Make-up artist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A make-up artist or MUA is an artist who creates makeup and prosthetics for theatrical, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions including all aspects of the modeling world. In some cases, the title of Make-up Artist can also include the responsibilities of hair. Awards given for this job include the Academy Award for Makeup and several Emmy awards.

Make-up artistry in general is not a well paying occupation, relative to other entertainment industry placements. However, a MUA can secure well-paying positions in the modeling and photography world, when one has garnered a sufficient reputation. This is due to the ability to display a face to its full potential as well as establish a working relationship with the actor, photographer or person being worked on. Make-up artists can receive their training in several different ways; they can intern at a theater, they can assist a working make-up artist, or they can attend a school dedicated to make-up artistry. Make-up artists are primarily self-employed (freelancers), but they may also be represented by an agency, or employed by a production company.

However, it must be mentioned that Make-up Artists in general upon starting out spend several years working for limited pay, TFCD/TF or "testing" to build a network of contacts that will assist in securing future work.

Areas of expertise

• Fashion Make-up: Fashion make-up is used in magazine photography as well as on the fashion runway. This branch of make-up design is often highly stylized and is usually focused on making the model or actor look as attractive as possible.
• Theatrical Make-up: Stage make-up is used as a method in conjunction with stage lighting to highlight the actors' faces in order make expressions visible to the audience from moderate distances. This often includes defining the eyes and lips as well as the highlights and lowlights of the facial bones.
• High Definition Make-up: A new area in the world of the make-up artist involves High Definition Television. This strategy for filming offers a new challenge to make-up artists; the extremely sharp resolution of the filming technique requires a new level of coverage needed on a person's face in order to minimize flaws.^[1]
• Special Effects Make-up: The use of special effects make-up can be found in all possible areas of make-up and includes all blood and gore make-up techniques as well as fantasy make-up and the use of prosthetics. This area often becomes a much more complicated process as plaster casting and other crafts are needed to complete the make-up.
• Airbrushing: The use of an airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including alcohol and silicone based makeup by a process of nebulization. Though the earliest record of this type of cosmetic application dates back to the 1925 film version of Ben-Hur, it has recently been re-popularized by the advent of Hi-Definition Television and Digital Photography, wherein the camera sees more detail than ever before. Liquid Foundations that are high in coverage but thin in texture are applied with the airbrush for full coverage without a heavy build-up of product. Because of the spray dot pattern the airbrush puts down, this products also reads as more even to the camera, which records the image in similar tiny pixels. It is also a highly popular technique for Special F/X Makeup.

Well-known make-up artists

• Max Factor, Sr. is known as the father of modern makeup. In 1914, Max Factor created a makeup specifically for movie-actors that, unlike theatrical makeup, would not crack or cake.
• Richard Corson was the author of Stage Makeup (ISBN 978-0136061533) which has to date been revised and reprinted nine times since 1942. His name is one of the most recognized in the theatrical makeup world.^{[citation needed]}
• Kevyn Aucoin was a well-known makeup artist who catered primarily to Hollywood stars and models working on magazine photoshoots and fashion shows. He was the author of several bestselling books including Face Forward (ISBN 978-0316287050) and Making Faces (ISBN 978-0316286855).
• Jack Pierce was a Hollywood make-up artist who is credited with creating the look of Boris Karloff's Frankenstein in 1931.
• Jack Dawn, a Hollywood make-up artist best known for his work on The Wizard of Oz
• Bobbi Brown is the CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and is the author of several books.
• Ben Nye, a renowned makeup artist for the Hollywood film industry for over four decades.
• Khush Singh is the CEO of mKarma Cosmetics and is the author of several books.
• Zing (makeup artist), a Singapore-born (b. 1970) and Hong Kong based makeup artist
• The Westmore Family are famous Hollywood make-up artists,which began with British-born George Westmore and his six sons Mont,Perc,Ern,Wally,Bud and Frank working with all the major US film studios.Many descendants such as Michael (best known for his work on the Star Trek series), Marvin (who runs the Westmore Academy make-up school), and Pamela (Sandra Bullock's favorite make-up artist) continue the family tradition to the present day.