Little Red Riding Hood's - The Wolf

My fourth studio shoot was for the character of the Wolf in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I have never  attempted a wolf make-up before so I always knew that this look would be my most challenging. I designed the look of the wolf to be mainly human looking with some small elements of a wolf, this unfortunately became the most challenging part of the look, as it was difficult to create a balance between human and wolf. The whole look took around an hour and a half to achieve as the hair had to be placed on in small parts at a time, this inevitably ate into my shooting time and left me with less time to shoot then I had initially hoped. Another difficulty I faced within this shoot was the second cancellation from my photographer, by this point I had already shot on my own another one of my looks so I felt slightly more confident taking the pictures myself however using twenty minutes to set up the studio space again took away from valuable shooting time. This has taught me to always be prepared and organised for your shoots and if possible to have a second back up plan if anything does go wrong. 

Here are some of my favourite images from the Wolf photo shoot -

 Make-up 

The make-up and special effects for this shoot were by far my most difficult and challenging. I began by creating a darker skin coloured base and brown eye shadow for contouring the cheeks, jaw and nose to give the face structure and add darker tones to the skin. I then used latex and cotton wool at the top of the nose to create height between the eyebrows and nose and to give the wolf a more evil look. However when I then used brown supracolor to colour over the white of the cotton wool the colour stuck to the latex and created a dark, blotchy effect and made the make-up look messy, upon reflection I don't think that this technique adds much to the overall look, if I were to do the look again I wouldn't include this element of the make-up. Once I had the base and contouring done, I began to add the wolf's fur, with a limited budget I used wool roving to create the fur - the wool was a light brown colour and on the skin it looked ginger so I used a brown hairspray to create a darker more natural fur - with a larger budget I would have bought more realistic fur from a reputable makeup company. I then used spirit gum to stick the fur on, little bits at a time, this became a very messy process as the spirit gum began to stick more to my hand than the model's face. I was very weary as to how much fur to put on the face, bearing in mind the more human elements of the look, I choose to just have fur on the eyebrows, side of the face and the temples. Upon reflection after editing the photos I am happy with the overall look of the wolf's character and although I faced many complications this look is my favourite so far. 

Props 

To create a realistic wolf look I bought and hand decorated wolf fangs and ears, without these I feel the look would have been incomplete. The most difficult obstacle faced when faced with the props was trying to blend the prosthetic ears into the natural ear skin as the prosthetic ear only fitted half way down the ear - most of the blending had to be done in editing with the smudge and clone tool. Again a difficulty with the fangs was the unnatural white colour of them, I tried to stain them both with make-up and blood but nothing would stick to the slippery surface of the fangs, however in Photoshop I have managed to edit them to create a dark, stained look using the paint brush and opacity tool. My favourite of all the images are the ones with the blood in the mouth, here I used a blood capsule which dissolves in the models mouth and momentarily fills the model's mouth with blood, I've got some great shots with this and the blood really adds to the violent,  gory and evil atmosphere I hoped to create through the character of the wolf. 

Cinderella's - The Ugly Sister

My third shoot was the character of the Ugly Sister in the well known story of Cinderella. All though the Disney remake of Cinderella is well known the original Brother's Grimm story isn't so well known so for me the main purpose of this character was to show the violence and gore that featured in many of the Grimm's tales. I also wanted to use this look to experiment with new special effects techniques as when it comes to prosthetics I am always keen and enthusiastic to learn new skills, for example I had to use a new self taught technique using black cardboard, latex, wax, bruise colour and blood to show at the end of the story when the Ugly Sister's get there eyes plucked out by birds. 

Although the characters name has always been the Ugly Sister, in the original tale the only thing that depicts her as ugly is her evil ways, in appearance she is described as 'fair of face', so within the shoot I wanted the first make-up look to show an attractive make-up and throughout to show a change in the make-up showing the model as getting more 'ugly' as in the story she becomes more evil - I also asked the photographer to change the lighting to become more and more dark as the make-up looks changed, I feel the lighting here is successful in creating an eary mood. 

