Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469328
THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2022 • 53 Top row, l-r: Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Samuel L. Jackson. Second row: Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins My next task in designing the make-up was to determine what pros- thetic and facial hairpieces would be needed. I had always admired the realistic work coming out of Vincent Van Dyke's shop so I reached out to check his availability. We narrowed it down to four prosthetic pieces, two nasolabial/jowl pieces, two eye bag/ crow's feet pieces. Vincent Van Dyke (Prosthetic Designer for Samuel L. Jackson): I've known Jake for years and always loved his work, but only knew him socially. We had not had the chance to work together until he approached us about Ptolemy. After an initial meeting and reviewing Jake's references and design ideas, we scheduled Sam to come to my studio for a scan. We have been scanning talent now for the last two years with great success in replacement of lifecasting. After the scan was completed, a 3D print was created so we could begin work. My main goal was to keep a very fleshy natural age that would work well with Sam's own anatomy and expressions. Usually when I start a sculpture, the person's face really leads me to the direction that will work best. Once Jake and myself had reviewed and narrowed down the right look, those sculptures were then transferred to their corrected positives and detailed out. They were molded by my mold shop supervisor,Carl Lyon, and the prosthetics were run by Stephen Imhoff. We had a pretty high volume of prosthetics that were shipping out of the studio for the run of show, as well as lace facial hairpieces created by my wife who runs our hair department here at the studio, Sasha Camacho Van Dyke. Ptolemy was an extremely rewarding show. I feel really lucky that we were able to be a part of this, and seeing the work so beautifully applied by Jake was really the icing on the cake for us. Make-up like this is incredibly challenging, as pieces terminate in the middle of the face and multiple spots. So across all departments in my studio, things were scrutinized on a high level—but really the weight fell on Jake. I'm very proud of the work as a whole in such an outstanding series. Michele Lewis (Make-up HOD): My phenomenal team… Manny Davila, my right hand … an amazing make-up artist, as well as one of the most hardworking, kindest, and dependable people I know. His make- up skills in beauty and FX are incredible. Desha Hayes and Latoya Henderson further assisted in running B Unit. That was the unit that was responsible for the rural Mississippi scenes, and the majority of the work on that unit consisted of some very brutal and graphic story content. The location was extremely rough, and they worked through some extremely harsh conditions, as well as night shooting and did the most amazing job. I couldn't have asked for a better duo to run that unit. I must mention my additional make-up artists as well, Alex Lucas, Nancy Cummings, Synthe Fleming, Carla Wallace. It really does take a village, and these phenomenal humans gave so much support to me, my department and this project. I cannot begin to thank them enough. Collaborating with Deaundra "DeeDee" Metzger, the Department Head Hair, was inspiring as well as amazing. We just seemed to flow effortlessly when it came to Dominique Fishback's looks. DeeDee is an amazing and creatively inspiring person to work with. She always seems to instinctively know what is needed to bring a character to life. Her attention to every detail is astounding. She always inspires me to step my game up even more and I always feel fortunate when the opportu - nity to work with her presents itself. This series includes flashbacks to the 1940s, as well as the 1970s, so for me it was extremely important to stay as true as possible to those decades. My biggest challenge, the '40s, mainly because there are not a lot of images available of women of color in that time period. However, I researched everything I could about that and used what information I could get my hands on to design the looks for that period and tried my best to stay as authentic as possible. In the '40s small town rural Mississippi, we see sharecroppers, the impoverished townspeople and children who go through their lives working hard yet barely getting by. This is the backdrop of Ptolemy's tortured memories from childhood. A no-make-up look and tattoo coverage was used to keep with the authenticity of the townsfolk. For Delia's cathouse scene, smoky eyes and lips of crimson and berry, with cheeks that are overdone, yet somehow still look as if the make-up was expertly applied with precision. These ladies of the evening were eye-catching, as well as tough with a no-nonsense attitude. The dark moody make-up palette reflects the essence of that demeanor. As I always like to do while working, I will put on the music of the decade I am working on and draw my creativity from the lyrics and the sounds. Billie Holiday, Big Mamma Thornton, Bessie Smith and others filled the trailer and took us all back to that time in history. The 1970s was a much easier decade for me to draw inspiration from, as well as being one of my favorite periods for fashion. I have a collection of old Ebony and Jet magazines, as well as Essence magazines that I saved from my research from Dreamgirls. So, I began immersing