Claudia Hair

http://chicvintagebrides.com/index.php/inspiration/pin-curls/

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/general-discussion-about-curly-hair/105939-vintage-hair-styles.html
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/381750505885222818/

Claudia pretty and naive with a deadly spark that you don't want to be on the other end of. Claudia herself is a mix of different era's within her style. Bright makeup inspired by her favourite pop stars like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper who she idolises. The hair itself I decided to go for more of a 'retro' aspect with it; having Claudia idolise the old style movies in which she watches for a lot of the day I decided much like a child wanting to look like a adult Claudia idolising these old film sirens. The glamorous brushed out curls, pinned at one side. I've included the mix of different decades because there should always be the subtle hit of Claudia in fact being a vampire, a very old vampire yes she's lost but she's also lived and seen many changes from fashionable to huge scale humanity changes. Claudia without knowing it is trapped in a almost groundhog day scenario the vampire community have declared her unfit for the out side, from even most vampires themselves yet she still hasn't realised. I will be doing pretty much what my inspired photo's are to my models hair for the shoot, a bit inspiration for me throughout the project was Sophie-Ann the character in True Blood played by Rachel Evan Wood; not only does she have beauty about her but theres also the sense of immense immaturity when looking at episodes with her in. Much like Claudia Sophie-Ann has never truly grown up which is extremely unfavourable for a queen. I'm going to include as a almost contrast with the hair a couple of childish hair clips in suiting with Claudia's personality. For someone who will quite possibly stay as a immortal forever I think its important to show the looseness and venerability of my character; Can Claudia handle what she is? Clearly not. Claudia herself will always try to look neat but underneath all the makeup and hair there will be clear and definite cracks clearly shown in the final images whether with a a couple of stray hairs or the toll of 30 years heavy drugging and suppressing Claudia will be a ticking time bomb.

Hair Design
Having of designed most of my face charts before hair I had already had a main idea on how I wanted the hair. I enjoy creating a bit of detailing on the face charts as it for me makes my character feel more realistic. Taking clear retro inspiration I have designed a couple of similar looks.

Each style of hair I've drawn up will be created by curling and brushing out the red haired design would be the most brushed out but also has a longer length of hair, this design has been taken from the Kate Moss 20's image in my little mood hair board. My idea model will have mid length hair much like in my face chart designs. The hair will be side parted like all of these designs. The top blonde haired design is ringleted at the bottom in a almost spiral; I'd achieve this look whilst completely my model and design for Claudia by pinning the ends to cool until I shoot. The bottom brunette design has the same fringe as the blonde this would be achieved using a slightly small tong then the rest of the hair and then pinning in a curve much like Sophie-Ann's hair in True Blood who has be my overall hair inspiration.

Quentin Mood Board

Quentin, the 'heart throb' classically handsome though he knows it; Quentin was up and coming in the vampire community socially, he has ties not only with Eric Northman but also king of Mississippi Russell Edgington Claudia's father. The mood board I've created not only for me represents Quentins style but also the clear youthfulness of himself. Much like the neighbours Quentin himself is a bit of a wannabe he wants the best, he see's his chance to make it big getting in with Claudia. Is Quentin actually gay? Quentin it seems like many vampires see's sex with whoever as something as needed as water is to humans. Quentin was extremely handsome. I've included the strong sense of greaser style and the vintage lighter due to Quentin being turned into a vampire in the 50's after returning to American after the war had ended. Quentin did meet a very bloody and violent end, as many True Blood fans know when a vampire dies they basically disintegrate into blood and muscle, Quentin himself had a painful end in Claudia's flat before turning into a bloody mess. 

