Tamsyn Hobbs

Makeup artist. Stylist. Shoe Enthusiast.

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Watching the SyFy show Face Off is something I love to do while working, as well as in my downtime. I have such a passion for special effects and prosthetic makeup, and wish I had the opportunity to do more of it. Watching the show never fails to spark my creativity, and seeing creations like Matt Valentine’s amazing Ice Cream Man (Season 2 Episode 8) shows me how much can be accomplished with some resourcefulness and dedication.

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I was incredibly fortunate, as I often seem to be, to work with amazing actors on this project. Danyca Reis played Dee, a spiritual guide of sorts for Max, played by MaxX Monticoe. Because they both needed to appear to be of high school age, any makeup I did needed to be subtle, but help make the actors appear to be a few years younger. I did this by contouring in a way that took out angular features and making them look rounder, particularly on MaxX. 

Wardrobe wise, MaxX was dressed in the standard school uniform designed for the film’s school. Danyca wore essentially the uniform, but altered to make her appear more free spirited, and like she had been painting, drawing etc in her uniform. I also added a small touch of rebellion from her side by colouring in the school emblem on her shirt. 

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A behind the scenes look at Colour. This has firmly cemented my decision to be a strictly off camera presence in the film world.

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These were the basic wardrobe concepts I came up with for Colour. The only differences ended up up being that all students wore long grey school socks and all school shirts had the school’s emblem on the front breast pocket. I was incredibly happy with how everything turned out, as it was all very effective on screen.

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The trailer for Colour. I am immensely proud of this film. 

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School Emblems

Since this film is about a really strict school and all of the ‘students’ are in uniform, it only made sense that the school would have an emblem proudly displayed on the uniforms’ breast pockets. Because I wanted something completely unique to Colour, decided to design my own. I looked into a lot of crests/emblems and what they signify, and found that nothing appears in a n emblem without good reason/symbolism. The emblem I designed, set in a traditional shield and banner compilation, is comprised of various things symbolic of the ideals and values held most important by the ‘school’:

The tree - the tree symbolises several things, but mainly growth and knowledge.

The book - the open book upon which the tree rests is symbolic of learning and academics. The open position of the book represents the constant state of learning the students are expected to achieve. 

Sanctimonia Vincet Semper - The school’s motto is Latin, loosely translating to ‘Purity Always Conquers’. In this school’s sense, this purity is in the form of learning, unsullied by the ‘unnecessary’ arts.

Symmetry - The entire emblem is completely symmetrical, reminiscent of the absolute rigidity of the schooling system this film portrays. 

To see more, including behind the scenes and more project information, go to Dreamer Films’ Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/crewdreamerfilms?fref=ts

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What Do You See?

My first AFDA film of the year was an experimental film called Colour, Directed by Ryan Nussey. Colour follows Max, a schoolboy who one day accidentally skips the daily medication given to him by a highly structured and controlling school system. He ends up finding an art room and a girl within it who together open him up to his creative potential. 

 When developing the costumes and makeup for Colour, I worked closely with Director Ryan Nussey to develop an overall concept. We knew from the start that we wanted the actors to be dressed in school uniform, but that opened up its own questions - What kind of uniform? What kind of colour scheme? How formal should the uniform be? 

Through brainstorming and bouncing ideas back and forth, we eventually  decided that they should be dressed more childlike, to show that they have not grown into independent adolescents. I chose to show this by putting the actors in uniforms more commonly seen in younger age groups - shorts, long socks etc, to give as youthful an appearance as possible. 

Max’s world is structured, rigid and monotonous. To signify this he will be dressed as such – in all whites blacks and greys. When he discovers colour and art, he does so when discovering Dee herself. Thus, she inhabits his world, but almost as art herself. Her hair, wardrobe etc. will bring bright colours to her palette, showing that she herself has broken free from this rigid regime.

To see more, including behind the scenes and more project information, go to Dreamer Films’ Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/crewdreamerfilms?fref=ts

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It is important for any makeup artist to be well rounded in all aspects of makeup applications, including theater. While it makes us uncomfortable to have such harsh and obvious an application, we must remember that underneath bright lights and from a great distance, a face lacking this kind of makeup will look washed out and featureless. Harsh contouring and colours are important, and can actually give a beautiful and overwhelming effect when done correctly. Above is my dear friend, Bjorn, (http://bjornswinton.tumblr.com/) let me practice such techniques on him, and I was utterly delighted with the end result.