Here are some of my favourite images from the Ugly Sister shoot - 

Make-up 

As in the story the Ugly Sister is described as fair of face, I wanted the first image to show the complexion of the skin as fresh and natural looking and just to use a darker lipstick and eye colour to depict elements of her evil personality. As the make-up looks changed and  the character became more evil I added darker lines on the face into the creases around and  under the eyes and on the forehead to accentuate her natural lines and to give the illusion of older skin - in editing I also used the clarity tool which gives the skin a pigmented look. The last and final look needed to show the eye missing as it had been plucked out by birds, I used black cardboard, derma wax, latex, a bruise wheel, blood and a stipple sponge to create this self taught effect. In test shooting this came out well and looked realistic however under time pressure I felt this make-up look wasn't as successful, as the cardboard wasn't sticking completely to the skin and this created a raised look to the cardboard which gave it quite an unrealistic effect and caused me to have to darken the image dramatically  If I had more time I would have cut the circle of cardboard smaller and used more latex to stick the cardboard to the skin. 

Hair 

I wanted to create a Victorian look with the hair styling of the Ugly Sister, to create a successful hair I researched into classic Victorian hairstyles in order to create my own design. I noticed that a lot of the styles included a lot of volume at the top of the head with pieces of hair hanging down at either the front of the sides , so I used this as the basis of my hair look. To create this hairstyle I used a handmade base using a pair of tights shaped into a circle and stuffed with tissue paper - this would be the template for me to mould the hair around, this is the only way to create such height with natural hair, I then curled the remaining hair with curling tongs. The styling of the hair is my favourite part of the characters appearance, I feel that it adds to the overall look and feel of the character. 

Styling

I again used Victorian references for my styling and found a frilly, lace Victorian style dress hidden away in my attic that I felt was perfect for the shoot. Ideally I would have liked the dress to be a darker colour however upon reflection the lighter colour of the dress makes the model stand out from the darker background and dimmed lighting. I felt that the dress would be to plain on its own so I added an old style flower necklace that reflects the type of costume jewellery worn in that era. At another gory and violent point in the story the Ugly Sister cuts off part of her heel to fit into the glass slipper (in hope of becoming the new Queen) but her blood stained stockings prevent her, I bought a pair of cream tights and hand stained them with blood, with the lighting used the image is quite creepy and hopefully shocking to an audience unaware of the original Cinderella plot - Overall I am very happy with the styling of this image.

Props 

The only props used in this shoot is that of the heart. In the original story, the Ugly Sister is described as 'fair of face but foul at heart', I wanted this element of the story to be shown in a very creepy and eary way, so I made the decision to use a real heart (a lambs heart), held by the Ugly Sisters hand in my shoot. With the way in which its been shot with dim shadowed lighting, it almost creates this second glance image whereby it isn't initially obvious what she is holding until you look closely, I'm hoping this effect of the heart and blood will create quite a shocking reaction to an audience.

I have always wanted the overall mood of my book to be dark and something of the horror genre, I feel that this shoot with the make-up effects, props and lighting is the darkest of my images so far and sustainable in creating the eary atmosphere throughout the book that I had hoped for. 

Rapunzel's - The Prince

After much organising and problems faced I have completed my second shoot, the character of the Prince in the story of Rapunzel. I have had terrible trouble booking studios to complete shoots so I now know that with every opportunity I have to shoot I must try to complete the looks to the highest standard but also in a small time frame. I have found this difficult as my make-up looks change throughout the shoots to match the dialogue and plot of the story. Inevitably these make-up changes take time and this leaves me with less shooting time then if I was doing just the one look for each character. All though I have found this hard, it's also been great experience of working within a fast paced, time constrained environment and the outcomes of the shoots, I feel, are appropriate to the individual characters and full of make-up techniques.  

For my previous shoot I worked with a photographer however for this shoot she cancelled last minute and I was left to shoot alone, I vaguely remembered how to set up my desired lighting and with some help from a photography technician I completed the photography for this shoot on my own, again great experience of working under pressure and being able to adapt to changes. 

Here are some of my favourite images from the Prince photo shoot -

Make-up 

A typical Prince is masculine, strong and handsome, I used basic cover up make-up and a dark powder to contour the face and add structure to create a strong jaw line and cheekbones. The first make-up look was quite simple to contrast with the second make-up look. By this point the Prince has fallen out of the tower into a bed of thorns, I used my handmade crown, a bruise wheel to create bruising around the eyes, special FX blood to create blood wounds around the crown and wound filler and a stipple sponge to create grazes on the side of the face and the lips. I also wanted to use contacts in the eyes to show blindness however my model found it too difficult to put them in, however overall I am very happy with the second look, it is successful in showing the loss of the Prince's masculinity and the pain and suffering after the accident, I also feel that it shows a range of make-up skills.  

