23.0 - Makeup/Bodypainting
==========================
What do you want to look like? You can have anything from light makeup to heavy, making people think you're someone else. You can get a look that will enhance your own features, make you look way older than you are, overemphasize your features for a clown look, or some sort of animal. A good makeup job takes time.

Sources of makeup - See section 99.7.

Werekatt's site with lots of makeup and related stuff - http://transform.to/~werekatt/

Bodypainting links site - http://members.aol.com/Sentai/BP-LINKS.htm

Makeup Design I class at Towson University. Excellent resource of finished students work including the instructors - http://wwwnew.towson.edu/stagemakeup/

Masks and makeup from the costumes.org site - http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/MASKSAND.HTM

Professional makeup artist's site - lots of tips - http://www.sapsema.org/

Female actors in character and prosthetic makeup - http://www.themakeupgallery.info/

Movieprop's production resources - http://www.movieprop.com/Production/makeup1.htm

23.1 - Materials
=================
What you want to look like depends on what colors you want. Old-age makeup requires darker skin tones, with some white, for wrinkles. Animal-style makeup can use a variety of colors.

makeup itself
Usually found at a costume/makeup shop, as they have a wide variety. Every Halloween, large chain stores will usually have some sort of makeup, but this isn't as good as the stuff found in the costume shops, even though it's cheap.

brushes
You don't have to buy the more expensive stuff that you find in the craft stores. Sometimes stiff brushes are great for the details, but there have been people who use the cheap kids' paintbrushes, yet come out with some very good-looking results.

rubbing alcohol
Great for cleanups, yet cheap, found most anywhere. You'll find various strengths like 70%, 91%, and 99%. Stay with the 70%, as it does a better job.

setting powder
A must for setting the makeup, keeping it from getting too smeary when people touch it. It also lightens it a bit, giving a better look. Sometimes it'll add some color, depending on what kind of powder you get. Baby powder can do the job also, but it will lighten the makeup quite a bit as well as adding scent if it has it. Also found at the costume/makeup shop.

latex triangles, beauty wedges, sponges
Found most anywhere in the makeup section of any store. This stuff is good for application and blending of the makeup.

paper towels
Great for cleanups, found most anywhere. You will find yourself going through a roll fairly quickly at times.

powder brushes
Good for removing excess setting powder, found anywhere you find the latex triangles.

powder puffs
Allows you to apply the setting powder, also found where you get the latex triangles.

mirror/makeup mirror
What kind of mirror do you want? It can range from as simple as your bathroom mirror to a single frame mirror you can take with you, to one that is 3-panel, lights up, and has a main mirror that is normal, with the other side giving an enlarged view. This can be picked up from just about any place selling this.

stipple sponge
Found in the costume/makeup shops, used for applying thousands of 'dots' to the finished makeup, giving it a somewhat better look, if not a more realistic look.

eyebrow pencils
Not just for the ladies, as this is great for outlining and making designs that you'll use for the makeup job. Found anywhere you find the latex triangles and powder brushes.

23.2 - Application
===================
Everyone has their own preference of application of the makeup. Much of the time, the little latex squares will be used, as they can get into corners and blend in better. Others will use q-tips, fingers, etc.

Start out with your main color. For example, a tiger has orange, white, and black. Orange is the main color. Apply that color first, then add the white around the eyes and mouth. Then powder and remove the excess powder. Then add on the black stripes. When done, powder again.

In short, what you're doing is applying your main colors, and then 'setting' them so the makeup doesn't smear when you're applying the details over your main colors.

Take your powder puff, and put some powder on it. Then make it into a taco, doubling up the puff, and rub the powder into the puff. This allows you to evenly put the powder onto the makeup.

When applying the setting powder, pat it in all over where the makeup has been applied. Don't skimp. It'll seem the setting powder is destroying the look you want. Take a powder brush, and brush off the excess powder. The makeup will be lightened or darkened some, depending on what you used. Excess powder will go everywhere, so be prepared to clean up the work area.

The reason for using the setting powder is that you do not want the makeup to smear when you and/or other people touch that area of makeup.

This is the area where it's best to take your time. Rush jobs don't quite look as good as those jobs that took their time. A minimum of 30 minutes can give you some nice minimalist effects. To really get some good details can take a minimun of two hours. It's not unusual to hear of some artists going 3-4 hours or more under the brush.