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I used to do a lot of work with Chloe Sizer for whatever photo shoots she was doing at the time - couples, friends, model portfolios and the like. The model in these pictures is a dancer named Tamzin Stone, and is easily one of my favourite people to work with, and was so fortunate to have free reign to do whatever makeup and styling I wanted. I'm ao excited with how these turned out, and look forward to working with her as much as possible in the future. Photographer: Chloe Sizer Model: Tamzin Stone Makeup/Wardrobe: Tamsyn Hobbs

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Inspiration for makeup looks comes from all places, from books to movies to precious stones. In this case, the inspiration line was 'Sexy Fruit'. Being as summer has just begun in full force and I find myself making frequent trips to the lemon tree in my back garden, I found my makeup muse in a lemon. Beautiful, bright and summery lemons.

This is the look I came up with, modeled by the beautiful Angelique Viggers, my good friend and fellow makeup artist.

Find some of her work here: http://angeliqueviggers.tumblr.com/ 

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Makeup since the year 2000 is constantly evolving, faster than has previously been seen. Each year, new trends are set for each season, sometimes drawing inspiration from previous decades. For this reason, it is difficult to pinpoint any one makeup trend, as now, more than ever, people are encouraged to play with makeup and find what suits them, from natural and fresh to the blue eyebrows displayed by Vivienne Westwood at Paris Fashion Week in 2011. Makeup has reached a point where no individual applies it the same, enhancing and embracing the uniqueness of the individual.

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As the 80’s drew to a close, so did the use of bright, outlandish colours. Instead, neutral shades made a comeback, and new styles such as grunge and hip hop began to Grunge was the reflection of rebellion, influenced by music at the time such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Rockers such as Courtney Love helped inspire the dishevelled look. Grunge can be compared to the dolled up look of the 80’s by describing it as its exact opposite. Grunge was depicted mainly by a certain style of dress, and little, if any, makeup was worn. Blusher and lipstick were kept to a minimum (though the lips were sometimes done in a smeared red), and the only real makeup was worn on the eyes. Heavy eye makeup made the eyes look sunken and deep. This, combined with pale skin and nude lips lead to the grunge look known as ‘heroin chic’.

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The 1980s were big, bold and bright. Everything about fashion in the 80’s was excessive, from the big hair to the makeup; it was all exaggerated and unnatural. Makeup and fashion were heavily influenced by stars of the day such as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, and with neon colours being extremely trendy, the face tended to be treated as a canvas on which to use them in the most creative and outlandish ways possible. The eyes involved a lot of colour, which was not necessarily flattering to the wearer. Brightly coloured shadows were used in conjunction with coloured eyeliners and mascaras to create an assortment of colour on the eye that, at times, could be considered outrageous and/or garish.

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A lot happened trend-wise in the 70’s. Disco, feminism and flower power all found themselves present in this decade. Feminism grew greatly in the 70’s, and many feminists rejected makeup completely as they thought that makeup strongly contributed to women being treated as second class sex objects. This, ironically, brought about a trend of a natural fresh face. The Hippie Movement also influenced trends in the 70’s, as the women who chose not to face the world bare faced chose to adorn their faces in bright colours, often decorated with peace symbols and flowers to represent their flower power beliefs. While the hippies and feminists chose the natural route, another style was very popular in the 70’s: disco. Disco culture focused on vibrant colours, lights and disco balls, so it’s only fitting that makeup in this period mirrored this.

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The swinging 60s! This period drew a lot of inspiration from the youth of the day, the most iconic of which possibly being the Modernists (Mods) from London. Mods were described as being “fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool”, and were therefore always on top of edgy trends. The look was all about dramatic eyes and pale lips, and was made all the more popular by style and beauty icons such as Twiggy and Edie Sedgwick. The eyes were made to be very dramatic so as to keep them as the focal point of the face, along with natural, flawless skin, nude lips and just a hint of blush.

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I am incredibly excited to share the teaser for Territorial Pissings! It is amazing to be able to see what the product of so much hard work and dedication to a project will inevitably look like.

https://vimeo.com/124532257

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Some more amazing stills from my time on Necktie Youth.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4515662/

http://www.urucumedia.com/#!past/c74

https://www.facebook.com/territorialpissingsfilm?fref=ts