How To Do Your Own Theater Makeup To Maximize Effect

By Marie Roberts


If you love acting you already know that stage roles in local and regional theaters don't come with professional makeup artists. Knowing your lines, hitting your marks, and setting the right tone are important aspects of your performance. Your appearance, in the form of theater makeup, is also important if you want to be convincing. Seasoned professionals have some advice for actors making up themselves.

The way you're accustomed to making yourself up for the street is not the way you need to approach getting into character. Subtlety in your cosmetic choices will wash you out as soon as the stage lights hit your face. You need a ton of foundation lathered onto your face and neck. If you're concerned about what color will work best, a cosmetic consultant in your favorite department store should have some good suggestions.

In order to create a dramatic effect you will need a good set of eyelashes. Cheap eyelashes never fit correctly, and they itch. You don't want to be worrying about whether or not your eyelashes are falling off when you are in the middle of a dramatic moment. Brown, gold, and pink eye shadows are good, and liquid eyeliner works better than a pencil.

You have to learn how to highlight your face without overdoing it. It's hard to use too much blush though. It might make you look like a clown on the street, but not on the stage. Some inexperienced actors overlook their brows when they are making up their faces. You need to fill your brows in using a good pencil. This is especially important for blondes.

If you get a good role that calls for you to be shot or knifed, you will need to know how to create the effect of an open wound. A simple trick is to apply liquid latex around the wound. Once removed the puckered skin can be painted or smudged with red and black eye shadow to create the effect of blood.

You might have a role that requires you to be beaten up or involved in a minor accident. You can use the same eye shadow colors, with the addition of purple to create the appearance of bruises. If the bruising is part of the script, you may have to change the tones to green and yellow to simulate old bruises.

Hopefully at some point you will have the opportunity to play a character that requires you to age or start out as a much older person than you actually are. To make this role believable, you will need some liquid latex to make wrinkles. Once it dries on your face, you will remove it and apply plenty of makeup, making sure it gets into the creases in your skin.

You might never become an internationally acclaimed actress, but you will have lots of fun on the stage. It will give you plenty of chances to express yourself creatively. Applying your own makeup is a good way to make your character uniquely your own.




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