Final Major Project Evaluation

When looking back on my final major project proposal, although I have evolved and adapted many elements significantly, my main ‘Project Outline’ has stayed very concrete and accurate through out this entire process that was a primary goal of mine. The main focus of my project was to create an editorial and beauty coffee table stylebook that, through make up, hair and fashion styling gave those of all ages, male and female, the confidence and strength to belief in themselves and gave them inspiration to create their own ‘superhero self’.

At the beginning of this project I knew that, to create a book, time management would be a vital skill. Although I was a little off schedule compared to the ‘Plan of Action’ in my proposal, I think that staying as close to this as possible, reflecting back to it and seeing mentors every week considerably helped to keep the whole process more under control than in previous units I have undertaken at university. For example incidences have occurred in previous years where my time management became a lower priority. Therefore my work appeared rushed and something I was not proud of and the grades reflected this. From the beginning of third year I planned to make a new start and really knuckle down as I did not want this experience to happen again.  

Frequent communication with mentors and other peers is also one thing that I think has given me solid guidance and understanding of how to push my ideas further, even if at times the constructive criticism was hard to take it and stressful to deal with, it made me work harder and improve each concept academically and practically as well as my own skills.

As well as this preparing in advance, such as contacting photographers over the Christmas break, was something that, I think, helped to strengthen my performance as I knew I had begun to make connection and collaborate with reliable, professional people that could support me. This too is something that I have learnt to really consider as in previous units I have taken images myself that were not as professional and beautiful as I envisaged but due to this unit and collaborating I do feel my photography skills have gained significantly.

Although this was a positive to my performance there were also many a time when issues occurred due to not thinking as thoroughly I should have. Getting clear dates for models and photographer to co inside was extremely stressful as a few incidences happened when models would cancel last minute. Reflecting back on this I now see that I have learnt that there is no point wasting time panicking or crying, which did happen on a few occasions, but to get right to the problem and solve it which is something that, before this unit, I had never been able to do alone. I feel this is because I have gained such independence during my time at university and have faced many problems that, in the end, I manage to over come.

Something else I noticed when reflecting back to my proposal was that, I originally wanted my book to be of a large portrait size. This changed the more research I did on layouts and my competitors, advice from mentors and exhibitions I attended. I am now very pleased with having chosen a large square as this makes the book the contemporary, eye catching, coffee table style, beauty focused theme that I had hoped to achieve.

Another issue that I discovered was the amount of different elements I had thought I was capable of during the writing of my proposal which looking back was quite unrealistic. I found out during the testing period of my process that I had to change the path of my project slightly. This was by removing most of the special effects elements as I felt as though, not only was my special effects work not up to a high, quality standard I wanted but that my book was becoming a little mixed and was straying away from the editorial, beauty aspects I really needed to be my main focus for the viewer. This is something that in the future I plan to work on further to develop more skills in the special effects area of make up. I plan on going back to the LifeCast Ltd special effects company at Elstree Studio where I completed my work based learning unit to do this.

I have also learnt many new valuable skills through this whole process that I can now use in my future careers and within the industry. I have really tried to push myself this unit into uncomfortable territories that I knew, as a make up artist, I needed to get over and face my fears of. For example working on people other than relatives and friends but unfamiliar faces. Not only has this made me gain a better understanding of different face, lips and eye shape but also given me confidence to talk and work with new people, which after many challenging and long days of trials and shoots wasn’t as scary and intimidating as I thought. This prejudgement and over thinking aspect of myself is something that I am very aware of and is a real issue for me but I feel as though I have begun to develop this for the better.

I feel as though my IT skills have also developed considerable over this unit, especially after attending the helpful IT lessons supplied. This has never been a strength of mine as I do struggle with technology at times due to not being as patient as I should be. I have the tendency to panic when I get confused and I don’t learn as quickly as I hope to. This often lets my work down so I decided early on to really focus on learning these techniques such as Photoshop, InDesign and social media concepts. I now feel that I can confidently work with these programs to create the basics and I am now planning to continue to learn post-university to develop this even more as I have purchased the programs on my own laptop. To now have these skills also looks very good on a CV, which I can now add to mine as many job requirements in the make up industry, such as PR or assistant positions, contains IT skills such as these. Another element and previous unit that, I found, helped with this project was the trend package we had to create at the beginning of third year. I used this new skill to help me research in depth through out my major project as well as writing the intro to my book using websites such as WGSN and Trendstop for inspiration and guidelines. Trend forecasting is something I hope to continue in the future in my own time as it was something I found very interesting and enjoyable.