Styling

To create a realistic Prince look, I used images of Prince's both in films and history for referencing. All their outfits looked both tight fitted and luxurious, as I suppose this shows their wealth and power. To be in keeping with the look of a real prince for the styling of this shoot, I used an old pantomime outfit of mine; a blue velvet jacket lined on the edges with white fur. To add to this I made a frilly white cravat and with a conjoining piece of material that I attached to a white shirt with metal poppers. Overall I am really pleased with the styling of this look as there was only so much I could do to make the model look Prince like with the styling used I feel it is the most important and here the most successful aspect in showing the character as a realistic Prince.

Props & Editing

I decided to make my own crown of thorns as I felt this way the best and most artistic way of showing the Prince's fall into a bed of thorns. I made the crown of thorns from scratch using real branches that I sourced from a local forest, I then painted the crown keeping some of the branches green and painted the others brown, I feel this elements shows up well and successfully with the lighting used. I am really happy with how the crown of thorns turned out on camera and teamed with the blood and bruising I feel it is successful image in showing that element of the stories plot. To show the Prince's blindness, I originally hoped to use white contacts however my model wasn't able to put them in his eyes so instead I used Photoshop and the use of the clone stamp and smudge tool to create an overall white eye. I did the best that I could with editing however I do feel that the eyes look unrealistic but as long as the message is clear then I feel the editing has been successful.

Practicing with Props

      After making all of my props such as the wolf's claws and the witches nails, I decided to practice with each and to test the look of both of the hands - the wolf's claw and the witches hand to see how the fake nails sat on the real nails and how they looked with the other make-up components that I'd be adding to the hand. As I am using close up's of both I needed to practice each so that the props and make-up of each matched and blended well and looked realistic to the characters overall look.  

The Witches Hand

For the Witches Hand I started by using old age stipple on the knuckles and joints of my hand to create an old and wrinkled effect, adding to the idea of her being both evil and 'as old as the hills'. Once this was dried with a hairdryer I then added a mixture of grey and white supracolor paint to give the impression of skin that looks ill and malnourished.   

To accentuate the wrinkles further I then used both black and dark green eye shadow and a thin brush to draw into the lines and wrinkles on my hands to over exaggerate my natural wrinkles and bones. I then added my hand made nail props with white tac and used black supracolor paint to blend then into the cuticle and skin. I am really happy with how these have come out, I also feel that in studio lighting the colours and textures of the hands will be more prominent and effective. 

The Wolf's Claw

For the wolf's claws I started by applying a layer of liquid latex onto the back of my hand once dry I added another layer in the same way, with tweezers I then pulled holes in the latex to give the hand a more textured look. I then built up colour onto the hand using a mixture of brown and black eye shadow and a small amount of brown supracolor paint. To accentuate the holes and their texture further I used black supracolor paint and a small brush to push under neath the latex and on the skin of the holes, to create more depth to the skin. 

Once I was happy with both the colour and texture of the wolf hand I then needed to add fur to the hand. I used the same coloured wool that I had used on the props of the wolf's ears to also use on the hand. I placed spirit gum on my knuckles and add small amounts of the wool using tweezers, once dry I cut away some of the length of the wool with scissors until I was happy with the overall appearance. In the same way that I added the witches nails, I then added the wolf's claws using white tac and used a dark brown supracolor paint to blend the nails into the cuticle and skin to create a more realistic look. 

Making the Props

 In order for each of my characters to be authentic and for most of the creative elements to be my own, I have made most of the props for my characters by hand. I have always enjoyed art and being creative and making things from scratch however I have noticed throughout my degree that styling and costumes haven't been my strongest point. As this whole book and all ten looks are designed and created by myself, I felt this was the best time to try to focus more on not just the make-up and hair but the props as well. Finishing touches and the small details are just as important in creating a full rounded character. 

