Makeup to Go!

As you all know I work in the Los Angeles and San Fancisco markets primarily, doing mostly commercial/advertising, beauty and some celebrity. Fashion is harder to come by here on the Left Coast for anyone except the most elite artists in these markets. But I’m working on it . I am very happy to have recently begun collaborating with a fab photographer on a series of designer profiles for the fashion blog Racked LA. The new column is called “Seam and Heard” and features a new local designer each week. Very cool stuff! So far the shots have been atmospheric, evocative and as far away from my standard “bright and pretty” commercial work as can be!

Jack Rabbit Collection - © C. Von Messling for Racked LA - Makeup/Hair by Tania D. Russell

Spreegirl - © C. Von Messling for Racked LA - Makeup/Hair by Tania D. Russell

Bryce and Bouji - © C. Von Messling for Racked LA - Makeup/Hair by Tania D. Russell

The first of two promos I’ve worked on for my agency is up and running. This one is a video promo for Ford West which you can check out here Ford Models West Promo . I didn’t do any of the stuff by the beach (I think my fellow Fordartist agency mates Jennifer and Renee did those ). I did the Rooftop shots (ballet dancer, models in white standing together), the guy and girl in the garden, the mom/dad/little girl scene… all that stuff. I worked with fabulous makeup artist Danielle Pierson and was assisted by hair/makeup artist extraordinare Laura Judson. And Laura - seeing this promo FULLY reminded me that I still owe you! So a lil somethin somethin will be coming to you soon!

Howdy howdy

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to post so I thought I’d give a quick update.

1) New classes are being scheduled for September and October. Hooray! At long last!. While you’re at it, be sure to check out the newly trimmed down and streamlined Makeup to Go! website.

2) I did a week of work on the MTV Movie Awards. I didn’t do the show itself, but I did some of the VJ “hits” with Mr. Tim Kash and Ms. Kim Stolz as well as a “super fan” promo featuring star of the upcoming probable megablockbuster “Twilight” - Robert Pattinson.

3) I tracked down a Toyota webisode campaign for which I was one of a few artists… here’s one of the shots taken from the website
- Makeup/Hair on two “outer” models, Hair Only on center model by Tania D. Russell/Ford Artists

I’ve come to find out that the stills that were shot on my day of the shoot were also used in a national print campaign, so more to follow on that when I find those in action. If you want to see the webisodes, check out If Looks Could Kill. I’m not entirely sure which ones my work is in, but I’m thinking episodes 3 & 4.

Next up I’m headin’ back up to SF for some workage where the first job I’ll be doing up there is a cover for a high end catalogue client…

I’ve just added a Calendar at long last to my website so folks can see when I’m in LA, when i’m in SF and when I’m doing classes. I’m trying to keep it updated 2 weeks at a time, but we’ll see how that goes. Makeup to Go Calendar.

Turns out the shoot I did for WalMart earlier this year was not only for their weekly circulars, but was used a part of a national advertising campaign. Gotta love it when that happens…

free makeup for the first person who can write in and tell me where I got that title from (seriously!). email me at tdrmakeuptogo @ gmail dot com

Anyway, how is everyone doing? Well and busy, I hope! I know I certainly am. Since switching over to the Ford agency, I’ve been hustin’ and bustlin’ and doing some great work. Recent projects include work for Mervyn’s, WalMart and one of my fave recent shoots Roots Clothing out of Canada. I don’t know if my work is still up on the site or not since I shot their Spring looks (the guy and girl on the rocky beach. The shoots in the studio or in the forest were done by other artists), but anyway the pix are gorgeous and the crew was Fab! Here are a few samples from that shoot;

other than that I’ve just been either working or working on working (phone calls, emails, meetings, OH MY!) so the busy life of an artist never stops!

SO WHAT ABOUT MAKEUP TO GO?!?!!?

