A note about makeup for live, immersive roleplay events:
The design requirements for these events depart from what we're familiar with in film, theater, or cosplay.
Generally speaking, the makeup must be combat-durable, long-wear and sweatproof.
It must be easy to replicate so that creatures, cultures, and characters remain consistent and recognizable.
Application must be relatively simple and quick, as neither player nor production team can afford hours in the chair.
This means we need as much done before an event as possible.
Pre-painted masks and prosthetics, slip-on creature suits, waterproof materials, flexibility, reusability...
It's a challenging design brief, but well worth the payoff of a richer world.
Generally speaking, the makeup must be combat-durable, long-wear and sweatproof.
It must be easy to replicate so that creatures, cultures, and characters remain consistent and recognizable.
Application must be relatively simple and quick, as neither player nor production team can afford hours in the chair.
This means we need as much done before an event as possible.
Pre-painted masks and prosthetics, slip-on creature suits, waterproof materials, flexibility, reusability...
It's a challenging design brief, but well worth the payoff of a richer world.
Unicorn Alien - makeup and silicone half-mask by Azrai. Model: Jofia Ross
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More details of immersive event makeup theory can be found in a video Azrai created (filmed pre-transition) on the subject:
Carefully Designed Faces
Live event makeup may require multiple applications under heavy time constraints, which means designs must communicate an idea as efficiently as possible. To create the facial coloration for their Fae characters, Azrai considered that the Fae are creatures of nature who command magics like shapeshifting and illusions. They looked at the markings of moth wings, and inkblot tests to communicate an almost disorienting animalistic coloration using body paint alone. By the time the live event arrived, the application took no more than twenty minutes.
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An "old age" facial makeup done for an elderly mage. A theatrical-leaning style of makeup is often Azrai's choice for live games as opposed to hyper-realism, which can be subtle enough to be overlooked. This style allows for easily replicated shapes and for their character to be recognizable from across a room.
The Nome King's facial makeup went through several design stages in order to communicate his toxic corrupted state. Azrai avoided a complete UV based bodypaint and instead opted to highlight points with a soft radioactive glow and neon crystal breaking through/encrusting the skin.
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The unicorn-turned-human was a makeup done for their work at College of Wizardry's Winter Banquet. The character was a unicorn that had been purposefully turned into a human by an artist. To reflect this, the glowing horn prosthetic was merged with the forehead using baroque sculptural elements.
The face of the unicorn utilized a more subtle contouring (as opposed to outright body paint) to create a deer-like appearance.
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Small Touches
Traditional prosthetics must generally be small, but effective. Anything larger tends to fall apart under the strain of live events and needs to be converted into a flexible mask. When full facial masks are unnecessary or unattainable, Azrai uses devices as simple as a seamless creature ear, a tattoo, a few visible gills, scales or circuits, even nonstandard fangs to communicate as much as possible about a character.
Before they started to focus on other avenues of work, Azrai operated an online shop (2016-2017) selling prosthetics, often pre-painted, attempting to make these simple design tools more accessible. Eventually they traveled too much to manage a shop, but they continue to create tutorials.
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Improvisations on-site
The fun of live roleplay events is that you cannot completely predict what will happen to a character. For a makeup artist, this means frequently getting resourceful with materials (and considering ideas like what color every creature's blood is). Some of Azrai's favorite jobs have been filling on-site makeup requests for anything from full body lacerations to gouged out eyes; by adding things like cling wrap, paper towels, baby powder, and vaseline -whatever was on-hand- to their kit.
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Moving Forward
Roleplaying games come from a long fantasy tradition that is, in many ways, not inclusive to marginalized people. Azrai believes firmly that artists and designers have a responsibility to mitigate this harm. Where makeup is concerned, they will never use real skin tones for fantasy races and frequently look to provide alternatives.
Azrai's rendition of a "dark elf," or drow. Biologically more accurate considering these elves rarely see the sun, but more importantly, a step away from the racial insensitivity of a black-skinned "evil" race.
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There are plenty of bright, striking fantasy colors to choose from without using a human being's actual skin tone as a costume.
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