Eve Pearl has a lot of experience as a makeup artist for such television programs as Live with Regis & Kelly, Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Dateline, The Late Show with David Letterman, and – the source of her five Emmys — The View.

She dropped by VFS recently to demonstrate her corrective makeup technique for current Makeup Design for Film & Television students, and to also share some of her industry secrets such as:

Peach fuzz? Shave it. In her experience, it never grows back darker.

Powders? Don’t use them on HD shoots. They sit below the surface of the skin and won’t stand a chance against the cameras.

While demonstrating different techniques on her student volunteer, Hannah Eustis, Eve discussed a number of issues students might encounter when applying corrective makeup, like concealing veins, tattoos, bruising, and 5 o’clock shadow. Her big advice from years of experience in live television is to not experiment too much when something’s already working.

“You want consistency,” she said. “I don’t want to see my news anchor with different eye shadow every day — I wouldn’t trust him.”

Click here to check out more photos from Eve’s visit on VFS’s flickr page.

Though the average movie audience member might have a hard time differentiating foam, gelatin, or bondo makeup prosthetics, Makeup Design grads are trained to know the benefits of each and how to apply these pieces to an actor in the most realistic – or fantastic – way.

As we’ve recently blogged, select Makeup Design students have the chance toward the end of their year to apply the skills they’re accumulating at VFS in high-stakes mentorship projects at local special makeup effects studios.

Now, those students will be all the more prepared for the industry’s evolving demands due to the Makeup Design department’s newly-introduced silicone prosthetics curriculum.

While using gel-filled silicone appliances can be a more time-consuming and expensive route to go, many film studios are turning to this material to provide the highest quality makeup prosthetics for their productions. Films like Watchmen, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair illustrate the kinds of visuals makeup artists can achieve with silicone.

Very few makeup programs in North America are taking the same approach to teaching silicone prosthetics. Starting later this spring, students in their final term will get a comprehensive, hands-on experience in creating and applying gel-filled silicone appliances — a skill that will help to significantly enhance their portfolios and highlight Makeup Design’s ability to recognize and meet the industry’s ever-changing demands.

If you haven’t already, check out our video tours of Makeup Design’s campuses or see students at work in our flickr page photos.

Stan Edmonds, Head of the Makeup Design for Film & Television program, recently hosted a video walk-through of the three Makeup Design facilities at VFS: 198 West Hastings Street, 392 West Hastings Street, and 1248 Franklin Street.

For an in-depth look at the facilities in which VFS students spend a year learning an array of industry-standard makeup techniques, click here or visit vfs.com/makeuptour.

You can also check out some behind-the-scenes photos of each Makeup Design campus on our flickr page.

Not long ago, in our interview with Makeup Design for Film & Television alum Michael Nickiforek, we mentioned that one of his recent gigs was on the Dwayne Johnson vehicle Tooth Fairy as “Fairy Wing Fabricator.” And he wasn’t the only grad on the show. Tooth Fairy, which comes out today, also features the handiwork of Film Production grad Shauna Bryan (Executive Visual Effects Producer) and 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Jessica Wan (Roto Lead) and Noel Wright (Digital Compositing Artist).

In other winged news, the angels-run-amok thriller Legion also hits theatres, with 3D grad Ryan Clarke behind the scenes as Visual Effects Artist. To the skies!

“When I was starting out, I really appreciated that I had an opportunity to spend a month in a shop,” says Toby Lindala, owner of Burnaby, BC’s Schminkën Studios, a special makeup effects production house that designs and fabricates pieces for the local film and television industry. “I learned a lot from that.”

An Advisory Board Member of the Makeup Design for Film & Television program, Toby’s now paying that opportunity forward to aspiring makeup artists. Schminkën is one of three makeup studios that regularly provide mentorship placements to select Makeup Design students. Masters FX and WCT Productions also participate.

