Developed Ideas.

Developed Ideas.

After having my peer review i have changed a lot of the original ideas i had based on my lady in waiting, Lettice. I have been looking at her portrait and i have found lots of indications and ideas of symbolism, colour and style that have inspired me to create some very different looks from my initial ideas as well as incorporating successful aspects of these looks into my new designs.

Lettice & Symbolism.

• Heart shaped hair, red with a head piece
• Pearls and jewels in hair ad embellishments
• Red, rosy cheeks and pale skin 
• red lips 
• gold clothing covered in embroidery, lace like texture/ patterning. 
• baroque influences in clothing.
• no eyebrows 
• what looks to be pearls draped around the neck to symbolise wealth and status.
• Hands involved in picture, one with a ring on, maybe to show marital status?
• Resembles Elizabeth, like a copy cat of her.

Colours and Personality Traits - Association.

Another suggestion i received from the peer assessment was to like colours to different emotions and personality traits in order to best be able to pick colours for my character design. So after decided on some of my Lady in Waiting's personality traits, in the previous blog post, i decided to link the colours to different emotions so i could easily pick what colours i should use for my character that would involve the symbolism of her  personality.

• Red - Energy, Passion, Action, Danger, Ambition, Determination, Seduction, Sexual Passion, Anger.
• Yellow - Intellect, Cheerful, Impatience, Criticism, Cowardice.
• Orange - Social communication, Optimism, Superficiality.
• Green - Balance, Growth, Resilience, Jealousy, Envy, Possessiveness, Hope. 
• Purple - Intuition, Idealism, Structure, Addictive, Ritualistic, Imagination, Immature, Creative, Individual.
• Blue - Trust, Peace, Loyalty, Integrity, Conservatism, Frigidity.
• Pink - Unconditional Love, Nurturing, Silly, Girlish, Innocent.
• Gold - Success, Achievement, Triumph, Luxury, Prosperity, Prestige, Sophistication, Value, Elegance, Affluence, Extravagance.
• Silver - Feminine Energy, Moon, Fluid, Emotional, Sensitive, Mysterious.
• Brown/ Bronze - Friendly, Serious, Down-to-earth, Security, Protection, Comfort, Material Wealth.
• White -  Complete, Pure, Perfection, Purity, Innocence, wholeness.
• Black - Hidden, Secretive, Mysterious, foreboding.

New Developed Ideas:

My first idea was taking from the heart shape of the hair in the portrait above. Here i created the heart shape on the face, using red eyeshadow to contour down the nose, under the eyebrow and under the cheek bones. I also added an ombre lip to modernise the look. I also want long paper white eyelashes that almost look like claws or teeth as i feel that this will add some drama and back story to my character's look. To add a technical element to the look i decided to have no eyebrows in my design that was often applied in the Elizabethan era. I decided also to use red as the main focus for the design even though i originally didn't want to use red at all because after looking at colours in relation to personality traits, i have realised that Red is the colour of seduction, promiscuity and danger which epitomises Lettice as a character.  I like this look but i feel it can be a bit more refined and blended. I wanted to use the idea of the deep red lipstick around the eyes to create an anger and jealously that was symbolic toward the hatred of the Queen after being banished. The red lips add a sexuality to the look that i really like.

Products used: 

- Kryolan grease based palette -red pigment.

- laura mercier silk creme foundation in sand beige 

- zoeva buffing brush

- zoeva blending eyeshadow brush 

- mac lipstick in ruby woo

- zoeva eyebrow brush

My second look is actually my original bronze look taken from my designs as i feel as though this look already involved a lot of symbolism with the bronze and gold symbolising wealth and success after marrying the man she wanted and being chosen by him over the Queen who also had a fling with Lettice's second husband. I really like the white around the eyes almost like a soft blended white liner effect that i would probably add sparkle to and again the heart shaped makeup is present again in this image. The soft blending and gold around the cheek bones, mimicking a highlighter, creates a high fashion look that i think will look good with no eyebrows and create contrast in my final images and accompanied by the hairstyle. The dark gold sparkling lip adds confidence to the look and the contour a peachy sparkle has an heir of triumph about it which reflects well with Lettice's character as she won the man the Queen Elizabeth wanted and also had the riches. I feel like this look has a similar arrogance to the real portrait i found of Lettice who seems quite smug in her image surrounded and enveloped by rich fabrics with a lace type embroidery. I feel like this look can still be contemporary even though it is based on the Elizabethan era and could be used by eccentric brands such as Givenchy and Dior. I would also like to include big paper lashes in this look.

Products used: 

- kryolan grease based palette white pigment 

- mac woodwinked eyeshadow

- mac blush in warm soul 

- mac eyeshadow in vanilla

- mac 224 blending brush 

- zoeva flat shader brush

- kryolan kabuki brush

- kryolan large foundation brush 

HAIR.

This is the practice run i did on my hair doll. i really like the contemporary interpretation on an Elizabethan hair style that i have created. I like the backcombed section and i think that the corn rows create a textured and varied effect that modernises the hair styles of the Elizabethan era which used a lot of braids that were always tight to the head. I am starting to think about running a gold ribbon through the two main corn rows as well as pearl embellishments throughout the hair to create a  historically correct hair style.  I think this hair style will accompany either look well and add an urban feel to a traditional inspired makeup scheme.