If you're going for a horror look, use the nonscented powder if you can find it or the setting powders from the costume shops. If you're trying to look like a wolf, act like a wolf, and go around like a wolf, you really don't want to use the scented stuff, as you're going to be the best-smelling wolf in the house.

23.3 - Airbrushing
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23.4 - Removal
===============
Depending on what you used, you can use rubbing alcohol, makeup remover, soap and water, cold cream, or just plain hop in the shower afterwards.

23.5 - Tips from others
========================
From: Rodney Basler
Subject: FL: Lessons Learned from the Cabaret

Hello Everyone,

This year I had the extreme pleasure of working on the makeup crew for the Cabaret at CF11. I had a tiny bit of previous experience with makeup - I used to paint historical and fantasy miniatures, and did two makeup jobs the night before. The Cabaret, however, was a case of diving into the deep end with airbrush in paw. I learned a great deal - in part by watching the more experienced artists, but also in large part by seeing my mistakes.
I have collected a number of these ideas and observations and wrote them down in no particular order. Boogi and the other list members were kind enough to look them over and make comments. This edited list is the result.

(note: B> - Boogi's comments, E> - Ermine's comments, T> - mine)

Some of them deal with the behavior of the "paint" that we were using - it is a water-based makeup formulated for airbrushing that is made by the Michael Davy Studio that Koshaw purchased. Others are more general, but deal with the need to do a large number of performers in a limited amount of time.

A) SAFETY
While not all of these became an issue during the Cabaret, I have been doing a little reading, and found a few more 'gotchas' that are important to keep in mind.

1) GET A DUST MASK, and not one of those cheesy blue things! I don't care how non-toxic that paint is supposed to be, breathing it in that concentration for that long was a baaad thing - I was hawking up white paint for the rest of the con. Spray the body first and get the dancer to wear a mask while doing so; then have her take it off when painting the face. If the room has utterly fantastic cross ventilation, you can let it slide, but otherwise...
Those blue paint masks can't seal against my face (I have a beard) and only serve to divert my breath so as to fog up my glasses. A mask that absorbs organic vapors might be good because the isopropanol can't be too healthy either, but those masks tend to be heavier and would be harder on the back of the neck.
Talc, too, is very bad for the lungs, so be careful of the powder.

2) Air Pressure - If the air pressure is too high, you can actually inject the paint into the model's skin. Keep the air pressure in the brushes to no more than 30 psi. You can also kink the hose slightly to control the flow/pressure when working around the model's eyes.

3) Remember, depending on the make and model of the airbrush, you might have an 1/8th of an inch or more of very sharp needle sticking out of the nozzle of the brush - Don't jab the model or yourself.

B) COMFORT
In some ways, this can also blend into the 'Safety' category. A friend of mine recently worked at a face-painting booth for a fund-raising fair at her daughter's school. She painted for nearly 12 hours with her hands raised - she is still undergoing physical therapy for the pinched nerves and muscle knots.

4) Try to get a chair for the models to sit in, and keep it far enough away from the wall that you can easily get around it. Otherwise, it can get very cramped trying to get at the right side of their face. Try to find a chair that is the right height for you to comfortably work. Note that the 'right height' will vary depending on both your height and the height of the model. I'm nearly a foot taller than the shortest of the artists, and there is probably an even greater difference between two of the dancers, Amber and MiShi.

5) It might even be possible to get a swiveling barstool cheap from an unfinished or used furniture store.

6) Kneepads - Even if you manage to get the perfect chair, you are going to be spending a lot of time on the floor, and it begins to hurt after five hours.

7) Remember to drink. I was very dehydrated by the end of the night. Gatoraide is your friend.

8) Keep a couple of those Tiger's Milk or energy bars in your pocket, because you _know_ that there will be no time to eat.

C) CLEANLINESS AND CONVENIENCE
This is actually very important. There is a lot of time pressure to the show, and the less time spent looking for things and tripping over the mess, the better. It also makes for a more pleasant and professional work environment. If you are calm and seem to know what you are doing, it will help the dancer relax, which makes everyone's job easier.

9) A smock would be nice; something to keep the worst of the makeup off the clothes and to have a couple of extra pockets. The sleeves should be elbow-length only, since the forearm is too handy a test-palette for the airbrush.

10) If using a drop cloth over a chair, put a towel over the drop cloth - it keeps the sweating down and keeps the makeup from sticking to the plastic...and the plastic from sticking to the dancer...eeeeewwww.