Crown of Thorns

Here I have made a crown of thorns for my Prince character in the story of Rapunzel. To make this I used a number of twigs from a nearby forest, after using a measurement of the circumference of the model's head, I then entwined each branch together to create a thick and stable base for my crown, once happy with the shape I secured the twigs with smaller twigs at the back to hold the crown in place. To the right is my first attempt at making the base, I really liked the weaving created here but unfortunately when I tried it on the model's head the base was too small so I started the same process again. After getting the base at a perfect size, I could then add the thorns.To create the thorns I painted toothpicks a brown colour with acrylic paint and left them to dry, once dry I then glued them with a hot glue gun to different points in the crown. Once the glue had dried I painted parts of the crown the same colour as the thorns so they blended well. I am very happy with the outcome of my crown of thorns and I feel it will look even more effective under studio lighting and on the head.  

Wolf Ears

 Here for the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, I have built upon a base for the wolf's ears. After buying a pair of plain skin coloured wolf's ears from a fancy dress shop I painted them with two different shades of brown acrylic paint. I used darker paint on the inner ear to create depth and a lighter brown to highlight the more raised areas, I then used light brown wool and PVA glue to create realistic looking wolf's fur. I cut the wool in to shorter bits and pulled away at the wool to create a wispy fur like texture, I then used PVA glue and tweezers to stick the hair to the edge of the ear's. 

I am again very happy with the outcome of the prop's here, I really like the texture and 3 dimensional effect created with the two tone paints on the ears. I then added small segments of wool rovling to create a fur effect on the outside edge of the ears, I feel with the wool attached as fur they are successful in looking like realistic wolf's ears. 

 Wolf's Claws

As part of the wolf's look and as a prop for another close up shot I have created wolf's claws. I used acrylic nail tips as a starting point for the claws, the acrylic tips come with a square end so I began by cutting the tips with scissors into more of a pointed claw like shape, I then used a nail file to round of the edge's into a more curvasious point as opposed to a sharp point. After I was happy with the nail shape I used yellow, brown and green acrylic paints to build up layers of colour starting with yellow then adding some brown and finally some green, I tried to create a gradient effect with a lighter shade at the tip of the nail and a much darker shade at the base. After attaching these to the model's nail, I'm then going to use a dark brown eyeshadow on the cuticle to blend them into the skin. To create a realistic wolf's hand to go with these claws, I'm going to use built up layers of latex, shading with coloured powders and more of the wool as fur. 

Witches Nail's

                                                       

 

In the same way that I made the wolf claws, here I have made witches nail's for my character of the evil witch in Hansel & Gretel. I used the same acrylic nails here but I've cut and filed the nails in to a much more pointed shape as this is how I'd picture an evil witches nail to look. I then used black at the base and a green acrylic paint at the tip to paint the nails in the same gradient style. I'm then going to use old age stipple on the skin of the hand to create an old, aged look.       

Creating a Mood

It is important to have some kind of mood or theme to your ideas and here in the case of my book the mood is key to the message I'm hoping to portray within the book.

I have created specific mood boards for each fairy tale with the intention of using them to create a mood as apposed to demonstrating styling or make-up ideas as I feel I have done this through each characters separate blogs. With these mood boards I wanted to show quite clearly the darker and more eary side to fairy tales that people don't always know as this is the whole concept and aim of my book. I used photo shop to create each mood board and I used the opacity tool in order to create transparency, I did this as a way of reflecting the idea that there are darker hidden messages that we've never been told in the well known child hood fairy tales that have been passed through our generations. The intention of my fairy tale book is too show these darker elements and to use specific gruesome or gory points in the stories as main parts of my make-up looks but to also use styling as a way of making the characters recognisable to an audience, for example Little Red Riding Hood's red cape is an obvious symbol in depicting her as that significant character.

 Overall I am very pleased with the outcome of my mood boards and I feel they are successful in portraying a certain dark and eary mood while still showing clearly elements of the original stories that I want to display through make-up and styling in my book.

Little Red Riding Hood

Cinderella

Rapunzel

Hansel & Gretel

Another key element that can be used to quickly create and depict a mood is colour. Here I have created a small colour chart of essential colours that I want to use throughout my book layout and my film portfolio so that both link together clearly and are relevant to one another. Black will be the main colour as this will be the colour of my books background and all of my images will be shot on a black back drop. I'll then use either a white or a grey font for the parts of the stories that will run along the pages alongside my images, I feel white will probably be the most successful option as it will be clear to read and opposing to the dark black background. The colour of red will be reoccurring throughout my images as most involve some type of violent act that involves blood or gore, it is also important that red is symbolic of danger. 

