My name is Becky and I'm about to start my second year of study at Southampton Solent University, studying BA(Hons) Make-Up and Hair Design. In this reflective log I will talk about my high points and low points, my strengths and my weaknesses, and how I hope to improve and grow in my second year. I will discuss many different aspects of my first year experience, but mainly focus on how I can improve for next year.
How has my attitude changed over the last year?
I think my attitude towards make-up and hair has changed because I now know how much thought and effort goes into every single look, from high fashion to film to TV, and I can therefore understand and appreciate why people see it as an art form. I think my attitude towards learning has changed from just wanting to learn all the practical skills to now wanting to know the history behind the technique or the most appropriate ways to showcase them. If I am honest, I didn't realise how knowledgable you had to be around the subject to understand it and be successful at it. Another way in which my attitude has changed is the importance of constantly practicing different techniques. I made sure that I practised and practised the techniques I needed to learn for my assessments, but I didn't take the time to continually practice the other techniques that weren't incorporated in my final looks. In my first project I would leave the technical file until the end of the week or when enough had backed up for me to then do them all at once; however in my second project, I made sure that I documented them straight after each session so that I remembered as much detail as possible and so they didn't back up. I will continue to do this in my second year. Before starting my first year of this course, I was very focused on makeup for beauty and high fashion, however I kept an open mind and was shocked with how much I enjoyed experimenting with different materials for ageing, burns etc. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to choose the prosthetics option for my second year!
What are my strengths and what were my high points last year?
I think my main strength is my genuine love and passion for the subject and I feel very fortunate to be able to do a degree on a subject that is also my hobby. This also means that I will look outside the teaching I get for different techniques to learn for my final designs; for example, I looked up how to use fullers earth for my Elizabethan inspired look.
Another one of my strengths is my determination to do well. I always made sure I practised my final looks over and over again until I was completely confident with them. I made sure that I didn't rush any of the design process for my final looks to make sure I was really happy with them. When looking into film characters, I made sure I looked into the details of the makeup and hair looks to make them as accurate and true to character as possible.
I think one of my strengths is that I did photography at A Level so I already knew a lot about cameras and lighting before starting the course. I also already had a basic understanding of Photoshop which I think helped me not have to spend so much time on learning the new techniques.
I think one of my high points of my first year was finalising my Elizabethan inspired makeup look! I was so happy with how it came out and all the background and history behind the look. I was so happy and proud with my feedback on the look and I am so motivated now to create more different and fun looks like it.
Another high point was when I was developing and creating my portrayal of Miss Havisham. I loved how we had to create a character for a film because it was fun looking into what the book said about her and how things can be interpreted in many different ways and how all this can effect how you would envision the character. I was so happy with my final outcome and I love that I could really imagine my final character look in the Great Expectations film!
What do I need to improve on and what where my low points?
I think the main thing I need to focus on improving is my essay writing skills. I think my low point of the year was how difficult I found it to reference and to shape the content. I struggled to understand exactly how to reference, even after having a 1-1 with my teacher, so I will need to go back and ask my teacher to explain to me again how to do it, with examples, because I think I lost a lot of marks in my essay through poor referencing. I enjoyed looking up the content for my essay, however I found it difficult to know how to then put it in essay form; I need to ask my teacher about that as well and hopefully get the help I need to improve on this.
Another thing I think I need to improve on is practising the techniques learned in the practicals more. I found that I practised the makeup and hair techniques I needed to use for my final looks, but I didn't practice the techniques that I wasn't using. I need to try to put time aside to practise all the techniques so that I am confident with a wide range of them and so that I can therefore use them in my further projects.
I found that I would do all the tasks that I found more fun or quicker to do more quickly and then leave the tasks that I would find more difficult until the last minute, for example, essay writing or history writing. This then meant that I would have a build up of things to do that I found challenging and it would be quite demotivating. In my second year I need to make sure that I either do these more difficult tasks first or that I spread them out evenly so that I get them done more quickly and avoid the build up.
A small change that I started making towards the end of my first year was that I would make a list of tasks that I would do on certain days and then I would wake up a bit earlier than usual and get them done in the morning and early afternoon. I found that I could work a lot more quickly and efficiently because I felt more fresh and awake. This also meant that I wouldn't be rushing things late into the evening when I felt too tired to perform at my best. I will work on continuing to create lists of tasks to do per day and be more organised in that way. I also find that I work better with the window open, to let fresh air in, and when my room is tidy and organised. I think these things will stop me procrastinating quite as much too!
I need to improve on my face charts and creating depth in them. I feel like if I were to pitch my makeup or hair design ideas to a client, my ideas wouldn't be portrayed in the best way and I think don't think they would be as well received as they could be. I need to watch lots of videos and do research into different techniques I could use and make sure I practice them before going back for my second year.
I felt like in the second project we didn't have as much guidance as in the first and I therefore didn't feel like I looked into as much of the history or surrounding topics as I should have. I focused very much on coming up with a final design, which is good, but I feel like I could have looked into things further outsider the box to inspire me.
