Critical reflection and summary: Digital portfolio

Developing professional questions –

When faced with the task to develop a set of professional questions relating to my professional practice I found myself easily able to come up with questions but in the first place these questions were too general and open, which meant finding an answer would be hard. How was I going to develop my skills and use what tools I had to find out the exact right question to ask in order to gain a strong opinion to answer it. The use of my SIG was the first key to this as it allowed others to voice their views on the questions and the topic. (Appendix A) What I felt I learnt from this was that the cycle of proposing a question, getting feedback and different views on that question, then allowed further development on the topic. From this I felt started to gain a more critical understanding of the type of question needed for an inquiry. However,I didn’t ask people from this course to participate in my SIG because I was behind and it was too late to ask. Instead, I asked my peers from the same field and other practitioners that are related to the same industry we are working for now and will be working for later. But how useful and valid are the views of other practitioners on my SIG to my developing questions? I thought that Henna Parimoo, Sean Xie and Jessie Liang’s inputs to the SIG was significant and very useful as it allowed me to gain a completely different view point and have the chance to hear the opinion from people who was viewing the question as I viewed and who was not viewing the question through the eye of a professional from different field. This process has helped me to see that sometimes your own critical thoughts is not enough because it doesn’t hold value in depth, breadth and diversity, however, the value they have may be limited as I have but would be different and may sometimes aid your inquiry. So I summed up my thoughts in one question with ‘what and how should you do and develop to obtain a job and make successful in the career.’ (Appendix B)

Ethical considerations –

Then I started to look at professional ethics and I feel that this is where I have learned and developed the most from this module. Prior to my study I had not considered so importantly that the ethical framework involved in my work as being a makeup artist. For task 5a (Appendix C) I wrote down the codes of practice for a makeup artist both in and out of employment, this proved very interesting as it helped to show me that there were quite a few similarities between them. I should have realized this, as by doing my daily practice as a makeup in both training and working I was subconsciously learning and applying the codes of practice. This helped me to discover that in fact ‘ethics’ can be defined as the way we work, the way we treat our clients and colleagues and most importantly the way we present ourselves at the workplace. I then decided to consult the Human Relations and Professional Ethics chapter in The Art and Science of Professional Makeup book to establish the codes of practices and ethical framework in my professional community. (Appendix D) I found the information in this chapter very helpful as it enabled me to look beyond the codes of what we are told or not told to do and why they are actually in place. I was going back to wonder how much value did the information in this chapter hold? I went to look at the reader on professional ethics and found out how that applies to my work in makeup and more specifically with regards to my inquiry in my blog entitled ‘Reader on professional ethics and how does the theories relate to my professional practice’. (Appendix E) I realized that without an ethical structure the inquiry can have no academic merit and ethical considerations ensure the protection of any and all that participate in the inquiry.

Tools of inquiry -

The final part of the module was entitled ‘tools of professional inquiry’. During this final element of the module, I learned about creating and differing tools for professional inquiry and what their benefits and limitations were. The blog entitled ‘Pilot tools and reflections on merits and limitations’ (Appendix F) where I discussed the downsides that may have when using each of the tools.(AppendixG) (Appendix H) Although I did manage to use the tool ‘observation’ and I would wait till later in module to take these as one of my prior tool in my inquiry, as I think ‘observation’ has always be seen and used as the most effective tool in training and working in makeup. For the other three as well, I will take into consideration when deciding which tools to use for my professional inquiry and why I should use them.

Appendix A:

My SIG for BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts: http://www.facebook.com/groups/228351680572841/

Appendix B:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/developing-my-question-with-my.html

Appendix C:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/5a-considering-codes-of-ethics-and.html

Appendix D:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/5b-developed-codes-of-practices-and.html

Appendix E:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/continued-5c-reader-on-professional.html

Appendix F:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/6a-and-6b-pilot-tools-and-reflections.html

Appendix G:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/continuing-6a-and-6b.html

Appendix H:

http://rubymkup.blogspot.com/2012/01/continuing-6a-and-6b-pilot-focus-group.html

Award Title Rational

I have been thinking about my award title since the course started and I think I have been around the circle many times and come back to what was my initial, simple thought.

