tumblr inspiration

i was looking into tribal makeup images on tumblr for further inspiration to my final looks, and came across a variety of photos that showcased tribal makeup in bright colours, kind of like the idea im going for in my editorial image. Ive had some recent doubts about trying to create a brighter tribal image as apposed to using the more earthy traditional colours in my work, but these images helped give me a sense of direction for some face charts...

Another feature that these images appeared to have in common was the use of lines and dots to create patterns on the face. I love the dividing vertical line running down the models face in the first photo, and also love the use of neon pink in the last photo creating a sort of head piece on the model.

tribal accessories

Wearing jewellery can be a common way of expressing yourself, representing your tribe or status and symbolises rituals such as weddings or coming of age. Jewellery in fashion today can make an outfit, i love using statement necklaces to dress up a casual look, and I want to use jewellery to complete my tribal shoots. Here is a collage of some tribal jewellery and also some of the necklaces that you can find in high street stores that connote tribal imagery.

daria werbowy

daria werbowy for march 2010 issue of vogue, posed in a jungle like setting covered in black tribal patterns all over her body.

the hair is simply braided down and she had a simple contoured face of makeup with slightly darkened features, the face makeup is too simple for the kind of image i want to create. however the combination of colours and prints she is wearing lend themselves well to the tribal style. the black body paint is brilliant, i want to try out something similar on my editorial shot, but intend on using a darker skinned model so may experiment with white markings instead....

call of the wild

i was looking into 'editorial tribal makeup' for more inspiration on my editorial look and came across a tumblr that featured all the images from the march 2012 Vogue India shoot with preeti dhata and nina singh.  the bright bold colours are the kind of colours i want to use in my catwalk image on my pale blonde model.

The last image on the right reminds me of the voodoo imagery from the benin festival that i wrote about earlier. i love the bright colours and the movement captured in the image. i think my final shots will be movement orientated because i personally associate tribes with tribal rituals, dances, and songs that involve movement as a group. the geometric orange and blue shapes on the models foreheads that extend into the hair styling also intrigue me an think it is something i would like to consider in my final looks. the accessories in this shoot are crazy, so many different textures and colours, i love the use of coloured feather and i will definitely be sourcing  variety of accessories for my final shoot

gettin wiggy with it

the other day we had wig artist Sheema Chopra come in to give a guest lecture and a wig workshop to help us in developing our final ideas. she explained how wigs allow versatility, you can transform a person instantly and be extremely creative with it. here are some examples of her work. the first image is a bit more abstract that the other ones i have put in here, it features a blue sculpted afro with a hole in the centre of it. I love the vibrancy of this wig and the creativity that acrylic hair allows you.

the other 3 images are more tribal inspired and use more orange, brown and blonde tones to create the looks. this is a more earthy palette and can work well in my editorial shot.

seema went on to teach us the benefits of using human or acrylic hair,

HUMAN - much more of a natural look, never put and acrlic wig on somebody who is in harry potter, being filmed in HD you do not want it to look fake. Good for films close ups and natural things. Can apply heat to it. Harder to build structure. Restricted on colour, however can dye it, which takes time. Tends to be expensive.

ACRYLIC - good for striking stuff, more creative looks. Cant apply heat, will burn the plastic, melt and fall off. Can roll hair with wooden sticks and steam the hair and it would mould to shape. Can build up texture and structure. Can get any colour hair in any length, can use fabric dye, dylon. A lot cheaper.

after the lecture we proceeded to the workshop where seema taught us techniques while we practised on each other, using about a million pins, some crepe hair and alot of pulling and tugging... we produced these 

Using crepe hair is a really good way of adding colours and textures to plain hair and i will definitely be investing in some to complete at least one of my final images

crimpin'ell

working on my catwalk image, i researched into deisgners that had based their collections on tribal undertones. To my delight i found Jeremy Scott! His spring summer 2010 collection was a brightly coloured tribute to the flintstones, which i thought was a fun way to look at the tribal aspect in this project. it also relates to my ideas of bright colouring for my catwalk image instead of the natural earthy tones that most tribal imagery associates with.

The neon colours in the clothing are the kinds of colours that i am thinking about using in my final design for the catwalk look.

The girls nails were claw like and i love this, i want to develop a nail specific to my final image for both the catwalk and editorial looks as attention to detail completes an image. This designer is straying a bit far from the original tribal ideas i had, but i haven ow decided that i want to create 2 completely different looks, the editorial having more traditional styles and colours and the catwalk being more extrovert and bold. I used this designer to look at the hair styles of the models. the crazy crimping of the hair gives a huge amount of texture and volume.

I thought this would be translated really well with the use of crepe hair which i can buy from sallys easily to add more hair to my model as well as adding a variety of colours to her aswel! The messy styles give a savage image to the model, i also like the detailed plaiting at the front of the hair intertwining different coloured plaits together with the natural hair. The hair overall portrays a chaos of colour and texture which i want to use in my final catwalk image 

thanks emmm

following my friend emilys blog i noticed she had discovered the perfect inspiration for the look im going to try and create!  Risha Rox is a tattoo artist come makeup artist, and works with alot of vibrant airbrushing, stenciling and brushwork to create her masterpieces. Here are some examples of her work:

The first collection of images look like a vibrant modern interpretation of anAfrican/Caribbean woman, I love the bright palette of colours she has used in this. I also like the more detailed linear pattern on the forehead of the woman, it adds a geometric feel to the face and mimics some of the patterns found in tribal fabrics. The second collection of images is a bit different, there isn't as much of a tribal reference, however the colours are still so bright, which is what i chose to look at this artist for.