American Horror Story inspired hair

In my classes hair lesson a couple of weeks ago we had a really interesting/fun lesson based around Series one's maid in American Horror story; this lesson was just a bit of fun before decided what program to follow from the briefing of Claudia, Quentin or Mrs Laderman

Moira O'Hara the beautiful ghost who elusions men into seeing her younger red head self. For me I love American Horror story I watched the first season when the third season was about to be released so i was definitely late viewer. I am obsessed with this show. I know I know "but you picked True Blood for the project' for me True Blood was definitely over all the series that I could envision my characters on, plus AHS is a popular choice to do. Moira's hair is in a gorgeous retro roll with pinned curls, she is completely gorgeous and a true vixen. Moira's older self though still lovely theres a huge element of sadness for her as her death was avoidable, she has one grey eye to symbolise being shot in the eye (her death)

Frances Conroy & Alexander Breckenridge as Moira O'Hara

Beautiful ghostly redheads

I'm still not that technically advanced within my hair styling but this lesson was fun, The hair itself is something i would love to do on myself as its a hairstyle i've always like. The hair is curled in sections starting from a side parting and working down in a brick style pattern the front of the hair if curled towards the face. Always pin the hair after curling; Just mades the finish once cooled. the bottom of the hair once all curled is loosely folded towards the head in a roll.

The lesson itself was based around that hair style but also the idea of creating two other hair styles within the hair once all pins were out. the first style was simply what the hair was like once released and the other was done by literally shaking the mannequins head upside down and gently putting your hand through it, the result for that was a 70's Esq. Jessica Lange look with flicks in the hair. The photo is dreadful but the actual finish was such a juxtaposition to the original it was impressive to my little mind how much it could be change by taking pins out and shaking out.

Claudia Mood Board

Claudia's mood board is a little bit of fun, On the surface it looks innocent and fun and colourful but underneath much like my True Blood mood board is a splatter of blood and also a photo of Sophie-Ann the Queen of Louisiana. Claudia though completely un-realising what she's done and her imprisonment of over thirty years Claudia is a bit of a dream; much like girls today looking at 'celebrities' Claudia idolising those she sees in front of her on a daily basic on her television from old movie stars to music icons like madonna.

The colour scheme of the mood board is bright with the orange and pink ombre effect, the background fits in with my plan for Claudia because she is very cliche in her style of that period especially within her makeup, claudias personality itself is also extremely immature almost bratty sometimes. Theres an almost surreal look about her with the makeup with the vintage style clearly showing though, she almost models herself on what she sees on the television screen. Unknowing to Claudia the television is almost her eye to the outside.

The buildings are including because Claudia has originally lived in New Orleans which is a extremely popular place for the vampire community in True Blood, though Claudia is now actually living in a secret facility the likeness of her old apartment is unmistakable the apartment is a exact copy of the old one in New Orleans with windows that have the effect of the outside on so Claudia believes she never left anything. Due to her agoraphobia Claudia had always been tender and afraid of the outside world; Having such a powerful day was hard on Claudia but she hadn't always been the way she currently is. Claudia is extremely dependent on her neighbours finding out the latest gossip and outside information that is filtered through to her. Claudia hasn't been destroyed because of her importance to Russell much like his boyfriend Talbot who was destroyed by Eric; Russell loves his child. 

I included the blood because after all Claudia's life source is blood, she feeds from her neighbours "The Wannabes" being un-mentally stable neighbours know the risk of being feed upon, blood is used instead of the true blood drink as the drink wasn't created when Claudia killed Quentin and had her breakdown; sometimes Claudia has blackouts in which she actually 'loses it' these attacks usually cause a neighbour to mysteriously disappear from her life and get replaced soon after. Strangely within these blackouts Claudia sees Quentin in his unoriginal form, without realising Claudia has to be knocked out by heavy medication to be stopped.  

Claudia is complicated she has a few different sides not only is she a dangerous and mentally unhinged but she's also dependant and really child like, another side of Claudia is the fact she's a dreamer seeing peoples lives on television; in a way sometimes she forgets who she is and where she's from almost forgetting she is a imortal vampire, dreaming of a perfect husband like her Quentin, making cakes that fill the flat with a almost bakery smell even though she never eats them herself. 

What do I do now? 

