Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Magazine Submissions

So a lot of newer MUAs wonder how does one get their work into those elusive magazine. Anyone who wants to work in Fashion know that tear sheets (magazine editorials for those not in the biz) are an important part to any makeup artists' portfolio. It shows that you are actively working in the Fashion Industry, you work w/ good teams and it helps when you want to approach agencies for representation. The problem is how does one get themselves into these cool mags? It often feels like a catch 22 situation - you need the magazine credits to get established but you have to be established to get on the teams that are submitting to the magazines.

I'll be honest I really lucked into my first editorials. Anyone who has read my blog from the start knows that my very good friend and photographer Todd Anthony Tyler took a huge chance on me. He was visiting his family outside Toronto (he lives in Shanghai) and he was planning on shooting a few editorials while in Canada. He put an ad out on Craigslist of all things looking for a makeup artist and I was 6 mths out of school and I responded. We totally clicked and shot 2 editorials together while he was visiting which led to me going to Shanghai to live/work and the rest is history. That of course is not how it usually ends up working for most MUAs.

I'm not going to lie it usually takes a long time like 1 to 2 yrs before an MUA can get some tear sheets for their book. That means a lot of testing w/ photographers, building your portfolio till it's good enough to work w/ better photographers, testing w/ those photographers and hopefully after it's all said and done you'll get the chance to work w/ a great team that can get something published.

The positive thing is that there are a lot more opportunities to get things published nowadays. W/ all the online magazines popping up all the time there are a lot of great opportunities for newer photographers, MUAs, stylists to get their name out there. The problem is sifting through all the crap to find places that are actually worth submitting to. Not all tears are created equal! IF you want to do Fashion and you see an ad for a photographer looking for a free makeup artist for a submission shoot and the theme is Glamour or Alternative then that shoot even if it is published might be kind of useless to you b/c guess what...it can't really go in your FASHION portfolio...remember that when accepting submission shoots. I would only do Glamour or Alternative editorials if they were paid b/c otherwise they are of no use to me...remember how I mentioned before to only accept TF* shoots that will help your book...the same kind of holds true for this too.

Also a lot of times nowadays newbie/amateur photographers throw out the statement doing a shoot for submission in hopes that they can attract some good talent to the shoot. It takes a whole team to create a beautiful shoot and the shoot is only as good as your weakest link. Just b/c a photographer says they are going to submit the shoot doesn't mean it's going to be picked up by anyone so be aware of that before you possibly waste your day. Make sure you know the facts before you agree to shoot just like you would for any creative you were planning on getting involved with.

Do you like the photographers work and does it compare to things you see in magazines? If you don't like his/her work or it's not good it probably won't get picked up no matter how well you do the makeup/hair that day. If it's a fashion shoot is there a stylist involved and what kind of connections do they have to good brands? I can't stress this enough no matter how great your makeup looks and how great the photography looks if it's styled using only H&M clothes it has a very small chance of getting picked up. A good stylist w/ good clothing connections is an invaluable asset to any shoot...I've been on several shoots where the styling either made or blew the shoot. I give all the props in the world to the stylists out there b/c their job is hard and good stylists are GOLD! Also remember the model needs to be an agency model or at the very least agency standard so make sure the photographer you're working w/ works w/ agency models. Btw the photographer is the one responsible for submitting the story. We can suggest magazines for them to submit to but they hold the rights to the pics so it's up to them to do the submitting.

So now let's pretend that you have all those elements together you have to remember that Fashion editorials are shot usually several mths in advance. Therefore you have to make sure the shoot is for the appropriate season. Don't shoot a Summer story in May...all the Summer submission deadlines have already passed. You should be shooting Fall at that point. If you're working w/ a good photographer they should know this but still it sometimes needs reminding b/c sometimes photographers can get very busy w/ things and retouching can get put on the back burner and then unfortunately if you aren't shooting it far enough in advance the due date for submissions will pass and the story will have a hard time finding a home :( (I've had this happen on a few occasions and it's always sad esp. when the shoot is good but just too late).