“We’re always trying to involve the professional community with the program so that students have the advantage of rubbing elbows with professionals and getting different perspectives from that community,” says Head of Makeup Design Stan Edmonds.

These mentorship placements began in 2006, when the Makeup Design program expanded to one full year of intense study and practice. Students, like grad Crissy Renaud, began applying to spend 40 hours-plus volunteering under the local film and television industry’s best. Taking place in the program’s final term, such opportunities couldn’t come at a better time for hungry students preparing to enter a competitive job market.

“I wanted to work in the industry, not hop from set-to-set,” Crissy says. “So I knew this was what I should do.”

The staff at WCT Productions put her to work: “I did everything from assisting life casting, making paint for an artist on set, cleaning molding, and sculpting.” After finishing her placement, Crissy spent a month in contact with her former mentors before they hired her to assist with some work for Reaper, the television series.

Now she’s mentoring WCT’s incoming Makeup Design students.

A New Crop

November 2009’s round of mentorship placements saw four current Makeup Design students getting their hands dirty in the day-to-day operations of a makeup effects studio. Dili Hafezi and Mandy Imeson spent over a week with Lindala at Schminkën, while Jon Berezan and Kate Middleton went to Masters FX.

But, as Stan explains, getting into one of these shops is no easy feat:

“We set up professional interviews where students have a time and place to go… These shops, they don’t treat them like students. This is real.”

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In every graduating class in the Makeup Design for Film & Television program, one student is presented with the Makeup Design Achievement Award to recognize their outstanding work throughout their year at VFS.

In December, for the first time ever, it was presented to not one but two students.

Congratulations to the December 2009 winners, Amanda (Mandy) Imeson and Catherine (Katie) Middleton! A tie is unprecedented, but they both deserve it for their excellent work throughout their year.

“This past year has been such an amazing experience for me with or without the award,” Mandy says. “At the same time, though, it adds to my motivation to push myself to see what I can accomplish in the makeup industry.”

“I really pushed myself this year because I wanted to get the most I could out of the program,” Katie tells us. “The award means a lot to me because I know all of the hard work was recognized. I’m also so glad to share it with Mandy, because she really deserves it and devoted herself to the program, too.”

Emmy winner Charles Porlier, Makeup Department Head on the upcoming The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, presented the award, which comes with a personal reference letter from Makeup Design Head Stan Edmonds and a prize pack including top-of-the-line makeup products.

Left to right: Stan Edmonds, Mandy Imeson, Katie Middleton, and Charles Porlier

Michael Nickiforek is one of those grads we like to catch up with every so often. The Makeup Design for Film & Television alum (and now TA/instructor) works steadily in Vancouver makeup shops, meaning the results regularly appear on screens large and small. As a sculptor/mold maker, he has a hand in a wide – and decidedly weird – variety of projects.

We caught up with him twice in 2008, first to discuss his role at WCT Productions, working on Smallville and Reaper, and later to talk body parts in The X Files: I Want to Believe. But a particularly busy ‘09 for Michael means you’ll be seeing his name even more in coming months, beginning with the Dwayne Johnson vehicle Tooth Fairy, on which he served as – wait for it – “fairy wing fabricator”. After that, there’s The A-Team (mold maker), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (prosthetics and fake body fabrication) and Marmaduke among several others.

He kindly took time out of his schedule to give us the lowdown on his latest work.

First of all, the last time we spoke was about The X-Files sequel. Quick catch-up - what’ve you been up to since then?

Michael: Besides the ongoing work on Smallville and Reaper, I started on a few new TV shows, including Stargate Universe and Human Target, airing soon.

My work on Smallville included working on the characters Metallo and Hawkman. Metallo was more or less covered in prosthetics, including his left arm and full torso, which on top of that was mechanical workings. I thought the finished makeup turned out very well. Then for Hawkman, we were in charge of the character’s 13-foot wings.