The face of Claudia needs to be created 

My Idea/Plan/first thoughts

After dwelling on what program I should chose for my project of Claudia & Quentin I've decided to go for the one and only TRUE BLOOD. Not only am I a fan of the show but I've read every book of the Sookie Steakhouse series by Charlene Harris... yes i am a fan. Anyway not only am I a fan but another reason i decided to go for the show was the huge range of character that are in it; a large array of not only story lines but also supernatural beings in which i could see myself fitting into who/what Claudia and Quentin are, the actual choose of where to head with this is pretty vast which could be a down side to some for me though after deciding True Blood ideas starting coming. At the start of this project once upon deciding what show was to be the lucky one i started noting and planning ideas, who would my characters be? and what would they be? The idea i've decided to go with actually came to me rather late at night when i was trying to sleep, i wrote it down in case i forgot it in the morning and so i could read back what my exhausted imagination had created

My Idea

(Bare with me and read it all, a jumble of ideas were shooting out my head at the time this was all written) 

My idea for Claudia is she is in fact vampire royalty though she has become unhinged since murdering her lover Quentin in the 80's whom was unfaithful to her (they were seeing each other she was in love) he was also a vampire. Claudia isn't any vampire she is in fact the daughter of Russell Edgington the king of Mississippi this creates a obvious link to the show with in the character of Claudia initially. I have based Claudia a little around Queen Sophie-Ann; on her child like manor and beautiful rolled hair.

The apartment in which Claudia is bound too is kitsch because in fact its dated and not aged at all since the 80's as in fact she's been inprisioned since killing Quentin; the main reason she hasn't been realised isn't due to Quentin being especially important in the vampire world but the fact Claudia isn't safe to released as she's clearly had some sort of mental breakdown episode where she in fact doesnt realise she's been held for 30 years or the killing of quentin. Claudia's apartment was originally in New Orleans though after the verdict was giving Claudia was in fact moved without her knowledge to a underground exact copy being held in secret by her father. Does she realise? No in fact Claudia knows nothing of her inprisionment she is extremely delicate and almost seems like a immature yet innocent being, when in fact she's dangerous and untameable

Her neighbours who include the character of Mrs Laderman are actually a mixture of Guards and feeders. Feeders like Mrs Laderman are wannabe vampires much like you see in the show these people strive to become the undead as they idolise the idea of living forever. Like in the brief Mrs Laderman actually in a way wants to seduce Claudia, sees Claudia as her way into this lifestyle. Mrs Laderman looks rather revealing though in her late 40's she wears clothing that would be classed as young and almost 'trashy'. Though told to dress in the period of the 80's.

Quentin himself is seen though imaginary in different forms usually being his original but sometimes changes if Claudia has a bad turn or a nightmare (these are called to guards as Red attacks, due to Claudia blacking out and becoming extremely violent, tending to tear anything in her way) The original form of Quentin whom I will be creating and shooting is best described to me as 'cool', dark hair, snake skin shirt slightly open (sex appeal) I have taken inspiration from old movie stars like Marlon Brando and Nicolas Cage for the look of Quentin. Quentin has a back story of knowing Eric from a episode of Eric posing as a Nazi officer in world war two; I had the idea of them actually meeting when Quentin was human and being friendly until his death.

Claudia herself is extremely old, though she can't exactly remember her lengthy existence, her personality is extremely young and immature even though she's in her early 20's becoming a vampire in a way was her demise. Claudia is a huge fan of old movies and actors her favourite movie of all time is "Gone with the wind", Claudia's dated television is full of recordings of old films and 80's television that reply's over and over. Claudia bases herself one the old movie actors but also her look is extremely 80's with heavy eye shadowing always being applied, she also tends to add accessories in her hair like glittery clips.

After writing my idea down we were asked to create a five minute presentation to show to a small group within our class, I think my ideas good but i just need to express it more understandably.

I created a mood board simply for the show, adding a few elements that are key and obviously important to the story, adding the main characters was important as they could be recognised, the inclusion of the wolf to show that no vampires arent the only super natural beings in True Blood there are a tonne, I think the mood boards quite cool with the blood spatter underneath. Danger is lurking

Vivienne Westwood Inspired look & Dark Eyes and Lips

This Vivienne Westwood look has been a favourite for a while In my last project with the Elizabethan ages I used it for a modern inspiration along side Disclosure. The look is fun full on but also not to complicated to achieve. For this look I used white foundation a little bit of mac lip mix and that was it, if I could re do the look I'd of used a thick eyeliner but overall its quite cool. The white base was applied gently with a sponge as I didn't want the foundation on Emma's face to blend with the white. 

