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Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics?
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I was self taught as a traditional artist through books and classes, but I started in makeup in Jr High school by buying the Dick Smith Monster Makeup kit and making prosthetics out what I eventually learned was gelatin. I leaped into prosthetics but had to back up and learn how to do regular theatrical makeup throughout high school to make it look any good.
Richard Corson’s book “Stage Makeup” is considered the bible of theatrical makeup. It is available again on Amazon. Working your way through that can teach you a great deal, but you need to be disciplined and diligent- to treat it like a curriculum, not just playing around and jumping around in the book. I saved up and bought it, the price is more reasonable today.
“Dick Smith’s Do It Yourself Monster Makeup” book taught me inventiveness and how to work with inexpensive materials. Unfortunately, it is out of print and a collector’s item today.
Todd Debreceni’s book is pretty good:
I was learning makeup special effects in the late 70s and early 80s so Smith and others were basically inventing it as they went along. I would read every interview with a makeup artist in Fangoria, Cinefex or other film making publications. I would research every new term or product mentioned at the library since this was pre-internet.
I went to college and started taking art classes. I stopped and worked as an artist, magician and theatrical makeup artist, eventually working on films. I taught art classes as an uncertified instructor.
Schools are good for learning technique and sometimes gaining access to expensive equipment, but a degree or certificate won’t get you a job in makeup for theater or film, your portfolio and your credits do- the productions you’ve worked on. What can you do, what have you worked on, who can vouch for you.
If you live in an area with makeup effects studios you might be able to apprentice there, essentially clean the shop and fo grunt work unpaid to be able to learn from watching working pros, but this is not an easy opportunity to find. One of my apprentices eventually started a small business years later making custom fangs for vampire enthusiasts.
Unpaid film and stage work gets you experience, credits and contacts which leads to paid opportunities which lead to more work. I eventually returned to college and finished my art degree and also earned a teaching license which allows me to teach art in public school.
The makeup schools and programs can be expensive. If you don’t need a lot of in person instruction, the Dick Smith correspondence course in basic makeup and the professional makeup are outstanding values packed with superb information. You get feedback from a professional makeup artist on your projects.
If you need more direct hands-on instruction (most people learn better this way), the shorter term makeup courses are better bets. Something like the Academy of Makeup Arts run by Ken Myers is a better value than an overblown program that makes overblown promises. The “certificates” issued from an unaccredited school are mainly fancy paper.
An actual degree from a 4 year accredited university qualifies a person for certain jobs, but college is dreadfully expensive. Student loans can dog you for many years. My public teaching certificate is an actual legal document required in order to be hired as a public school teacher.
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