The “So You Wanna Be A Pro Artist” series is original content conceived and written by Tania D. Russell, all Copyrights reserved.

My collection of Set the Pace Publications

At this point you’ve studied – either via school or DIY, you’ve built your kit, and you have the beginnings of a portfolio. You have now reached the point of the big NOW WHAT?

Well, young Grasshopper, Now What is marketing and promoting yourself to get work. Welcome to the Rest Of Your Life as a freelance makeup artist. This is the point where the rubber really hits the road. There are a sad number of really great makeup artists who do not work, and there are a lot of good not great makeup artists who work all the time. The difference is that whether you’re amazing or good or even not that great; those who are smart and who work hard at their careers will persevere. Whether or not one will make it to the lofty heights of the Pat McGraths or Joanna Schlips of the world is unknown (and to get to that level you really do have to be a great artist), but you can certainly be a working artist if you put your mind to doing so. For too long I, personally, fell into Group A: Everyone thought I was really good and really talented yet I didn’t work. This was because I am a naturally shy person and putting myself “out there” is not one of my favorite activities. Well, let me qualify, I’m actually a singer and I have no problem getting up and singing in front of people. Put a phone in my hand and tell me to call someone, however, and to this day I still have to psyche myself up to it. The difference is, of course, rejection. Yes. You will be rejected. Be it for meetings, jobs or tests you will not always get what you want when you want it. But as the Rolling Stones said “…you can’t always get what you want but if you try, sometimes, you’ll get what you need”. Eventually you have to eat and pay bills so you’ll have to decide – as I did – to either pursue your career with gusto, or go back to the office grind. With that said, here are my suggestions for getting yourself going… Continue reading →

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One of the more important investments a performer can make is in really good promotional photos. Be it for an actor, individual musician or band, these photos say much more than what you look like. Seriously, the difference between a the difference between a good and bad promo portrait can be the difference between getting a job or not. Thus, while budget may be a consideration, your promos aren’t the time to go cheap. If you’re planning on getting photos done, fabulous LA portrait photographer Starla Fortunato makes the following recommendations. You’ll notice that Starla recommends investing in professional makeup. I agree. However, if that isn’t possible, you can arm yourself by learning to apply professional makeup for photography to yourself with our Lessons for Performers makeup lessons.

To read Starla’s article, just click image to go to full size ;

© Starla Fortunato Photography

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The “So You Wanna Be A Pro Artist” series is original content conceived and written by Tania D. Russell, all Copyrights reserved.

In this the 8th installment I was going to go into the basics of marketing yourself as a media makeup artist (which was going to be my last installment), but a lot of you wanted me to go back and pick up on what I wrote about Testing.

The difficulty testing is the practical reality of what makes a GOOD test. Seasoned artists already know most of what I’m going to say so I’m going to assume that most of the fine people reading this are newer artists to the game. Here then are my suggestions for putting together portfolio worthy test shoots.
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The “So You Wanna Be A Pro Artist” series is original content conceived and written by Tania D. Russell, all Copyrights reserved.

In the previous installment of STWBAPA I talked about building a portfolio and I made mention of the difference between an “off the shelf (or off the rack)” book and a custom portfolio book but I didn’t go into it really. Well, several folks wrote in asking for clarification so here you go;

Off The Shelf

stock photo - Itoya Professional Presentation Portfolio Book - inset bound

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The “So You Wanna Be A Pro Artist” series is original content conceived and written by Tania D. Russell, all Copyrights reserved.

The next most important step – and challenge – in your progression towards becoming a professional artist is to show people your work. Your portfolio is an ever evolving process. At no point in your career will you ever stop working on your portfolio. HOW you develop portfolio will change, but rest assured, you will always be looking for new work to put in your portfolio.

What is a Portfolio, exactly? Well, good question because in recent years that answer has changed. Back in the day, a Portfolio was a physical book generally 9×12 or 11×14 in size, with printed photos of your work, comme ça;

Outside cover of my Portfolio Book

An inside page of my Portfolio Book

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