Karen S. Kim
SOUTH SAN FERNANDO DISTRICT -- Red-haired and fair-skinned with
freckles, 24-year-old Rhea Brown sat on a stool and watched her partner
sculpt, mold and smear gray clay across a cast of her own head.
"I'm going to be a chubby black lady," Brown said, verifying her
partner's plans for the clay.
Brown is a part of the special-effects makeup course at the Make-Up
Designory, a vocational school in Burbank providing training in fashion,
hair styling and makeup artistry for television and film. Class members
are designing latex masks for each other, and in a few weeks Brown will
present her partner with a mask that will transform him into a vampire.
"I want to be able to do every aspect in makeup for television and
movies. That's why I came out here," said Brown, who moved from Missouri
to complement her degree in theater with a diploma from the Make-Up
Designory. "Just being out here is great. This is where you need to be to
start somewhere."
The Make-up Designory moved from Toluca Lake to Burbank on Jan. 6 and
opened for classes two days later. With a student store, a
special-effects lab where students produce radio-controlled animatronic
headpieces, a library and several classrooms, the school's new
8,000-square-foot building on South San Fernando Boulevard is a much
better fit than its last location.
"We got too big for what we were in over there, so we started looking
for another building," said Tate Holland, director of the 100-student
school.
The three-year-old Designory was attracted to its new Burbank location
because of the city's ample supply of public parking, the convenience of
the nearby MetroLink station and the school's proximity to television and
film studios.
"Some of the major studios and special-effects labs are just a mile
away. There's a benefit to the fact that technology is being developed in
this industry right in this area, and by being here we can benefit and
contribute to that," Holland said. "Plus, you want to be in that
atmosphere [of the entertainment industry]. There's almost an intangible
benefit. You feel the vibe."
Training its students in hair styling, makeup, wardrobe and special
effects, the Designory offers certificates for completed courses and a
diploma for a completed program of classes that can take as long as six
months. Graduates enter a variety of careers, including makeup artists
and hair stylists for television, film, print magazines and runway
modeling.
"It just depends on the desire of the person," said hair-styling
instructor Yvonne Hawker. "Some people take a makeup course and a
hair-styling course and then just go do [styling for] weddings."
The students, who range in age from 18 to 60, come from around the
United States, as well as from foreign countries.
Jens Bartram, 38, studied makeup artistry in Berlin before attending
Make-Up Designory for its special-effects course.
"It's a problem. We don't have this in Germany," Bartram said while
working on his special-effects mask. "Here it's a big industry, and in
Germany it's not."
Holland says that the background of his students is what makes the
Make-Up Designory a valuable addition to Burbank.
"I think that's one of the things we bring to Burbank that's so
unique," he said. "It's not just a vocational school. We bring
diversity."