A main threat that I could not have foreseen was illness and personal issues. During my scheduled weeks of shoot I managed get the flu which I tried to push through but knew it was not wise to make my condition worse or even spread it to my creative team. I decided to think realistically and professionally and took a short time to recover. Although I did not waste this valuable time and instead spent hours on the phone re scheduling date and models. This was a very stressful and frustrating period but it was a good lesson as this is a possibility in the make up industry and health and safety has to be considered.

The challenge I think I under estimated the most was the difficultly and stress of actually producing a book as my final piece. Initially, I naively assumed that this would be simple but I was very much mistaken. The fear of the printing company not being reliable with delivery or the painful wait for the book to arrive, the paper or inking not being the high quality I need for my images, the struggle to find companies that printed books of an unusual size at a affordable price and the software to create the layout being too confusing and technically for me were just a few issues that I had not foreseen. I think found this so very difficult because the process of printing, once order, was out of my hands and I was not in control of my project for that period of time. Although this was an incredibly stressful process it was a very enlightening experience that I can now take forward in the future to always work hard and be prepared for anything to have its possible problems.

This process and experience has had many ups and downs that I have really learnt from and can now leave university with and, as a result of this, I am extremely proud of my final piece. I know I have worked on this harder than I have ever worked on a unit at university and feel as though this is the start of my path into the make up and hair industry and where I begin to make further improvements. If I had more time I would have liked to have developed my book further into a digital version as well as perhaps creating more concepts of superpowers using a wider age range of models to gain a wider target market interest. I also hope to re awake my make up artist website that I developed in the freelance and industry management unit by using the images created during this project to promote my work and to one day become a successful make up artist or designer.

Final Book Arrival!

Its finally arrived! All printed and bounded and the relief to finally have this in my hands is an amazing feeling. The three years of a lot of hard work has really paid off and I have gained so many skills, especially through this unit, that I never dreamed I would be able to do such a photography and editing. 

I think I completely under estimated the difficultly and challenge of creating a book would be. From having to research and rely on a certain high standard printing company, both on look and styles they would provide to the agonising wait of delivery time, to getting tests prints and designing the layout to choosing the texture and size of every element such as the front cover to paper. Its been a long and stressful process but one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences I have had to date and I am so proud of what I have achieved through this unit from creating the concept, in depth and primary researching, collaborating, designing, scheduling and organising, editing and creating the final outcome.

As my book has arrived a few days prior to the due day I have been really picky and over analytical of sections, such as if the spine of the book is too simple or if the editing is to a high enough standard, and the more I do the more I have been panicking as, with a book, its not something I can change last minute. I decided to show the final product to other students and also random people similar to my target market or who I do not know around university for a less biased opinion and this really helped to calm me down. I also need to remember that this is just the beginning of my professional journey and, considering I did not think I would be able to go to university, let alone get to this point, I am so proud of what I have achieved professional, academically and personally through this unit. I now feel ready to get into the real world and start my journey into the industry.  

I am so pleased with the 30cm square size of the book, it stands out and creates such as impacting statement when glanced at and matches the coffee table style layout I had envisaged from the start. The hardback semi gloss and semi matte effect I chose for the front cover has worked incredibly well to capture the whole ethos of the symbolic colour palette I created and subtly shines to give that professional finish to it as well as a smooth, soft texture when in my hands.