Setting the Pages

 In order for me to fully visualise how the book will look and to help me with the planning of my looks and how they'll run through each story I felt that it was vital for me to create a basic book layout plan. I wanted to see which images looked best as double page spreads and which ones had enough character and depth to stand alone on a single page. I used secondary images to show mainly the composition of the imagery and how each image will sit in the book.









This exercise has been extremely useful in helping me to plan each shoot and the images I want to get from each shoot. Following this exercise I have made a shooting plan for each character so the photographer and myself are clear with the running order of the make-up and shots, I'm hoping this will help with the organisational elements of each shoot and look.

I'll also be using this book layout when it comes to designing my final book layout on InDesign, although this design is open to change and each photograph will have to go with the extracts of the stories that run along the images this will be the most helpful element as a starting point for my book design. 

As well as creating a book layout plan with images and directional text, I have also created a book template of the size book I am hoping to print. The book template is 12" x 12" and I choose this size as I felt it was big enough to fit an image clearly and with space for text and wasn't too big whereby it was uncomfortable to hold or handle. Some pages of the book will be images on a double page spread shown below whereby others will sit alone on a single page spread, others will have just text. I am also planning on having a title page for each fairy tale as well as a quote for each on the opposite page, I feel this will bring the concept of the book together and will be successful in creating a link from one story into another.

Although I originally felt happy with the size choice of the book, upon reflection and after some thought I feel that the book may be too large and that the images will be too small to fill the page, leaving a lot of empty black space and not utilising the whole of the book size. As I don't feel fully positive about the decision, I am yet to go ahead with choosing a final book size and I am currently in the process of deciding whether to choosing instead an average portrait sized book that is 8" x 10" as by sticking to an average sized book it is more in keeping with my competing horror novels and will be more appropriate and relevant for a book that could actually be sold in a shop, as the sizing of the book is easy to hold, carry and read.

In order to help a reading audience understand the concept of my book and to put my images into context, I have decided to include an introduction to my book. The introduction will firstly introduce fairy tales as a whole and how they are relevant to our society now, I will then go on to talk about where fairy tales derived from and how they originally came about. Following this I will start to bring in the idea of the darker side of fairy tales and here is where I will introduce and discuss the fairy tales written by the Grimm Brother's, describing the darker, more violent side to their tales.

Here I have written a first draft introduction for my book -

fairy tale - noun

A children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands.

A term used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness.

But are fairy tales all that happy?

    The interpretations of fairy tales that circulate nowadays have evolved greatly from the original tales of the 1800’s. These re-creations now are very much about the ideal happy ending and the idea of finding true love with your Prince Charming, something that most single woman pine for. However the original tales that began to circulate in the 19^th century lacked the happy endings that we now associate with fairy tales, mainly because in reality, there were none. Through analysing the original tales it becomes apparent that these enchanting, lovable tales are actually filled with all sorts of power struggles, of money, women, children and land and are often set in a violent and gory plot. Many represented the huge divide at the time between that of the peasantry and the aristocracy and used symbols of violence and cruel punishments to express their conflicts and struggles.

     The fairy tale stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s show us life as people knew it, capricious and often cruel.  So if you’re looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft your child into dreamland? Then look elsewhere as these tales are not suitable children. The Grimm Brothers were German authors who together collected and published folklore. With their book ‘Children's and Household Tales’ they popularized some of our most well-known tales such as Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel all of which are now available in more than 100 translations and have been adapted by filmmakers such as, Walt Disney. However unlike the Disney remakes, the tales written by the Brothers Grimm were in actual fact quite morbid and frightening stories. They show us the darker side of fairy tales, marked by scenes of lurid violence, including graphic descriptions of incest, murder, mutilation and cannibalism; branded by both the clerical and the secular powers as damnable and inspired by the devil. In the corpus of the Grimm’s tales there are approximately 25 in which the main focus is on children who experience some form of abuse, whether it be starvation, incest or neglection. The brother’s began to recognise that their fairy tales were far from culturally innocent and even as they sought to remove traces of sexual and violent elements, they rarely exercised their prerogatives to tone down descriptions of brutal punishments as many of these elements still remain today. 

This book aims to show that unknown violent and dark side of fairy tales by using original storylines and plots of four of the Grimm’s fairy tales, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretel & Cinderella.