I think there three strong reasons for my proposed award title; my initial training my FdA and my freelance, since then my inquiry on this module. 

I trained at London College of Fashion on the Diploma course for 1 year in Makeup and Hair Styling for Fashion and Editorial, and then I trained in the Foundation Degree course for 2 years in Makeup and Hair for Film and Television, also at London College of Fashion. After graduated from the college, I started doing my freelance make up. Since then I have been collaborating projects, shoots and events with other freelance professionals by using the skills and knowledge gained in my training. My work on BAPP and in particular my inquiry will be looking at ‘how does a makeup artist become professional and ensure to work successfully in such a competitive industry’ and specially looking at qualities and techniques/skills to become professional and asking in ways of how to ensure to work successfully and ethically in such a competitive industry.

Therefore, I have decided that the award title I will seek as a result of this programme will be:

BA(hons) Professional Practice (Makeup)

This is my thought and as I said above, I have been going around many times of this title in my head since beginning the course but now I feel that the term ‘Makeup’ is the most relevant and honest according to my previous training, experiences and the career I want to pursue. 

6d) Delicious

Here is the link to my Delicious account, it is easy and quick to set up and simple to use. I found it a great way to store all the websites and sites which I use both for my professional and my personal interest, also it lead you to discover other peoples websites on the course as well.

http://delicious.com/rubymkup

6c) Literatures Review

When at literature relating to my inquiry I came across a book by Linda Mason entitled ‘Make up – The Art of Beauty’ which was in published in 2003. Mason is a one of the most creative artists in makeup and visual artist famous since 1970 for her creative and exciting use of colour. This book is not about standards, not like other makeup artists who have written beauty books and gives makeup lessons to do so by reinforcing certain standards to which one should conform in order to look beautiful. However, this book is rather focusing on techniques and approaches that she has developed and refined over an incredible quarter-century career making up all different types of people from all different walks of life. While I was reading chapter by chapter, I found they contain breadth and diversity of skills, professional tips, working advices which the results of her entire makeup career experience are distilled in this book. To being with the first chapter in Manson’s book which was of great relevance to my inquiry ‘My early career – Inspiration and Training’, this chapter reviews including; her work in the World of Fashion, her evolutions in style, Asian influences, American style, Breaking in and her makeup and her store. Overall, she talked and explained her philosophy on makeup and beauty and outlines her inspiration, training, and career as a makeup artist. It is hard to sum up all the information she wrote in a sentence or in a paragraph, but indeed her comments for me express that Manson herself was starting to see the transition from training to career of whether makeup is more about technique and creativity rather than ability and ability to expand the parameters. In the last two chapters, chapter 5 and 6, she addressed all the questions I am routinely asked, not just by wanting to become makeup artist, but also by curiosity about the industry and most importantly about what being a makeup artist entails. “Every situation is different, and you need to be able to act rapidly and change course if necessary to respond to things.” (Manson 2003, P113) Knowing what to expect and how to prepare yourself for the various scenarios in which you may work will allow you to make the most of this adventure. This has always come across to my student training and professional. In chapter 5, she helped to show readers that to be a makeup artist, you should be aware that there are many kinds of assignments that require you to work hard in all kinds of circumstances at unpredictable hours. However, there are also plenty of other kinds of work in the field that allow you to have more control over your environment. She introduced and explained different kinds of work and the possibilities you would get from all those kinds, such as optimum work conditions, magazine work, working on location, fashion shows, advertising and other commercial work etc. This whole area of research I asked both in my survey and discussed in my focus group meeting, I gathered some very interesting information and received various responses from different people. I think I will conduct this in my inquiry later. ‘Becoming a Make up Artist’ – “I have been asked the question, “How did you begin?” many, many times in my career by aspiring makeup artists. My answer is that I worked at everything I undertook to the best of my ability and made choices in my life guided by intuition and passion rather than caution or a desire for security.” (Manson 2003, P149) This has always been my questions or inquiry since started training make up and it has helped me to show me that how other professional makeup artists have seen it and challenged it. This was also an important part in my inquiry, as I have noticed that both from my SIG participants and my peers, they all seem to have considered this aspect significantly because it is the situation most of us are facing now or it has been always the question to keep asking and probably the most area to maintain success in the field? I believe most successful makeup artist have an interesting story about how they got started in the business. In this chapter, Manson wrote that “there is no set formula, many of the stories have common threads that indicate that there may be some qualities essential to becoming a success in the field.” (Manson 2003, P 149) While reading, she introduced a number of career path to get started and made me realized that becoming a freelance artist is not the only career path for a makeup artist. One example she pointed out in the work opportunities section, “There are some great magazines and internet sites that hire makeup artists for unpaid editorial work. They are not able to pay makeup artists and hairstylists, but they will publish your work and allow you to experiment and freshen your portfolio with real tear sheets. If you have a makeup idea for a shoot that you would like to see published, you should present it to the editor of such a publication, either in finished form or as a rough idea.” (Manson 2003, P162)

