Character Makeup - Black Swan

Black Swan Makeup Trial

As I've said before, almost all character makeup begins with a cranial makeup and that's exactly where my Black Swan makeup began.  However, before I even picked up a makeup brush there was plenty of research to be done.  I wanted to know exactly how Natalie Portmans' makeup looked for the Black Swan from several different angles and under a variety of lighting so that I could achieve the best and most accurate result.

Black Swan image from Kenton

My favourite from all of my research photos is the shot of Natalie Portman that was used on the promo poster for the movie.  This shot shows her makeup at its' most theatrical as the extremely white base allows for the eye and lip makeup to really stand out.  I also think it is the creepiest and most evil of all the shots of this makeup - which is the look I wanted to achieve.  Therefore, when attempting to replicate this makeup this photo was my main reference.

I wanted to achieve a fairly white base but I went a little lighter for the practice just to see how it turned out.  I ensured that I had fairly heavy contouring in my cheek bones and temple before I applied the white base transparently to ensure the shadows of the cranial contouring could be seen through the foundation.  Once applied I buffed the base into my skin so it didn't look quite so shiny and fake.

I then began the eye makeup by drawing the outline of the swan wings, ensuring both sides were perfectly even.  Regardless of whether the curved edges were exactly the same, I ensured the points at the bottom of the wings finished in line with one another as the eye is drawn to this point and any mistakes would have been extremely obvious.

I then filled in the areas and patterns I wanted thicker with black gel liner to allow for the 'wings' to take shape.  The final step for the eyes was to add silver eyeliner in all of the remaining spaces.  Once the eyes were complete I moved onto the lips, as my mouth and lips are a different size and shape to Natalie Portmans i extended the lip colour beyond my natural lip line.  I used a blue based lip liner and lipstick along with black gel liner to create the lip colour - blending is the key for lip colour like this so don't be afraid to blur one colour into the other.

Finally I added just a touch of blush under my cheek bones to emphasise the cranial and narrow my face.  I made sure not to place the blush on or above the cheekbones as this was not done for the makeup in the Black Swan movie.  I also recommend continuing the white base down the neck and across the chest to where the costume starts.  This allows for the overall character to be created.

Version with whiter base

When I recreated this makeup for the second and final time I used a lot more white for the foundation.  Looking back I prefer the initial, more transparent, version of the makeup.  

The intensity of the white in the second version caused the makeup to lose some of its' eerie effect and looks less real.  This is an example of why transparency in makeup is important for film and television makeup creations.

To finish off the look I wore a black corset decorated with feathers and diamante studs, black tutu, white ballet tights, and a silver tiara that I dry brushed with black acrylic paint.  This is a fairly basic character makeup that most people would be able to create with minimal makeup products so I hope that some of my readers are willing to recreate the Black Swan.



Yours in Blood & Gore,

Caity