Vân Miu demonstrated exceptional makeup skills in crafting the character of Medusa – a demonic figure with a head of snakes and freezing eyes that can turn anyone to stone with a single gaze. The judges of MAC highly praised Van Miu’s makeup artistry, which led her to win the Outstanding Creativity Award in The Mystic Angel (Avant-Grade) competition held by MAC in 2019.
With the theme of the Greek mythology character – Medusa’s makeup, Van Miu’s challenge was to bring the image of Medusa to life through her creativity and skillful makeup techniques. In addition, she had to perform to convey the character’s aura that she portrayed.
Introducing a bit about the character Medusa that Van Miu did makeup for. In the movie “Clash of the Titans” directed by Louis Leterrier, not only the intriguing plot and intense storyline but also the professional community highly appreciated the character designs. Significantly, the character of Medusa – a demon with hair of snakes and icy eyes that can turn anyone to stone. This has become an inspiration for makeup enthusiasts.
Through her Medusa makeup, Van Miu proved her exceptional makeup skills.
Điểm đặc trưng của nhân vật Medusa là mái tóc với những con rắn rợn người cùng cặp mắt ma mị đáng sợ. Để thực hiện được hình ảnh của Medusa, phần mắt được Vân Miu vẽ khéo léo với đường kẻ đậm đen xếch lên cao, đánh mắt khói loang kéo một vệt dài xuống má, đuôi mắt được vẽ kéo dài. Ánh nhìn vô cảm với tròng mắt trắng khiến nhân vật trở nên đáng sợ với cái nhìn nguy hiểm.
The signature feature of Medusa’s character is her hair, which is made up of snakes, and her frightening eyes. To achieve the Medusa look, Vân Miu carefully drew bold black lines on the eyes, added smoky eye makeup, and elongated the tail of the eye. The blank expression and white eyes make the character look dangerous.
For the makeup color scheme, Van Miu used two main colors: gold and black. However, to create the sharp Medusa character, she carefully blended matte and shimmering colors together. The lips were painted gold with a black lip liner, creating a sexy but also magical look. The bold black eyes provide a strong contrast. Van Miu’s technique was harmonious as she drew two snakes on each cheek to make the face even more terrifying.
Along with the “deadly eyes” of Medusa, the hairstyling was also meticulously executed by Van Miu. The real and fake hair were braided together, and she skillfully used dried branches to create branches, sprayed glue and curled them. In a moment, the wriggling snakes on Medusa’s head were fully shaped.
Medusa’s nails are carefully painted copper-gold, sharp, and evenly colored. Van Miu has brought to life an image of Medusa that is both beautiful and dangerous, a character symbolic of the wrath of women.
A mark on Van Miu’s path to pursue her passion for makeup
After nearly three hours, Van Miu’s competition entry was highly appreciated by the representative director of the Mac brand and received much praise from the audience. Van Miu won the Excellent Creative Award in The Mystic Angel (Avant-Garde) contest in 2019, demonstrating her talent for creative makeup and character transformation in the film.
Not only showing her makeup talent, but Van also had to show her catwalk ability as well as character charisma. Sharing her idea of makeup and the difficulties in creating the Medusa character, Van Miu said:
“As a person who loves creativity, I really like the style of the Medusa character. However, the difficulty is that the character is familiar to those who love mythology, so making something that people are familiar with become new and “come alive” is a difficult problem. Not to mention, I have to perform and go to the catwalk instead of doing makeup for the model, so this is also an interesting challenge for me.”
Transforming into famous characters through makeup is a feat, meticulousness, and creativity of a makeup enthusiast. The difficulty of character transformation through makeup is to make the structure of your own face as similar to the character as possible. Because the facial bone structure and the protrusion of points on the face are different for each person. The proportion of the face: the nose, chin, and eyes are also different, making it always a challenge for makeup artists.
In addition to regularly practicing drawing and makeup skills, Van Miu attaches great attention to studying the facial features of a person. This helps her to be sophisticated when analyzing the facial features of the character before doing makeup.
However, a successfully disguised character is when the makeup artist can simulate the features so that when others look at them, they can immediately recognize that character. But it is impossible for makeup to be 100% similar.
For Van, every competition is a challenge to herself, helping her to accumulate new knowledge and practice more skills to apply well in teaching and makeup in the future.
a message to young people who love makeup
Van Miu has had a passion for makeup since childhood. However, she did not have the opportunity to attend makeup courses. After graduating from university, Van Miu decided to pursue her passion by teaching herself makeup from her idol, Carli Bybel.
Despite facing many challenges, Van Miu’s passion has always driven her to practice and improve every day. She is always ready to participate in makeup competitions to challenge herself and push her limits. Her goal is to become a talented makeup artist and a master in the field of makeup so that she can inspire other young people who share the same passion.
Competitions are a mark of Van’s journey of pursuing her passion. Initially, when participating, she only wanted to receive feedback and learn from the judges, who are experts in the field, and did not put any pressure on winning awards. Fortunately, luck has always smiled on her in the contests.
Van Miu shares her advice with other young makeup enthusiasts:
“Follow your passion, be brave and dare to think. When your love is strong enough, new paths will naturally open up for you. Therefore, feel free to be creative and live your passion to the fullest.”
Makeup Artist Van Miu
Wishing you success in pursuing your passion and becoming a talented makeup artist!
>>> READ MORE: Vision, Mission, Core Values – Van Miu