Contemporary Portrait

Here is the image I have chosen as a 'contemporary portrait'. This photograph is of Prince William and Kate Middleton on their wedding day. They are now known as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

This photograph is of the two of them happily married, kissing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

They are in front of thousands and thousands of people who admire them. This represents their pride and honour to their country. They are very upper class which can be seen through the clothing they are wearing.

'Kate wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterises Alexander McQueen's work. She worked closely with Sarah Burton in formulating the design of her dress.'

Kate and William both look absolutely flawless and so happy to be standing where they are in that particular photograph.

William's posture is very professional looking and is respectful of being watched by the crowd keeping his hands to himself, with great pride that he has just married Kate. They both look very content.

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/galleries/TMG8481516/2/Kate-Middletons-wedding-dress-in-pictures.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13229961

Famous Painters

April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519
'Painter, sculptor, architect, designer, theorist, engineer and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci created some of the most famous images in European art. Though many of his works were never finished, and even fewer have survived, he influenced generations of artists and he continues to be revered as a universal genius.'

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

http://www.leonardodavinci.net/images/gallery/mona-lisa.jpg

'Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.'
http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

One of Leonardo's famous portraits of all time is the great Mona Lisa.



Michaelangelo
'Painter, on panel and in fresco, sculptor and architect, writer of sonnets, Michelangelo Buonarroti was the first artist recognised by contemporaries as a genius. Hero of the High Renaissance'

'From 1508 to 1512 he painted the vault of the Sistine Chapel with scenes from the Old Testament, from the Creation to the Story of Noah. Immediately celebrated, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, with its innumerable figures in complex, twisting poses and its exuberant use of colour, is the chief source of the Mannerist style'

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/Michelangelo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/CAPPELLA_SISTINA_Ceiling.jpg

Extreme Contouring

In one of my lesson's today, we were taught how to do 'Extreme Contouring'. In a simpler way of explaining it; it is the same way in which you would apply a natural contour but it is applied heavier upon the face and blended out more to accentuate the model's features a step further.

Here is an example from the demonstration our teacher did which was very impressive. She created it very quickly and made it look ever so easy.

Once we had been shown a demonstration of how to create this look, we were given the opportunity to create this ourselves. I thought it would be rather easy but I was wrong. It was difficult to get the contouring in the right position to start with.

Once I had the positioning where I wanted it, I then applied the products. I am not happy with my overall outcome. It look very rushed and unfinished. The contouring requires so much more blending which I will be sure to practise on in the future to get it perfect.

I am happy I have practised it and realised it is not as easy as it looks. Next time, I will take more care in applying the products and blending it out nicely.

3 Potential Designs

Here are my three potential makeup designs for this particular Contemporary Elizabethan project. As I have created these, I have taken bits from each design to try and create my most desirable look for this task.

Firstly, I started off with Autumn looking colours due to the season that we are in now. It is getting colder and the colours suited my skin tone. I have created a heart shape effect with makeup at the top of the hairline to represent the hair shape they used to have in their era. It is also a 'gingery' colour which was also an extremely popular and idolised hair colour. I think this has a contemporary feel to it as I have taken ideas from a hairstyle and actually put them onto a face using makeup techniques and products. The blusher has been extended up onto the cheekbones instead of being on the apple of the cheeks as this is a far more contemporary look by including contouring. The lips have stayed plain and simple using a dark red/brown and staying within the model's lip line.

Here is my second potential design. This has more of a glamorous feel to it with the use of glitter and high pigmented colours.

The eyebrows would be blocked on this design to create the illusion of a higher forehead. There would be a white base all over the face which would be greatly powdered.

The glitter can represent the upper class of the Elizabethan's as they wore jewels and pearls to show off their class and purity. The glitter is also shaped as a heart likewise in the first design.

The eyes are left plain and simple and the main focus would be on the forehead and the lips. It would be a bright magenta colour which was ombre'd in the middle for more of a contemporary feel to it.

The cheeks would have blusher applied to them with a rosy pink lightly taken up across the cheekbones.

Last but not least, my final design. I have taken ideas from the two above and created my final design. It involves a very light skin base all over the face, and then highly contoured using browns for the shaded areas. The eyebrows would also be completely blocked out.

Any of the highlighting would be from a highly pigmented silver grease based pallet for extra shine and glamour.

This would be taken right across the forehead in a heart shape position from eyebrow to eyebrow. It would then be extended down the nose and blended.

A brown lipstick would be applied to the lips with a silver ombre in the middle. Glitter would then be applied on top of the silver in the middle of the bottom lip.

Finally, a gold grease based product would be applied on the eyelids and blended outwards. A gold glittered eyeliner would then be applied.

3 Brushes Challenge

Today, we were given the task to create a makeup look of any choice of our own, and to only use three brushes. Here are my images from the 3 Brushes Challenge.

The three brushes I chose to use were the Foundation brush, the Angled brush, and the round ended blending brush.

I feel the three brushes I chose were a great choice for the makeup look I created. It gave me precision, a full coverage for the base makeup, and I could blend the precise lines out perfectly.

The only brush I really missed for this makeup look was a powder brush. If I had a powder brush, I would have been able to take away the shine of the greasepaints.

This challenge has made me realise that sometimes you do not need as many makeup brushes as you think you do when completing a whole look.

In the future when I'm doing a makeup design, I will think carefully about which brushes I need before picking them up to use. Sometimes, less is more.

Harvard Referencing

I have realised these past number of weeks that I have not been Harvard Referencing, I have just simply been copy and pasting the web links in which I have found out information, research or images.

In the future, I will make sure to Harvard reference everything I find from the internet, books, magazine, newspapers etc.

It would be found very difficult to go back on the information I have found in the past therefore I will improve on this on the next project. I will make sure to do my research over the Christmas holidays to ensure that I know exactly how to Harvard reference.

I will also make sure I am confident in writing up a Bibliography.

Elizabeth - Golden Age

In a recent lecture, we watched the film 'Elizabeth Golden Age'. It was released in 2007. It is about Queen Elizabeth facing a number of crises' during her ruling of the nation.

I am going to review this film and talk about the costume's worn, relation to my contemporary design and the comparisons of the hair and makeup to my own final design.

Throughout the film, Elizabeth the Queen herself wears many different beautiful and classy hair accessories along with a heart shape hairstyle with a frizzy texture. This is very similar to my own design as I have created a heart shape hairstyle at the front of the head along with a modern head chain to sit in between the heart shape. The texture of my hair design is not frizzy, it is a straight backcombed messy look to make it feel more contemporary.

Queen Elizabeth always looks elegant with her pale skin. My 'New Elizabethan' choice was Paloma Faith and I feel she relates perfectly with her pale white, clear complexion. Elizabeth is also seen to wear a lot of gold's and silvers throughout the film. I have transferred these glamorous colours into makeup instead of clothing or jewellery.

The clothing worn throughout the film by Elizabeth is always ruffled with tight corsets, but nothing looks provocative. Paloma Faith is similar in some ways as she is not the type of celebrity to show off herself in a sexual or attention seeking way.

http://cdni.condenast.co.uk/592x888/o_r/pfaith_gl_24may12_rex_b.jpg