Final evaluation

My first year of the HND has been a really great experience. I have learnt many things, not only technique wise but also about myself and what I can do.

 

Reflecting on my makeup skills from the beginning of the year I have most definitely shown a great improvement both in the way I work and my application techniques.

I really enjoyed doing Period makeup with Denise this year and found that it taught me a number of things. A large majority of the makeup looks for period required a really clean, natural makeup, concentrating on the skin and base. I found working with different skin types and creating perfect foundation matches very difficult at the beginning of the term and was not very confident with choosing colours that I thought would work. As the year has progressed, practicing on different skin types has enabled me to quickly recognise the skin condition, tones and colouring in the face in order to establish what foundation would work best. I was especially happy with my progress throughout the period lessons and feel I have become stronger in both lip colour application and bases. My final period assessment went really well and I was very happy with the final image.

Theatre makeup with Tanya went very quick this year but I learnt a wide variety of skills that I aim to practise until perfected. Throughout the term I really struggled with applying eyeliner but after practising by putting it on and taking it off repeatedly, I am now confident when applying it. I particularly enjoyed creating my own bald cap in this lesson as it was something I have never done before and I enjoyed learning about all the different products I could use. Having the opportunity to see Tanya's work at Phantom was really inspiring and I felt pleased that I knew the makeup was something I had the knowledge to recreate myself. I was really happy with my finished created character for my final piece and was over the moon with my grades as I felt I had worked really hard and it had paid off.

Fashion makeup with Branka was something that I was firstly quite nervous about. The attention to detail that is apparent in many fashion looks was at first quite daunting to me, however I soon realised that with practise I was able to create similar looks. I found fashion makeup completely inspiring and really loved how creative it was. Exploring different trends and creative my own makeup and hair was really fun and I especially enjoyed the SS15 photoshoot as it enabled me to collaborate with different artists to create a final piece that we were all proud off. Although it is hard for me to pick a favourite lesson, I found the lessons in Term 2 really inspiring as we were allowed to be more creative and experimental in the lessons. I learnt so many new techniques in Branka’s lessons that I would never have known I could do. One of my favourites was creating our own face lace which was relatively simple to do yet so effective.

Having the recent opportunity to work on a fashion show this year in London was so much fun and I was surprised at how confident I felt about creating the makeup looks. The experience taught me a number of things about myself as an artist and I was happy seeing the results of my work. Being organised and well prepared for the show made me realise how vital it is as a makeup artist. As I have practised the same organisation skills all year in my lessons, it is something that I find comes naturally to me now which is really good. The makeup for the shoot was natural and I felt confident in my abilities to create the makeup on different models that I had never met. This showed me how much I have improved during the year and how much my confidence has grown. I absolutely loved the buzz of the fashion show and worked well under the pressure and although I did feel tired at the end of the long day, it was a good tired where I had job satisfaction.

The part of the course that I found the most challenging this year was the hair lessons. As hair styling is something that I was very new to at the beginning of the year, I found the lessons extremely frustrating and developed a ‘can’t do it’ attitude which did not help me to succeed. However, as the year has progressed and with constant help and advice from Emma, I have seen a significant improvement in my hairstyling and have been very happy with the hairstyles I created towards the end of the year. I think that in order to further my skills in hairstyling, practising looks is the key. I also think that practising on real hair would benefit me more in order to get a feel for styling real hair.

The combination of mask making and fashion for our final assessment was one of the most exciting projects of the whole year. I really loved taking my tribal research and incorporating it into a fashion look. Seeing all of my work come together and work beautifully was something I was really pleased with. I was completely happy with how my assessment went and was particularly happy with my makeup because I knew that I had worked out of my comfort zone by creating a graphic eye makeup look and I had succeeded in doing so.

Using a variety of products this year has helped me to develop my product knowledge as well as allowing me to work out which products work better than others. I have learnt what essentials I prefer in my kit which includes a variety of different brands. Something I have learnt about using different products is that not all products will have the same effect on different people. I have also learnt that I will not always like the same products as other artists but I find that is part of the fun of being an artist and getting to experiment.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this year and have learnt so many skills that I aim to develop further to be the best that I can be. I have grown to learn my strengths and also the weaknesses which I will continue to work on until they too become strengths. I cannot wait to see what next year will bring and I aim to work hard over the summer to continue my development.