Now that we know what a Portfolio is, what goes in it? This is an extremely broad topic. The kind of Portfolio you will need to develop depends on the type of work you hope to pursue, and most artists actually have multiple Portfolios to showcase different types of work. Regardless of the type of work you want to showcase, be it Beauty, Fashion, Commercial, FX or what-have-you, as an artist you need a variety of the high quality photos showing your best work. That in a nutshell is your Portfolio. When you’re first starting out and have not yet started to book jobs, you obtain these photos by doing what are called “Tests” which is where you, a photographer and most often a hair stylist and a wardrobe stylist will collaborate along with a model in order to get photos for each of your books. Again, the operative word is COLLABORATION. The test needs to work for everyone involved. A bunch of photographs of the model with hair in their face doesn’t work for you as a makeup artist, hence you need to communicate your needs in advance to make sure you get what you need. You can’t just use any old picture where you happened to do the makeup. There are a lot of variables involved as to what makes a good, Portfolio Caliber photograph. For a photograph to be truly Portfolio caliber, all elements – photography, makeup, hair, wardrobe and the model – need to work. Good makeup in an otherwise bad photograph is just a bad photograph. You can save yourself a lot of time and heartache by doing some solid advance planning before starting to test for your Book.

Here now, are my suggestions for getting started on building and developing your Portfolio. Those of you who choose to go to a Makeup School will have a slight head start as most schools offer some form of Portfolio Development as part of the course. The following will still apply, however, as you go forward from school.

1 ) Use The Internet Carefully

As I stated in the previous article, I’m not a huge fan of the Model Mayhem, One Model Place, etc. type sites because there’s a lot of questionable talent on those sites. There are industry directory sites such as Workbook, Alternative Pick, etc. but those are **completely** different. IF you choose to participate on the Model Mayhem type sites be very discerning and more importantly discuss all the concepts in advance as well as how you are going to receive your images after the shoot. Again – Discuss All Of These Elements In Advance. This is a collaboration and you need to make sure that you are on the same page with the photographer with whom you plan to work and you also need to make sure you get what you need from the test.

2 ) Community Colleges and Art Schools Are Better Resources

Almost any city in America (and around the Globe) will have a local college with a Photography department. If you’re in a city like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc. you are lucky to be living in cities with some of the finest Art Schools in the US. Here you will find the best and brightest emerging photographers who are also working on their craft and who are required to produce a Portfolio in order to graduate. Hence any photography student shooting any kind of beauty or fashion needs to collaborate with makeup, hair and wardrobe. Call the schools, ask for the photography department and start networking with these emerging photographers.

3 ) Use the 6 & 6 Rule™

The 6 & 6 Rule™ was something I developed in my Workshops in order for artists to be realistic in charting their progress. When you first start testing – particularly if you did not go to any kind of formal instruction – your early shoots will be very hit or miss. This is fine, and in fact it’s important because you need to learn how your work photographs versus how it looks to the naked eye. I find that it takes most emerging artists about a year to get their first working Portfolio. The first six months will be spent in the hit or miss learning phase, and in the second six months you should start honing in on what works and start getting consistently good photos. Obviously, this is not set in stone and some people may get a working Portfolio faster and some may take a bit longer, but this is a general guideline that most of my students have found useful.

4 ) Models Are At Modeling Agencies

Not every pretty girl is a model. For a working Portfolio, you need to have real models in your photographs. Yes, there are some very good models online, but again, the whole online scene is extremely hit or miss. You can cut down on excess steps and taking the long route by simply doing things correctly the first time, and that includes working with real models as quickly as possible. Will you be working with Gisele Bundchen right off the bat? Of course not, but just as you as an emerging artist need to develop a book and an emerging photographer needs to develop a book, most modeling agencies have what is known as a “Development Board”. The Development Board consists of the newly signed, emerging models who also need photographs for their book. When you have a few good, clean pictures to show, introduce yourself to the booker in charge of the Development Board and inquire about testing with their models. Different agencies will have different procedures as to where to go from there, but trust me this is a MUCH more efficient way to find models to work with than placing a Craigs List ad.

5 ) Headshots Do Not Count

Actors headshots are not generally used in a pro makeup artists’ portfolio. You want your face shots to be Beauty shots, not headshots. Think of the difference between a cosmetics ad and an actors headshot. You want your photos to look like they come from the pages of a magazine.