Dark lips & Eyes was achieved much like how you'd do smokey eyes but using colouring that were orange and purple in shades. Starting with the lighter colouring on the eyes i then continued to blend and work the eyes with darker shading around the crease. Lips were film nor by mac a colour which is a favourite of mine. This look was inspired by the a smokey eyed look from François Nars book called "Makeup your mind express yourself" a must buy and really great for a range of looks and help 

Book can be brought on amazon though look for second hand as its expensive

Of course these looks are a exciting take on the new turning within the makeup in motion project the looks are compared to the start of the project focusing on the Victorian era is really exciting, these looks are contrasting in a way as dark lip and eyes could be worn daily unlike the Vivienne Westwood mac look. Perfect for being creative.

Good Bye Victorian Era , Hello Gothic Horror Televison Series.

Together again

Studying the Victorian era for our project of Gothic Horror in Makeup & motion has be really interesting; I've actually felt passionate about not only learning this for makeup in classes and from research but from learning more about the history of the times. Life was harder for many but they were literally living in one of the most changing periods ever seeing the transition of industry to the creation of film. The Victorian era was extremely interesting. For me though learning about Queen Victoria was the most interest from my research, the women with the longest reign England has ever had or the fact she was widowed at a young age still with nine children, six of whom outlived her.

After studying the Victorian ages for most of the term we are now onto our final project of the year; I can not believe my first year studying makeup is almost complete its madness. The final assessment for the project is all about creating a character from the brief set; choosing two characters with basic stories already from three possible candidates given to us and developing the idea. BUT WAIT THERES MORE... not only are each characters stories already in fitting with the idea of a horror type situation we also need to fit the characters in a horror Esq. television show, we have to create a detailed character with no less then 4 face charts for each character, also mood boards which of course will help with development. 

Below are the introductions to ideas. 

Claudia

Claudia is a girl in her twenties. As a child she was left alone to develop with little parental guidance and through her relationship with T.V. movies developed an unhealthy relationship with Horror films, believing this to be the way life really is.

All the scenes take place in various parts of Claudia’s apartment, which is European in style with
a great deal of kitsch décor. She is agoraphobic and is kept in touch with the outside world by her neighbours who provide her with her every day requirements.  She models herself on a variety of girls often twisting her look to suit whichever film she is watching at the time and there is often
a nod to the main character in the current film within her appearance.

The script portrays her as psychotic and there is always the feeling that although her character is scripted/can be seen as humorous, danger is just around the corner.   However all this is normal to Claudia and she is of a cheerful disposition in this mad world of hers.

Quentin

Claudia has an imaginary boyfriend, Quentin, who is long suffering and a constant disappointment to her. They don’t live together but he visits regularly and they talk on the telephone if he can’t get in to see her. As he is part of her imagination his appearance changes to suit her mood. Sometimes he will be a David Beckham looking guy, whilst in another scene he will appear as a Pete Docherty type, Daniel Craig type or a Hollyoaks Babe. If she is having a bad day he will morph into an uncouth couch potato chav with all that brings with it.

He is as into the horror film genre as she and into role-playing to suit her whims and moods.

Claudia has a paranoid suspicion that he is constantly having affairs behind her back and keeps him firmly under her thumb, sometimes restraining him or keeping him prisoner in one of the rooms.

Mrs Laderman

Claudia’s neighbour in her 40’s. She alternately changes into a variety alter egos and is Claudia’s friend and confidant. Living in the apartment opposite, she was Claudia’s only link to the outside world. Although they are friends there is suspicion that Mrs L’, has designs on Quentin. In fact she has desires on Claudia.

I am excited. Below are the list of series we can choose from to create our characters into, each show has a large influence of horror type situation's and characters. Highlighted are the shows I was first attracted to to choose upon.

•The Walking Dead

•American Horror Story

•Dexter

•True Blood

•Bates Motel

•Buffy the Vampire Slayer

•Vampire Diaries

•Penny Dreadful

•In the Flesh

•Being Human

•Hemlock Grove

•Hannibal

But which one to choose? For me personally I am a massive series lover, A great television series can    feel like a cinema trip, we all get attached to characters and relationships but with horror its more unique due to many popular characters never being safe from appending deaths. From the list these titles highlighted were the one in which I felt developing two characters from would be fun.

