42 • THE ARTISAN SPRING 2021
I built an inspiration website for the make-up team to
refer to. To work for me, they needed a sense of empathy
and understanding, as well as skills. I wanted every stroke of
a make-up brush to emanate that knowledge and feeling. We
had a responsibility to do this right because we were depict-
ing modern history and the murder of yet another young
man… I also wanted to show the beauty of melanated skin
in all its various richness and tones and as most local hires
Inspo board
The team, l-r: John Blake, Mark Boley and Victor Del Castillo
had never done period make-up, facial hair (lace or hand-
laid) application, or worked on people of color, I organized
classes during prep to teach them how to do it. Three inspo
boards were made. One for main cast and two for the gangs
and background.
Judas and the Black Messiah is a huge make-up movie, so
we needed a tight team. In a nutshell, 12 principals, more
than 300 background, 100 sideburns either stuck down
