As much as I loved watching those gory how-tos, I don't think I want to go that. Just because I'll be the living dead doesn't mean I still can't look good. After all, true beauty never fades.

Turandot - All Finished!

I finished my Turandot renderings this weekend! I had a bit too much fun designing this show and I'm actually a bit sad to be moving on from it.

The play is set in China, however it's more of a western idealization and a fairy tale. I chose to focus on the mythical elements vs. period specific. While I did do research on Chinese dress, clearly I did not set this production in any specific period and borrowed from multiple dynasties and regions adding a more eerie look.

The design concept is that the "evil" princess Turandot is polluting the country and the everyone around her by her defiance and chopping off princes' heads and publicly displaying them on stakes to mock their defeat. The costumes would be made out of textured metallic silks, synthetics and leathers in dirty yellows, blacks, silvers and blood reds. I really wanted to give off a sickly-ness that is slightly disturbing but draws you in. Hopefully I achieved my goal. ;)

The Kentucky Derby

I do love an excuse to dress up and wear a fancy hat. When I lived in NYC, my friends and I would to the Easter Parade {another traditional hat wearing festivity}. The actual parade is nothing like the Judy Garland/Fred Astaire film Easter Parade, but it's still fun to get dressed up and look at other people. And when followed by a picnic in Central Park it's even better.

Sadly, I'm not in Kentucky {but my sister is - Hi Esther!} so I'll just have to enjoy these dapper derby folk via the internet. And there's the added bonus of jockey uniforms, which I love!

BTW - How fantastic does Johnny Wier look in his enormous hat? I think he pulls that look off better than most of the ladies.

 

{All images via KentuckyDerby.com}

Boop! Boop!

One of the very first movies I remember seeing was a stop-motion version of Wind in the Willows. Naturally, when deciding on a make-up oriented fantasy character for a class I had to go for motor car enthusiast Mr. Toad. Boop! Boop!