Conclusion

I feel over the past year, I have grown as a person massively. I am more confident in both the practise of makeup artistry and also socially, which I believe are because of university. I am feeling positive as to what this year will bring, and working on my own personal goals. To further support my studies, I would like to take trips to museums, volunteer on shoots around with other university students and work on my own shoots. Over the summer, to support my work and gain an understanding of theatre work, I was lucky enough to have a backstage tour of the Queen's Theatre in London, which shows the iconic 'Les Miserables'. My sister is a dresser, so I had a personal tour throughout the backstage, where I saw the costumes, and more importantly the wigs. It was amazing to see the work of the wig mistress, especially up close. I then went on to see where the actors apply their own makeup, and was even allowed to walk on stage and look out at the stands. It was an amazing experience that I will remember and work towards being in the industry.
This year, I am aiming to find work in southampton in the makeup industry. Whether it be behind a makeup counter, working in a beauty store, or working on uni students photoshoots and films. I am motivated and will look at everything in a positive way.

Skills, Responses and Actions of the Past Year.

What Am I Doing Well?
When looking back on the feedback from the first project, The New Elizabethans, I can see where my strengths and weaknesses lie. I find it very helpful to read feedback from the tutors, as I can clearly see what I need to work on and what I am doing well, so I often ask the tutors for their advice during class, whether it be in a seminar or practical. From the first project's feedback, I can see that m strengths lie in application, and weaknesses are going into depth within my blog, and informing the reader on the reasons behind what I am designing or saying. I need to go further into depth, and research widely. I feel my art background has given me a head start in terms of application and the physical side of makeup, I already had knowledge of colour, tone and form.

Fundamentals of Makeup Design.

"Portfolio - B1
Through viewing the blog research, it can be seen that Georgia is happy to take chances and look to other arenas for inspiration. While the Elizabethans was the main source of reference, she was confident enough to produce a series of ideas for her final look. Although this would have benefitted from a more informed assessment of why she selected some of her ideas this did indicate that Georgia was taking more than a surface approach. Having said that, this was an engaging first project and I expect great things from Georgia in the future.
Timed Assessment - A2

Georgia is to be congratulated for her good work here as the make-up artist. However she needs to work on keeping her work station tidy!"

Fundamentals of Hair Design
"I can see that you have understood the project and tried to relate your research work to the technical skills that you have learnt. To improve on this try to explore your research work further during future projects. Similarly your design ideas are good, but I think they could be researched and explored more thoroughly. 

Timed Assessment A3 

Georgia has produced a high level standard finish. She has considered the shape and application of the curls, plait is finished well and placement is very good. I look forward to her development next project. Well done."

I feel my designing process needs to be clearer, as I usually have ideas floating around in my head that I am unable to get onto paper clearly! As well as the practical side of makeup, I feel my designs are creative and original, and I am succeeding in that. Areas that I have strengthened in particularly are my timekeeping skills; I surprised myself at completing the timed assessments within the given time frame, which I didn't think I would be able to. I think I underestimated my skills, as I walked into the course believing I could not really do anything at all. Working in partners has strengthened my communication skills, particularly when working on the New Elizabethan Project, where we had to complete our partners design, and give our designs to them to complete. On a couple of occasions, my partner did not turn up to class for practise. I didn't want to fall behind, so I made the most out of my practical time, and would complete their design on myself, or worked on developing my design further. I found this still helped me towards my final outcome, as it would give me time to use the makeup room and take advantage of the time by myself. I was able to use the time wisely, noting down tweaks and changes to my look.

Areas that need work particularly are my blogging skills, and communication my research thoroughly. I often find I will have the ideas in my head, but have difficulty putting them down in writing. I studied English Literature at Sixth Form, but I have always found writing more difficult. I will continue to develop my writing skills throughout the next year, through blogging in particular. 

Given the chance, I would have spent more time on my designs for the second unit (Claudia and Quentin) and practised with the prosthetics further. I didn't practise enough with the wax and latex, which meant when it came to he day of the shoot, I had to lose the prosthetics altogether, and go with some extreme contouring. This is one part of the year that I was gutted with, and would change the whole thing if it came around again. Studying special effects this year will help me massively, as I am going to learn how to use these products in further depth. 

My most successful moments this year, I think were my Miss Havisham Final Piece, and my Claudia Character. I am really happy with the outcome of both Miss Havisham looks, and feel they are very similar, and was a great introduction to continuity. I am going to write continuity notes for every look I make for next year, to help me get into the habit of it. This will strengthen my skills. The Claudia look was another sucessfull moment in my year, as it was a lot more subtle than Miss Havisham, but the outcome of the photographs look very creepy and are exactly what I imagined. I thoroughly enjoyed creating two characters, Claudia and Quentin, as it was such a wide brief that we could do what we wanted, to an extent. This was a lot different to our other briefs for the year, which were a lot more strict and contained. 

Attitudes and Skills

Over the past year, I feel my attitudes towards being a makeup artist has changed massively. I have become a lot more positive as to whether I can achieve certain things. I used to look at makeup looks and say that I would never be able to do something, but with a lot of practice I can see myself achieving my goals. I was also very nervous to apply makeup onto other people, whereas now, after practise in both class and volunteering at the Graduate Fashion Show, I feel much more confident. I believe that working with partners and working on each other in class, as well as forcing myself to get out there and volunteer has boosted my confidence massively.

