A theater makeup artist enhances actors’ features and creates characters through cosmetics. They must understand lighting and may specialize in airbrushing or special effects makeup. Professional training and experience are necessary for success.
A theater makeup artist is responsible for helping actors excel on stage or, in some cases, on film. This may include enhancing the actor’s natural features through the creative use of make-up techniques. It can also include creating characters through cosmetics such as making wrinkles or adding features such as warts, warts or sores. Many theater schools and programs offer makeup courses. A theater makeup artist is important to a company or production because he or she helps build the illusion of what the actors are working to portray.
Often, a theater makeup artist trains for several years before starting to work professionally. After that, he or she spends a few more years gaining experience as an assistant or in small businesses. Local productions sometimes use amateur performers, but a professional can work in settings like Broadway or Hollywood.
A successful theater makeup artist is able to understand what a character looks like and use cosmetics and techniques to help an artist look more like the role. He or she must also understand how on-stage or on-camera lighting affects the planes and shadows of an actor’s face and form. While most of the artist’s work is centered around an actor’s face, he may also work with other exposed areas of the body, such as the hands or neck.
Creating a theatrical makeup look is very different from creating a fashion or everyday life look. Features often have to be overemphasized due to lighting and the distance between the audience and performers. The work of a theater makeup artist often looks completely unreal up close, but it works well on stage.
In some cases, a theater makeup artist may focus on a specialty like airbrushing. An airbrush artist uses special air-powered applicators instead of the more commonly used brushes and sponges to apply cosmetics. Some artists prefer the airbrush because it is thought to provide smoother, more even coverage. Others argue, however, that it is difficult to achieve deep coloring with an airbrush.
Special effects makeup is a distinct area of the art of theater makeup. It involves creating extreme looks such as monsters, aliens, murder victims and more. This type of makeup often requires the fabrication of prosthetic devices such as ears, chin or scars. During a long period of theater or while filming a movie, the makeup artist must be careful to apply the prosthetics and makeup the same way every day to ensure consistency.
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