.:Moliere:. Makeup Assignment

The first steps of preparation

I began my investigation by researching French Neoclassical Theatre makeup styles as I had decided I wanted to have the traditional type of makeup used during this play on all characters. There were handouts given to me from my teacher and internet resources which included information that I needed to know about the makeup styles for this particular era, therefore I used different varieties of sources when conducting my research which helped me grasp a better understanding of what, why and how things different makeup styles to be done.

My HL theatre arts class had done a makeup workshop during our course in the previous term. I used my knowledge gained from that to replicate what the makeup should look like on the night of the performance, as I wanted the makeup to look very similar as it was in a 17^th century neoclassic style which was based on an artist’s sketchbook of Commedia Del’Arte characters.

Our first makeup trial!

This is a picture taken from the day of our makeup workshop. As you can see, there is quite a lot of detail in the way the makeup needed to be put on the faces to create a certain effect. I wanted to replicate this effect (as seen above), however modify it to suit the particular characters seen in Tartuffe as the makeup seen above is the typical makeup used to suit young female characters.

My experiment!

As the costume and set designs were being organised for the night of the performance, I decided that I would need to practice the type of makeup I wanted to use on the characters so that I knew if there were any special effects I needed to add or take away to portray the characters I wanted. I took the makeup I needed home and practiced putting the makeup for the character of Dorine on my mum. This proved to help me a great deal as I was now prepared for what I had to do the following night.

I began by putting on a base of bronze liquid foundation and blending it into her neck. After the liquid foundation had dried, I covered her eyebrows with face putty which was of a similar colour to the foundation used. I put a base of white above her cheekbones using white eye shadow which worked effectively in creating new highlighted cheekbones. After this, I created a triangle of blush using pink blush and red lipstick as this was a sign of wealth in the French Neoclassical era. I blended all these colours together, although I would have liked to blend in the highlight and blush more as I think it stands out too much.

Once applying all the base makeup which did not apply to her lips or eyes, I began working on the eye area. For this, I used black eyeliner and created a thick line around the eye areas. I also used the black eyeliner to draw on eyebrows as actors in the French Neoclassical era used eyebrows that they had drawn on their faces to show expression and wealth. I used a sapphire blue colour on the base of her eyelids and blended it into the putty, however the putty was sticky and made the eye shadow greasy and therefore gave her eyes a shiny look.

After applying the makeup to the face and eye area, I began working on the lip area. I drew a basic outline of the shape of the lips I wanted with lip liner, after this, I filled them with blood red lipstick. My mum already has a cupid bow, so there was no need to draw one in for her, but I will have to draw one in when doing both Ronelle and Ashleigh’s makeup.

After completing all my research in preparation for my performance, I completed my makeup chart for women and girls and makeup chart for men and boys for each individual character. I sourced these from The Complete Stage Planning Kit.

Preparation for the character

Character: Mariane

Actress: Ashleigh Winnell

I began with Ashleigh. She was playing the character of Mariane who was being portrayed as young, beautiful, affluent and bright. I began by taking basic photos of different angles of her face without any makeup on so I could begin transforming her facial features into a mask of Mariane, not Ashleigh’s face.

Ashleigh

Next, I sketched what I wanted Mariane’s face and hair to look like on my Make-up chart for women and girls-The complete stage planning kit. This was only a basic drawing, however I knew what colours and effect I wanted to create for this character therefore this was a good representation of the base of Ashleigh’s character, Mariane.

I wanted to replicate Ashleigh’s face so that I could create the same effect that was used when we were in the workshop.

Performance preparation

Character: Mariane

Actress: Ashleigh Winnell

The night of the performance was an interesting night as the makeup was done in a bit of a rush (in record time!). I began with working on Ashleigh’s hair straight away. From prior observation, Ashleigh’s hair was quite thick and therefore a little bit frizzy, so I decided I needed to straighten it in order to make it smooth when curling it. I divided her hair into sections and used a hair straightener to roughly straighten her hair

I then let a friend who was helping to assist me with hair and makeup complete the preparation of her hair style. Whilst this was occurring, I began makeup immediately on Ashleigh.

I needed to portray Ashleigh’s character, Mariane, as a young affluent lady who was of proper upbringing. Through my research, I had taken notes on how the rich and poor presented themselves and knew that the rich needed to have bright, rosy cheeks in order to show they’re

health and wealth.

I began applying Ashleigh’s makeup, beginning with a bronze liquid foundation to cover her face and lips, I also blended the liquid foundation into her neck and chest as these were to be exposed as a result of the cut of her costume. After applying the base of makeup, I powdered over her face lightly with a beige powder in order to create an even coverage of makeup, not a blotchy mask of makeup which I had previously done when experimenting with my mother. The next step in transforming Ashleigh’s face into the mask of Mariane was rather sticky. I used a face putty which was of similar colour to the foundation to cover her eyebrows. This is always a messy job as it is sticky and pulls out the hair in your eyebrows.

