This summer, UM offered the Online Stage Makeup class again THIS TIME! with new and improved online teaching software. (Bye-bye Blackboard...)

While I waited for new videos to render and upload, I binge watched Mad Men and The Walking Dead which may have had some adverse effects on my mood...

What struck me, as I watched these shows in the all one sitting fashion, is the really excellent continuity and progression of makeup work- as well as clearly defined style and signature character looks.

SO! As a special extra lesson (and example for the midterm assignment which was to put a character through a disaster) I developed what I hope will catch on soon: The Middle Aged Woman's AMC Channel Fan Universe! (I plonked poor Joan Harris into the prison community outside Atlanta). 

Tutorial videos below show the technique with Ben Nye Student Kit and some other easy to find items, however resolution and file size limits are disappointing (they get better each year though) and you can't see the texture as well as in my selfie above. I don't have freckles...

THE WALKING JOAN Part 1
THE WALKING JOAN Part 2

Some more photos- the last two are messing with basic iPhoto levels to get an idea of digital filtering or editing. The first few are overcast afternoon daylight in my creepy creepy studio area. (Note: for some reason Weebly is doubling these... and I can't figure out why... sorry.)

So I teach this online make-up class, which is kind of insane and hopefully in the right way. 

Something that comes up all the time is: "How do we do fake tattoos?" As the former reigning queen of freaky stuff as a freelancer, I had to do several fake tattoos (one was supposed to magically transfer on cue which is beautiful on paper and profoundly stupid in a production meeting) and I was never happy with the result.

I've tried paint (too thick and crusty), Skin Illustrator (I can't control it very well), MagicPaint MagiCake, Unicorn Farts and Star-sharts... nothing was making me happy. Or the actors, for that matter.

I saw a YouTube video about how to do this with Sharpies. Sharpies- alcohol based ink (which is Skin Illustrator) in stick form. I do well with media in stick form! 

So, armed (har har) with a nice box of Faber Castell art markers, here is what happened:

I think next time, I will be more judicious with my use of alcohol prep to apply the transfer paper...