Movie monsters and beautiful people share an important thing — they both need talented makeup artists to help them look their best.
With many people leaving their old careers in the struggling economy, some people are realizing they can turn their lipstick dreams and artistic imaginations into a lucrative career as a professional makeup artist.
Pamela Earle, president and owner of the Complections International Academy of Make-up Artistry in Toronto, says demand to get into the school hasn’t been this fervent since Ontario dropped the O.A.C. year from high schools, forcing two years’ worth of students to enter post-secondary education and the job market together.
“We’re going to have a waiting list for the first time since the double-cohort year — it’s very exciting,” Earle said.
Unlike cosmetology schools, which focus on retail-level skills in things like nail care, skin care or hair removal, Complections is solely centred on having students master makeup in all its artistic applications.
At Complections, students don’t just learn to apply traditional fashion makeup — they build moustaches and beards from scratch, create terrifying movie-monster prosthetic masks and learn to transform an actor to look 50 years older using makeup.
The emphasis, Earle says, is to train students in a much wider range of makeup skills in demand across multiple industries, ensuring a better chance for employment and nurturing career-building talent.
“We’re sort of an art school as well as a makeup school — it’s all about being creative and there is plenty of work out there,” Earle said.
With primary programs ranging from 14 to 32 weeks in length, students can stick to mastering the traditional fashion/glamour makeup needed on runways, music videos and commercials around the world or opt to go the extra mile and expand their skills to include makeup for film and television, studio hairstyling, special effects, prosthetics and even creature design.
Dino Delio from the television show CityLine is one of the school’s most popular instructors, while the slowdown in the entertainment industry has meant the school benefits from more experienced guest instructors than ever before.
On an average day you might catch a group of zombies with gaping head wounds heading out the doors of the school to grab a quick lunch, or see a bevy of runway-ready beauties getting worked on in the fashion studio.
If you think you’ve got an eye for what makes things beautiful (or grotesque), visit complectionsmake-up.com.
