To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street...

My transformation this week was definitely a "make it up as you go" kind of process, which was only fitting as the entire idea was brought on by a series of perfect events.  While in New York, my sister and I talked a lot about what I wanted in my portfolio.  I knew it would have to include some creations that would show my personality.  And it was during this conversation that we turned down Mulberry Street.  I looked up and saw the street sign and it was like a vision I remembered a Dr. Seuss book I read when I was little To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  It was the perfect vessel to show my child-like imagination: Dr. Seuss characters.  Still, I didn’t want to do straight from the movies Dr. Seuss characters, I wanted to put my own twist on them.  My sister and I threw around some ideas, but it was again a New York City inspiration that stuck.  With fashion week steadily approaching, it seemed like the perfect marriage of inspirations: Dr. Seuss and high fashion.

To prepare for this look I took a different approach from my usual formula. I couldn’t just watch a video or research a time period, so I had to piece together everything I wanted for this Dr. Seuss themed page. I decided to do three characters for this page, two different looks and two that are in a sense the same character.  This week I created a high fashion Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I started by looking at pictures of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and getting a sense of their over all colors: fluffy blue hair, white faces, and red jumpsuits. Then, I looked at picture of models on the runway.  The two things I noticed were faux hawks and feathers.  Marrying these ideas, I created a hair style for the Things that used blue feathers in a faux hawk to achieve a whimsical Dr. Seuss look.

How To:

To do the hair I started by pulling the front into a big poof, think Snooki when doing this part. Fix that in with booby pins and lots of hairspray (Gel if needed). Then start teasing the hair like crazy, I also find that if you curl the hair a little bit, it make it easier to tease. I then pulled back and pinned the side pieces of hair, combing the edges so they were sleek. Once all the hair is pinned back I started the messing part the feathers. I took a long blue boa and cut tiny pieces and started bobby pinning them into random places in the faux hawk. I finished off the hair with a little blue spray color and hairspray.

                                                                                                           For the make up I had to think a little differently. I knew I didn't want them to look exactly like Thing 1 and 2 with their big eyes and turned up noses, but I wanted to to be inspired by the colors and cartoon aspect. Instead of an all white face,  because let's face it, been there done that, and it was not fun. I decided to just do a paler face, common on the runways, then add white into the eyes and streaks of white on the face to give a more high fashion appeal. I also wanted blue in the eyes to match the hair. Finally, when I looked at Thing 1 and 2 I realized they had very dramatic cartoon eyelashes so I used a little trick to create that same look.

How To:

Start off by applying some skin colored or a shade lighter foundation, then set that with a skin colored loose powder. You are then going to apply a white eyeshadow extending up into the hair line and into the forehead. I then took a very electric blue and added that to the crease of the eyelid and extended out. Then, for the eyeliner I took a liquid liner and drew in 3 fake eyelashes and drew lines on the bottom lashes. So from far away it looks like she has big bold eyelashes that make the eyes pop. For blush I took the white again and put it where I would normally put the blush. To finish it off I took a red lipstick to match the lovely thing one and thing two jumpsuit. 

F

For the costumes I just did an Ed Hardy inspired cut up Thing 1 and 2 T-shirt that I made myself with some black legging. I wanted the T-shirt to be bigger so that it was more like a short dress and the cut up back reminded me of thought bubbles common in Dr. Seuss books. 

My idea for the pictures was to find a Mulberry St nearby to pose with the street sign and luckily, thanks to Google, I discovered there was one about 15 mins away from my house. Unfortunately, the weather was not in my favor the day of the transformation. So, I was unable to get the full affect I wanted.  I guess this means I have to do this again in a few weeks and track the weather a little better.  This was a really fun and creative transformation...And to think this all started on Mulberry Street.  

My cat Tiny really got inspired by the
transformation. 

Notes for this transformation:

1) Not everything always has to be just like the character.  Use color and textures to also show a character. 

2) watch the weather channel if you plan to take picture outside you won't be surprised when you wake up and it's raining haha! 

       

Next Weeks Hint: He had it coming...

