Evaluation

For my final major project I wanted to create a make-up magazine for start out professional make-up artist or for people who may just have an interest in make-up. The reason I decided to make this way because I did not feel there was much if anything on the market for people considering a career in make-up. I looked at FaceOn Magazine and Make-up Artist Magazine but I felt these were aimed at a more professional and experienced audience. I also felt these magazines were more high end and high fashion, I wanted to carry this through with FaceCake I didn’t want it to be too commercialized and young. Although it is aimed at 16 year olds but it needed to be relevant from 16 to 25 year olds therefore I didn’t want the magazine coming across to young and attract the audience I wasn’t targeted at.

I then looked through magazines to decide what I wanted to put in FaceCake. I knew I wanted to do a “How to” section. I already make “How To” videos on YouTube and they have been received well so I thought this would be a key point to the magazine. Also as I was aiming FaceCake at people who may be considering a career in make-up artistry I thought this would be a good starting point for those readers. Furthermore, Make-up Artist Magazine does occasionally have a “Hot t” section but it is aimed at a more experience audience. I decided to do two “how to” sections one on eyebrows and the other on lips. The reason for this is because when I started out I did not know the importance of shaping eyebrows or using a lip liner. Eyebrows really frame the face and they show expression and this is important to convey the mood you are trying to get across as a make-up artist. Lips are also extremely important. It’s so easy to change the shape of lips and without lip liner the look can look unfinished and amateur.

I also wanted to conduct interviews with people in the industry, so the audience could get a better idea of what the industry and future clients will expect of them. I firstly conducted interviews with students as they are of similar ages rages and can relate well to the readers, they have also been in the same situation and some of the readers. I decided to go with a stylist and a photographer, as these are people the readers will be working with and it will give them a better idea of what to expect of the industry. I also conducted interviews with the founder of Illamasqua and Agenda beauty. The reasons behind these interviews is that Illamasqua is a well-known and well respected brand that will appeal to my readers and Agenda Beauty is a new brand so it will appeal to people who want to start their own brand or cosmetics line.

I didn’t just want the magazine to be for enjoyment but I also wanted it to teach my readers about the industry and products. So I decided to make a “behind the scenes” section. I thought this would be extremely relevant to people who may be starting or considering a career in the industry as it could give them an idea of what to expect and how to prepare. I wanted to aim this particularly at the make-up side of things rather than the photography. I started with how to set up a make-up table. As sometimes people forget how important it is to keep things clean and organized. The next step was at the photo shoot itself reminding make-up artists that it is important to jump in if something doesn’t look right. The camera will always pick it up. This can be quite daunting as a photographer can be quite intimidating; especially if it’s his or her own shoot. I wanted to assure my readers that is important to jump in otherwise you may not get hired again as the make-up artist would get blamed if it did not photograph right and this may lead to losing future jobs. The final stage is to make sure you look at the images on screen. I thought this would help my readers get the most from their work. In FaceCake I also created a must have product list. These products weren’t all make-up products, as many make-up artists do know the importance of sterilizing make-up. I wanted to inform my readers that keeping everything clean is just as important as the job they have been given.

I also wanted to feature new make-up trends that will be popular in summer 2012. I found a few but decided “Heavy Metal”, “UV” and “Pastel and Hypercolour Brows”. The reason for this is because UV make-up is popular at festivals every year so I knew this trend would popular. I though Hypercolour Brows would be a great festival look as festivals are becoming increasingly popular with each passing year. I also thought metallic make-up especially in eye shadows have always been on the market and they can be great for any occasion and it’s easy for anyone to pull off.

I had some test copies printed, before it was completely finished. The reason for this was that I felt I needed to check the printing quality was good enough for FaceCake. I also wanted to check colours and fonts. I was worried that the font may have been too small and difficult for my readers to read, but after the test prints I found that this would not be an issue. One issue I did have was that some of my images came out a little yellow. Therefore I had to pull down the yellow colouring on Photoshop and I also spoke to my printers about this issue. They did suggest that this might be because of the paper so I then tested another type of paper and this was no longer an issue.