11) While we are at it, snag a few extra towels or a smock to cover the clothing/costumes of the performers that are not getting a full body job.

12) Get or rig a big bottle with a hole for the airbrush nozzle and a filter to catch the spray - I think that Testor's makes one for their Aztek series of brush. Iwata makes a larger model that fits into a trash pail to catch the collected paint. One artist I know sprays into a brown paper bag; when it gets sodden, he throws it away and uses a new one. Spraying into an empty water bottle really sped up the cleaning process and kept down the number of soggy cleaning rags.

13) Speaking of cleaning rags, we needed more of them...keep the roll of paper towels in the room. Better yet, keep two. One is going to migrate into the finishing room.

B>Why two? Why not an entire 6- or 8-pack? Stego brought along two
B>3-packs, and by the time the con was over, the first 3-pack was
B>gone. I've got one of the rolls with me. I've even got a roll that found
B>its way to my car, when I was doing a repair job on it.

B>Gotta mention this in my panels also, though you all saw it as part of
B>the entire thing, when I used a few.

14) Speaking of _soggy_ cleaning rags, make sure there is a trash pail within easy tossing distance of the chair and the worktable. That will help to keep down the clutter and keep it from getting underfoot. Whoever cleaned up the spraybooth during the show, Thank You!

T>Found out it was Koshaw....Thanks, Chuck!

15) Tape down the corners of the drop cloth on the floor. The thing crumples up, exposes more floor, and makes all sorts of handy pockets that catch and hide small things - usually when you are desperately trying to find said small thing.

B>Duct tape! The tape of the gods! [bow bow bow] You will need this stuff.

16) Keep the inevitable Styrofoam cups half-filled with drinking water out of the spray booth. After about five seconds, the water is contaminated with paint, and the blasted things are always under foot... and they break ...and spill.

D) TECHNIQUE
17) Use a foundation makeup to cover up any undesirable tattoos or bodymarks.

18) If at all possible, try to encourage the performers to take a shower before getting sprayed. It is probably healthier not to have the pores all clogged up before you plug them up further, and by cleaning off the excess oil from the skin, the paint seems to adhere better. It might also help them relax.

E>Something to help with the pore-clogging problem: Dancers, after getting
E>showered, apply a thin layer of noxema or cold-cream (I prefer noxema if
E>there's no skin allergies involved). This way, when it's time to remove
E>the body paint, it'll come right off with little residue and won't strip
E>the skin of its oils.

T>This is something that is going to require a bit of experimentation. We
T>have a trade-off between wanting to make the paint/makeup easy to come
T>off after the show, and KEEPING it from coming off during the show.
T>I have read the cold cream/Noxema suggestion in several books on stage
T>makeup, and have heard a suggestion about a product called "Liquid
T>Glove". Nine months and counting...so much to try, so little time :o)

19) Keep the paint coats as light as possible while still providing the necessary coverage; if it gets too thick, it rapidly begins to flake.

B>Flake, and not only that, but also smear off. Doing a pat/smear motion
B>will give you what you want.

T>Since I was using an airbrush, I found that I got the most even coat by
T>using a combination of back-and-forth strokes (easing off the needle at
T>the ends of the stroke) and circular patterns

T>Further experimentation leads me to conclude that the best results are
T>obtained by keeping the brush AWAY from the model so the mist has a
T>chance to partially dry before it hits the skin and keeps wet pools from
T>forming. These are blotchy, take forever to dry, and inevitably
T>smear/peel/flake.

20) Powder, powder, powder! Quickly powder those portions of the body that are going to press together, since that will make the makeup smear and flake. Under the chin, under the breasts, between the legs, the eyelids, the flanks under the arms, the butt (sitting in a chair...) Take a moment to watch the model as he/she moves and sits down - where does the skin crease?

B>Two thumbs up on this one. This is one of the most important. I even
B>demoed this at the workshop, showing the importance of this. You've
B>even noticed that it will lighten the makeup.

T>Yes, it was quite surprising how much the powder lightened the makeup.
T>When mixing the colors, you have to take into account the effects not
T>only of the powder, but of the stage lights, too.

E>See if we can't get a line on the *really big* makeup puffs and large
E>containers of Translucent Powder... I know they exist to handle just
E>this problem, and true translucent powder doesn't fade the colors out
E>like a standard talcum does. Having us non-makeuping stage crew help
E>powder the dancers should help speed up the time, too!

T>Cool! Production line powdering!