 Once opened the inking of the images has been refined with clarity as I specified many a time to the printers which was one of my most feared aspects as the images needed to be visually very clear and beautiful to capture the essence of the super power being conveyed in each chapter. I was very concerned that the images would be of low resolutions as I did have issues with the software that the printing company supplied but solved this issue as I liaised with the company frequently to understand the software more and got advice from my photographer and a few peers using the same software. I am so pleased with the choice of proline pearl photo paper as the shine brightens the image to life and gives all the hard work I've done that final detailed finish that it needed. I wanted the book and pages to really shine to convey the 'Superaura' and glow of emotions that my viewers need to reawaken in their lives as that is a huge part of my concept. I hope that this style of book gives that welcoming feeling that my reader will want to touch and be touched by.

Each chapter turned out much better than I had expected, my favourite chapters have to be either 'Flight' or 'Immortality'. I feel that 'Flight' captures the super aura of flying through every aspect very strongly from lighting that I had researched in my proposal, the dramatic make up and hair, strong pose and striking styling. Although 'Immortality' for me, is the one that conveys the most beauty and elegance and my skills as a make up and hair designer. It captures the colour symbolic meaning of gold that I throughly researched and the final outcome conveys the strong, regal immortal like status I hoped for. 

I am so happy with the exposure, saturation and the hues of the colours in each concept from the symbolic colour that introduces each chapter to the final images. At first I was worried that I hadn't spread many images over the space of two pages but this was a great decision not too as this is not a flat lay book and parts of the images would have been lost in the crease. 

Although I was initially over thinking the spine of the book, when placed amongst others and pulled out I love the sudden unexpected design that you see. When a viewer pulls the book out they may expect something simple and bland but the further it comes out the more interesting and dynamic the front cover can be seen. This will hopefully incise the viewer to take a closer look inside. I am also very happy with the extra photography images I took just to give it that real make up and beauty style to the book, to break up all the portrait images a little and also show another skill that I have gained over my time at university. 

Overall, I am delighted with the final outcome of my book. I am aware there are aspects that I now really want to work on to improve my skills further for the future such as returning to Elstree studios where I completed my work based learning hours to received more special effects training and also taking photoshop and Indesign lessons from my photographer where I could elaborate these images further. 

My final major project has challenged me both creatively and mentally. It has given me huge opportunities such as developing being a make up and hair artist, a creative director, a photographer, a editor, fashion stylist and a model scout that I would not have been able to do anywhere else at such an early stage in my journey. 

This book has pushed me so far out of my comfort zone at times and in doing so made me a more confident person that needs to believe in herself more just like the underlining messages I hope to give to the viewers. It has boosted my passion and love for this industry that I hope to keep with me wherever the path may take me. 

Brainstorming FMP Title

The last few days I have been feeling extremely overwhelmed and have constantly been doubting myself. This is something that I know I do far too much. I want to achieve the best and perfect outcome as I have been working so hard but I feel that due to this I put myself under way too much stress and pressure that I get myself worked up into such a mess and this can effect my work. 

This term and especially during this unit I have tried very hard to change this and remember the first lecture that Jennifer gave us at the start of third year about believing in ourselves and how we should aim high then we can achieve it which I have tried to do as much as possible when I get myself all worked up and feeling low. 

With this all in mind and going on I decided to clear my mind a little and create some brainstorming lists for a possible title that would fit my whole concept and would want the viewer to look further into the book.  

Above are just a few that I have begun to play around with. I wanted the a single word that was impact making and very strong. The title needs to consist of the super hero vibe of the overall content as well as the self belief, self esteem building and confident making images and feel using the colour symbolic language and style of make up, hair and fashion. I wanted the title to be beautiful and to roll of the tongue nicely as well as being a solid, new creative word or words that work together. 

My favourites are the ones highlighted with a bracket and star. The meanings are very close to the overall book intentions I want to achieve. Before I decide 100% I plan to see my mentor and maybe another to see their opinion and their guidance that could help me decide.

Preview Shots: "To Fly"

Final Images of the 'Flight' Concept before Post Productions

Definition of Flight - 'The process or action of flying through the air'

Here are a few examples from the hundreds of images my photographer took for this shoot. Although this is a great idea, having so many images it means I have lots of images to work with and choose from and it is very hard to narrow the images down to the best few. 