Ah yes. Well… looks like MTG is the little engine that Could and will be making a comeback. I don’t mind saying that I got quite disillusioned for a bit and thought hard about sacking the whole thing. Here’s the deal; the information about our industry on most messageboards is just completely wrong. Myself and my fellow Sr. artists find ourselves repeating the same things over, and over and Over only to have it seem to fall on completely deaf ears. Then I realized it’s not falling on deaf ears, it’s falling on eager ears of people who want to work in this industry. The real problem is that Aspiring Artists™ can go to some of these other “industry” boards and here a completely different set of answers that sound far more appealing than the “hard work, hard work, hard work” mantra that myself and my peers constantly espouse. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do if I were an artist just starting out. Would I have the fortitude to go the long-haul or would I hit an internet short-cut? Honestly, the “short cut” usually ends up being a long cut as many of those folks never reach the ultimate destination. You would think that people would be more apt to listen to those who are actively doing what it is that they want to be doing themselves, but then Dawn ’til Dusk got away with their schtick for a long time and new “schools” with completely unverifiable histories and unknown instructors are popping up daily. I had to come to the realization that I can’t compete with all that. A ) I do work, so I don’t have time to throw classes as often as these people do (although I am thinking of doing Workshops in May…more info to follow…) but more importantly, B ) it’s not for me to go there. I’m not here to appeal to every person who woke up one morning and decided they wanted to “try makeup”. I’m here for the select few who know that they are makeup artists and are willing to do what it takes to achieve that goal.

So with that, Makeup to Go is back in operations for 2008.

- Tania

It’s been brought to my attention that spammers have been using my email address to send out non-stop foolishness. My apologies! I had no idea this was happening until it was brought to my attention.

It seems to be happening from eventslist@makeuptogo.com so I’m going to close that account FIRST and hopefully that will fix that. Then ultimately I will be closing all of the @ makeuptogo dot com addresses and finding a new system for them that’s less spam prone. In the meantime, I’ve moved everyone to the Aspiring Artists list and then if you need to contact me you can do so at tdrmakeuptogo at gmail dot com .

Hope everyone is doing well. Holler at me and Let me know how your’re doing!

- Tania

Finding good assistants is a chore. You will hear that same sentiment echoed over and over again by many (if not most) Key Artists. Despite people emailing me telling me that they want to be a makeup artist more than anything in life itself, when it comes time that I actually *need* an assistant… ????? And I PAY assistants whenever possible, and still ??????

I will be needing assistants in both LA and SF. Delia, Faces by Delia, is my Main Assistant in LA. A seasoned makeup artist in her own right, she can take over for me if things happen on a job, etc. So she’s not going anywhere - I’m not letting her. HOWEVER, I often have jobs where I need folks not to apply makeup but to really assist me keeping me clean, organized and ready to go for my client. Maybe some small makeup applications, but mostly the gig is to Help. Me. I have one artist I’ve been hiring who has been FABULOUS in this role, and I need a couple of other folks I can call in cases where she’s not available. And I’ve needed some assistants in SF for a while and have found zippo. Just so we’re clear; I’m not looking for a second artist, who can’t/won’t take direction because think they know better than me and the client will hire them “next time”. LOL! None of that. I’m looking for folks who are hard-working and dedicated, who wants to learn the biz first hand, and wants to be a Great Assistant. I usually start people off on a test or a small job, and then if you’re FAB I’ll hire you for my regular gigs. So if you were serious when you said you wanted to assist me, now is your chance. I want to keep a very small roster of assistants on tap for when I need someone. 1st priority will be given to those also willing to assist with HAIR. (Reality Check: You aren’t going to work on the West Coast unless you do both makeup and hair so might as well start learning basic hair styling now.) Up for the challenge? Email me at tdrussell at gm dot com, please put Assistants List in the subject, and please tell me where you are, where you’re at in your career, the type of work you want to do, and link me to any of your current work.

Thanks Y’all!

So as one can tell by my last post, this has been a hecka year for moi. HOWEVER there was another issue lurking in the background that you haven’t known about and that is it was time for me to change my representation. I am greatly indebted to my first rep for being the one to take that first chance on me. I’ve learned a lot about the ‘biz and about myself.

With that, I am proud to announce that I am now represented by Ford Artists out of their San Francisco office. As many of you know, I work between SF and LA so this will allow me to more fully be of service to my clients in both cities. HOORAY!