B>The large containers of Translucent Powders can either be found at the
B>makeup/costume shop or via mailorder. I use Neutral Set to set my
B>makeup, and it softens and lightens it up some. I haven't tried this,
B>but there's also beige and other color powders. This was demoed at the
B>makeup panel I had, and a darker brown was lightened a bit.

B>What were the primary colors of the Cabaret dancers? Neutral set would
B>have done nicely with the whites, though if I'm thinking right, and
B>looking right, the topaz, sienna, or coco tan (from the Ben Nye
B>catalog) could have given some of the actors an even better look.

B>I get my powder puffs in most any store's makeup department. Just how
B>big do you want? The puffs I use, and I have 3-4, are about 3 inches
B>wide. I've seen some 5 inch ones somewhere, but stay with the ones you
B>can find in the makeup departments. Costume shops can overprice
B>them. The nice thing is that you can clean them up using woolite in a
B>bathroom/hand sink. Don't forget to pick up powder brushes, for brushing
B>off excess powder.

T>I just picked up some 5" velour puffs from Burmann Industries. They
T>were only about $2.50 apiece, which is comparable to the makeup
T>counter in the supermarket and they work great! I'll try to remember
T>to get a couple more before the next CF.

21) If a performer wants to use a particular brand of makeup, due to allergies or to personal preference, try to find out about it in advance and get a hold of some to experiment with. The less 'trial-and-terror' that has to be done on the night of the performance with the clock ticking down, the better. Also, have her buy about twice as much of the base color as she thinks she will need.

22) REMEMBER - back of neck...behind the ears...under the chin... If I am not the one applying the basecoat, I HAVE to remember to verify that those places have been sprayed - that spot behind Tekara's right ear was like a painful, glaring searchlight to me.

E) STYLE

23) Big, big, big decision here - Style: Do I go for a realistic look, or a more stylized one? For example, most of the drawings the artists like Terrie Smith and Michelle Light tend to make the dorsal shade of the Snow Leopard rather grayer and darker than in real life. Do I go for what fans expect, or for RL? Would exaggerating the shading look better on stage at a distance and under the lights?

24) Bigger brushes - big brushes encourage big details, and they can be seen better from the audience. I made Tekara's face markings too damn tiny and they washed right out under the lights. (I raided my miniatures brushes right before the con and the sizes ranged from a 10/0 to a 3, which are nearly useless if the face you are painting is not the size of a garbanzo bean)

B>This is most correct. I've had theatre experience, and have been on all
B>sides of the stage, including on. Make your skin seem darker than it
B>really is, otherwise the lights will wash you right out. My Mutant Cat's
B>makeup wasn't washed out, since I already used dark makeup, and
B>anticipated being on stage. On the stage, things have to be bigger than
B>in real life. You have Mr. Jackson with the poor vision in the upper
B>seats, and you want to be able to be seen by even him.

E>In general, bigger and darker markings survive stage lights and video
E>cameras. You can make them more abstract than real without going too
E>cartoony.

E>If I remember right, "Cats" style makeup follows the 3/10/25 rule (for
E>those who don't know, that's the distance in feet the audience is likely
E>to see the work... the shorter the distance, the greater need for
E>accuracy and fine detail). If we hold to a 10-foot ruler, you can get
E>away with more in the way of abstract measurements of spots, for
E>example. (I believe CATS uses the 10-foot rather than the standard
E>Broadway 25-foot measure because they expect to jump into the crowd and
E>interract).

25) Use a nice dark color to outline the eyelids, and make the line thick enough to be seen from a distance - much of the expressiveness of the eyes is in the lids; the rest is in the eyebrows (most kitties don't have eyebrows, though...gotta think about that one. This probably falls under the heading of Question #23. How do the biggie artists draw 'morphic cats? -time to hit the Little Paw collections again "Honest, honey, this is just research" :-)

B>Think CATS. Visit a local university for some more tips. Look closely at
B>some of the CATS performers. Remind me when I get home, to pass on to
B>you a URL related to CATS style makeup. I get home the evening of the
B>16th, as I'm staying with some relatives/family til then. I'm from
B>Kentucky.

B>Also visit a local costume shop, as they will have some things that will
B>help you out, including something from Mehron, that shows how to make
B>your own cat/animal makeup. I should have shown this during the
B>workshop.

