Shaquelle Raevon Makeup Artist @shaquelleraevonmakeup - Tumblr Blog

The Final Piece

My experience at West Thames College will definitely be one to remember. When I first came here I was on the BTEC Level 3 course and I remember thinking that I didn't feel ready to start freelancing on my own just yet. It was this moment that I decided I would go back and study on the HND Specialist Makeup course. It will be a decision that I will always be grateful for. Though the course subjects were similar to those I learnt on my previous course, I felt that this was a little more in depth and I knew I would learn a lot from the course and about myself also. There have been many highs and lows and opportunities all of which has allowed me to become the makeup artist I am today. When I first started the course, I was working for Benefit Cosmetics, and although I loved it, I knew I needed a change and wanted to progress. Being on the course motivated me to work harder and using my passion and love for makeup I changed jobs and I now find myself working for MAC Cosmetics in the Pro store in Covent Garden. Ever since I've been even more determined to work hard and achieve my goals. I think this also helps being surrounded by such amazing class mates, makeup artists and most importantly friends. I have learned so much from each and every one of them and I'm sure I have taught them a few things also. My teachers also have encouraged us to take on various opportunities and have always guided us towards the right direction and helped us with inspiration when we’ve had difficulty finding it on our own.

For the run up towards Final Show Day, I did find that I was extremely organised at first, but then I let it slip a little as it got closer and closer to the day. I did go through a bit of a creative block where I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, and I had so many ideas in my head I could not just stick to one. After a few days however I did get myself back on track and I am so happy that I was able to put everything I had learned over the years and showcase it to everyone on the day. Though I did not take on any of the production roles I did support those who did giving my opinions and my thoughts. There were also many days where a group of us would stay really late to finish off our final pieces for the show - if that's not dedication, I don't know what is! I'm so proud of myself for getting everything together to create my final look which I am extremely pleased about and I think everyone has done an amazing job and that we should all be proud of the creativity we have shown.

In the future, I can only hope that I continue with my passion and that I keep encouraging myself to work harder and try new things and new opportunities. I hope to progress in my job and to keep reminding myself of why I studied makeup in the first place. As for my friends I've met along the way, I wish them all the best and that they continue to be amazingly talented, beautiful and an inspiration to both me and others.

FINAL SHOW DAY!

I was so much happier with my final piece from the show day! I think the changes I made to my design helped and completed the look so much better. I wish I had thought about my prosthetic tattoo pieces sooner but such is life. I added more body paint to my design and faded black to white on the skin and added a little purple to go with the eye makeup and the colour of the lips. I also added more material to my skirt so at it draped better and also complimented my model. I didn't spray the hair black is time around as I quite liked the two tones of the hair and the fact that it didn't completely match which goes with my theme of the pretty angelic angel and the gun. I added shimmer to the skin to lift the body paint and also added more shading on the tattoo prosthetics to look like it was coming out of the skin. I decided not to adde the “"forgive me father” quote as I didn't want to have too much going on in my design. I also kept the quotes to a minimum and just used the Lord’s prayer written in Latin as the main part for these prosthetics. I think next time I would add more shading on the rest of the body to give a stone like appearance so that my model fully represented a stone, gothic fallen angel. Aside from that I am so pleased with how the show went and I cannot thank my model Emma enough for helping me out and I couldn't have done it without her, I also would love to thank my assistants Beata and Anna who helped me with parts of the body paint, airbrushing and also keeping my work station tidy through out the day. I also want to give Beata another shoutout for helping me set up my display station for downstairs so friends and family could see my portfolio and my progress.

Overall I enjoyed the day very much, and it was so nice showcasing my work to everyone that I knew as well as seeing all the designs everyone had come up with for the day. We all really are a talented bunch!

Final Budget

Makeup - Mac white face and body £11.40, Vanilla pigment £6.80, Mac 48 and 40 lashes £8.40 (60% discount as I work for MAC)

Hair - hair extensions £15

Costume and materials - new look bandeau £2.99, Topshop crop top £21.60 (10% discount), chiffon £30, lace material £15, elastic £3, sewing machine £25, shoes from new look £27 (10% discount), angel wings £15, gun and gun holster £15, feathers £12

Model expenses: refreshments for the final show day £20

TOTAL: £228.19

I'm really pleased that I was able to keep this under budget even though it felt like I was always spending.

I used the same process as before with the tattoo writing prosthetics to create the piece that will go on the thigh. I liked the image of the two headed girl as it represents the evil that is within my fallen angel. When these are stuck on the skin I think I will add shading to make it look like it's coming out of the skin. I might also let some of the edges peel away to make it look like they are peeling away from the skin.

Here are some images of me creating my tattoo prosthetics. I cut out the shapes from my paper and I spread a thin layer of latex on the surface. I powdered the surface once dry and repeated this 3 times. I stuck the cut out pieces on the latex and then sealed it in latex and again powdered in between the layers. I found this technique meant that the writing could still be seen but it meant that this would be stuck on the skin easily with pros-aide.

Seeing this image of a tattoo inspired my design for my tattoo prosthetics. I liked the idea of the writing on the skin looking like tears with the writing almost looking like it's emerging from the arm.

RETHINKING MY DESIGN:

So after realising that my original tattoo transfers did not work, I played on the idea of them looking like paper and I literally printed a quote in paper and stuck it to latex. Above is my original test and I poured latex on a Vaseline surface and waited for it to dry, then stuck a little bit of paper on the latex. I found that by pouring latex first made the prosthetic a little bit too thick, so I decided to try another method.