1 ) Start Using Professional Products

Yes, there are instances where drugstore brands are the thing to use (I’m a Great Lash mascara girl all the way!) but you won’t want to build an entire kit of those products. Firstly, it just looks tacky to show up to a job with an entire kit of cheap product. Secondly products that are made for end user, everyday wear may or may not translate well to photography so you need to build your kit with that in mind. For this reason not all department store brands necessarily work, either. At the department store level, however, there are brands that are Professional brands in consumer packaging (Nars, Make Up For Ever, most Bobbi Brown, most Laura Mercier, Smashbox, Stila, etc.). The brands most young artists don’t know and should become aware of are the old-school theatrical brands like RCMA, Kryolan, Ben Nye, Mehron, etc. If you don’t know any of those names go hit Google. They will be very useful in building your kit. Lastly, if you’ve only ever used consumer product, professional products feel and work quite differently so you’ll need to get used to working with ‘the real thing’.

2 ) Consider A Pre-Assembled Kit

A good way to hit the ground running is to get a pre-assembled kit, much like what they have at makeup schools. The downside to a pre-fab kit is that no one can include everything, there’s always something else to buy. The upside to a pre-assembled kit is that a well done kit has all the basics necessary to get started so there is no guess work on your part as to what to buy. Also a good pre-assembled kit has professional grade products. I’ve seen a lot on-line kits of questionable levels of quality so here I am going to make a specific recommendation; Camera Ready Cosmetics Deluxe Kit (follow the link and then Search for DeLuxe Kit) . If you’re a regular Makeup to Go reader, you’ll know that Mary Erickson is a trusted colleague of mine and a long-time respected working artist. She actually has two kits, the Basic and the DeLuxe, but I vote for the DeLuxe because it’s not that much more expensive and it adds professional grade liquid foundations which you would need to buy eventually anyway. Many of the products included in the Kits are items I personally use, and I can vouch for the quality of products included. Also, my Workshop students get a discount code upon registration for one of my classes.

3 ) Know Where To Shop and What To Buy

If you’re going to go out and purchase your own kits, it’s really essential that you know what a professional kit is comprised of and where to get said products, particularly if you are outside of Los Angeles or New York. In my Workshop I provide students with a list of my specific preferred products as well as resources of where to buy. If you’re not in California to take my class (or you are thinking about taking my Workshop and would like the list before hand) you can purchase the list for $10 including shipping. The list is organized by Product Type (followed by my specific brand recommendations), and in Order of Priority so you know what you need to get right away and what can wait for later. I’ve designed it to be a great resource for DIY Kit Building, and you can order it by hitting the Buy It Now button below. (Note – if you order the list and then decide to take my Workshop, we will deduct the $10 from the price of your class.)

4 ) Tools Are Part Of Your Kit

Included on my list and also in Mary’s kit are Tools. Some artists – myself included – believe your tools are actually more important than your product. There are times when you’re working for a client and you may have to use a specific brand or product and not your pet items. However with proper technique and tools you should be able to get any look you want with any brand you may have to work with. Buying tools can be very very expensive, but there are ways to get the quality of brushes that you need at more reasonable prices.

5 ) Hair Too?

Yep, you’ll need to do some basic hair in most markets. By “most markets” I mean, anywhere in the United States not called New York City and even in New York more and more artists are being called upon to do both makeup and hair for commercial clients. Reason being that budgets are just getting smaller and its obviously less expensive for a client to hire one artist who can do both than to have to hire two separate artists at full rate. You don’t have to be Orlando Pita, you just need to be competent. When you’re ready to start marketing yourself for work, you won’t want to lose good paying jobs because you refused to learn hair so just go ahead and learn some basic hairstyling and keep a basic hair kit.

6 ) What About Airbrush Makeup

I’m actually going to talk a bit about airbrushing in a later installment, but if you are going to include airbrush in your skill set and services that you offer, bear in mind it costs about $1000-$1500 to get into it (that’s including tools, product and education). Some artists swear by it, some (myself included) barely use it. Again, we’ll get into the pros and cons later and I’m actually going to pull in the advice of some of my artist friends who do use Airbrush for that section. In the meantime I’m just bringing it up do you can be aware of the initial investment associate with it.