T>As I said - Question #23. CATS uses a very, very stylized look to the
T>facial makeup that is great for CATS, but I am leaning more toward a
T>more 'realistic' look in my own work. However, any information is
T>useful; the more the better. While I would not want to duplicate the
T>CATS style exactly, as a stage/dance show it deals with the problem of
T>conveying a non-human face from a distance and would be a useful source
T>of inspiration. Please, send away :-)

26) Remember the basic rule of painting white uniforms on miniature figures and apply it to white kitties: Don't use pure white as your base - you can't highlight. Use a very light gray, you can shade up and down from there. I think that a gray would probably cover better anyway.

B>Not only that, but pure white can be washed out by the bright white
B>lights. It will, and you're correct on that.

27) Increase the morgue file - add: fox, raccoon, skunk, domestic cats, more species of big cat. What else? Deer? Rabbit? Panda? Try to find out what animals are most popular with the dancers. Look for pics from all angles. For example - I just found out that tigers have stripes on their belly, too. (But that clean, white belly looks so inviting - another example of the style question)

28) If the performer wants their hair colored, forget about subtlety - the raccoon-striping on the Cabaret MC almost totally disappeared.

B>Might want to try teasing their hair out, and apply haircolor then. I
B>did this for a Mardi Gras makeup job, and I grew my hair a little longer
B>for that. I had half green, half gold, and then hairsprayed it up. That
B>was one rather wild hair look, though I usually prefer short hair.

29) Plan ahead as much as possible - try to determine ahead of time how big the stripes/rosettes should be, perhaps even have a few 'rosettes' cut from cardstock - not as a mask, but as a visual guide; hold them up to the performer before spraying. It is too easy for me to make them small.

F) EQUIPMENT AND OTHER NIFTY THINGS TO HAVE HANDY
30) Speaking of airbrush masks - cut a couple of long masks with a straight and a slightly curved deckled edge and use it to create the border between the white underbelly and gray fur of the flanks. Make the zigzag cuts deep to simulate the thick fur.

31) Use an airbrush with a siphon-feed. That way the bottles of color can be changed quickly, and a couple of bottles of cleaning fluid can be kept handy to flush out the brush without having to carefully empty the remaining paint. At the price of that paint, it would be saving money, too.

T>I have since tried this out - it does work well, but _how_ well depends
T>on the type of paint being used.

32) Another thought about airbrush masks - The subtle scale-effect that Edward and I achieved with that dragon was completely lost when on stage. Perhaps a bolder scale pattern using a different type of mask would look better from a distance. Frustrating, because close up the effect was simply amazing. Thanks Ed! :-)

33) The prosthetic on Amber's (the tiger) face looked great - can we get others, too? Do a 'generic' face and make up some slushcasts from it?

34) The 'butt pad' prosthetic used to keep the tail attached worked very well, but simply gluing the tail onto the pad kind of spoiled the effect, at least from close up. We should think of a better-looking way to attach the fabric portion of the tail to the foam latex.

35) Try to think of some way to put up several pics from the morgue file at once so they can be easily referenced. Turning the pages by hand got makeup smeared all over the sheet protectors (thank the gods for sheet protectors, by the way) Perhaps some sort of bulletin board or easel might work.

36) Keep a bunch of those spring-loaded hair clips handy, and maybe some disposable hair-covers/shower caps, too. Something to keep the overspray out of the dancer's hair.

37) Keep a supply of big paperclips on the worktable. This is for poking open the squirt nozzle of the paint bottles. They kept plugging up, and the one paperclip I had was always wandering into a wrinkle of the drop cloth. (see #15 above)

B>Sew a magnet or just drop a small magnet in a smock or related pocket,
B>in a shirt... Then just thunk the thing there, and it's stuck for
B>awhile. But, keep your room keys (like the hotel keys we used) away. I
B>made the mistake once to put a refrigerator magnet near it, at
B>Millennicon, two weeks before CF.

T>I work around computers and have this deep-seated twitchiness about
T>magnetic objects. This might be a little elaborate, but I was thinking
T>of getting one of those tiny dial thermometers that chefs use now - the
T>sort that come in a small plastic tube with a shirt clip. The
T>thermometer can be used for something else, but the tube and clip can be
T>used to carry an old airbrush needle in a bit of cork or rubber
T>stopper. It would be instantly handy, non-magnetic, and could even be
T>used for hand-to-gland combat in an emergency :-)

38) Never underestimate the usefulness of a good Swiss-Army knife and a pair of pliers.

B>You might want to add on EMT scissors, with a blunt end. It's part of my kit.