So, while I’m primarily a costume designer/tech, I’ve been teaching intro to stage makeup classes since the early 1990s. In 2005-6 I filmed a bunch of videos (or rather Kade Mendelowitz of the Theatre and Film Department of UAF and owner of Multimakers) filmed me while I made up my face and talked), so when I moved to a place where they wanted makeup classes of 20-30 people enrolled at DVC, and two 1hr 25 minute sessions weekly but the makeup room is crowded with anything over 15, It was handy to split the class into two groups that alternated watching me do the demo by video in the men’s dressing room (or eventually at home online) and doing the makeup in the makeup room.
You can find all the videos at my YouTube Channel The Costumer’s Manifesto at my Makeup Class Playlist.
However, if you are a teacher who uses the Canvas learning system, you can also go to Canvas Commons and search “Tara Maginnis” and find a bunch of class pages that go with these videos that explain to my own students how to do the assignments that go with the videos. Additionally, I inserted a bunch of YouTube videos of other folks how-tos on people of other genders and skin colors than a middle aged white chick (what I was when I did the videos), so students who needed advice from a male or non-white perspective could easily find these.
However, if you don’t use Canvas, or are a student who has been locked out of it at the end of the semester, I’m going to copy and paste a bunch of this stuff here as a mirror. If you are a teacher feel free to copy and paste anything you want (That is why it is on Canvas Commons) but do please remove my phone # from pages and insert your own contact information in it’s place, since every single semester I get a lost student who thinks I’m their professor and phones or texts me, and it typically takes between 30 minutes to an hour to track you down for them… I’m going to try to remove my info on these versions, but I may miss one.
So this image above is a screencap of the first page which has the usual recommended distance delivery stuff:
Introduction to Stage Makeup
Salutations!
This is your teacher Tara Maginnis (contact info below). I am pleased to welcome you to my introductory course in theatrical makeup. “This course presents the study of the aesthetics, materials, and procedures of stage makeup. Including “corrective” makeup, aging techniques, makeups which are in line with a play’s given circumstances, character makeup applications, makeups which accurately depict historical eras and cultural demands, and abstract/linear makeup design projects will be covered.” —DVC catalog.
By the end of the course, you’ll learn (and execute) a wide variety of types of stage makeup and finally build a portfolio of your work! If you need extra help or information at any point in the semester you can contact me by text, email or phone XXX-XXX-XXXX . I am also at DVC after our class on Mondays and Wednesdays till 8pm most times, and also come in Tuesdays and Thursdays (In Spring semester only) for teaching my Costume Class 12:45-5:35 and work after Dinner from 6:30-8pm those days . So, Monday-Thursday, text or phone me to find where I am hidden in the vast PAC building if you need me. When you can’t get here to see me, I’m usually conscious for phone or text 11am-11pm, though I won’t be texting while driving, in a meeting, or the shower…
You already have all you need right here…
Lots of what you want to know is right here though. Because Covid forced all of us to go online, nearly everything you need for class information-wise is right here on Canvas. Get sick with Monkeypox (or just a cold), and miss class? It is all here and you can catch up. Even before 2020 most of this class was also mirrored online and I’ve always allowed students to do work at home when they need to, or watch class videos online instead of watching them in the Men’s Dressing Room. You can come in and play in our splendid makeup room and have me do my personal photo shoot of your makeup (SO MUCH FUN!!!), or you can mess about with your face on the weekend and turn it in online. This is not advertised as a “Hi-Flex” class, but you can mostly treat it like one.
However, to begin, you must start somewhere, so I suggest you go each weekend to Modules even if you are coming in to class for every session so you are prepared for your class work. Go step by step through through the weekly assignments in order. Or you can just go to the silly “Magic Button” to be taken directly to the Modules:
- —– Tara Maginnis
- Phone/Text: XXX-XXX-XXXX (11am-11pm)
- email: PUT YOUR TEACHER EMAIL HERE
- Response time usually 24 hrs on weekdays, 48 hrs on weekends