Also a very important thing for newbie MUAs to remember - Editorial pays little to nil! You will not get rich doing editorial work! The money is in commercial work! You know those ads you see on the subway, magazines, tv...that's where the real money comes from! But editorials let us get our creative juices flowing and they help build our books so that we can get those lucrative commercial contracts :)

I should also mention there are different ways to get your work in magazines. You can do a shoot w/ a team and the photographer can submit it to various magazines hoping that one will pick it up...usually you will do this type of shoot for free. Or you may be part of a team that has been commissioned to do an editorial for a magazine. When you're starting out you'll probably have more luck w/ the submission then the commission side of things. Truthfully, most of my commissioned (paid) work for magazines came from when I was living in Shanghai. I think to date I've only been paid once by a North American magazine...but I'm still pretty new to the game ;) But that being said doing those so called "free" editorials can lead to a lot of PAID work b/c they really help build your portfolio...so like I've said before you aren't really working for free then!

A way that I make editorials a little more lucrative for myself is I make sure to credit cosmetic companies whenever possible. If it's a Beauty story it's easy b/c the story will require you to give a full credit list for each look and you can later show that editorial to cosmetic companies who will hopefully give you gratis (free product) for the credit mention. I also frequently mention cosmetic companies I use in Fashion editorials ie. Makeup & Hair Jessica Jean Myers using Yaby Cosmetics (I use a lot of Yaby Cosmetics lol). So if the editorial is strong and in a decent publication you can get some gratis from generous makeup companies which helps replenish your kit therefore saving you money...so technically it's like getting paid for an editorial ;)

Hope that answers some questions about magazine submissions :) For fun I've included a few images from MY first published editorial...man I've come a long way in 2.5 yrs! Good thing there were a lot of hats b/c my hair skills have DEFINITELY improved an insane amount lol! I won't even go into how long it actually took me to do a clean red lip b/c my hands were shaking lol. That being said I still think it's a pretty cool shoot..the location was amazing! This was shot Oct 07 I think.
Photographer Todd Anthony Tyler
Model Victoria (Elmer Olsen)
Makeup & Hair Jessica Jean Myers

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sensual Romance

So Fri. I shot a creative w/ some of my fav ppl to work w/ Dexter Quinto (photographer) and Alexandra Loeb (stylist)...and one new person - there was actually someone else doing hair - Sandro Zamparini. I literally haven't worked w/ a hair person for like 2 yrs so this was a bit different for me...and I'm realizing the more comfortable I get w/ hair the more I actually LIKE doing it (OMG I NEVER thought I'd utter that statement lol)! But it was nice to just focus on makeup and nails for once instead of thinking about everything.

This was actually a last minute creative...which I almost never accept but when it comes to Dexter I just can't say no. Dexter wanted to do something really clean, simple and beautiful that really just focused on the model. Originally, Dexter was just going to style it himself but thankfully Alex was able to come in last minute and grace us w/ her talents. Seriously, this girl brought the shoot to a different level. W/out her it was just a simple creative w/ her it became something beautiful and high end enough to actually submit to magazines...the girl has some great connections!

My focus for this one was to stick w/ things in the brown, gold and bronze family. I wanted it to be pretty natural but still sensual and bronzy. I wanted to keep things in a more neutral palette b/c that's very in for Fall...yes I'm already thinking about Fall makeup see how far in advance us Fashion ppl have to think about things lol. Once I started working I also decided to do a really bold brow b/c the model's brows were perfect for this...and again popular for Fall.

We ended up using the Auburn hair beauty Shelby from Elite. This girl totally rocked it! She was perfect for the concept, her hair and skin totally complimented my makeup concept and she knew her angles and took direction wonderfully! I swear though no matter how long I'm on set I still forget that these beautiful amazons are often 16 or 17 (sometimes younger).

So here's some photos taken during the shoot courtesy of Alex (her camera kicks my camera's ass lol).
Don't I feel short

There is a gorgeous Beauty Shot from this look!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Makeup Artist Must Watch Videos - Too Funny!

Another Makeup Artist - Rochelle O'Brien posted these on the networking site Model Mayhem and I just had to share them b/c they are too funny!

