People in the prosthetics makeup career specialize in molding and fitting materials made of foam latex or silicon onto people’s body parts to create different illusions. Most SFX makeup artists’ careers begin with taking a relevant course from a recognized institution.
The prosthetic makeup process seems quite complicated but can be taught to anyone as long as they’re willing to learn. There are special effects and prosthetics courses which can provide a great deal of knowledge, experience, and guidance.
Common Duties Of Prosthetics
Wondering what your everyday life will look like when you pursue a career as a prosthetic makeup artist? Here are some of the tasks and responsibilities of professionals in this field:
1. Enhancing Facial Aesthetics
Part of a regular makeup artist’s job is to make people look better than they normally do without makeup. This is the most basic lesson that an SFX makeup artist needs to learn before he/she can graduate to doing special effects makeup.
If one doesn’t understand how regular makeup works, he/she can’t hack the more advanced levels that require the use of prosthetic pieces.
2. Consulting With Clients
These professionals talk in-depth with clients who visit their makeup studios in search of their services. They advise the clients on what will work and what won’t work for that particular look that they wish to achieve.
While consulting, the professionals need to take into account the lighting and all other aspects that might affect the outcome.
3. Designing Prosthetics
Prosthetic makeup artists take measurements of necessary facial features or body parts to determine the dimensions of the piece to be created.
Part of the design process involves choosing the materials (between latex, gelatin, or silicone) to be used in the construction. These affect the final results of the look.
4. Fitting The Molded Prosthetic Pieces
The fittings are conducted depending on the clients’ specifications. The special effects that are needed in the final outcome play a huge role in determining how fitting will be done and for how long.
The professionals do their best to ensure that the clients are comfortable and safe.
Why Seek A Career In Prosthetic Makeup?
In this section, we’ll help you determine whether a career as a prosthetic makeup artist will be a good fit for you if you’ve been hesitant to go in that direction. Here are some of the reasons that sound appealing as to why you should try it – we hope they’re convincing enough:
1. High Level Of Gratification & Demand
Having clients come to you with a certain idea and making it become a reality brings you instant gratification. The smiles on their faces (or not, depending on the look you create) are guaranteed to warm your heart.
Making your clients happy makes you feel like your purpose in life is being fulfilled. When your clients are happy they’ll give referrals and you’ll start receiving unending bookings.
2. Opportunities Are Endless
The good thing about the makeup industry is that it’s always growing so you never have to worry about being jobless. You can work anywhere you like so if you like to travel a lot this career presents you with the perfect opportunity to have fun traveling and getting paid for work.
3. There’s A Work-Life Balance
So many people have no social life because of their busy working schedules and this affects their mental health negatively. This is one of the fewer careers so you can expect to work a regular 40hrs weekly and still have time for family and friends.
There might be some days when you have back-to-back shifts and work at odd hours but after the project is done you’re free to take a vacation.
4. Career Flexibility, Transferable Skills, & Room For Growth
When you pursue a career in prosthetic makeup, you never have to worry about your options being limited. With each season comes new trends and this allows you to grow professionally as you develop your skills. When you gain more experience there’s a better chance of you getting a higher-paying job.
5. There’s Good Pay
As a professional special effects makeup artist, you are in control of your income. You can always work longer and make more money. Overall, the job pays more than the basic minimum.
The salary outlook for professionals in this career path keeps increasing steadily as noted for the last decade or so. It is expected to keep getting better over the next 10 years.
6. Improves Your Creativity & Problem-Solving Skills
This profession requires someone to have a creative mind. An SFX makeup artist also needs to think beyond the imaginable to solve problems for his/her clients. This is where your creativity is put to the test.
The same way you use your hands extensively is how you’ll be expected to use your brain a lot. Each prosthetic piece that you create is like a blank canvas that allows you to express yourself as an artist.
Conclusion
From the above-mentioned points, it’s clear that pursuing a career as a prosthetic makeup artist is totally worth it. You get the satisfaction of achieving so much in your career as you transform people’s appearances for whatever role or occasion.
This career is not very mainstream but is, no doubt, a very fulfilling career.It gives people the perfect opportunity to be creative and express themselves.