RESOURCES For This Section:

- Camera Ready Cosmetics Makeup Kit

- Makeup to Go Preferred Kit Items List

Coming Next: Porfolio Building

1 ) Starting Right Now…

Think of yourself as a creative professional and not as a makeup enthusiast. There’s a big difference. As a fan of makeup, you will have styles and products that you like following. Things you think are “in”, looks that you like to put on yourself, etc. As a Professional Artist your job will be to utilize your talents and skills to create the look needed for a successful project. This means – while all artists have an aesthetic and an artistic point of view – you cannot just do what you “like”. You will need to learn a variety of styles of makeup, techniques of applications and be mentally ready to work on a variety of talent for a variety of clients.

2 ) Don’t Make Model Mayhem Your First Stop

I’m not saying don’t go there at all, but I am saying there is a lot of wrong information and not great work there. MM has a well earned so-so reputation in the business. There are definitely some sold working talented photographers and artists on there, but there are a lot who perpetrate that they are when they clearly are not. When you become a bit more seasoned, you will recognize the difference. This is also true of One Model Place, One Talent Source, Muse Cube, and any of these other directory/forum “for the industry” sites. Join them after you have a better lay of the land and understanding of your career.

3 ) Read a Couple Of Good Books

It’s always kind of amazing how little new artists know about the art of makeup. Most good schools will teach some basics of makeup history but this is an area where DIY artists can be lacking. Makeup didn’t start with Lady Gaga, cool though her makeup might be. Actually, most of her looks are quite referential meaning whoever her artist is knows their makeup art history and the techniques necessary to achieve those looks. This is important because if a photographer or director says they are going for a – say – Flapper inspired look, nothing screams AMATEUR like not knowing what they are referring to.

4 ) YouTube *Can Be* A Great Resource…

…when used correctly. First of all, there’s just a lot of bad bad bad “artistry” on there. Bad technique and bad results which no client would EVER hire someone to do. Remember, you’re trying to be a Working Artist, not impress your friends to go to a club. The second issue: In my opinion – and this is just in general not just on YouTube – young artists worry too much about product and not enough about technique. Once you learn the techniques, you can use any product you want. This is a part of getting out of thinking about makeup as a fan and getting into thinking of it as an artist. If you can remove yourself from thinking you need all the products you see in the videos, however, you can learn a lot by studying some of the really good YouTube artists. Disclosure: I don’t personally watch YouTube makeup videos, so the artists suggested later in this article were suggested to me by YT watchers.

5 ) Study Those Magazines

Again – don’t just read about the products, but really STUDY magazines. Learn the names of the editors at magazines, the contributing photographers, who the makeup artists are, etc. Beyond that and almost more importantly, study the magazine to start developing your eye for the difference between good and bad photography and good and bad makeup. Even with really edgy European magazines, if you start to really study the makeup and hair looks and how they are shot you’ll see that it bears no resemblance to a lot of the pure junk you see on line. As an emerging professional makeup artist THIS is the work you should be aspiring to.

6 ) Your Friends are Your Friends…and so is your Family

You have to DO makeup in order to become good at it. Practicing on yourself can be beneficial to a point, but I think it’s really best to start practicing on other people as soon as possible, and this is where friends and family come into play. Putting makeup on other people is a whole other ball of wax. You need to learn how to handle someone else’s face gently but firmly, you need to be able to approach someone else’s face with tools without fear. You need to be able to match features and do even applications (particularly on the eyes). You *need* to work on other people’s faces and practice as often as possible. Every makeup artist I know has photos of their first first makeup applications on our long-suffering friends and family. They love you and they want you to succeed. Don’t be shy, get them in your makeup chair.

7 ) Network, Network, Network

Networking is not something you do “later”, networking should start the second you begin your career. One of the advantages to going to a (good) school is having access to working professionals in the industry. When you’re going it alone, you will need to create those opportunities for yourself.

RESOURCES For This Section:

Good Books:
The Technique of the Professional Makeup Artist – Vincent J-R Kehoe
Vincent J-R Kehoe was one of the forefathers of professional makeup artistry and a true Master in every sense of the word. Of all the books that I’m recommending this is the only one that is not limited to Beauty. Really, this is makeup school in a book. It covers product basics, on-set basics, color theory, lighting, beauty makeup, character makeup, lab FX makeup, and more. The vast majority of the pro makeup artists I know have at least read this book if not own it.