As a true makeup artist and a critic Linda has done a number of different makeup work and has been known as the “Queen of Color” in the industry for decades. The book she wrote pointed the importance of the art form and its contributions… in other words, it tells its audience what they want to hear and extract from. While reading her book, her makeup style is very recognizable – ‘the use of color’, and it’s the feeling and color that give her away, her use of color is amazing! She has inspired me and taught me in some ways that have made me to think ‘the use of color’ and maybe ‘techniques and approaches’ in the practical category, which will be my research and practices going to my inquiry.

The second piece I have been looking at the chapter on sanitation and safety practices for makeup artists from the book entitled ‘The Art and Science of Professional Makeup’ written by Stan Campbell Place. “Bacteriology, sterilization and sanitation are subjects of importance to anyone who services the public and particularly to cosmetologists, estheticians and makeup artists who perform personal services.” (Place 1989. P143) I think in addition to the rules of the business agent, it is also your responsibility to protect individual and public health, it is necessary to understand when and how to use proper sterilization and sanitation practices and why they are important. The reason of choosing to look at this chapter was after reviewing the discussion on my SIG, the sanitation and safety practices for makeup artists have been viewed as an important part both ethically and professionally. I think it is not hard to understand the fact that the safety and sanitation you use cautiously would insure your work procedures go smoothly and your clients would trust you and happy to working with you. I also looked at the 20 rules which were written down in this chapter and made me to review again and gain more awareness on issues like contagious diseases, skin infections and other conditions can be caused by the conveyance of infectious bacteria from one person to another, or by using unsanitary implements that have been used first on an infected person then on another person. It is the codes of ethics to protect individual and public health and always insure by obeying all the rules whenever at workplace.

References:

Linda Mason, Make up : The art of beauty 2003, New York : Watson-Guptill [Garsington : Windsor, distributor]

Stan Campbell Place, The art and science of professional makeup 1989, Bronx, N.Y. : Milady Pub. Co

Continuing 6a) and 6b) Pilot Focus group

l  Focus group:

After I conducted my pilot survey and interview, I decided to gather my information further by piloting the tool ‘focus group’. I arranged this group with 4 friends who I did the same makeup course with before, my current classmate from my styling course, my freelance colleague from the fashion design field and finally a friend of mine from the media&marketing background. The reason of choosing those people was that all were trained professionals and came from both same and different careers.  Two of them are university students and the other two are working professionals. We were focusing on the questions I asked in my survey and the interview and particularly discussing the transition from training to career…such as the differences between being a student and a professional and challenges before career starts; areas that potentially will work for later; consolidating techniques/skills and building up confidence when start working in the industry; networking and qualities to have and maintain to be successful in your career etc. During the discussion, we were exchanging and sharing thoughts and experiences altogether.

