Test: Reflecting on 'TIME TRAVEL' Concept Trial

In the past most of my testing and experimenting has been on female models, therefore I feel as though I am more experienced with working on women and understanding their skin tones and face shapes but when it comes to men I haven't had has much of practice as I probably should have. As I know I will be using two males for final images I was very aware that I needed to test and see what worked and what didn't. I have also been advised that having images of men too in a portfolio is something that many in the industry like to see.
The aim and purpose of my 'Time Travel' is to move on from the past and look forward to the future but learn from every moment in our lives as it has made us who we are today. My main inspiration for this concept was the work of the Versace Men's FW/16 Catwalk displaying jackets, trousers and shirts all being covered and embellished with cogs and clockwork pieces. Inspired by the Versace shirts and jackets I intend to design and make a shirt very similar to this style.    

 I felt quite scared and nervous as I didn't wanted to apply to much make up but wanted to create a flawless but still manly look. I found that for men the cleansing, toning and moisturising process before the make up is very important to get that clean look. It also helped that my model had good skin to start with. I also wanted to test a couple of my ideas and face charts I previously designed. I decided to try two different styles for the time travel ability as I was really inspired after watch the 'Time Travellers Tife' as I noted in my previous post. Below shows the process I took and a few similar images of the final outcome with natural lighting. 



This experience was very enlightening. Trial one, although turned out better than I expected and my free hand drawing really did go quite smoothly to how envisaged, I still felt that this look was still too face paint like and didn't really show the effect of the cogs and clock work I wanted to portray as it was quite flat and lifeless.
On trial two, I felt far more positive as this gave me a chance to experiment with some special effects techniques which I was very egger to include after the guest lecture talk I attended with special effects make up artist and founder of IMATS, Michael Keys, which was very inspiring. It also shows another skill and ability that I have, which is one of the main purposes of this book to help me for my future paths. 
I felt the real cogs I placed around the forehead with spirit gum turned out really well and I was very happy for a first test on a male. Although, reflecting back on this whole experience, there are a few elements I would amend for next time. For example I would make sure the cogs fit together a little neater so that there are no gaps. I will also create more of a metallic base underneath the cogs instead of just skin toned so bring it more to life and I will also add more cogs around the and down the face and neck to intensify the overall look.