As Alexander McQueen was quite a big influence for this concept I wanted to really capture the bird like feel and darkness with bold lighting as well as make up and styling. Reflecting on the day, the lightning for this image was what myself and the photographer having been trying to learn and tested the most as it was very difficult to re create but I was so pleased with how they finally turned out and was very similar to the work I previously referenced. 

The blue and red is so striking and works so well with the fierce make up and movement of the long hair to really capture the feel of flight through symbolic colour.

 We did have a quite a bit issue as once we had thought we had completed the shoot for the day, when looking back on the images, the whole time my models strap was twisted. This meant we had to re shoot the whole thing which was very time consuming but needed to be done as the strap was very noticeable. I also like the variety of close and long range images I have as they are more interesting and editorial and show every element of the design. I was also very prepared again for this shoot and had every product and piece of clothing and jewellery laid out in order of need which I have learn makes the whole experience in the studio much calmer and therefore my work stronger.

I now need to edit them in post production to really make them of a high standard and as professional as possible. 

Mid Point Reflection Presentation

Research: The Symbolic Meaning of Healing Crystals

Investigation into specific healing crystals and their meaning to include within this 'Healing' concept 

Amethyst - Master Healer, Heal all systems of body, Powerfully spiritual aligned with the third eye, Meditation, Expanding consciousness 

 Agate - Most popular healing crystal, Metaphysical properties, Special beauty, Brings stability, Balance and Protection

Quartz - Most important healing crystal, Channels and amplifies energy thanks to unique helical spiral crystalline form, Huge range of healing and spiritual attributes

Opal - Natural beauty, Power, Has joyful, happy and uplifting energy 

Sunstone - Warm, uplifting energy, Reflects joyful and healing energy, Mood lifting effect, Lets go of sadness and negativity 

Topaz - Lets go of the past, Cleansing, New Beginnings, Uplifting, Healing past pains and troubles

Danburite - Heals, Promotes change and self love, Aligned to the heart, Spiritual development, Detoxifier, associated with passion and libido

Brucite - Clarity, Cleansing, Balance to life, Alleviates all pain including headaches, migraines and neuralgia and joint pain

Amber - Good luck, Good wealth, absorbs pain and negative energy, very powerful healing energy, filters organs, Cleansing 

Hemimorphite - Spiritual development, Chakra healing work, enables spiritual communication, enlightenment and self awareness 

Nail Art Preparation

Experimenting with a variety of different nail length and colourings to apply nail art prior to final shoot

'Immortality' Concept Nails

'Flight' Concept Nails

'Psychic' Concept Nails 

'Healing' Concept Nails

Nails is one element of my designs over the years at university that I always look back on my final images and see terrible nails or chipped nail vanish. This is very frustrating and this small detail can ruin the whole look that I spent a long time. This time I am very aware that this needs to be considered through out as hands and fingers will clearly been seen in my images in a variety of strong poses and when possibly holding certain objects. Originally I planned to paint each persons hand before beginning make up to gain some nail technician skills but after some thought I realised this wasn't very practical as it is very time consuming and can smudge very easily if the model moves. I decided the best solution would be to use stick on nails that I can create my own nail art with prior to the actual shoot. This is what they do in major catwalk shows and I think makes far more sense. This is a far better solution as it, not only does it give me more time to focus or hair, make up and styling but also the nails are all the same length, very tidy and professional looking. This was a worry of mine for a while and I am very pleased with the looks of these nails, especially the metallic ones as these really catch the colour gel lighting I have tested and plan to use in my final images. My inspiration for theses nails were designs created by companies such as House of Holland, OPI and KIKO.

Initial Hairstyle ideas and Mood Boards

Hairstyling is something that I still find such as tricky element of beauty. Sometimes it can go according to plan and others it can be a complete disaster. Reflecting back on my time at university I know that the skill that I have gained at slowest rate and is my weakest skill would have to be hairstyling. Although lessons we used to have with Lottie and Seema were very inspiring and helpful me gain the started skills I needed. I think this is because hairstyling is such a fiddly and detailed process that requires a lot of skill and patience that perhaps I need to work on. In my final major project hair will be a vital factor but I want to create hair that is quite simple but visionally stunning. 

