Evaluation of my HNC studies across all modules throughout the year

My personal development throughout the year

Writing down my personal development is very important to me because it's much easier for me to achieve my goals if I see my plans written down. By planning the path, I believe I can develop strategies to reach my destination.

By writing down my goals and motivations it's much easier to understand the greater plan and I know exactly why I am doing what needs to be done. It's also a good idea to write down what I already achieved to be able to see my skills and personal development. So let's see what I've learnt throughout this year.

Theatre Makeup

At the beginning of the academic year, I was very much looking forward to study theatrical makeup because it is something I have never studied before, so it was completely new to me.

Throughout term 1 and term 2 I gained many valuable makeup skills that I did not have before, such as the ability to create ageing makeup, making, applying and coloring bald caps, applying false facial hair and prosthetic pieces. I also got to work with products that I never tried before, like Glatzan- cap plastic, crepe hair, soft putty, etc.

I also learnt to differentiate between theatre makeup and other types of makeup. Theatre makeup is all about the distance of the audience and the effect of stage lighting on the make-up. These are things that I very rarely had to take into consideration before.

Looking back at the photos of my work from the beginning of the year, I think I am safe to say that my techniques improved quite a lot and I became much more confident in theatrical makeup. For example when I first did an ageing makeup look, my lines were quite thick and not very well blended at all. I did not pay much attention to the fine details of the face either. After practising this makeup look I became much more confident about the placement of the shadows and highlights and how to blend the lines in a way that is still effective from a distance but also natural looking. Perfecting ageing makeup application is very important in my opinion, because it is all about shading and highlighting which is one of the main principles of makeup artistry.

I also learnt another very important technique in term 2: The making, the application and the coloring of 

bald caps. When we first started to learn about the making of bald caps, I had no idea what I was doing. I completely messed up the measuring of the head and my bald cap ended up being too small for my model. After practising it, I now have a much better understanding of the making of bald caps. By the time of the bald cap assessment at the end of term 2, I became quite confident in the application, blending and colouring of bald caps.

Current Trends

I think Current Trends was such an important module, because it's essential to know about what's going on in the world of fashion and current trends. Learning about and recreating our own interpretation of makeup looks that were created by such influential artists like Pat McGrath and Alex Box was very exciting for me. We also got to create a lot of creative makeup looks which has always been a favourite for me. I love using my imagination and creativity to achieve makeup looks that are unique and unusual. 
The beginning of the year was a bit difficult, because we kept having different teachers so it was really difficult to adapt to their different teaching styles. We also learnt some very important skills, such as bleaching eyebrows without bleach, covering eyebrows, makeup for black and white photography which are essential skills in makeup artistry in my opinion. I am also very glad about learning the difference between editorial and catwalk makeup. I now understand that on the catwalk, sometimes less is definitely more. I am also very happy about being able to create a blog and a website, as it's so important to know these skills in order to advertise yourself.

I also really enjoyed our final 'Cover Girl' project. It was really quite stressful to source models and photographers, but it was definitely worth it. I was really happy with my final image.

Production Management

I very much enjoyed this module and learnt a lot of useful things about the film and television industry, which is so important to me as I would love to have a career in film and TV makeup. I gained an insight into the role of the production team and into the background areas of the film an television industries.
We also learnt about the history of films and film making, early pioneers of makeup, script breakdown, budgeting, continuity sheets, call sheets and on set etiquette. We've also got given a final task, in which we had to work on as a team. It was definitely challenging, but fun. It made me realise how difficult it is to work with other people as a team and to share tasks.

Special FX Makeup

SFX Makeup is something I have always been extremely interested in. One of the main reasons I applied for this course was SFX Makeup. I've done some SFX Makeup in the past but I really wanted to progress in this field and I still really want to get into prosthetics- and mask making. I loved the fact that we learnt to use different materials to create the same look, such as latex, gelatine, silicone, etc. I would have loved to learn a bit more about mold making, face casting and prosthetics, but overall I really loved this subject.

Hair

Hair is probably one of the areas I feel I need to improve in the most. I think for a person who has never done hair before, one hair lesson a week was just not enough to develop the necessary skills. I understand it is all about practising but I would have loved to learn a bit more about current hair trends from the catwalks. If I'm completely honest, I sometimes felt like there was no connection between current trends in makeup and current trends in hair. I also felt like watching a YouTube tutorial should not be the way to learn about hair styling.

Because hair styling is so important in this industry, I feel it would be beneficial for me to do a separate hair course, as this just wasn't enough for me.

Body Painting

Again, I really enjoyed this module, because I found it very creative and challenging, however I do believe that we were not shown many techniques in this field. We had a theme to follow each week which was great, but I feel it would have been more beneficial to have short demos of different techniques to be able to learn and then recreate them. I feel like my art and design background has definitely helped me a lot to complete this module. I am indeed very artistic and I looked at the human body the same way as I look at an empty canvas. I am actually very proud of myself for completing two full body paintings in the time frame given for my final assessment. 

Managing a creative business

In this unit I've learnt the importance of marketing and advertising in this industry. Nowadays talent is not enough in my opinion. In a competitive market like this, you have to get your name out there and achieve a good reputation in order to be a successful business. You have to use marketing strategies to create service awareness. Without marketing your potential customers may never be aware of your business offerings and your business may not be given the opportunity to progress and succeed. Marketing builds brand name recognition. Without marketing, sales can easily crash and your business may have to close. 

I also learnt a lot about self-employment and how to pay your own taxes. By completing this unit, I now definitely have a much better understanding of how to run a successful business. It also helped me to develop research skills and web-design skills.

Period Makeup and Hair

Final Show

What I achieved this year

•      Learning new makeup skills and techniques
•      Learning about costume and head dress making
•      Different makeup projects to extend my portfolio
•      Work experience in a theater show- You Me Bum Bum Train and Virtually Dead
•      Work experience at Joey Bevan’s fashion show at the Basildon Fashion Awards
•      Part-time job in make-up artistry
•      Valuable work-relationships with industry professionals

My talents and strengths

•      Creativity
•      I am always open-minded to learn new tricks and ways of expanding my craft and skills
•      Recognizing the need of different techniques and products for the desired makeup look
•      Being able to create artistic and creative makeup

Areas I need to improve on

•      Application of crepe hair
•   ·  Hair styling!!!!!!!!!
•      Molding, casting and prosthetics making
•      To learn more about techniques for the television and film industry
•      Team-work

My plans for the future

My short-term goals are to network as much as possible and to find a senior make-up artist in the television and film industry, who I could assist for. Getting on set is the best way to learn makeup artistry in my opinion. My long-term goal is to pursue a career in the film and television industry. I also learnt a lot about different job roles in the industry, which I think is also extremely important. By researching this task, I now understand how different roles contribute towards the overall completed piece. Even though it is still very hard to be critical with my own work and find the things I do not like about it, it's something that definitely benefits me when trying to develop my skills. Another very important thing I’ve learnt throughout this year is that interpersonal skills are just as much important to your success as your makeup skills.

Overall I really enjoyed this year and I think I've definitely gained valuable makeup skills and had some great opportunities to experience the world of production media makeup.