35
===
[00:00:00]
Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of the Artist to Artist Podcast. Have you ever felt like your work just isn't standing out? You're posting, you're doing the work, but it still feels like no one is seeing what you can offer. I hear this a lot from newer makeup artists who feel like they're getting lost in a sea of talent.
And the thing is, standing out isn't about trying to be different just for the sake of it. It's about refining your skills, it's about standing out. Developing your tastes and we will talk about what that means in just a sec and consistently putting out high quality work And here's the reality this takes so much time to do It takes years of practice to get good at this job and patience is very important here You cannot rush skill development and the more you work on your craft the better and more recognizable your work will become So today what I'm gonna do is break down why your work might not be standing out What really makes an artist's work noticeable and then the steps that you can take to [00:01:00] start seeing a difference in your work.
So let's get into it. I talked about this a couple weeks ago. It's the myth of instantly having a signature style. A lot of artists feel pressured to develop a signature style right away and they think think that they need a look that's completely unique to them in order to be successful. But the truth, your style is going to develop over time.
It's not something you force. It's something that kind of naturally emerges as you refine your skills, as you make deliberate choices with the applications you're doing. And you got to do a lot of makeup to have your signature style really come forward. I see so many artists trying to stand out by being different.
When they haven't really fully mastered the fundamentals yet, they focus on like crazy color combinations or post like these dramatic looks when their skin work isn't strong, or their blending could be better. And this is what can hold you back.
Let's talk about some of the reasons why your work might not [00:02:00] be getting noticed. And again, similar to last week's episode, just keep an open mind with this stuff. It's not about feeling bad about what you're doing. Everybody goes through this. We've all been in this position. I've been in this position many, many times.
It's just about figuring out where you can improve and making a plan so you can level up. We have to talk about Lack of consistency in your portfolio. If your portfolio is all over the place, some full glam, some soft glam. Um, I see a lot of portfolios from students that are coming out of makeup school.
They've got some like special effects stuff in there, some experimental weird things. It's hard for people to associate a particular aesthetic with you and a particular service with you. And clients and industry professionals and just like human beings in general like to know what to expect. When you have a portfolio or social media that's all over the place, it's kind of like, Oh, I don't know about this.
The other thing is that your technical skills aren't where they need to be yet, and this is a tough one, and this is something I went through. Oh gosh, it was [00:03:00] really hard reality for me to face when I started working as a freelancer full time. It's a real thing. If your blending isn't seamless, if your foundation application could be smoother, if your eye makeup looks not that great and it lacks like balance and vibrance, and people can see these things.
And in an industry this competitive where everyone is on social and everyone's posting, clients and brands will book artists whose work looks polished and professional. Sometimes, If the technical is not there, you've got some work to do because people can see it. They're constantly seeing images and they create this like database in their head.
And they can see when things are good. Or when they're bad. They may not be able to tell you specifically why, but it's just something that happens naturally and when we talked about last week photographing your work and really looking at it, this is what you need to do because you're going to start to pick out what could be improved and when you see that, you can make improvements on every makeup application after that. You might be doing amazing makeup, but if your photos suck and your videos are [00:04:00] not great, then it doesn't matter what kind of makeup you're doing.
Are your images well lit? Are the angles flattering? Did you clean your phone off before you took photos? Are you capturing details that actually Make the makeup stand out. Are you cropping your photos and videos properly? Presentation is really important, especially because people go to social media to look for makeup artists to book.
Okay, this one is going to be another tough one to hear. I also have been through this. Phase where you can't refine your style because you're not doing enough makeup. Are you practicing enough? Are you applying makeup on different skin tones, face shapes, different skin textures. If you're only doing makeup once in a while, it's going to take a lot longer to improve and to develop a recognizable style. And this became so much of a reality for me when I went full time because I looked at what other agency rep artists were doing in the city that I was assisting and I was on set with and I was like, Oh my God, that work looks so different from [00:05:00] what I was doing, but I knew I just wasn't doing enough makeup because I was talking to makeup artists who were doing this full time and you're doing makeup all the time.
It's your life, it's your job, right? So it's expected, but when you're coming from a place of not doing a lot of makeup, it feels impossible to bridge the gap, but it will happen. And if it doesn't happen immediately, you have to work towards getting more makeup applications under your belt. It's the only way you are going to improve how you do things.
You can watch a million tutorials. You can listen to every tip I have. But if you Do not actually physically do the job, you're not going to get better at it. It's, especially for makeup artistry, you have to put in reps.
Let's talk about what actually makes your work stand out. I'm sure you're sick of hearing me say this, but I say it all the time because it's true, because I know what happened. to my own work when I started doing this. Mastering the fundamentals before you focus on style. The best artists who work [00:06:00] all the time, who stand out, who have really great careers, it's not because they can do something crazy different.
Now we do have influencers and more social media makeup artists. Where maybe this is true for them, but for working makeup artists, it's not true for us. So it's not because they're doing something crazy. It's because their work is consistently flawless. Before you worry about having a signature look, you have to focus on perfecting details of your work and the fundamentals like blending, foundation application, color matching. , the choices that you make in the shades for your makeup application. Everything has to look cohesive on your models And on the people that you're working with and your precision and attention to detail All of this is what is going to make your work look better I mentioned this in the intro building good taste. You have to have a certain taste level and this I have seen does not And so we're going to look at ways that elements of artistic appreciation come naturally to everybody.
Sometimes standing out isn't about technical skill, it's about taste. And if you look at the work that's [00:07:00] getting artists booked and work that's being published or campaigns that you're seeing, what makes it that way, and what makes that work professional? There's a certain taste level there.
