[This is a new assignment for my Drama 112 Stage Makeup Class at Diablo Valley College this Fall 2020. This semester my class obviously must be fully online, so I am posting the assignments as I make them so other stage makeup teachers can use them.]

Part 1: Taking Your Photo

Step 1: Watch these Videos

These two brief videos explain what we have been doing, and what we will do next, and why:

As you can see, having copies of a face outline sheet of your face (or that of a member of your household who you plan to use during the semester as your makeup “victim”) will make doing your makeup rendering (color sketch) projects much easier.  So for this assignment you will do the first step to make one:

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Step 2: Take a Selfie

Take a selfie where your face and head take up almost the whole frame. 

Don’t squint, or grin, or frown, try to look as bland as a deer in headlights: eyes wide open but no expression. This way, when you use the outline sheet for makeup of different characters, the face does not have you cheery and grinning for a makeup as Lady Macbeth, or frowning like a demon as Little Buttercup!

Step 3: Convert to B&W

Convert the photo to High Contrast Black & White. This makes drawing it easier, regardless of your skin tone!  If your skin is dark and having trouble going into the format, try putting your photo into a different app where you can pull your midtone color lighter to help you make the outline.  (These photos generally do not make anyone look good, they just need to be contrast-y enough that they are easy to outline on a window.)

Step 4: Print the Photo

Print out your photo on plain copy paper.  No printer?  Printer not working?  Don’t want to leave your home?  FexEx/Kinkos closed? 

You can also pay $1.19 to have your photo printed on copy paper and mailed to you within a week!   Go to Print That For Me (Links to an external site.) and follow her instructions and you will get it mailed to you in a hand-written envelope from SF in 4-6 days. 

Step 5: Upload Your Photo

To get your credit for Part 1, upload a copy of your Black & White photo to Canvas.

Part 2: Drawing Your Outline

*Note: This assignment has a delayed due date, so if you are waiting on delivery of your print, you have a little bit of time to do this step after it comes.

Step 1: Make lines on your selfie 

Using a very narrow black pen or sharp pencil (Don’t use a regular Sharpie!) take your 8.5×11 printer paper selfie print and mark edges that may be hard to define once the paper is flipped.  Mark the bottom edge of chin, eyebrow outline, and details of the eyes. If your hair is close to your skin color mark your hairline also.

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On the nose go around the outer curl of the nostrils as shown, and do the gull wing “V” line of the tip of the nose. Do not join the nostril curls and “V” line either here or later on the other side, or your nose will look weird and knobby on your Outline Sheet. Finally mark the bridge of your nose by running lines slightly inside the two sides of the shadows on the sides of your nose as shown here, don’t connect to the nostril curls, or this will look odd:

Step 2: Flip your photo

Take your photo and flip it around to the blank side and tape it to a window (or lay it on a light board if you own one). This will make your face outline sheet a backwards version of your face, the same way you see your face in the mirror. If you are making a face outline for doing makeup on a household member, put a sheet of paper over the front of the photo and tape both sheets to the window so the sheet comes out frontways.

Step 3: Draw outlines & eyes

Draw a simple outline on the back of the photo for the outline of the face.  Put in light, vague suggestions of hair, neck and shoulders.  Put in details of the eyes, but don’t put in heavy lines or every single eyelash.  Put a light dotted line where the outline of the eyebrow was drawn on the other side.  When you do makeup you may  cover and “move” your eyebrows, so a dotted line will make your makeup renderings avoid having two obvious sets of eyebrows.

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Step 4: Draw the nose and mouth

Draw the lines of the nose as you did them on the other side.  Remember not to join the curls of the nostril to the “V” of the tip of the nose.  You want minimal lines.  

Lips are another area that moves with makeup. Draw another dotted line around the lips, (or a very thin line) where you marked your guideline on the other side so if you increase or decrease the shape of your mouth, you don’t get the outline lips to overpower your lip color/outline on your Makeup Renderings.

Step 5: Scan your outline

Take the page off of the window and scan it so you can make more copies.  If you don’t have a printer/scanner, there are lots of free and easy phone scanner apps you can use. I photographed this one on my phone (see at left) then ran it through the free version of of the Adobe Scan app to make a more high contrast PDF that is easy to send to a printer:

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You can send a jpg, gif, or a pdf in the next step.

Step 6:  Upload

Upload a copy of your face outline sheet to Canvas for points

Step 7: Make Copies

By the end of Week 3 you will want to have multiple copies of these for your projects (at least 15).  In week 4, and most weeks thereafter, you will do a makeup rendering (color sketch) using one of these sheets before you do your makeup.   I recommend printing copies on card stock in beige, white, tan or “brown paper” color depending on your preference.