One of my final images from the shoot day taken by photographer Jon Green. I love this image of Emma as I think it always gives a nice effect to take a photo looking down as it.s quite melancholy, plus it shows off the makeup. As you can see, my tattoo transfers did not work as well as I had hoped, and eh kept peeling off and drying and going crispy. I did use this to my advantage though because instead of making it look like tattoos, I made it look like paper stuck to the skin, and I asked Emma to pretend to peel them off. I think this added to my design as she is an angel who has fallen from grace and the quotes on her arms are a representation of her former self. The fact that she is peeling them off shows her adjusting in a way to her new life.

I would be lying however if I said that I was totally happy with the final look as it did not turn out the way I pictured in my head, and I felt that my design just needed a little tweaking until I was completely happy. I'm glad I was able to turn a negative into a positive and this was also helped by the fact that Emma, my model was very reassuring and encouraged me to work with my design despite it not turning out how I wanted.

I was extremely happy with the makeup, as I only managed to practice some of it while I was at work (I worked 5 days in a row before shoot day so stress levels were a little high). I did make the eyes a tad more purple than in my original design as I wanted the eyes to look dead and slightly hollow. I added a little purple underneath the eyes to add to this effect. This is my model Emma from the dance class from my college. She was meant to model for just my final show, but as my original photo shoot model cancelled on me two days prior Emma was more than happy to help me in my time of need.

Shoot Day/Practice!

Above is an image of the mood board created for the shoot day, with a closer picture of the makeup design which will be carried out on the day.

To save time hand drawing each individual image, I realised that I could print my designs straight onto the paper and I could then cut around them and use on the day of e shoot. (Please excuse some of the photos as I had to screenshot them from my ipad, so the format messed them up a little)

More testing of the tattoos. I tried to test the tattoos using the previous technique and tried to smooth it on the skin but it still ended up creasing. Chloe then advised me to wet the skin first then apply the tattoo, adding more water to the back of the paper to help it slide the transfer off. I found this was a much better technique and I think I will use this on the day of the shoot. We also found that by mixing a little pros-aide glue with a touch of water on the skin helped the transfer stick a little better and helped it last a bit longer too.

Images of me testing out a hand drawn rose (by me!) I used the same technique as before, my only issue was trying to get the transfer to be less wrinkly and a little more smooth.

TATTOO TRANSFERS:

I researched the best way to make fake tattoos and I found loads of posts talking about using carbon copy paper (what tattooists use) or using tracing paper to outline my design then fill with colour. I then remembered back to my childhood of buying the 5p packs of gum at came with small little Spider-Man (or any Marvel superhero) fake tattoos that would stick to the skin using water. I found that this special paper was called water slide decal paper or transfer paper and I ordered these from Amazon also. I practiced on myself using a permanent marker pen and writing my friend Anouk’s name on the paper - she was sitting right next to me at the time. I wrote her name backwards, cut around the shape, and placed it on my skin then added water. I found that it had transferred and I was extremely pleased with the result.

BODY DESIGN:

My final design for the body has not changed that much but I did decide to incorporate fake tattoo transfers that will go over the arms and on the body. This will be quote from the bible about peace and I will include one that has the. Lord.s Prayer on it as well. On the thigh I have decided that I will paint the quote “Forgive me Father for I have sinned” as it will be a contrast to the quotes about peace on the body and represent the gun that will be strapped around her waist. my fallen angel is turning into an angel who has been banished from Heaven, hence why she is asking for forgiveness. I thought it would be nice to include the quote about peace to show people who the angel was before the betrayal. It almost makes you wonder what she has done wrong to deserve the fate she has.

COSTUM MAKING: the wings

I didn't think I would have time to make the wings for my design so I ordered some from amazon. When they arrived, although I liked the shape as they were pointed and not round, I did not like the size of them and I thought they were too small. I ended up having to order feathers from Hobbycraft (trusty hobbycraft hasn't let me down just yet!) and I used the spare cardboard that my wings were delivered in to make them a little longer - they almost look like moth inspired wings which wasn't my intention! I was much happier with them with the added feathers and length and my friend Sarah let me use her black ostrich feathers so I could give my wings a little bit more flair and fluffiness! **insert "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die” gif from Despicable me**

COSTUME MAKING: the skirt/bottom half.

I bought the lace material and elastic from a fabric shop in Lewisham called Rolls and Rems and I bought the chiffon material from Misan fabrics in Soho on. Berwick Street.

I started off making my skirt by folding over the chiffon by an inch and sewing on a mini sewing machine bought from Hobbycraft. (I was going to hand sew but again, I'm not a seamstress and I didn't want to add any more stress creating my design so I went out and bought a sewing machine). I did this so I could thread my elastic through so that the skirt gathered and draped. This was sew (get it?) much easier to stitch and hem my fabric as it was quick - though I haven't used a sewing machine since secondary school Textiles so it did take me about 40 minutes to set up. I then measured my two bits of lace material, cutting one a little smaller so that it gave a layered effect to the dress. On the middle section of material, I did give it a slight scalloped edge so that it wasn't completely straight. Once all three materials had been sewn together, I thread my elastic through and gathered the material so that it bunched up.

I tested the final skirt on my friend Anna to see how well it sat on the body. I was very pleased with the result as it meant I could include bought pieces of clothing, with handmade pieces.

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