Once I was satisfied that Ashleigh’s face was completely covered and blended with her neck and chest area, I began working on the highlights on Ashleigh’s face, she was slowly beginning to transform into the mask of Mariane. For this, I used white eye shadow and scarlet coloured blush. I placed a long streak of white eye shadow just above her cheekbones, however this line extended into her cheek bones as well as Ashleigh has very high cheek bones. After this, I created a triangle of blush which extended to the boundaries of just above her jaw line. However I was not happy with the colour of the blush, so I used red lipstick to create a more red-like colour as I knew that we had recently added lighting to our production and this would effect the way the audience were perceiving the makeup to look as the lights would shine on her face and draw out the colour. I blended the rosy colour of her new cheeks into the highlight of the eye shadow, making sure that both colours did not stand alone, but instead, were conformed together to create the cheeks of the mask of Mariane.

Ashleigh

After this, I began working on the eye area. This consisted of using black eyeliner and sapphire blue eye shadow in order to create the effect I wanted. I applied eyeliner to the base of her eye lids and just below her bottom eyelashes. This drew out the colour of Ashleigh’s eyes, making them seem bolder and therefore more effective when she is sobbing on stage. I then used blue eye shadow on to cover her eyelid and blended it into the white eye shadow used just below her eyebrow. I had to be careful not to blend the white into the face putty that I had used to cover Ashleigh’s eyebrows in. Once I was happy with Mariane’s eyes, I used the black eyeliner to draw on her new eyebrows. However, I was running out of time and the eyebrows were unequal, so I left one of my assistants in charge of drawing them on. I was not exactly happy with the outcome of how they turned out, however, I ran out of time to change them and they still looked like they were from the French Neoclassic theatre era.

The last part of the makeup for Ashleigh’s transformation into Mariane was her lips. For this, I used a deep red lip liner alongside a blood-red coloured lipstick. I drew the outline for her lips, adding a cupid bow to the top of her lips in order to create the same effect used in the 17^th century era. I then filled my outline with blood-red lipstick.

Preparation for the character

Character: Dorine

Actress: Ronelle Richards

Ronelle’s character, Dorine, was very different to Ashleigh’s character, yet I wanted to use similar techniques for the makeup and hairstyles for her character. I began by taking photos of different angles of her face in order to picture what I thought would transform Ronelle into Dorine.

Ronelle

After taking these photos, I had a schema of what I wanted Dorine to look like in terms of makeup and hairstyles. It was going to be very similar to Mariane, yet her facial features are different so you would not be able to see the similarities between the two characters.

I also thought it a good idea to replicate what Ronelle had transformed herself into during her first makeup workshop lesson (as seen to the right), as I thought this looked effective and would be of benefit to the creation of her character, Dorine.

Performance preparation

Character: Dorine

Actress: Ronelle Richards

On the night of the performance, I was in feeling anxious as I had completed Mariane’s hair and makeup, however, had not even begun Ronelle’s transformation into Dorine. I began straight away, fixing her hair and deciding what needed to be done with it. Whilst my assistants were finishing the final touches to Mariane’s hairstyle, I began working Ronelle’s makeup.

I followed the same steps as I had in my application of makeup and Ashleigh’s application of makeup, beginning with stippling a base of bronze liquid foundation which covered her lips and face and blended into her neck. Also, as playing the character of Dorine, Ronelle had decided to wear a corset as the top to her costume, therefore it was very low cut and I needed to blend in the base colour of foundation for practically the whole upper part of her chest area to the top of her forehead. This took a large amount of time which I was concerned about, as the beginning of our performance was creeping up on us.

However, I used beige pressed powder to help assist me in covering the blotchy parts of her skin in which I had not used enough liquid foundation as a base. Also, I used a similar colour face putty to cover Ronelle’s eyebrows, this proved difficult as she has very dark eyebrows and blending the putty in with the base foundation colour did not prove easy, however, I was pleased once the desired effect was achieved.

After the base of foundation had been applied, I began working on the highlights of her cheekbones. I used a white eye shadow to highlight Ronelle’s cheekbones as well as creating the triangle of blush which went to the boundaries of just above her jaw line. As with Ashleigh’s triangle of blush, I was not pleased with the outcome of the colour so I used red lipstick in order to create a more red-like colour for her cheeks. I blended this in with the white eyes shadow used to highlight her cheekbones.

Once her base and highlights were applied, I immediately began working on the eye area. As Ronelle has dark brown eyes, I wanted to draw them out so that the audience would be focused on them as she gave her speeches of justification of her opinion to the audience. For this, I used a large amount of black eyeliner on the base of her eyelid and below her bottom eyelashes. After this, I used a black mascara to lengthen and add volume to her eyelashes. I then used a similar blue colour eye shadow to that which was used on Mariane, in order to cover her eyelid and blend it in with a white eye shadow which was used to cover just below her eyebrows. Once the eyes were completed, I began working on the eyebrows. I drew these on myself and was happy with the symmetry of them.

Ronelle had almost made the physical transformation into Dorine. The second last step was to create Dorine’s lips. I used the same method as was used for Mariane. I outlined the shape of the lips I wanted with red lip liner, adding a cupid bow for the upper lip, then filled the outline in with a blood-red lipstick.