Secondly, Makeup to Go recently underwent a website renovation, and will now be undergoing an entire services renovation. I’ll be focusing MTG pretty much exclusively on the Lessons aspect of the service. I’ve thought long and hard about what I want MTG to be, and for both my individual clients, and for my Aspiring Artist clients (y’all!) I want Makeup to Go to inspire your own creativity, educate you on how to really get there, and motivate you to keep going! Towards that end I’m going to be re-vamping the Lessons for Aspiring Artists Workshops (creating set dates so people know when they’re going to happen and plan for it), I’ve found the PERFECT photographer for the Portfolio Development workshop I’ve wanted to do so she and I are planning that now to roll out in Spring 08, and I’ll be doing my continued education lessons as a newsletter subscription WHICH I’ve ACTUALLY started to ACTUALLY write (information to come soon, I promise ). In addition, this Blog is going to become way more active with Product and Service reviews as well as my insane ramblings on the State of the Business.

In short, 2008 should be a Rockin’ year and I hope you’re all there to share it with me. Tell your friends too! It’s gonna be quite the hootenanny!

So what work have I been doing? Well, despite all the drama, quite a bit actually;

* I’ve shot editorials for Renew, Vision and Real Groove magazines.

* Mucho local commercials and corporate industrials.

* More delicious beauty editorials from Teen. Here’s the latest that was actually a story focusing on hair rather than makeup. Images © N. Horne; Hair was done by the outrageously talented Eric Sebbag of the Cloutier Agency;

Happy Holidays to all and Best Wishes for a Prosperous New Year!

On Tuesday, October 16 2007 I had a normal day like any other; got up, exercised, had my coffee, and headed out for job #1. Job went well, came back home and changed out my kit in preparation for job #2. Get to job #2, people seem cool (new client whom I didn’t know), good working environment, all seems positive.And then the phone call came.

I excuse myself from set and step out on the Patio.

My dear friend is on the phone crying. This is not a good sign. She then says “I don’t even know how to say this…” and frankly my immediate thoughts are “Who is dead?” praying that it wasn’t her mother or anyone else from her family… Then she said the words;

“Jack was killed today…the car he was working on fell on him and he died at the scene…”

We spoke briefly, and as my brain scrambled to understand the words I was just told, I told her that I was just starting a job and I needed to get back. And go back and do the job I did; no tears, no mention of what the phone call was about, everyone was happy with the job and in fact the client booked me for another one.

That’s our biz. For better or worse. The situation wasn’t my client’s fault or frankly their problem. They hired me to do a job that they needed to have done for their business, they were paying me to do it, so my job was to get it together and do the best job I could as I do on any job. To use the Tom Hanks quote from the movie “A League of Their Own”; “There’s no crying in Baseball”.

If you frequent the EmElle Industry Boards, however, you may have noticed a post from me stating that I needed to take a Time Out, and this is why. After the job was successfully completed and I had time to really process what happened I was upset to say the least. However, it also gave me time to really think about some things…

Jack was a dynamic, funny, kind, open and warm person who also embodied the spirit of fully living in the moment on every level. He died doing what he absolutely loved to do most, and doing it for a friend. Even his clients that started out being clients ended up being his friend, because that’s the type of person Jack was. An email was set up for his many friends around the world to send in memorials and stories about their relationship with Jack. By the time of his memorial service - a week after his passing - there were over 13,000 emails in that account.

I find when something like this happens it’s at first difficult to see the divine wisdom in why a tragedy like this should have to occur. But in the days since then I’ve thought about what the lesson has been for me. I’ve held back many times in my life out of fear. Fear of rejection, being different, not being accepted, this that the other. These random fears have impacted both my personal and professional life, but PARTICULARLY my professional life. Jack NEVER operated based on fear. This is a guy who moved here from Minnesota and with each passing year that I knew him only became more authentic and more true to himself. He wanted to change the world, and he meant it. And the more he meant it, the more things fell into place where he was really able to do things that on paper sounded “Pie in the Sky”. And as he did so he became only more successful in his pursuits and more happy and joyful in his life. So even though Jack only lived 34 Earth years, he lived each one to the maximum level, free from regrets of what he “wanted to do” or what “could have been”.

Can we all say the same? What’s holding us back?

Thanks Jack for helping me to see a bit more clearly. We’ll dance under the moon together again one day.

Jack Ibarra.com