Merits:

Due to the number of people and the resonance we had between in the group made me able to gather a variety of opinions and ideas rather than the view of just one person like in the interview. Also, it was dynamic in the atmosphere and clear to follow up people’s thoughts and more convenient and efficient to ask questions and debate if resonances or divarication come up. 

Limits:

l  It was much harder to steer the discussion back to my questions with this number of people

l  The discussion moved too quickly so it was hard to take any detailed notes

l  The conversation tended to go round in circles rather than reaching any solid conclusions

l  It was time consuming process to organize everyone getting together at one time

Continuing 6a) and 6b) ......

l  Pilot Interview

One of the other inquiry tools that I decided to pilot was an interview as it is one of the tools that I am thinking of using in my inquiry. To prepare for my interview, I began to decide what type of structure to use and where would it work best for doing this interview... Then, after consulting the reader and considering the availability and convenience for both my participant and myself I decided to use face to face interview.

The person I conducted for my interview was not from my survey group; it was from an ex-classmate who I did the same makeup course with and she is now working for a makeup agent and has her own business in Hong Kong. I used a semi-structured, it was flexible, allowing new questions to be brought up during the interview as a result to aiding my line of inquiry. The areas of discussion focused on were: How does a makeup artist become professional? How to ensure to work successfully in such a competitive industry? So I was looking for information and advices from her who has been working for a couple of years in the industry and running her own freelance business, and from the same professional community.

Merits:

I started the interview by asking the participant what her views was on the topic and what impact this had had on her career development. For me this worked well as it allowed the participant to talk freely about their feelings on the topic and how it has affected her. In addition, I also gathered some other useful information and advices from her as this was the chance for the participant to also bring into the interview new ideas and questions, which I had not put in my interview but were useful to aiding my line of inquiry.

Limits:

On the other hand, one of the downsides was that I found conducting an individual/private structured interview was not so broad… although it allowed free discussion and the chance for the participant to raise her own views and questions, in some ways it limited the breadth of the interview. The process took a lot more time than the survey such as spending more time to adjust time/convenience to conduct the interview and I only had one person’s answers at the end compared to a large number of responses after the survey. I think that it would be good to interview people that have taken the survey as well because after conducting my pilot survey I found myself wanting to speak to people who took part in the survey and discuss their answers further. Moreover, I also found it was hard to maintain professionalism while talking with my friend on face to face especially we have been a while not seen each other as she works abroad , so we were easily slip chatting personal things beside my questions and had to steer the conversation back to my topic.  

6a) and 6b) Pilot tools and reflections on merits and limits…

l  Pilot survey

I created my survey and decided to use this to try out and test one of the inquiry tools. The reason that I chose to do the survey first as for me it was an easy way to address some of questions and thoughts that I have been looking at in regards to my inquiry. By creating the survey I decided to use SurveyMonkey which I found very simple and easy to use. I thought that this would be the most efficient way of piloting my survey as setting up a link from my SIG on Facebook which would be easily accessible to many people, as many people on my Facebook are peers from my makeup and styling courses and colleagues from freelance work.

Before I created my survey, I worked out a ‘line’ for the questions that I want to ask in my survey, here it is:

Professional Training – Working or Studying – Difference between being a student and a working professional? - Interested area to work for and why – Portfolios and experiences before starting in the industry - Reasons for working as freelance –Three important qualities in your career?

Here is link of my survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WZZNRXJ

(As I already closed my survey, here were my questions I asked in my survey) :

1) What was or is your professional training?

Make up

Styling

Fashion Design

Photography

Media

Other (please specify)

2) Which category below do you belong to?