Overall, I feel that my magazine, FaceCake reached the brief I set for myself. It did teach and inform the readers and also was entertaining. It does appeal to my target market age 16 to 25; it was not too advanced but still informative and educational. If I had more time I would of liked to add more pages, however, I did create 12 images and write the whole magazine and I understand that in a real magazine their would be more than one person creating it all so I think the amount I did was acceptable. I know I could of put more thought and have a better process with choosing my photographers. I did have issues with two of my photographers when it came to getting the images. With the first photographer she would not give me many and she also said that she would not allow me to have the raw files or unedited images. I did state in an email before hand that I would need this but I needed to have it in writing. This did put me a week behind, but I did start early incase I had any issues. Although this was a problem I did learn from it and after this I had everything in writing. I made sure to create contracts for my models and photographers stating that I was allowed all the imagery and that I was allowed to use it in my portfolio, final major project, and my website. I do feel I organized myself extremely well. I started my project early to leave time if any problems or mistakes would occur. I also made sure I’d book studios as soon as they became available, as I wanted to use studios for all of my images. I also feel get a test copy of my magazine was extremely useful as it became clear what I needed to work on further and I had something to show my lectures to get advice on what needed to be done and what I needed to edit. This allowed me to go back and fix these issues without having to worry that I wouldn’t finish my work in time. Another issue I did have was I did fall behind with my learning journal. But I had all the dates, times, models and photographers in my diary so I was able to go back and look over my notes to catch up. Overall, I’m pleased and proud of my final project and do intend to put it on my website with the option to sell, I have made sure to get written permission for everyone in and involved with FaceCake. I also had an issue with the printing, one image has come out pixelated and unfortunately I did not have the time to fix this so I have printed the image and put it in the magazine, I do not understand why this problem occurred as I printed out the same file and had no issue.

Final Product

After editing the last 2 images and pages I had left i then went through the whole magazine to check for spelling mistakes, or issues that may of happened with the test copy. After finishing the last little things like adding editor's pick's to the interview the magazine was ready for printing. I'm very proud and please with the final product.

How To Do The Perfect Eyebrow Shoot 25th Mar

I wanted this to go along side my "How To Do The Perfect Lip" section. It would be done and shot in the same way. I decided to show how the eyebrow should be shaped.

I again used Hannah Newman as the photographer. I used my friend and model Jade Leech. She has modeled for me a few times before and she's a close friend so I knew we'd work well together.

Here's the final page.

Behind The Scenes 24th Mar

I thought it was really important to do a behind the scenes section in FaceCake. I thought this would appeal to my target audience as I am aiming FaceCake who may be considering or starting a career in make-up they may not have experienced a professional photoshoot before so I thought this would be extremely useful to them. Also I thought this would appeal to people who have an interest in make-up and the fashion industry as they can see what goes on behind closed doors.

I knew I wanted this image to be really strong and powerful. The reason for this was that I had put a lot of nice and pretty imagery in the magazine I wanted some of the images to be a bit more edgy and as there is a lot of text to go along side this image I thought it would make people stop and pay attention to this.

My photographer was Hannah Newman. She did a lot of the photography in FaceCake as we really clicked well and she was great to work with. She takes direction well, always comes prepared and has loads of ideas.

I did the shoot in steps. The first photograph was of the make-up table, the second was of me touching up the make-up on the shoot and the third was looking at the images on the computer. The final Image is featured on the next page.

Test Copy

I still hadn't finished the magazine but while I was home for easter I felt it was important to get a text copy of FaceCake to check colours, images, fonts, text and paper.This way I would know what to expect when my final copy was ready to print. I put the whole magazine on InDesign in order so I could see the layout and how much more I needed to do. I only had 4 blank pages left.

When the test copy came back I took it in to Uni to discuss with my lectures. A few things needed editing. We decided that some of the sections in the magazine needed introductions. So I went back and added them. One issue I did have was that some of my images came out a little yellow. Therefore I had to pull down the yellow colouring on Photoshop and I also spoke to my printers about this issue. They did suggest that this might be because of the paper so I then tested another type of paper and this was no longer an issue. Another issue I had was that some of the pages that were meant to be white came out a little grey. I discussed this with my printers and they fixed the issue for me.

Animalistic Back Cover 18th Mar

This was my second shoot of the day. I already had had complication with the photographer that morning so I decided to go home and come back before the shoot to give him some space hoping this would make things better. It did for a little while except half way through the shoot he started shouting and swearing for no reason. I tried to ignore it and just try to make my model comfortable. After his outburst the shoot went fine.

I decided to go for a lot of contouring and a lot of gold and bronzes. The reason for the colours as they are warm colours and as the magazine would be released the summer time I though this would tie in with the season well. I wanted it to contrast with the cover image. The cover image is soft, and pretty and I wanted this image to be really strong and powerful as it's the last thing the reader will see. Like the cover when you turn the page the back of the head matches up.

I felt this shoot went well and I loved the model's look, but she was not great at posing and I felt I had to put her into a pose and is was quite hard work.

