Hello To All of YOU!!
It’s good to be back in action writing this new Newsletter, picking up where I left off many months ago. Sorry to drop off the proverbial radar screen (my bad) but it got a little busy on this end. I worked on 2 big projects over a 7 month run. The first was a TV Series for Starz called
"Hightown" season 2 - a Contemporary Cop show. I acted as their Department Head of Makeup
and SFX Makeup. A tall order served up hot and fast ! This show filmed over 5 months was a
real good personal challenge where I got to utilize many of my skill sets. One of the many
examples would be where I would be sculpting a decomposing girls clay bust at my makeup
station in the trailer while waiting for the lead actress Monica to step in for her corrective beauty
makeup ! And that’s the way it went throughout the shoot. Thank God I assembled a fantastic
department of talented artists to support this effort and who worked in concert well !
We were a well oiled machine which delivered top notch quality work with grace and professionalism. To this point and ultimate compliment I was asked back for the next season but was unavailable to return.
Right on the heels of Hightown and drastically switching artistic gears was the motion picture
"Cabrini" a biopic period piece on the great Mother Cabrini. I as Co-Department Head with makeup artist Francesca Buccellato were well aware and prepared for this expansive visual story of NYC”s The Five Points in lower Manhattan during the early 1900’s. It came in quite handy for me in designing Cabrini that I had worked as head makeup for the opening attack scene on "The Revenant" as we had many huge B.G days with various degrees of homelessness looks to
achieve quickly on Cabrini in adverse weather conditions. I supervised and applied most of the
period facial hair for the Principal Actors including a specific Full Beard and Mustache on John
Lithgow. I loved working on this show and found it personally very fulfilling on many levels.
You cant help but grow in so many ways getting the opportunity to do a wide range of makeups,
Beauty both Contemporary and Period, Character , Bullet Wounds , Blood FX, Dead bodies,
Prosthetic builds, Tattoos , Facial Hair applications and prep, etc... all of which I enjoyed
providing on these two shows.
I’m always grateful for the work and mostly for my family, especially my wife Helen who during this time of me being away so long lost her Mother took care of her all the way. Any other woman would have left me a long time ago. I appreciate all of you as well for hanging in there too.
Last but certainly not the least, since wrapping these shows I have launched along with the help
of my family including my hard working and inspirational daughter Lauren and with close friends THE MAKEUP ARTISTS WORKSHOP !! This online and interactive Workshop is, for me, the
ultimate dream come true !! We provide at the Workshop a wide range of makeup courses from
Glam Beauty to Advanced Character Sculpture / Mold Making etc...with more to follow. All the
courses are shot on 4K digital where I clearly and methodically demonstrate for you the various
makeup techniques and applications. Please check out the Workshop. I hope some of you will
sign up and heck! we sell some fun t shirts there too ! Check it out and tell your friends!!
Til' next time ,
Johnny.
Visit The Makeup Artist's Workshop:
Also check out Johnny's NEW YouTube Channel!