Journal Entry:
Sat Apr 20, 2013, 9:03 PM
I'm a traditional artist in many ways. My primary mediums are watercolor, prismacolor pencils, copics and graphite with a dash of digital work here and there. Most, if not all, of my work is classified as 2-dimensional. (I'm sure there's a 3D joke here somewhere) A great deal of the artist I've surrounded myself with are also 2-Dimensional artists so my view of art as a whole has been rather, um, limited.
But think about it. Here, on DA alone, we're surrounded by such a wide diversity of mediums and multiple variations for each.
Today I got to see 5 different art forms work together to make a whole and it's put a new perspective on art in general for me.
11:00am -3:30pm is a long time for a girl like me (one who rarely, if ever wears make-up and does her hair pretty) to sit and be prepped for a photo shoot. Honestly, I don't want to be making a career out of modeling. But it was neat to see the variety of talent on display to make me ready for the camera.
The make-up artist did her job well. I looked air-brushed. As she was working, I could feel the layers of make-up encasing my face and I could tell that she was layering the colors similar to how an oil or watercolor painter would. She also started big and went small, leaving the eye-lashes for last. (I got to wear those massive fake ones!) She also taught me a few tricks that I can apply to my 2D work, such as how to make lips look full and draw out the eyebrows.
The hair stylist was the most trying for me. I may or may not have a bruised spot on my head and had a wad of bobby pins behind one ear, but, again, I could see techniques that I use in play. Big to small, details last. I also realized that my hair, though long, needed a whole lot more volume and ended up with (what felt like) an extra pound of fake hair braided onto my head. Getting it all out was no easy feat.
The dress, one of a kind and hand sewn, is a work of art unto itself. All of it was really, the hair, the make up, but the dress is what got it all going. It's been neat seeing how Beckie, the creator, fitted it to me, tweaked and finished the dress. Her whole process reminded me of how I work.
The photography was the fun part. All the fussing and sitting and poking of the previous hours had yielded a neat work of art (me) and the photography was all about catching it. The photographer was amazing as he coached me through the poses and talked to me about why things looked good. He mentioned that all of fashion photography centers on the S-curve and how it accents the model's form/clothing/hair. As he spoke about this and having all the lines lead up toward the eyes, I realized that this is something that I've been instinctively tapping into regularly. I felt very validated.
Modeling. Don't ever say that modelling is a piece of cake...'cause it's not. 4 hours of prep followed by poses that hurt is rough. (If the pose isn't painful you aren't doin' it right. seriously) I went from blank canvas in the salon to a life-size pose-able barbie doll. I 'bemoaned' my fate with all due sarcasm to Beckie and my mother.
After this whole ordeal was over we went out to a local restaurant and ordered food, without me changing clothes or cleaning off the make-up. Many of the staff working at the time were teenage boys and I'm pretty sure that extra chocolate strawberry is got wasn't an accident on their part. Beckie was rather surprised when I wasn't the strangest person in the room because two girls were positively covered, head to toe, in splashes of multicolored paint.
Clean up, meaning the removal of fake hair, rhinestones, make-up and dress, took about an hour...and I still smell like foundation even after a shower.
This was fun and educational, but I'm going to wait a few weeks before going all out on a photo shoot again.
((sorry for the long entry))