 Working Professional

 Student

3) What do you think are the most differences between a student and a professional? (Please give at least three words to describe your answers)

4) Which of the following are you working for or will make you interested to work for later?

Films & Television

Theatre

Fashion shows

Magazines

Advertising and Commercial Work

Brides Makeup

Teaching

Consultant

Freelance

Other (please specify)

5) What are the ways to build up portfolios; expand networking and gain experiences before going to the industry?

Testing

Collaboration on projects with other professionals

Creating a profile, a website and business cards to showcase work and make contacts

Freelance (paid and unpaid)

Internship opportunities

Other (please specify)

6) What do you think the reasons of doing freelance? (Please explain your answers)

7) What are the most three important qualities to obtain a job and make a successful career?

A dedication to work

A passion for doing work

Being open minded

Be punctual and professional

Be organized and reliable

Be cautious of the Health and Safety

Be moral and ethical in the practice of work

Other (please specify)

Merits:

As a said above, I found the process of creating the survey (by using SurveyMonkey) quick and easy. The guides on YouTube were useful for the new users, it showed clearly the process and steps to create a survey and also it is free to set up a basic survey. The results of my pilot survey have provided me with some interesting information and by doing so has helped to see exactly what questions need to be asked in order to gain the information I need. My survey focused around the transition from training to career such as what and how does a makeup artist become professional and ensure to work successfully in such a competitive industry… One of my question was ‘what are the most three important qualities to obtain a job and make a successful career?’ and the answers were: 1) A dedication to work; 2) A passion for doing work; 3) Being open-minded 4) Be punctual and professional; 5) Be organized and reliable; 6)Be cautious of the Health and Safety; 7)Be moral and ethical in the practice of work; 8) Other. From my results, the majority people who ticked answer no. 6 and 7 were from the makeup background and the others such as photographers and stylists did not seem to bother these two options. (This led me immediately think back to the case study “Ethics in Photography” in the ethics reader) These results surprised me at first place and may have helped me to contribute to the fact on health and safety and codes of ethical at workplace, which I am proposing and feel that should put in my inquiry.

The survey was also good as it allowed for a variety of different types of questions including: multiple choices and comment boxes etc. Also, there was an option for users to set: ‘Require an answer to this question’. So it is a good setting option to avoid people skipping some questions. As I mentioned above, the way of piloting my survey as by creating a link on my SIG on Facebook, I gained many responses in a short space of time something that I didn’t think I would achieve and would need to work on. It seemed that all my respondents found the tool I used were easily accessed.

Limits:

Although by posting a link on my SIG on Facebook worked well for my pilot and on a small scale, However, in order to gain a bigger breadth and diversity of answers and opinions from different backgrounds and professionals which I will need in my inquiry I think I need to interact with more BAPP students on my survey to a wider audience form different fields. It is not broad enough to only connect to my professional community, another way u thought of gaining more people to answer my survey was to email the link over to my other friends from my contact list as this too would be a fast and an efficient way of gathering information.

In the comment boxes some results were lacking an explanation or too simple for me to gather information. This could be a limitation if you were looking for a lot of qualitative data. In addition, this one thing that I found the survey lacked the ability to gain more out of people’s opinions, although I did put comment and boxes to give reasons for specific answers, however, I think interviews or focus group will always provide a clear and more in depth answer to the question asked and discussed.

Continued 5c) - Reader on professional ethics and how does the theories relate to my professional practice

Theoretical approaches to ethics

1) Consequentialism : This refers to a theory of moral obligation developed by JS MILL (1861). He suggests that the best way to make a decision is to choose the option that produces the greatest good for the greatest number. For example, lying could be justified as a wrong action but could be acceptable if the outcome or the intention of the action is beneficial or no harm for a large amount of people.

2) Deontology: This refers to a theory that Immanuel Kant (1779) believed in a rule based and is ethical action based on duty, so an action is either right or wrong no matter what the circumstances are. 

