Top Five Tips (plus one bonus) To Build a Professional Makeup Artists’ Portfolio that gets you booked
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“How do I get X types of jobs”?
A simple question with a lot of different possible answers. But item #1, if you want to work in media, particularly in Print, professional makeup artists NEED a Portfolio. You want to build a Portfolio for media makeup work? You gotta test. You wanna work on better projects? Keep on testing and building your Portfolio and your brand as an artist. The better your book, the easier it becomes to be considered for better jobs.
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A Creative/Creative Collaboration/Test is when you and a group of creatives (Photographer, hair stylist, wardrobe stylist, model, etc) come together to create content for your respective books. See, content creation is not new
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How work is displayed may change but the basics remain the same; Until your book is filled with fabulous tears, you’ve gotta show decision makers what you can do. The stronger your book, the easier it will be to start booking meaningful work.
1) Make Sure The Project Works For You –
Don’t get steamrolled into doing a photoshoot that is of no benefit to you. Make sure your voice is heard and that you get what you need. Many a photographer will want to shoot without taking the needs of the crew into consideration. That’s not a collaboration, that’s a personal project and that photographer should expect to pay crew and then they can photograph whatever they want. A true collaboration takes the needs of the entire crew into account to assure that everyone gets what they need in exchange for participating. A photographer who just shoots whatever and doesn’t take your needs into account isn’t beneficial long-term.
2) Don’t Be A Diva/Divo –
The most successful photoshoots work for *everyone* involved, and teams are formed when everyone works together. Even if you are the person spearheading the concept or if you’re the connection to a major component like the location or the model, everyone still needs to feel safe to contribute and have their voice be heard. Folks aren’t there to be your lackey. Creatives are always better when the *whole team* walks away happy. Successful testing teams can often become successful WORKING teams.
3) Get Everyone On The Same Page –
Know – don’t think – that everyone is on the same page for the project you’re planning. The miscommunications on a test shoot can be real. Nowadays it’s even easier to get everyone’s input as we don’t have to take time to gather for an in-person meeting. Many testing problems can be resolved with a quick pre-production online meeting to discuss objectives and logistics before the shoot day.
4) Treat It Like A Job (But Don’t Go Overboard) –
Create a shot list. Scout your locations. Create moodboards. The entire point of testing is to create new content for your portfolio so you can promote yourself for work. Regardless of the style – editorial, commercial, etc. – the more the test looks like an assignment and not “a test”, the more beneficial it will be for your portfolio and hence your promotions.
THAT SAID – the team should understand that this isn’t a million dollar campaign and govern themselves accordingly. The point is to produce good work, not to try to stunt on anyone. I did a photoshoot fairly recently where the “producer” was too busy talking to me like I’d never been on a set before to make sure there was a good space for me to set up to do my work. And then they wondered why makeup “took so long” . That type of foolishness is a waste of time for everyone, see item #3.
5) Test Up Not Down™ –
I coined this phrase back in the early 2000s – I’ve said it many time before and I’ll say it many times again – EVERY test you do, should be an improvement on the last. Be it better models, better locations, you being better at your craft, working with better teams, etc. Always try to move forward in developing your portfolio.
A Note About Experimentation: Experimenting is crucial to growing as an artist IMO. I personally never try a new product on a job, I’m unlikely to try a new technique on a job, etc. so testing IS where I do a lot of my experimenting. I generally keep this type of “play” for when I’m working with a photographer I already have a relationship with. That way if something doesn’t work in the makeup we can all just say “oops!” and I’ll fix it and we can go forward. If there are high stakes involved – be it a full budget job where I have to produce, or a new photographer I’m trying to get in with, etc., I’m going to stick to what I know works.
That all said, experimenting is very different from just a flat-out bad shoot. Every established artist I know has had at least one shoot where it was clear someone on the team did not know what they were doing. If it hasn’t already, it’ll probably happen to you at some point, so keep your spidey senses up when planning. There needs to be a baseline level of competency for everyone involved so that the collaboration is a fair exchange of time. Early on we all have bad tests, and that’s fine and totally normal, but we want to move away from that as quickly as possible. Experimenting is one thing, but BAD. TESTS. ARE. A. WASTE. OF. TIME. Ask me about the test I did back in 2015/2016 after my big sick
6. BONUS: You Might Want to Get Your Deliverables Agreed Upon in Writing
This is a new, social media era contingency that I have to recommend. It doesn’t have to be a full on Contract, but get everything clearly established in an email so that it’s documented. Back in “the day”, it was clear that teams were testing for finished images that could go in a portfolio. Sometimes the photographer made the selects, more often than not the photographers I shot with would let me make my selects, but either way I would get large file finished images that I could either print out for a physical portfolio book (back when that was the thing), or size as needed to fit my portfolio website (images that are too small do not scale well and look pixel-y and bad on your website).
Do Not Assume This Will Be The Case Nowadays.
Be Aware and Take Care: Social Media images after the fact won’t get it done. Primarily because they may or may not translate well to a website (usually not). You need full sized original image files. AND in your email/written documentation about Deliverables, I highly recommend you get it clearly stated when you can expect to receive these final images. Remember when you are testing, the images ARE your compensation for your time. So if it takes forever to receive them, or if you don’t receive them at all, or if you receive something you cannot actually use, you were robbed of your time and material costs in participating on the project.
Testing can be tricky because it involves collaborating with other people and people can be wacky to deal with at times, BUT testing can also be extremely fun and the Pros of testing far outweigh the Cons. For teenage and more established artists you get to be creative and either create new work to freshen up your book OR try your hand at doing something you might not normally do. And for new/emerging artists, it’s an absolutely essential part of the process, you learn and improve upon your artistry and your craft on every photoshoot, and literally ONE great test can elevate the trajectory of your career. And just in general, it’s a great way to expand your network and get to know more creatives. Meeting people in real life is always greater than “knowing” people online.
How do you go about planning your Creative photoshoots? And more importantly, when’s your next one going to be?
Need a guide to help plan your next test photoshoot? Sign up on Makeup to Go’s Mailing List and access our handy dandy Creative Collaborations Workbook to help you map our your tests and start building a cohesive book that will convert to Bookings! Sign up here and the worksheet will be on its way.
Wanna read the way old post on this topic? Check it out here…
Previous SYWBAPA Installment: Portfolios in 2022
The “So You Wanna Be A Pro Artist / So You Wanna Be A Pro Makeup Artist” series is original content conceived and written by Tania D. Russell, all Copyrights reserved. Links may be affiliate links as indicated.
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