Focusing on one character for practice

The Joker

One of the most famous perceptions of the character of The Joker was Heath Ledgers take in the film The Dark Knight. This particular version of the character defied the normal representation of him as the joker is usually presented as being very clean cut, block coloured and sharp. However, in Heath Ledgers joker, he was tatty, messy, broken and this form of makeup was so powerful and bold in my opinion. This complete contradiction of Jack Nickolson's joker was still presenting the same characteristics, yet their appearances were very juxtaposed. The makeup artist responsible for this makeup was john caglione jr who won an award for the makeup done in this film.

I wanted to play around with perceptions of the jokers character with makeup, I found it interesting to compare the stereotypical portrayal with the idea I had inside my head and the ideas of others. Knowing this, I decided to begin exploring this by doing makeup on a model but instead of simply doing makeup that I had already planned out, I would ask them to guide me as to how they saw the character and wanted them to appear. This would also link to the drawings they had previously done as to bring their own character to life on their own face. I did not allow my model to look into a mirror during this process as I wanted the outcome to be purely what they thought the makeup should look like, not changing or altering which would be likely if they could see the development of the face in the mirror. 

I allowed the model to completely take control of what I was doing, choosing colours, shapes, what sized brushes I was using so that I was purely working for them and they were my client. Doing this was very helpful in my development as I was able to create something completely new and fresh that was a collaboration of my eye as the artist and someone els' ideas which is definitely what I wanted from when I first came up with my idea for the project. Additionally, the process took a lot less time than a normal piece as I went into the piece with no previous ideas of plans of what I was doing, therefore not spending time on specific intimate details. I was able to purely go with what my model was saying in a much more care free way of working.

In my opinion, the finished piece held The Jokers character very well, yet also not being a stereotypical representation. When I showed the piece to several people, many of them couldn't identify the character we were working with, however I found this to be a sign success in this area of the project as you have to look deeper into the shapes, colours and mood to see who is being portrayed. 

Other people that attempted The Joker makeup which I used as a reference to give me an idea of how I would go about doing that makeup in a comic/cartoon way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1-DstuUuGA

This particular person did the modern day version of The Joker from the film 'Suicide squad' which was not as comic like as I wanted mine to be, however when on this video another makeup piece was suggested to me by an artist called Jordan Hanz (video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeg7sMTWQU

Further Primary Research

The next thing that I decided to do was to get a smaller number of people to do a range of small, quick drawings of what they thought of when thinking of a particular character. The first form of drawing I asked them to do was a 30 second drawing using only a pen, which meant that they would draw the main and most important features first as they wanted to fit in it. I also did this as I didn't want the drawings to be too refined, just a simple look into their perception of them. The second drawing I asked them to was a blind drawing using a colour pen of their choice. This would be a much more abstract, raw drawing of what is in their head.

I urged them to pick characters from history that they found to stand out visually and would be potentially recognisable from the small, quick drawing they had done

Some examples of the type of drawings I was looking to achieve:

The feedback I got was generally that people enjoyed drawing mainly comic and cartoon characters. When thinking about this I realised that pinpointing that specific genre of cartoons and characters would be something interesting to do as development as they are the most recognisable and over the top people I could work with. Superheros and recognisable cartoons were also well received in my group tutorial as something that would be more effective to focus on.

                        Development  -  Secondary Research

To develop on this idea I decided to research and begin to practice exact comic and cartoon makeup that almost appears as an illusion, this would allow me to learn how to portray a character on someones face through makeup which is very realistic to the original character. I could then use this to generate my own interpretation.

To do these makeup practice pieces i used a paint pallet rather than typical paint pots which I normally use when doing smaller makeup pieces. Two of them I done on myself as it was for practice, however I used a male model for my third piece as I wanted to attempt makeup that is so precise on someone els' face. I found it very helpful to do this as it made me realise that I wanted to makeup that would cover the neck and face, to almost dehumanise the person.

Primary Research

next stage was to research a number of iconic characters from history, then talk to a wide range of people and asked what they thought of when hearing that characters name. I did not ask them what they thought they physically looked like, but what came to mind when thinking of that persons identity. For example, I asked them to describe what colours they thought of, what mood they portrayed, what artist of art piece it reminded them of, what animal they reminded them of, what material they associated with them etc. Through doing this I would gain an understanding of how they saw the character in terms of their characteristics, not simply how they have been presented to them in the past through films or pictures. The people I asked did not know the aim of my project until after they had answered the questions as this meant that they would not be biased when answering them or try to describe an image they would want to see the character looking like.