To finalize the transformation of Ronelle into Dorine, I stood back and looked at her face from a distance. I then realized that parts of her body which needed to be covered in foundation were blotchy, so I set about fixing that after completing the makeup on myself.

Finally, the mask of Dorine had been created, all that was left to finish was Dorine’s hairstyle.

I had decided that I wanted a low ponytail to the right hand side of her face, the ponytail was to be curled and held in place with bobby pins and hairspray. As Ronelle has thick hair, I needed to use a lot of hairspray and bobby pins to try and keep her thick hair in place, so by the time I was finished, her hair was truly stuck in place.

Preparation for the character

Character: Orgon

Actress: Kate Bouris

I began my preparation for this particular character with the help of my peers. They took the photos I needed which were of different angles of my face in order to develop an idea of what I wanted my character, Orgon, to look like and how I was to go about creating that effect.

Once I had viewed these, I began sketching what I wanted Orgon to look like, using my guide to the complete set up of theatre which Mrs. Anketell had kindly given to us.

However the difficult part of creating the character of Orgon was the fact that he was not a female character,

My normal face!

but a male character. As I had never done the makeup for a male character before, I was very anxious yet confident that I would be able to portray the male features on my face. Also, Dorine and Mariane were young characters and I was an character which was old, therefore I needed to use different techniques in order to create a simple yet effective distinction between my female features to male features.

To start my creation of my character, I researched about the first time I had used the makeup in my first makeup workshop, however, this was to create a young female character, so I then needed to distinguish what needed to be changed in order to create Orgon.

Performance preparation

Character: Orgon

Actress: Kate Bouris

It came to the night of the performance, I was feeling confident about the makeup that needed to be used on Ronelle and Ashleigh, but not as confident for creating my character, Orgon. Nevertheless, I still felt I did a good job in creating the character of Orgon. I was too busy working on the other characters to even begin thinking about the makeup for myself, then it was kindly pointed out to me that I was running out of time, and still had no makeup on myself. As my assistants finished Dorine’s hairstyle, I began working on my hair. It was a simple hairstyle and was quick to complete as I had already straightened my hair so that a low ponytail would be easier to create. I added a low pony tail with a black bow, as this was what the affluent males wore in the French Neoclassic periods. Once this was achieved, I began to work on transforming my face.

I followed the same basic steps used to create Dorine and Mariane, beginning with the covering of my lips and face with a liquid foundation. I only needed to stipple the bronze liquid foundation down to my neck, as my upper part of my body was covered with a lace kerchief and a shirt. Once covered with a base of bronze liquid foundation, I waited for it to dry and once dry, had filled in the blotches of my face with a beige pressed powder which worked effectively in creating an even coverage of makeup for my face. I then used the face putty to cover my eyebrows. As I am of Greek origin, I had the thickest and darkest eyebrows and therefore needed to use the most face putty to cover my eyebrows completely.

These were similar to those used to create Mariane and Dorine’s facial features. I used a white eye shadow to highlight my cheekbones, however they were lower than those of Dorine and Mariane. I also used the scarlet coloured blush to create a triangle on my cheeks in order to show my wealth and good health. This extended from the corner of my own lips to just above my jaw line.

I then quickly worked on the eye area, using colours different to those used on Mariane and Dorine. I used a large amount of black eye liner to create large bulbous eyes, whilst using a country brown colour to cover the lids of my eyes. I used a very small amount of black mascara, just enough to highlight my eyes in order to make them look bigger.

I used a different technique when creating Once my basic coverage of makeup was dry and completed, I applied the highlights to my face. TOrgon’s lips, I wanted to have them a blood-red colour, but not as shiny as the lips of Dorine and Mariane. Instead of outlining them in lip liner and filling them in with blood-red lipstick, I just used the blood-red lipstick and left it on my lips for approximately a minute. Once this time had elapsed, I wiped the lipstick off with tissue and the effect I wanted was created, my lips were a blood red colour, yet still dull enough to show my age.

The last effect I added to the final transformation from myself into Orgon is the addition of wrinkles. To add this effect, I used the red lip liner which was previously used to outline the lips for Dorine and Mariane. I added curvy lines to my forehead, and straight lines coming of the end of my line of the eye. This made me look significantly older and I was happy with the final transformation from myself into Orgon.

I was excited when I had the chance to be director of makeup for our production of Tartuffe, therefore I decided that I needed to do an in-depth analysis of what styles of makeup were used in the era that I wanted.

I thought that all aspects of this production were successful, it was interesting and exciting to replicate a scene that was created so long ago.

The main reason for choosing the type of makeup that I did was in order to conform with the other aspects of our production. Ronelle, as costume director, had created and sources costumes which were of the French Neoclassic era. Also, As set designer, Ashleigh had tried to replicate a modern upper-class homestead found in France at that time. Therefore, I felt I should not change the aspects of this production, so I chose to replicate the makeup used by actors in the French Neoclassical period. Also, I felt that by using this style of makeup, it would benefit my peers as we could all learn about the style as I was applying it to our production.

The end result!!