After the model had gone home i decided I needed to talk to the photographer about his behaviour on the shoots. I explained that if it was work he was being paid for he would never of been like that and not only did he make me uncomfortable but my models also and this was unacceptable. He did not want to listen so I dropped it but he started screaming and swearing in my face so I decided to quit my job then. I have still credited him in the magazine but unfortunately I will not work with him again.

I then edited the image and turned it into a magazine cover.

However, when showing my lectures they felt a little confused by the two covers and suggested I removed the text. So this is the final image, and the back.

About The Issue Shoot 18th Mar

This shoot was just an image to go along side the text about the issue. I had wanted to work with the model for a while and I've seen a lot of her work and beauty shoots seem to be more her thing so I thought she'd be great for this. I wanted to go with pastels and sugar colours to really clash and contrast with her dark skin tone. I felt the colours really looked great on her.

I did the shoot at Photo Shoot Studio again and I had worked with the photographer many times so I didn't think this would be an issue. However, on this shoot he was really unprofessional and did not listen to me or take my direction at all. Because of this I didn't have as many images to chose from as he was more interested in doing his own thing. Also i felt he was inappropriate as he was asking out the model and I felt this was extremely unprofessional, so I had to pull him aside and talk to him. This didn't go well I explained that I'm more than happy for him to take his own shots for his portfolio but I was concerned that I wasn't getting the imagery I wanted or needed. I then said to him that I didn't feel it was a good time to be asking out the model and he kept talking to her the whole time I was doing and touching up the make-up so I had to ask him to stop as I could not do a lip line while she was talking. He apologized and seemed to agree with me but he was then angry with me for the rest of the day.

After that the shoot was rather uncomfortable and awkward so, I looked through the images and found a few I liked and decided to finish the shoot early.

Here's the final shoot.

UV Trend Shoot 15th Mar

This shoot had lots of testing before hand so I was quite confident when it came to doing the shoot. I had chosen a model that was quite experienced as I thought this would be a difficult shoot and look to pull of. I also chose the model because she had good skin and blemishes where more obvious with the UV lights than what they would be with normal lighting.

I had decided to do it at Photo Shoot Studio where I worked as I would be able to change the light blubs to UV one's easily and I felt I may need a more experienced photographer than the students I had be using. Also i had the option to use the studio all day so i wouldn't have been kicked out like at uni and worrying that i didn't have the shot.

The main issue I had with this shoot was that the shutter speed had to be so slow because there wasn't much light. The UV lights don't give out much light so when the shutter speed was high the pictures were almost completely black. How the model was good at sitting extremely still so we did get some that were in focus.
This is my final shot edited.

I then had to shoot the UV make-up products to go on the next page as this was one of my trends/ However, i couldn't do this at the studio as they don't have a light table so I shot it at uni. Here's the final image.

Agenda Beaut Shoot 13th Mar

I while ago I was contacted by Agenda beauty. They are a new make-up brand releasing in April this year. They asked me if I wanted to be a product reviewer and be an artist representative. They sent me some products in the post and I asked them to do an interview for me as I thought it would be useful for people who want to start their own make-up brand. They only send me a blush and a eye shadow in the post which they wanted me to create a whole look from using pretty much just their products. I really wanted to tie this in with my magazine so I had to think of new ways to use the products. I tried mixing the colours with water and Vaseline to see what would work best. Mixing the green eyeshadow with water worked so well, it turned into a paste like texture and it really brought out the pigments and the glittery shine it had.

I decided to do this shoot in steps as I didn't want to go all in and not like the image. Jennifer gave me this idea in a meeting about our progress that morning. I decided to use Illamasqua skin base foundation as i wanted the skin to be flawless. Then used the blush and and eye shadow normally to start with. I also used eyebrow cake from Illamasqua, I thought that this may look best for my work and I could always send another to agenda beauty. I liked this image however, it didn't feel very me. I felt it was too simple and against the rest of the imagery in the magazine this image wouldn't compare with standard and would not make my readers stop to look at the image which isn't the point. I then mixed the eyeshadow with water and used it to create a lip line. I kept the lip colour nude as i wanted the green to be the focal point of the image. I decided to go with an angle lip with a pointed cupids bow as I wanted to contrast with the soft, blended green on the eyes. This I felt made the imagery much stronger but I still wanted to push it further so after a few frames of this I changed the brows. I then used the green eyeshadow the same way I would use eyebrow cake. I loved the contrast between the harsh brows and lips with the soft eyeshadow and this became my final image.

I had worked with this photographer previously and we really got on well, she takes direction well and has loads of ideas and really prepared well for the shoots she had done before so I knew she would be happy to do this. Agenda beauty loved the imaged and I will be the artist representative for April 2012 and I will be the first one and will open the brand.