Mulan

When I was faced with creating my own looks for my portfolio, I thought long and hard about the types of creations I would undertake and what they would say about my personality.  I knew there would have to be a section dedicated to Disney characters.  Ever since I was little, I have been enthralled by these cartoon masterpieces.  I spent many hours of my young life watching these movies, especially my favorite Mulan.  Since Mulan was my favorite, she was the natural choice for my first entry.

In preparing my Mulan transformation, I started by watching the movie and pinpointing the look I wanted to achieve.  The scene I chose has Mulan dressed in formal Chinese attire for her interview with the matchmaker.  I watched many videos and studied every picture I could find to make my own sketches.  Some specific things I noticed were that her eyebrows are higher set than most peoples and she has larger heart shaped lips.  In this look her hair is pulled back off her face in a loose and imperfect bun with a curled shorter piece of hair pulled down onto her forehead.  These were the major notes I used when transforming my friend Ashely into the Disney Princess Mulan.

To start transforming Ashley I had to cover her face entirely in white, including her lips and real eyebrows so that I could achieve the high set eyebrows of Mulan.  I then applied a light purple shadow across the lid, extending it passed the natural lid crease.  I used a dark purple above the lid crease to give the illusion that her eyelids are larger.  For the defined and dramatic contrast of a cartoon character I used a black liquid liner to line her eyes.  I started by extending the line across the lid into a full cat eye and dropping it down toward the nose.  Above Ahsley's real brows, I used a black pencil to draw in new high arched brows.  On the cheek, I used a cream blush in pink to make the color really pop on the white face.  The final touch for Mulan's face makeup was her blood red lips.  In the movie, she uses a paint brush and a red paint, so in order to achieve this same painted look I used a deep red lipstick that I extended beyond Ashley's natural lip line.  Remember, I covered her lips in white at the beginning so that the color on the lip and off would have the same pigmentation and look dramatic and costumed.

Mulan's hair required the look of loose imperfection.  Amazingly, creating the appearance of simplicity is not as easy as it should be.  I started by pulling back half of Ashley's hair into a loose bun that set halfway back on her head.  The second half I parted and pulled around the first half.  Then to create the individualized look Mulan tries to achieve herself, I pulled one section to the forehead and used hairspray to keep it in place.  A final allover spritz of hairspray finished the look and kept everything in place.  

A few notes:  

To create a cartoon look, use deeply contrasting colors and liquid makeup whenever possible.

To make pigments match, always use the same base color across the entire face.

And to set everything from hair to makeup, give the final look a final spray with an aerosol hairspray.

Next week:  And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street...

Extra Photos:

Let's Get Started!

Nowadays women of all ages use makeup to hide, smooth and redefine their faces.  They are trying to hide flaws, look younger or merely define their features.  They are attempting to look like a better version of themselves.  Not me, I use hair and makeup to transform a person into someone they are not. I create a character and tell a story without any words. In one glance you can tell something about this character.  You know who they are and from where they came.  
At the end of January, I will be auditioning/ interviewing for multiple colleges majoring in Technical Theatre. It is at that time that my portfolio of hair and makeup design will be presented.  So from now till then, I will be documenting my progress as I create different characters inspired from life, fantasy and history.  In each blog post I will document 1 to 2 new looks that will be put into my portfolio.  I will post pictures of the model before, after and all the steps I took to achieve their transformation.
Each of these looks takes a lot of time and effort, but they all start with some kind of inspiration.  I'm inspired by many different things from books to historical eras.  When I have an idea I want to pursue I start of with research, notes and pictures. Then I practice part of the look, usually on myself, and draw out my vision. Once I have everything drawn out I then ask a friend that looks closest to my vision and try out the final hair and makeup design on them. 
In this blog you can look forward to some of my original designs like my natural disaster concept.  I will also be showing Disney characters and unrealized characters from books.  In addition to fantasy, I will be documenting different eras and showing my skills with basic film and stage concepts like aging and wounds.  In the end of this journey I hope you will learn a little more about what really goes into a transformation as I am certain to learn a great deal about myself.  I'm looking forward to pushing the boundaries of hair and makeup design and bringing you along for the ride.  Let's get started!