3) Virtue Ethics: This emphasizes the character of the person rather than the he or she takes. So there is an importance on being rather than doing. (Plato and Aristotle)  After reading some people’s blogs I agree with Nicole’s thought, she wrote that “looking at a person’s virtue or moral character makes more sense an ethical concept, and how can we just consider consequences or particular actions”. I believe every person is different with a different character and a set of morals, and virtue ethics considers people. According to Stan, he pointed out that heredity, environment, and experience are three major forces that tend to shape an individual, and once we understand this it is easier to understand people. Also he wrote “form these various influences we learn to judge appropriate and inappropriate behavior.” (S. Place, 1989, P 10) However, comparing to Natalie’s blog, she found another interesting theory from another Greek philosopher who believed that people always do naturally what is right and bad actions are simply a result of ignorance. This interested me and I agree with her that she thought when someone has done something wrong, they know it is wrong, hence the reason why people lie about their actions, they would not need to lie of they thought they were right.

After reading both Nicole and Natalie’s blogs on virtue ethics, I started to think that ethics influence the way in which we behave everyday both in our personal and professional life. However, it seems that there is always a dilemma of how we view those ‘right’ answers on many occasions. I think so far I have discovered that this is an area I need to consider when working on my professional inquiry. 

5c）Reader on professional ethics and how does the theories relate to my professional practice

In the first place, there are four important contexts in which ethics can be applied to our everyday lives before we go any further and there are: Personal; Professional and  Organizational.

l  Personal: This relates to the principles of an individual and the way they behave in their daily life. Family values, educational background, religion and conscience. All these could relate to the ethical standards we are born with and what is influenced by our surrounding and upbringing. For example, family values is the primary and the most important aspect to influence the person throughout his or her whole life. As parents are the first teachers for their children and everything the parents do will directly affect the child and it is normally noticed that children are seemed as the reflection of their parents. I believe that our personal ethics are heavily influenced by our family and upbringing. Every time, when I have troubles or face dilemma, the person I always think or ask for advice would be my dad, eg. what would he do if he had this? or what would he tell me for solutions?…etc. This is because I think my parents have formed my personal ethics and what I would consider to the ‘right’ thing to do will always seek advice from them. On the other hand, some other people I know are completely different from what I was born and have been raised.

l  Professional: Today, most professions have developed an ethical stance which is sometimes expressed as a code of conduct. Myself, for instance, I am a freelance makeup artist and I don’t normally get set out in a written contract. However, I have come across the professional ethics of doing all within my best to bring respect to myself and my business, also create a good reputation for my freelance is my responsibility. In addition, I use my personal ethics in a professional situation and I think I have always acted appropriately in the professional environment. Moreover, I have come across ‘courtesy and tact’ should be always used when dealing with clients, co-workers and other business contacts. It is expressed by the way I greet my clients and my voice in conversation. (This can be categorized into the part of ‘effective communication’ and this part is all about human relations, courtesy and tact and business ethics) I think this can be applied to all notions of work in the fashion and art field. For courtesy, there is also a code of conduct stating the way to behave, it is expressed when I show respect for the client’s feelings regarding her likes and dislikes, and by not calling attention to anything negative about her appearance. For instance, although I may think her purple eyeshadow is ghastly, it is said that the code of conduct which I should far more professional to suggest another color than to criticize her choices. I think this is also common sense as well when interacting with people at work.

In addition to above, ‘voice and speech’ can be considered for the best opportunities in my field, the way I talk, the voice should be precise and clear in my choice of words. It is important to adhere to the code of conduct and insure avoiding confusion or pretentious speech, euphemisms, slang and tired clichés. Reviewing the case study – presenting findings in the reader, considering the suitability of terminology used with regard to people, obviously there are ethical issues. Always be aware of how you communicate. To communicate effectively does not mean I need to impress the client with technically overpowering vocabulary. People respond better to simple, direct language and a friendly, courteous tone of voice. Therefore, whenever you are interacting with people or presenting finding regarding people, the use of good language and intelligent conversation will serve me well as a professional makeup artist. I believe effective communication and correct social behavior will do more to get you to the top than anything else.

