The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics lists Theatrical Makeup Artist at #7 of the top 30 job growth fields (2006-2016) in the United States! Positions in the field are expected to grow by almost 40% in the next several years.
Despite enormous advances in CGI technology – take a look at the makeup effects in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, for example: Extensive digital makeup effects, very little of it was practical – the majority of makeup effects work in motion pictures is still very physical. Makeup effects for theatre are practical by necessity; there can be no digital enhancement before a live audience. In fact, once a practical effect becomes digital it is referred to as a visual effect, not a special effect. However, a great deal of design is being done digitally. In motion pictures and television, a significant amount of work is beginning to be done through the use of digitally compositing elements of CGI with live-action footage. It can be a very effective combination, especially when you realize you can only add to, not take away, with makeup appliances. An outstanding example of practical makeup effects with digital accompaniment is as the High Priest Imhotep begins to regenerate (played by Arnold Vosloo) in The Mummy (1999).
It hasn’t always been that way, but inventive, innovative creative people have been fooling the eye with special effects and special makeup effects since before the advent of moving pictures in the 1890s. But there are a few pioneers worth mentioning, whose contributions to our industry and our craft have been monumental. Arguably the first great master of special makeup effects was actor Lon Chaney who designed and applied his own makeup in the horror classics The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Unknown (1927) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923).
Many years later, Academy Award winner Dick Smith - the recognized father of multi-piece overlapping appliances - created the 121 year-old Jack Crabb for Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man (1970), starring Dustin Hoffman as Jack Crabb. The makeup was done out of foam latex, and was comprised of 14 separate pieces, including hands and eyelids. Almost four decades later, Smith’s process of multiple overlapping appliance pieces is still the industry standard of applying complex makeups, whether in foam latex, gelatin or silicone. It has since been adopted by and improved upon by the likes of Neill Gorton (Doctor Who, Children of Men), Stan Winston (Edward Scissorhands, Terminator 2), David Elsey (Farscape, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith), Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London, Planet of the Apes), Mike Smithson (Spiderman 3, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), Ve Neill (Pirates of the Caribbean I, II and III, Beetlejuice), Greg Cannom (Mrs. Doubtfire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Matthew Mungle (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), Bill Corso (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Galaxy Quest) and many other truly remarkable makeup artists.
Even within the industry there is some confusion about boundaries; when do special makeup effects stop being makeup, per se, and become special effects - which includes puppetry and animatronics – or the domain of prop designers? Is a severed head that was made from a lifecast of the lead actor’s head, and whose eyes blink and neck bleeds a makeup effect, special effect, or a prop? Depends who you ask, I guess. Legendary makeup effects pioneer Vincent Kehoe said that while special makeup effects are character work in makeup, they belong to a specialized niche within the industry because creating makeup effects requires skill in painting, sculpting, mold making, and casting, as well as the fabricating electronic controllers and articulated figure armatures used in animatronics. He said the work is not just makeup, but also special effects manufacturing. And the field draws in not just graduates from art schools, but from the fields of engineering, industrial design, chemistry and medicine as well. In fact, there is cross-over between the worlds of makeup effects and the medical fields involved in the creation of facial and somato prosthetics.
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