Monday, June 4, 2012

Make-up morgue, books on my coffee table, and excuses to mention U2

For those of you that were wondering what I meant when I mentioned a "make-up morgue" in my previous post, a little explanation...

See below for the definitions of a morgue. 

morgue

1. a place in which bodies are kept, especially the bodies of victims of violence or accidents, pending identification or burial.
2. a reference file of old clippings, mats, books, etc., in a newspaper office.
3. the room containing such a reference file.
4. any place, as a room or file, where records, information, or objects are kept for unexpected but possible future use.
5. such records, information, or objects.

Origin:
French; name of building in Paris housing unidentified dead bodies
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/morgue
For this post, we are referring to definition #4 --referencing "any place as a room or file (in this case a file), information, or objects that are kept for unexpected but possible future use." Interestingly enough, pictures that pertain to definition #1 can certainly be a part of a "make-up morgue" for a special effects artist that does make-up for movies or plays where they have to portray wounds, deadness, and other general gore...but I digress.

A make-up morgue, in short, is a place where you keep pictures of people, things, animals, and just about anything you think you might use in your career as a make-up artist when you need inspiration for a particular look or creation. Most often used for "theater make-up", "avaunt guard make-up", "fantasy make-up", a make-up morgue can help you plan your designs. 

The phrase "make-up morgue" comes from Richard Corson's book STAGE MAKE-UP, a staple for most artists who have been through formal make-up training and/or make-up school.





I keep my copy right on my coffee table, along with other books that I have grown to love over the years. You may notice, it is very close the book U2 by U2, by Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Junior themselves. This, being the ultimate book on my coffee table, the proximity of the book on make-up therefore denotes high value and great importance.







Stay tuned for most posts on all of these topics...
    

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