Season 3 Coven of American Horror Story Trailer 

Penny Dreadful Season 2 

True Blood Season 1

The Walking Dead Season 5 

Hannibal Season 3 

Graveyard

I took these a while ago at the start of the project, of course a graveyard is a perfect place to shoot especially an old one due to what we learnt about Victorians love/suspicious ideals of death. For me old graveyards are always so interesting to see, the sloping grass from the coffins decaying or simply the peoples names and dates of birth or death. The age these people lived in was one of change through industrial to even war; in this graveyard I did notice a number of first world war soldiers. This graveyard at Southampton common was erie though maybe thats due to the large bushes splitting the grave yard into two for a walk way, I always wonder in places like that if we the living are truly alone. I hope all are in peace.

Wound's in makeup - lesson working's

The original affect I tried at the start of the project whilst looking into potential Miss Havisham inspiration ideas. *SPOILER ALERT* most of us know Miss Havisham meets her untimely demise in a fire so I decided to look into how to create a smokey blistered skin look. This off course compared to the others in simple using only eyelash glue and a array of dark eyeshadows and red supra color from kryolan. For a first attempt without any latex this effect for me personally (trying not to make myself sound to modest) was alright; if I had had more time working on my partner I would of loved to of done up to the forearm. Maybe another time.

Just looking at this makes my stomach turn, a little full on with blood maybe but I really enjoyed completing this piece. To start of to form a shape we worked with gelatine which was heated in the microwave then once tested for temperature was applied to the model with a spatula. This process was extremely fast work and it did take a little while for me to work out DONT MIX the gelatine or the air will cool it 100x faster then just leaving it. The finished look is almost like some zombie bite turned infected. I really enjoyed creating this one.

For this wound the shape itself was made before the lesson by my tutor, this lesson was focusing on how to apply and blend the latex edging in the skin. Straight away without being to hard on myself I can see and learn what I did wrong, anyone noticed? well if not Its obvious I haven't cut the latex enough round the edges so the finished look in a little edging especially with the blood emphasising the mistake. Even though that didn't work the best this lesson was great; finding out about wounds and how to apply them correctly is a big learning curve. Also how freely and creatively we can create this wounds to be bloody messes with puss to a older wound with scabby dried blood and a bruised outline. I am so tempted to buy myself some to practice over the summer with. 

A great book to look into wound help and direction is "The makeup artist handbook" by Gretchen Davis and Mindy Hall, the book gives in detail how to apply wounds and also create them.

Miss Havisham Evaluation

first part of the assessment

Miss Havisham; everyone has heard of her she's someone who displays extreme abuse to her body in the sheltered environment she had entrapped herself into. Doing makeup onto a extremely young person to convey these effects was always a little harder compared to someone who was over 40; for my planning of Miss Havisham i had always wanted my model/partner to look minimalistic yet convincing; to me Miss Havisham's makeup and hair would of been long since sweated of her face lets face it. The makeup I did for kyomi was planned out to suit her emphasising he yellow tones in her skin under her eyes to look sleep deprived. Lips were dry and pale as were her now aged brows. 

For the first practical as always I was a stressing but I felt like the overall final look was good especially with the use of the veil in which i had ripped and stained for it adding the prop made the overall photo more convincing even with my models septum and black top. Overall with assessment one I was quite happy the hair itself was a test in itself as I was applying a wig to Kyomi's hair. In the second assessment I believe the hair went a better as by that time I was confident in applying the wig to the head. I left the veil in my room which was a huge mistake as obviously for continuity thats not something any professional would do. I had prepared myself mentally having analysed my first assessment and also printed off a couple for the actual day in case I needed further direction. The biggest risk I decided to do in the look was of course the lips that were coloured and covered with eyelash glue to look dry and chapped in the second part of the assessment i was actually surprised in how similar it was in that area. Looking at the photos I have also noticed the first looks more yellowy in its colouring I believe this is due to the lighting being brighter in the second whilst shooting. In the second photo the black blur on the shoulder is my attempt at editing a tattoo out; in time though i will learn to perfect if things like that occur. 

Second part of the assessment