#i have some experience with theater makeup but none in everyday conventional beauty makeup

[heirtotheempire]

I know this is a bit of a touchy subject right now, but I want to discuss the differences between creating alien species and making them look non-human, versus simply having bad makeup. Because there is a distinction! Putting it all under a read more because it got a bit longer then intended😵‍💫

For starters, none of this criticism has anything to do with the actors. This is purely directed towards Disney's makeup department. I think the actors fit the bill appearance-wise, end of story.

Hera and Thrawn, in short, do not look all that great in terms of facial makeup. And as someone who adores these characters, it is frustrating! Disney, one of the largest entertainment companies on Earth, couldn't find the time, budget, or artists to work on the appearances of two main characters in this show they've been building up to for years.

Personally, my main problem with it is the lack of contouring. I've been saying this to my friend for weeks as well as mentioned it in reblogs on and off, but neither Hera or Thrawn have any sort of contouring done to enhance their face shapes. There is no emphasis on the cheekbones, or for Thrawn's forehead bumps, none of it. They rely on the actors' natural facial structures to do the work for them. Which, if it was cosplay or otherwise in person, is fine. But with studio lights, it causes a washed-out look, especially depending on where the light is coming from. To combat this (in an acting setting), makeup artists emphasize things such as the eyebrows and the cheeks and especially any wrinkles, to help bring out any facial expressions made.

How does this differ from aliens being, well. Aliens! Considering we don't have a real baseline for what real life aliens would look like, it's only fair to allow filmmakers to go wild with speculation, even if it's off-putting. But that isn't what the issue is here. The aliens we're focusing on here, Twi'leks and Chiss, do have similar facial structures to humans. They're humanoids! So their faces would reflect light and cast shadows just as much as a human face would. By all accounts, make aliens freaky looking, but basic rules of light still apply. We should be able to clearly see Thrawn's cheekbones and forehead bumps without having to pull out a magnifying glass, something that is possible via, you guessed it, contouring!

Also, considering this is fiction, things looking bad is more of a reflection on the effort being put into the show than anything else. They could have done more but chose not to. Star Trek has some fantastic examples of humanoid aliens being distinctly alien without being poorly designed (I've been watching TNG and it is quite fun!). As said before, I'm all for freaky looking aliens. But bad design and bad makeup ruins that. What is and isn't bad design and makeup does fall into a more subjective range, I won't shy away from that truth. But I cannot get over the lack of contouring in a show that can be so brightly lit! Disney's shooting themselves in the foot here!

At the end of the day this is a television show though. Lets not get mad at people who do or do not like the makeup, and people are allowed to critique it as much as others are allowed to enjoy it. No one is any less of a fan for not liking the Ahsoka show, and no one is less of a fan for loving the show. I've seen some... very nasty things in the tags in relation to this specifically as well as for the whole show. Not very fun.

To end this on a lighter note, here's a very wonderfully done makeup job on a cosplayer! I don't know how to make the embedded stuff go away whoops😭

#ahsoka series #ahsoka series spoilers #ahsoka series episode 6 #ahsola series episode 6 spoilers #ahsoka show #ahsoka #hera syndulla #grand admiral thrawn #thrawn #mitth'raw'nuruodo #star wars #ahsoka critical #disney critical #bc lets be real this post is less critical about the show itself and more towards disney and their practices #i hope all this makes sense #i have some experience with theater makeup but none in everyday conventional beauty makeup #and i feel like this falls soooomewhere inbetween? #bc you want more emphasized then if it was beauty makeup #but you dont want the high amount of layers in theater makeup (bc its seen from close up versus from far away on a stage) #i think the cosplayer did a wonderful job with her makeup i genuinely adore it #and its what id hope for a disney level production! #i do not understand how more people are not mad at disney for this #i get having a personal preference and enjoying it on a personal level #but at the same time its possible to enjoy it while also knowing that disney very well could have done better