As I now have all model 100% confirmed after a lot of cancellations and issues I can now create and test designs that will work with their hair and match the super power ability. Below are the initial mood boards for my female super power concepts that I will practice and adapt until they suit the looks assigned. 

Immortality is all about the symbolism of gold and life. I really want to portray this thought every aspect of my overall design. When researching this I found that many examples showed very simple bleach blonde shiny hair but I felt this wasn't enough. When looking more into celebrities such as Pixie Lott and catwalks such as the Topshop Unique SS12 and Fendi SS12 I found that gold leaf would be a great material to test with as its very statement making and beautiful when done right. 

When it comes to flight, movement is the main aspect that really needs to be considered. I wanted to create a design that was elongated and impacted making when used with a fan or wind machine. Straight hair is a trend that is always on a pendulum swing. Now, with shine and volume, straight is back on being a big trend, this can be seen on the Chloe SS14 catwalk and for many hair product campaigns such as pantene. Although this look is easy it works extremely well with movement as each stand can be seen clearly and appears tidy. After initially testing I will probably adapt this idea further to be more editorial and innovate.

My Psychic concept was one that I struggled to come up with an idea for so I felt that I needed to research this one a little more and go back the original looks of historical mystical psychics. I discovered that their hair, more often that not, was covered with some sort of jewellery garment or patterned material. This was very interesting and something that I feel could be made contemporary just like celebrities such as Rihanna have done. This will need a few tests to see which texture and style of hair works best with a head piece. Although I do want to test this as I don't want the band to cover the pattern of the hairstyle I may create. 

The overall vibe of my healing concept is the hippie, contemporary fashionable festive feel that is so popular today. I feel that using nature elements connects the link of the natural, pure healing ability. I also found that celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens that attended festivals such Coachella were such a great resource to discover how to create these messy but stylish looks. This style always gives me the chance to experiment with head bands and other accessories which I look forward to trying.

The concept of my invisibility design, is natural beauty. The means that no one needs to hide and can show how beautiful they are inside and out. For this look I wanted a easy going, relaxed hairstyle but still with the element of high fashion. Many celebrities wear their hair in such a way to award shows and movie premieres. As up style hair has never been my strong suit I feel as though I really need to test this look the most as well as experimenting with the use of incorporating plaits too. I also think that this look is harder achieve as the looseness but still tidy is something that I have always struggled even on myself. 

Test: Post Production Work on 'Time Travel' Test

After my last test shoot I thought this would be a good opportunity to gain some more skills in photoshop and other post production mediums. I felt as though I had some good images and, as I was torn between using more effects such a blurring or layering on the images or just focusing purely on the beauty side, this would be a good chance for me to test and decide the best outcome and get advice from other peers too. 

I also feel very reassured that I am collaborating with a great photographer as, although my photography skills are getting better with each shoot I do, I can clearly see that the photography is not up to the standard I want. This test shoot made me see that I cannot create the coloured gel effects by myself effectively as the colours were either far too bold or not bold enough (this can be seen in the images above).

Below are few attempts and experiments at layering, fading and a few other effects such as smoothening the skin and just generally improving my photoshop skills.

I really enjoyed spending the day working on this images and getting to grips more with photoshop in the IT sessions as it has never been a strong skill of mine. To me, the outcome is quite pleasing but I find that the layering can effect the quality of the images individually and it loses the techniques and beauty of the make up design created which I don't like the feel of and my book is about beauty for everyday people not about high styled editing. 

I do think that the first three images, without the clock work backgrounds worked better than the last three as the images appear clearer and slightly more precise. Although, I do like the effect of the clock faded with the model as it portrays the ability a little more but I think this is something I may have to put aside as it doesn't look very profession compared to the first three with just a white background.    

I learnt a lot of different issues and elements that worked well from this test that I can now progress forward knowing and adapt for my next test or even in the future after university on another project. To me I think that the effects may be a little unneeded and, after getting opinions from friends and other students, they seemed to agree too. I will continue to test, perhaps on a female next time to see the difference and, again, what works and what doesn't efficiently. As I have a good symbolic colour language now I plan to re do my face charts and also begin to think about hair styles too.