The characters which I used to ask my questions were The wicked Queen, The joker and Humpty dumpty. In total, the number of people I asked was 37. From these people I initially took into account what the most popular or reoccurring themes were. I encouraged people to be as random and obscure as possible with their answers so that I would have a less conventional representation of the person, rather than the typical perception of them. I then made a separate sheet for each character, listing what people had said about them and then used this as a reference to start sketching and coming up with some ideas as to how I would make this into a physical makeup form. By using a mood board I was able to visually take into account what the people had said they saw in each personality, for example if the colour green was frequently mentioned, I would constantly see that colour when working on my designs, instead of purely seeing the word green.

List of what people said for each character

The Wicked Queen

• Green and envious
• Alexander McQueen
• High fashion
• Blood
• Leather
• Tortured
• Cat
• Sharp
• Inhuman
• Vulgar
• lifeless
• hollow - no feelings

The joker

• Rough
• Vintage
• Roy Lichtenstein
• Deformation
• Creased
• Rustic
• Dirty yet presteen
• Overgrown
• Wealth
• Storm
• Red
• angular

Humpty Dumpty

• Tragedy 
• fairytale
• Sadness
• Discrimination
• faded
• Isolation
• Bill Brandt
• Black and White
• Personification
• Young
• Vulnerability
• Distortion
• salvador dali

Development (inspiration from ALO)

From the inspiration of ALO's work in the exhibition of his that i visited, I wanted to create some designs that has an essence of his work. The child like, almost creepy atmosphere he creates in his work is something that I am very interested in portraying in my own work so i decided to make some sketches working with in a more conceptual way, rather than my typical subjective way when designing a makeup or costume piece. By doing this, I will be able to get a true feeling of the characteristics of the character I am drawing by letting that come through in the physical appearance of them. It was important to me that I did not spend too much time on this drawings and designs as I did not want them to start becoming too refined or realistic. To ensure that I stayed true to this method of working and really loosening up my way of drawing a character, I decided to do the drawings in permanent marker, meaning that my initial idea of the face and body that I draw on the page cannot be changed by me later on if I didn't like the aesthetic look of it. This would make it a true representation of what was going on in my mind at that point and these could be a starting point for me to begin working from.

I decided to begin by drawing members of my family and my friends as this would allow me to practice characterisation before I pick iconic characters from history. I also did this as i know their personalities and characteristics very well, meaning that I can allow those qualities to lead my drawing, rather than soley their physical appearance. When doing these drawings I had an array of photographs of each person to use as reference. I chose to do this rather than drawing them in the flesh as when drawing someone in front of you, you are only seeing them at that one particular point in time, in those clothes and in that mood. However I wanted to have a sense of the whole of the person I am drawing, not just how they looked or came across at one moment. This method allowed me to draw a true representation of that persons character. I wanted to avoid my drawings becoming too much like characatures, yet I also wanted there to be some aspect which reflected a slightly exaggerated representation of their physical appearance as well. I also used colour to connect with the personality of the person i was drawing as colour was such an important element of ALO's work which I was  inspired by.

Although I knew the drawings would reflect my interpretation of the people I was drawing, It was also important to me that they were recognisable to other people that knew that person. After showing the drawings to my family and friends afterwards, they were all able to recognise each person I had drawn, even though some of them had almost no physical characteristics of the person. I found this very interesting as it showed that they were able to connect with the abstract portrayal of that persons personality. It also showed that everyone shares similar perceptions of colour.

Initial exhibition visits -

Exit from Aden at Saatchi Gallery

At this exhibition was the work of ALO who is an italian artist based in London who is an expressionist style painter. He describes his work as 'urban expressionism' as he draws inspiration from the outside world he is around. His work is very recognisable and early differentiated from any other artist working in this way. This is due to his vibrant use of colour and exaggerated, cartoon like characters. Although his work is far from realistic, the colours, mixed with the shapes within the work portray very strong emotions and feelings, making them very strong pieces as they evoke a lot of emotion in the viewer. The other aspect that I enjoyed was the shape of the canvases as they were long and skinny, accentuation the figure in the picture and I think that this very much added to the effect of the pieces. Another thing that I like about the way he works is how he layers colours and patterns to create bold shapes. Looking closely at the pieces, you notice that they are made up of very simplistic shapes, lines and block colours.

As soon as seeing this exhibition I instantly knew that I was extremely inspired by his work in terms of my project focusing on characterisation and personal perception of this. All of his pieces are generally single characters and this is something that I am interested in focusing on as there are no distractions from that particular figure, which is very powerful. As well as his composition, I am interested in experimenting with a more cartoon like and unconventional method of either sketching my ideas or actually applying the paint onto the body.

Makeup I did inspired by my visit to the exhibition:

I wanted to capture a child like - colourful essence so picked a sharp red/pink as my colour choice. I also chose this as it was a frequently used colour in ALOs work. I liked the idea of making something inspired by my primary research straight away without any thought because it allows me to churn out ideas quickly without thinking too hard about how I will use that artists work in my project.