Madagascar 3: Creating Gia's Spots

Before I share my thoughts on easily making jaguar markings, I will say this; the reason why I haven't really blogged anything for the last week is because the prescreening was highly frustrating. Don't get me wrong; the movie was very well done and overall highly enjoyable. What wasn't so enjoyable was that we had been sent the wrong time, given bad information, and all around had a frustrating trip. The movie itself was great.

Because I was planning on returning home and writing about the showing, and then promptly came home and didn't know how to best to write about it, I've put off posting. However, at the least I should finish my notes about Gia for everyone. On to her spots!

If you look closely at the pictures of Gia, you can see that she has a variety of different spots. Some are the classic O with a dot in the middle look, while others, especially those on her face, are much more dash-like. She also doesn't really have any close to the center of her face, and they seem to fade out if they are close to her nose. The spots probably should be applied over all other make-up; I tried it the other way and didn't really care for the results. At some point I should write something about what base colors to use, but not right now. I'm tired. Anyway, part of the reason I've tried to post good Gia pictures with each post is so that you can get a good idea of her spots for yourself.

The easiest way to do the spots actually struck me while I was putting on concealer. Covergirl liquid concealer is brushed on, and is perfect for applying shapes. You just have to get handy with the brush and have good control to make the shapes. It is always handy to have a picture of Gia close by, so you can try to base your spot design directly off of her face. And, an easy way to do that is to put a picture of her directly below your mirror and simply apply the spots mirror image. Incidentally, that's what I did the first time I ever applied all of my Mad Hatter make-up, and it helped remove a lot of frustration.

What I experimented with much more--and, frankly, I like the looks of better, although it takes more time and a good (or several good) eyebrow pencils. Each pencil stroke equates to a hair, and it looks really cool and furry. This needs much more practice, so your family might want to get used to you doodling spots on your arms. I found that, with this, it is best to practice first on your arms, just so you can get the feel of it and decide what shorts of shapes you like before trying to apply them to your face. If you just start out doing it directly on your face, chances are you are going to get highly frustrated. A much more time-intensive and expensive way is to settle in with a color wheel, like the ones from Ben Nye, as were used for there sample cats, which I talked about previously. However, there is nothing about this look that can't be achieved by simply utilising the options sold at the local grocery store. Perhaps the only thing that isn't easily acquired in town is white face powder, but that is another post. I personally would probably rely on BN to get the basics done, then apply the design on top of that.

Incidentally, one last tip. While I'm not saying that ever spraying hairspray in someone's face is a good idea, I rely on it to hold the detail and shape of my styles. But don't copy me on that because I'm probably poisoning myself by spraying super glue hairspray on my face. Or something. Anyway, it works really well.

For instructions and commentary on creating a Gia, see also:
Clues on How To Create Gia
Making Gia's Whiskers