A little update on life.

Hello all, and Happy Mothers Day! To all the beautiful and empowered women in the world, you are so important to the lives of everyone around you. I don't care if you're actually a mommy or not, today is a day for all of the motherly, caring, and encouraging ladies out there that have had some kind of impact on someone's life. YOU ARE LOVED. And we love and appreciate you so much, even if we can't show it every day. Unfortunately I won't be seeing my mom today, I got scheduled to work (retail... ugh!), but I hope that everyone gets to spend the day with a special woman, for my sake :).

On another note, yesterday I had the opportunity to volunteer at The Human Race in Santa Cruz, California! The Human Race is a nationwide, community fundraising event for nonprofit organizations. The Santa Cruz race in particular is a five mile walk/run, that encourages people to raise awareness and donate for a great cause. I worked the face painting booth all day, and all of the proceeds were donated to women and children in need! (Perfect fundraiser for today's holiday, eh?) Though the entire right side of me is sunburned to hell, I had a wonderful time. It was so great having a line of little kiddies (and adults) who wanted their faces painted by me! 

The only issue I had was time. I can say that I'm pretty good at face painting on myself, but my looks take anywhere from 1-3 hours. I have only painted on other people once or twice, and they still took a pretty long time. It's a lot harder painting someone elses face over your own; I know my own face, and I know I can sit still. Whereas others, (especially kids!) tend to fidget around a lot, and its hard to position your hands in a way that makes it easy to paint. Some of the full face paintings I did on the kids yesterday were taking a long time, and I could hear parents complaining that they 'didn't have 20 minutes to wait for a face paint'. Honestly, it's tough rushing through a painting, which I had to do a couple of times. And I felt bad because the paints I had to rush through, when I had a long line, weren't turning out very good at all. (Luckily they weren't paying me for them! Though I did get a few tips).

I realized that timing is just something I need to work on. I can't have 2-3 hours to do someones face, especially when I start doing photoshoots and things like that. I had such a good time yesterday though, and I'm so thankful that I was given that opportunity, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed the things I need to work on. All in all, it was a great experience!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bruising; an introduction to SFX makeup

As an aspiring makeup artist, I surprisingly haven't been able to practice as much as I'd like too. Mostly because special effects products can be pretty expensive, and as of right now I'm trying to get myself through school, paying rent, and eating cup o' noodles for dinner every night. Though I'm not complaining, I know it'll all pay off in the end.

From bruise wheels, to fake blood, to latex, to prosthetics... you usually need a vast majority, and a large amount, of these products just to make one look. I've got a Ben Nye starter kit, and I'm slowly adding to my collection; but as of right now I can only do a few things. For any makeup artist just starting in the special effects field, I'd recommend starting off small with some bruising. It's a basic necessity and skill for almost any wounded look, and there are various ways to make a bruise depending on how old, or fresh, it is. 

When a bruise is brand new, it will appear reddish due to the the blood that has leaked from the capillaries under the skin, it wouldn't hurt to add a few miniscule broken blood vessels to this bruise.

Photo Credit: Freakmo-SFX on Deviantart (Makeup)

At one or two days old, the bruise will be bluish or purple in color. The swelling at the site of the bruise will cut off the oxygen, and the hemoglobin will turn blue.

At five to six days old, a bruise will turn a greenish, yellow color as the area begins to heal itself.

At eight to nine days old, a bruise will then turn mostly yellow, or brown. This is the final stage of the bruise.

Photo Credit: How to Fake Bruising with Makeup video by GoldieStarling

It is important to know of the changes of color in bruising over time. If you aren't aware of these stages of bruising, it could make your character look unrealistic or inaccurate. For example, you don't want to put a green/yellow bruise on a character who had been in a fight earlier in the day, or even the day before. You also don't want to put a fresh red/purple/blue bruise on a character who had been in a car accident a week or two before.

The Walking Dead // Fight Club

Bruising is definitely an important part of special effects makeup, and like I said above, its the perfect place to begin practicing! Here are some examples of bruising I've done on my own with a Ben Nye Master Bruise Wheel, a nylon stipple sponge, a simple synthetic sponge, thick (fake) blood, and some q-tips!

Some Tips: Use a patting or stippling motion to give a blotchy or uneven look, try to make it look irregular and inflamed. You don't want to only use red while trying to recreate a bruise; this can create a rashy or burned look. You can avoid this by adding purple, blue, yellow, or green, depending on the stage of the bruise. Raised or swollen areas of the bruise should be high lighted in yellow, in most cases. For example, the cheek usually appears swollen at the high point of the cheek bone, as shown above. Use the nylon sponge and a reddish color to create the illusion of broken blood vessels. You can also use the nylon sponge to add blood to a scrape or cut near or on the bruise.

And that, my friends, is an intro to SFX bruising! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, advice; or you'd even like to share your own bruise creations, I'd love to see them! Please feel free to comment below!