The Art of Makeup – Kevyn Aucoin
A more modern day Master, Kevin Aucoin was part of a group of artists (along side Francois Nars, Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown and others) who revolutionized makeup both in terms of artistry and product. This was also the start of the Star Makeup artists who were as well known as the clients they served. Before his untimely passing, Kevyn wrote several amazing books. “The Art Of Makeup” is his first book and still my favorite in terms of studying makeup because this is the book where he broke down is technique more thoroughly. This book also includes a nice section on makeup styles through the years. While the makeup trends may have changed since this book’s 1996 publish date, technique is forever and there is much to learn from these pages.

Fine Beauty – Sam Fine
What Kevyn, Bobbi and Nars did for “mainstream” beauty, Sam Fine did for Black women and women of color in general. Like Kevyn’s book, this was published in the 90s so the trends have changed, but Sam’s technique is true classic beauty that you still see all this time on celebrities to this day (hence he is still a very much in demand artist). A good artist can work on any face that may sit in their chair. If you need to learn makeup for Black women, this is the book to do so.

Asian Beauty – Margaret Kimura
… And the other most misunderstood group when it comes to makeup is Asian women or more specifically Asian eyes. Like Sam Fine’s book, Margaret Kimura breaks down all the ins and outs of accentuating the unique beauty of these women. I bought this book loooong before I knew I’d be working at her school. Excellent resource.

Glamour Gurlz: The Ultimate Step by Step Guide to Great Makeup and Gurl Smarts – Joanna Schlip
This book is very clearly intended for end users and specifically teen girls/young adults but I’m including it because Joanna Schlip is a world-class, top tier artist and her technique epitomizes modern perfect beauty. This book is also significantly more recent than all the previous books so the trends and styles are all current. This is a good way to see the looks a current day top tier artist is creating.

Jemma Kidd Make-up Masterclass: Beauty Bible of Professional Techniques and Wearable Looks – Jemma Kidd
Like Joanna Schlip, Jemma Kidd is a current-day, top tier artist. This book is brand spanking new (late 2009) and all of the information is au currant. What I particularly like about this book is Jemma Kidd is a British artist and it has that UK vibe, which is hard to articulate but it’s a different vibe from the States and when you get to know it, you’ll know it whenever you see it.

YouTube Artists to Watch

Pixiwoo

Petrilude

One of the challenges of finding quality instruction is that makeup instruction is literally the wild west. There are no governing bodies overseeing makeup artistry the way there is for Cosmetology. This means that anyone, yes, literally Anyone can wake up one morning and decide to teach makeup. Needless to say not everyone is qualified to teach makeup, therein lies the rub. In addition for whatever reason over the last 15 or so years, the number of new makeup artists entering the profession has grown exponentially. Back when I started makeup there were about 3 makeup schools and 4 makeup agencies in Los Angeles. Now there are countless “schools” and a search on Workbook yielded 22 agencies, and those are just the agencies that list on Workbook (I know of 3 prominent ones that do not list on Workbook and goodness knows how many smaller boutique agencies do not list there). The makeup profession has blown up. This means that a ) you’ve got to be smarter and work harder in order to shine amongst the sizable competition that exists and b ) there are lots of opportunists out there willing to take advantage of eager and enthusiastic aspiring makeup artists. Here are my suggestions for how to find the good ones.

1 ) Don’t Base Your Decision Solely on Pictures.

Schools use enticing pictures to try to lure you in, the premise of course being “Your work can look like this, too!”. Well first of all, there are NO guarantees that the photos on a website actually have anything to do with that school. The only way you can verify the work that a school is producing is by going to the school and taking a tour. I know of at least one school that uses stolen work on their website. Secondly, look again: Do you *really* want to do that work? Look at the work on the websites of most schools and then go look at the work that appears in most magazines, advertisements, TV, music videos, etc. Yep, you got it. It’s not very good. If the students of the school are producing bad work like that do you *really* want to go there? Probably not.

2 ) Who Owns The School?