So save reference images when you're on the internet or you're just scrolling through social. Take a look at the crops of the photos. What the makeup looks like on the camera. Analyze the lighting. Break down some of the color choices that you see in those inspiration images. The more you do this, the more you will start to train your eye to recognize what looks high end versus what looks amateur.
And this can take a while. There are certain artists that are very picky, especially more established artists, and that is usually because they have a higher taste level than some other artists, and this takes time to Learn, but taste is really, really important.
And I know this is obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway. The only way to improve and develop your style is to do more makeup. Find models, practice on friends, offer free sessions if you need to. Just [00:08:00] keep working because repetition is key in developing that muscle memory. And just getting to know the products in your kit is all so, so important to all of this.
Next thing you might want to think about is just refining your presentation, specifically on social, because this is where most of us are posting and this is basically where our portfolios live now. If your work isn't getting noticed, look at how you're presenting it. Make sure your photos are clean, and when I say clean, that is a loaded word, I think.
When I say clean, I mean, What can I think of to tell you? No stray hairs across the front of the face. No weird crops. No people looking weird, weird angles. Make sure the lighting is good. Make sure the angles actually showcase the makeup. Don't post a photo of someone who looks teeny tiny in the crop on Instagram when it's supposed to be about the makeup, right?
These are just some examples I can think of off the top of my head. Remember, this is an important one, your work is only as good as how it's perceived. Okay, I did this on last week's episode and I'm going to do it again for this week because I got a lot of great [00:09:00] feedback on this, so some action steps for this week.
Step one, look at your work objectively. Scroll through your last ten posts on IG or wherever you post. Does your work look polished and is there a consistency, like a noticeable pattern of what you're doing in the work that you're posting? If not, what can be improved? Should you take some photos down?
Should you put some photos up that you've been sitting on that you haven't really looked at in a while? The next step, I would say, find, I don't know, three to five artists whose work you admire. Analyze what makes their work stand out.
And then what are they doing with their work that you can apply to your own work? Is it certain color choices? Is it certain angles of their models? I know, I do have to say this, obviously, better artists have better access to models, but try to look beyond the actual model in the photo, especially if it's like a supermodel or, I don't know, a celebrity.
Just look at finishes of makeup, color combinations, angles, lighting, that type of thing. That's what you should pay attention to. And a [00:10:00] recommendation that I have, If you follow artists on Instagram that you like and you're a bit sensitive when it comes to scrolling through Instagram, like people's posts make you feel bad, just go on Google, Google their work, and then just start to make mood boards of any of their work so it's not directly tied to their Instagram, because with Instagram you basically see the work that you want to see.
The whole thing and I feel like when you go on google, it's more removed and you're just looking at images That's why I like pinterest because some of the looks that I see I don't care who's doing them I just want to see the makeup I know for people that have a hard time or they feel like social media just makes them feel terrible get off social The artists that you know, you like just Search their looks on Pinterest and make mood boards, that might help you if you are someone that can't really handle scrolling on social media all that much.
Next thing you can try this week. Create more makeup looks aim to do more makeup this month than the previous month If you feel like your work isn't strong enough just do more makeup.
It's really that simple You just have to get out and do it and then make sure you're [00:11:00] always Taking photos and video of your work documenting some of the process what's on your station that type of thing
Last thing you can work on this week, improving your photo quality. Do not run to the store and buy the newest iPhone, just try improving your lighting. Take your photos in better lighting. Adjust your angles, look at the composition of the photos that you're taking.
Make sure your work is actually being photographed properly. Clean the lens before you take a photo. If you don't have great light where you're working, walk your client to a window. Buy the makeup light. This is a direct plug for the makeup light.
This is the only thing I swear by. I use it to film my own content. I use it to film content for the membership. I love the makeup light. I know it's expensive. I just find, for me, it has improved my lighting quality in my photos so much. There's just so many reasons why. Just go and get one panel of the makeup light.
Please now if you're listening to this and you're like Angie, I cannot afford the makeup light I hear you some lighting is better than no lighting if you can't get any [00:12:00] lighting which you should just have Anyways, if you're gonna be taking this seriously take somebody to a window find a window take them to a hall where there is a window Just take them to natural light, okay?
That's what you want to do, and that the lighting is going to be a huge boost in your photo quality, and then just simple, easy things that you might forget to do. I forget to do this all the time. Just tap on the, um, the model that you're taking pictures of, just tap on their face to make sure your phone focuses, because sometimes I do beautiful makeup and it's half the time out of focus.
So, happens to all of us, but those are some things that you can do. If you want to stand out, focus on refining your skills, building your taste, everything we talked about in this episode, and putting in more practice. And if you are focused on a signature style, just remember it comes from repetition and experience, not from trying to imitate another artist or to do something different just for the sake of it.
My challenge for you this week Look at your work with fresh eyes. Are you happy with the quality? Are you practicing enough? [00:13:00] Are you showing your work in the best way possible? Be honest with yourself here, and if there's room to improve, do it. Take the action and just start making those improvements.
If you found this episode helpful, make sure to follow the podcast, subscribe, share it with a fellow makeup artist who might need to hear this. And if you want even more strategies to refine your work, build your career, you can check out My Artist To Artist membership. I'll link you to that in the show notes.
And if you're listening on YouTube or if you wanna ask a follow up question, head over to my YouTube channel, which I will also link for you in the show notes and leave any questions in the comments because I would love to hear from you. That's it. I will talk to you next week. Bye.