I'm sure EVERY makeup artist can relate at least a bit to them lol ;)





I think this one is my favourite


Let Bridal Season Begin ;)

Friday, April 9, 2010

Mango Studio - SmileBooth

So on Weds. night I went out to the launch party of Smilebooth for Mango Studios w/ fellow blogger/MUA/friend Ashley Readings. My friend and photographer Zach Hertzman works at Mango Studios which is a studio that specializes in Weddings and I'm not exaggerating when I say they seriously do some of the most beautiful and artistic wedding photography I have ever seen...seriously breathtaking!

So anyway, it was a great night to catch up w/ some ppl in the industry plus meet a few new ones. Zach actually had one of our pics hanging in the studio so that was nice to see...always like to see my work hanging on a wall lol. The party was to promote/launch their new service/product - Smilebooth. They are the first studio in Canada to have a Smilebooth so that's pretty exciting!

Basically, it's a big photo booth w/ different backgrounds that you and your friends can go into and take wacky, crazy photos in. It's a great idea for weddings, corporate events, parties etc. I mean what would be better at the end of your wedding then to see all these crazy pics that all your friends and family did in the photo booth that night...now those are some memories you won't forget...esp. once everyone has a few drinks in them ;)

So Ashley and I took a whirl or two in the photo booth w/ let's just say varied results lol. Here's a few of my favs from the night!
A little self promotion never hurt anyone ;)

Sexy Face...hmm maybe not

Showing the Love

Showing the Hate? lol


As you can see we had A LOT of fun in the SmileBooth!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Go Ask Alice

Like I mentioned yesterday I had another editorial come out yesterday and I'm VERY excited about it. I did this shoot back in late Nov. and you may even remember me mentioning (Amanda in Wonderland). Anyway, I was really happy w/ the Makeup & Hair work I did that day so I've really wanted to show everyone the results for awhile...and now I finally can :)

It's up now at Fantasticsmag. It's an online mag that changes several times a wk and has some very interesting editorials...I highly suggest you check it out if you haven't before. I've actually had my work on the site 3 times now...including my Fav shoot ever (the Powder story for those that are familiar w/ my work). They usually do a nice spread and I really like what they did w/ this shoot...I really like the title they came up w/ too.

Go Ask Alice
Photographer Dexter Quinto
Stylist Annie Lam
Model Amanda (Elite)
Makeup & Hair Jessica Jean Myers
Assistant Hair David Smith
This picture is actually horizontal in the spread (like she's falling...it's an interesting take on the picture but I feel like you can appreciate the makeup better when it's vertical)
It's rare that I like ALL the pics chosen by a photographer for an editorial but in this one I really do...I think there are so many great pics and I'm really happy w/ the results on this one!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Some New Work...Finally!

So in the next couple of mths I should have about 4 editorials coming out..maybe more. I've been doing some shoots over the past few mths but unfortunately I'm not allowed to share the pics w/ you until the pics are published.

What's exciting is that I actually had two editorials come out in two days! One a Beauty story and the other a Fashion Story. Today I'm going to share w/ you the Beauty Story (so you'll just have to tune in tomorrow for the Fashion Story ;) )

I worked on this story back in late Nov. actually. The model Kristen (Next) had actually just come back from working in Asia...so of course we had a lot to talk about lol. The photographer Kira Bucca and I were going for a very pretty, flowery, Spring style story. This really appealed to me b/c a lot of my Beauty work happens to be very bold and avant garde. This hasn't been intentional it's just that's the type of Beauty work I had been offered up until then...sometimes it's hard to find a photographer that wants to do a clean, pretty beauty story b/c it might not be as "exciting" as say me painting the model's face white or something.

So to connect this to my other recent post - this was an excellent opportunity for me to do a "free" shoot b/c it totally filled in a spot in my portfolio that was lacking...clean, pretty beauty work...plus the model had gorgeous curly red hair...who doesn't want to have a red head in their portfolio (I LOVE natural red hair)!

My only gripe w/ the story is how the magazine decided to do the layout (you'll understand when you see it) but you can't have everything. Btw it was featured in Ink Magazine. So w/out further ado...
Garden of My Dreams
Photographer Kira Bucca
Stylist Sherri Gallagher
Model Kristen (Next)
Makeup & Hair Jessica Jean Myers
To answer the question the model's hair is naturally curly and gorgeous but I did use my "magic wand" to refresh some of the top layer curls.