Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524900
32 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2024 costume and once again, they would check for flaws and adjustments. She always applied her teeth on set. Toward the later years of her reign, she was incarcerated and spent many years in prison. Todd sculpted a neck waddle to depict her aging and Kelly chopped into her wig, disheveled her hair, and added gray to illustrate her downfall. Our overall goal for this show was to visually create three distinct worlds. We wanted to display the sharp contrasts and cultural differences of Miami in the '70s and '80s—the bored rich white people that Griselda built her cocaine empire upon, the Columbian drug dealers and the Marielitos, who were the second wave of Cuban refugees, mostly poor criminals fleeing Cuba. e make-up and hair teams worked very closely to gather research. Dennis and I scoured the internet for photos of Griselda and her Columbian cohorts. Since these are actual historical figures, it gave us great examples of hair styles and facial hair that this specific group of people were wearing at the time. We took creative liberties when it came to designing some of our characters but everything was period-accurate. We found period magazines for references on hair styles and make-up for the wealthy inhabitants of Miami. e cops in Miami that had arrested the real Griselda were really helpful in giving us descriptions of the Marielitos and their specific tattoos. e majority were jailhouse, hand drawn and depicting religious icons. Since there was little in the way of photos for us to rely on, iPad and Apple pencil in hand, our team jumped in enthusiastically to draw tattoos. We printed out our drawings on a laser printer using transfer paper, then airbrushed them with a diluted mix of Pros-Aide, when they were dry, we applied the acetate sheeting. ese designs were used for our main cast and all of our BG actors. Dennis and I had so many talented artists come in to help with all of our BG. Too many to name, but you know who you are and THANK YOU! It was a never-ending cycle of covering tattoos, applying tattoos, and prepping wigs. Ken designed and executed Alberto Guerrero's make-up, in his earlier stages Ken mottled his complexion to give him a weathered look using a blend of illustrator colors. He trimmed, shaped and styled his goatee. As he aged, Ken applied stretch and stipple around his eyes for fine wrinkles, we had a custom lace piece made to fit around his own facial hair to make it bigger, fuller and to show passage of time. A small scar was added to his le cheek using collodion. Ken also mixed and color matched Endura Skin for tattoo cover on his semi sleeved arms and chest. He also designed Maximiliano Hernandez's character Papa Mejia. Dennis had used a men's wig from John Blake that was set with perm rods to make it a so afro. Ken added sideburns and gave him a hair lip. Carol G wore a full wig, cut with a heavy bang to cover her dyed blue hair. ere were so many wigs and falls used throughout the show, along with facial hairpieces and prosthetic pieces for wounds and bruises. Marissa, Rela and I took care of our large group of principal actresses, dividing up day players however it was convenient. With such an enormous cast we all needed to be ready to jump in. When we were three months into shooting, we had to take a month- long hiatus so that Sofia could complete her contractual obligation on America's Got Talent. During our time off, my department was offered and accepted other jobs. Luckily, some good old friends were in-between jobs and available to help get me to the end of this show. Michelle Tyminski Schoenbach came in as my key, and Renee Napolitano and Gina Homan took over the other positions. As if this wasn't enough, the make-up and hair trailers had both gotten broken into and robbed while parked at LA Center. Fortunately for us, Kelly had taken Sofia's wigs home to work on them, which would have been a true disaster. Most of the wigs that Dennis had been using on our main cast were stolen, along with so much work and personal equipment. Of course, you only realize that something you need was missing when you look for it. All of this illustrates the resilience that people in our business have. We just dust ourselves off and keep moving forward. In hindsight, it is pretty amazing how well this show turned out given all of its trials and tribulations. • (L to R) Karol G as Carla, Christian Tappan as Arturo