Most legitimate schools are owned by people who were (or in some cases still are) legitimately involved with the industry in some meaningful capacity. This information should be readily available, and in today’s internet world, easily verifiable. I’ve noticed with the more questionable schools it’s extremely difficult to find out who owns it. Red flag.

3 ) Who Are The Instructors?

Again, the instructors should be people with significant involvement in the industry. In fact, the instructors should still be currently working artists with verifiable credits. Not semi-retired, recently retired, used to be a working artist, none of that. Not only do trends and styles of makeup change, but what it takes to get a job has COMPLETELY changed. Someone who hasn’t worked in 5 years is entirely out of the loop. Further, if the school doesn’t have instructors that are working in the mediums in which you hope to work, how are they going to be able to teach you what it takes to work those jobs? Being a wedding artist is not at all the same as being a Department Head of a TV show.

4 ) Is The School Licensed?

This is a big one. It varies by state what the requirements are, but most states do have requirements that schools have to meet for post-secondary/vocational education. In California schools need to be registered with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education which is part of the Department of Consumer Affairs. It’s a big deal and the requirements are rigorous. It’s not something that can be done quickly and it’s not something that everyone can and will qualify for. As of a search taken while writing this article, only 3 makeup schools are currently registered in the state of California and they are all in Los Angeles. A school’s standing may be “pending” but you won’t know for sure until you check to make sure. To find out current standings, visit the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education search page. For other states, I would suggest contacting your state’s department of Consumer Affairs and/or Cosmetology licensing agency.

A non-licensed school can be shut down at anytime, with no prior warning and take your money with them. I’m sure you can figure out the likelihood of obtaining a refund from a school that has been shut down. It is such a problem, in fact, that the California BoPSE has an entire page devoted to what to do when caught in the situation.

5 ) Ask Lots of Questions. Take A Tour If Possible.

Any reputable school (or workshop) expects you to have lots of questions and has no problems answering them for as long as you need in order to be comfortable in your choice. If they are rushing you like a used car salesman, that’s a red flag. For a school, it’s also beneficial to tour the facilities if at all possible. A lot of students come from out of town to attend schools in Los Angeles, so if you’re going somewhere distant, that may not be possible. If it is, however, take time to tour the schools you’re interested in. You should be able to see the work rooms, the supplies, the faculty, etc.

6 ) Be Wary Of Lots of Add-ons and Additional Sales.

Most schools have either a required kit list that the student has to go out and buy or a pre-made kit that is bundled into the student’s tuition. This is due to the fact that a student obviously needs makeup and tools to work with during the class. A school should not, however, have a zillion different add-ons that they are pressuring you to purchase. It’s wholly impossible to buy everything you’ll ever need for your career within your first 5 minutes of starting. Your kit, your portfolio, your tools, and everything associated with your career will be an ever evolving journey. Besides – tuition is not free. If you have to purchase everything else “on the side” what is the tuition covering?

Other Information

- Online/Home Study courses are generally a waste of time. A well written program may have some useful information, however you need to put actual makeup on actual human beings in order to learn makeup. You can’t just read and think about it. Also, with no instructor there to guide you, there’s no way to know if you’re doing it correctly or not. You need critique in order to learn and push forward.

- With workshops and private lessons there are no licensing or any other requirements what so ever, so it is particularly important to know who is running and teaching the course.

- Full Disclosure: I am one of the teachers at the Margaret Kimura Beauty Academy in Los Angeles which is one of the 3 licensed schools in California. I chose MKC because it is a smaller, “family style” school. They are very selective in terms of both the students and instructors they accept, they maintain a complete and rigorous curriculum covering all facets of makeup artistry, and they offer their students a lot of support before during and after their time in the Academy. As for the instructors, MKC Beauty Academy uses a rotating faculty of working industry professionals several of whom are represented by top agencies. Lastly, Margaret Kimura – founder of MKC Academy – was a top artist with the Cloutier agency in her days as a full-time freelance artist, and she is still a working and respected artist within the industry. She is currently the Creative Director for the I-Nuovi cosmetics line. In short, MKC Beauty Academy is about producing highly skilled artists who actually WORK and I felt I could be proud to have my name associated with MKC and they felt the same about me.

Resources for This Section:

- Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education

- Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Search Page

Coming Next: Building Your Kit.