My organisation skills were put to the test within first year. Juggling each of the subjects, homework and completing our own research was difficult to adjust to at the start of the year. As I attended sixth form, I was used to completing work and having hand-in dates, but in university you usually have more than one task to be getting on with at home. I used a diary last year to make sure I was ready for hand-ins, but this year I have gone one step further, and bought both a white board and calendar for my room, so I can clearly see if I have hand ins for the next day, but this will also help accommodate my social life, work and own time. Blogging is an important aspect of our course, and I always had to find time to sit down and unload all of my ideas. I think within the Elizabethan blog, I could have ordered my blog posts a lot better than I had, to make them flow and easier for the reader to understand. When looking back on my blog, I made sure that the Gothic Horror blog flowed better and showed my ideas. When coming to the final designs in the Gothic Horror section for our characters Quentin and Claudia, I feel I hurried them and they were not in detail enough because I had not accounted for them taking as long as they took. But now I know for next term that my designs will take a lot longer if they are in more detail and if more thought goes into it.

Reflection.

Looking back on the past year, there are many things that I have learnt, and many things I need to work on. As a beginner in makeup, it was important for me to learn the fundamentals, which we did in the first unit. It brought me up to speed with the basics, and I gained confidence, finding I could do a lot more than I thought, but even still, my skills are not what they could be. By starting off with the basics, I didn't feel inferior to the rest of the class as we were all going over the basics together, which boosted my confidence. The first project focused on the New Elizabethan, (a modern take on the classic Elizabethan look). My knowledge of art helped me during the designs, I wanted to create an original look, so I experimented with different textures, colours and materials during this process. Initially, I found the design process difficult finding a starting place, as I panicked that my design would be unoriginal and unexciting. Once I finished the first design, I began to see what I could alter and change to make the design more interesting and original. There are many designs that I am not happy with, but this pushed me to delve deeper to create a design that I was happy with. From this experience, I know now that it is better to start off with one design, and study it to see where you can move on and develop it further. This helped me during the second unit, where we designed looks for Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations'. Following a brief, I created my initial design, which I found uninteresting. I manipulated this and darkened the tones, deepening the hollows of the eyes and cheeks, which in the end worked well for me. This process made me look at what I had designed, and made me focus on fulfilling the brief. I can see through looking back on my work that I am swaying towards more of the exaggerated looks, so to even this out I will try to look at more natural looks, even if it is a personal project. 

In terms of my technical skills, I feel I have made a vast improvement, but this still needs to be worked on. Even looking at the work I completed between the Elizabethan and the Gothic, I can see that my technical skills, and application is much neater and refined. Looking back on the Elizabethan look, I can see that the eyebrows aren't quite symmetrical, and the application of blue eyeshadow is blotchy over the real eyebrow hair. In the same way, my continuity shots for Miss Havisham aren't the same, I haven't exaggerated the wrinkles in the same way. I am pleased with both works, but there are tweaks and changes that I would make if I were to do them again. Looking back on my work in a critical perspective makes me realise what I need to change in individual looks, as well as the way I work. 

New Elizabethan Project

Miss Havisham.

The Gothic Unit was by far my favourite, especially the second half, where we met Claudia and Quentin, two characters to be introduced into our choice of television show. As an avid fan of all things horror, I was wholly excited to start designing. I chose American Horror Story, which is one of my favourite TV shows, and Claudia was to be a patient at the asylum, and Quentin was an alien. I was really please with my Claudia shoot, but looking back, not so much with my Quentin shoot. I practised with latex and wax to create raised cheekbones, but on the day the wax would not set, no matter what I did. I really struggled, so changed my design to just use really exaggerated contouring. In the photographs I am happy with the outcome, but not overly proud, I know I could have done better, but I let the stress get to me. This year, I am going to practice a lot more, as I know now how important practice is to get the right look. 

Claudia

Quentin

Introduction.

Hi! My name is Georgia, and I am a student at Southampton Solent University, going into year two of the Hair and Makeup Design course. I am an aspiring makeup artist, fascinated with the transformations that makeup can make. I come from a creative background, growing up with both my elder sister and step-mother putting most of their time into art. I became engrossed in the intricate marks that made up a portrait, and how obscure applications of paint can make up the most beautiful landscapes. I went on to study art and photography, and this is where I realised my creative flair. I enjoy creating pieces that pull in the viewers, where they similarly become engrossed in my work. I particularly enjoy creating pencil portraits and biro portraits, as I feel I can capture every detail with the pencil/pen marks, and studying the textures and intricate details of the subject makes you feel connected to them.

Neytiri - Avatar
Pencil on Paper, Georgia Warwick

Recreation of Marc Powell's Hummingbird
Biro on Paper, Georgia Warwick

Baby Monkey
Pencil on Paper, Georgia Warwick

Arthur
Pencil on Paper, Georgia Warwick

Hummingbird Pattern
Biro on Paper, Georgia Warwick

Elderly Gentlemen
Biro on Paper, Georgia Warwick

I have always been a makeup junkie, always experimenting with different products and looks, and using their versatility to adapt them to suit my needs. When choosing my course, I wanted to combine the art and the makeup into one subject, so Makeup and Hair Design suited me perfectly. I had no background in makeup, apart from my love for it. The initial few weeks were so important to me as I learnt the fundamentals of makeup and hair, which I now use in every makeup application. This blog will cover every aspect of my course during first year, as I reflect on my experiences. I will talk about things that went wrong, as well as things that went right, and things that I would love to go back in time and change.