With Human Target and SG Universe, I was involved with many different types of silicone prosthetic effects. They were all wounds – silicone works great for this – and the big one we did for SG Universe is my favorite so far… it had blood rigging and everything!

As for the features I worked on, they included both larger and smaller budgeted productions. On Marmaduke, we made many different animal puppet effects. These were mainly moving animal limbs as well as a full front-half puppet of the main character.

On The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, I was involved with gelatin prosthetic makeups and a full silicone body. The same type of work was also done on American Pie: Book of Love, though it included foam prosthetics and a full silicone body. The work on A-Team was small with just minor wounds. Most of these were done as bondo transfers. There were also one or two other things!

As far as shops, I have continued to work mainly with WCT. I did a good stretch at SFX Studio Inc., as well as a bit of work at Masters FX.

Has the kind of work you do evolved, or are you still on the same ‘generalist’ path?

Michael: I still do everything but would say I specialize more now in sculpting, mold making, and running. With out-of-shop work, my own personal projects, I do it all, from lifecasts and sculpting to application!

2009 seemed like a pretty busy year for you, both with your makeup work and also your teaching – you’re still quite closely connected with VFS. What’s it like working with new makeup artists?

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If you come here often, you know the kind of year 2009 was for VFS. ”Banner year” doesn’t begin to describe it.

We’re proud – proud of what our students and alumni accomplished in 2009, proud of their incredible talent, proud of the profound effect they had on the global entertainment industry and beyond.

It’s not easy to pick favourite moments of the year. Was it District 9, which truly cemented the VFS community as a creative force to be reckoned with?

Or was it those moments that truly inspired us – students shedding light on unrest in Iran, or young women breaking down barriers in the game industry, or emerging filmmakers making a difference in Uganda?

2009. It was big.

So big, in fact, that it couldn’t be contained in a blog post. So we’ve put together a page for you: Vancouver Film School in 2009: A Restrospective. It’s a month-by-month celebration of this incredible year – videos we loved, stories and interviews that defined our year, plus alumni credits, trivia… you name it.

Check it out: vfs.com/2009

The VFS Blog Team and all of us here at Vancouver Film School wish you and yours a happy, safe holiday season and a very Happy New Year. We’ll still be posting over the holidays, so stay tuned!

The recent Toronto edition of IMATS (International Makeup Artists Trade Show) featured a character/ prosthetic makeup competition for students and recent grads. Entrants had only three hours to create a makeup inspired by X-Men characters.

Makeup Design for Film & Television grad Elisa Solomon — August 2009’s Makeup Achievement Award winner — placed 3rd with her mutant creation. Congratulations, Elisa!

Head of Makeup Design Stan Edmonds was also there, demonstrating his technique for creating hand-layered beards.

Click here to see Make-Up Artist Magazine’s slideshow of images from the student competition.

Vancouverites are no strangers to the Twilight phenomenon. Since the sequels began filming here, it’s been the talk of the town.

And now the results are in: The Twilight Saga: New Moon hits theatres this week. A Twi-stravaganza (sorry) of VFS connections on this one: among the alumni who worked on New Moon are Lighting Technical Director Dominic Cheung (3D Animation & Visual Effects) and Assistant Makeup Artist Amy St. Jean (Makeup Design for Film & Television). Makeup Design Advisory Board Member Norma Hill-Patton was Makeup Designer on the film, and was recently profiled by our friends at Make-Up Artist Magazine for her work on star Robert Pattinson.

(You might also remember that Charlie Bewley, who plays Demetri, starred in a Film Production short. Find out more about it here. We knew him when!)

This week’s other release with VFS ties is the animated Planet 51. A trio of 3D grads worked on the film out of the Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios: Effects Animators Gianfranco Valle and Sandro Di Segni and Modeler Jorge Kirschner Torres. Might be worth checking out for its clever twist on the extraterrestrials-among-us idea, its Giger-esque alien puppies, and as a possible antidote for a case of vampire angst (apply as needed).