Tact: as a makeup artist, from observations and experiences, tact is intuitive sense of appreciation for the feelings of others and the skillful avoidance of doing or saying anything that offends. As a professional makeup artist should use both courtesy and tact when dealing with clients, coworkers and other business contacts. Also, topics that need to be avoided while dealing with the client or working with colleagues as follow:

²  Criticism of coworkers

²  Revealing his or her personal problems

²  Marital troubles

²  My competitors

l  Organizational: Finally there is origanizational ethics. This refers to the established ‘ethos’ of an organization. As I am a freelance makeup artist and a full time fashion styling student studying at London college of fashion, I don’t have a employer to work for at the moment so I don’t think I have much to talk about or being eligible to discuss this point at this time.

All these three ethical contexts (personal, professional and organizational) is that the purpose of them all is to promote social good. This can be related to religion as religion was created to keep order when there was no official law. According to the reader, religion used to be essential to promote a civilized way of life as they were able establish simple laws, it was the first law lie a rule or structure that has been developed through time and time to provide us the system we have today in order to make the community to obey.

Continued 5b - the codes of practices and ethical framework

After looking at these official rules set out by the book and discussions with my freelance co-workers on SIG I can see that many are the same as the ones that I previously thought and talked about when thinking about my codes of ethics at my place of work within any situation. While reading the book and looking back my initial thoughts on 5a, I think that being a makeup artist, it is not so important of the products/materials you use for work; the qualifications you obtained and the creativity&quality of work you produce for your client… they are not the only crucial elements to make you to survive in the industry. More importantly, it seems that the ethical framework that controls you to obey in order to make your career going on the right way. 

5b) Developed- codes of practices and ethical framework

Going back to the question about codes of ethics in your place of work, I choose to consult the Human Relations and Professional Ethics chapter in The Art and Science of Professional Makeup book to establish the codes of practices and ethical framework.

The dictionary defines ethics as the system or code of morals of a person, group, or profession. Generally, ethics can be “defined as the principles of right conducts, especially with reference to a specific profession or way of life.” (S. Place, 1989, P 12) Financial success and good reputation are based on maintaining a professional standard and the practice of business ethics. It is important to maintain high standards of ethics in order to keep clients and to attract new clients and to feel confident to your personal and your business reputation. (S. Place, 1989, P12)

According to Stan’s point of view that the word “professional” refers to those who are engaged in the application or investigation of a body of knowledge or learned profession. It also means the manner in which one conducts oneself in the pursuit of a profession, and the pride and integrity that one takes in one’s work. (S. Place, 1989, P13) In question 5a, I mentioned as an ethical professional makeup artist, it is important to train or acquire any of the necessary qualifications or licenses I need to practice makeup artistry in my state or wherever I may work. From Stan’s perspective, he believed that many professional artists feel that it gives the client confidence to see your diplomas and awards displayed when where it is appropriate. He also pointed out that it is also important to practice good business by doing the following:

1) Keep your word and fulfill all your obligations so that your good reputation will follow wherever you go.

2) Treat all clients fairly and honestly.

3) Be cooperative with others with whom you work.

4) Obey all the rules, regulations, and laws established by state boards, local, state and national organisations to protect you and the safety of your clients.

5) Continue to learn all you can in order to be a credit to your profession and to better serve your clients.

6) Avoid all questionable practices, extravagant claims, and overpricing of products.

7) Practice the rules of sanitation that apply to your field in order to protect the health of your clients and your own.

8) Be quick to praise and slow to criticize.

9) Courtesy and tact should be always used when dealing with clients, co-workers and other business contacts.

Code of Ethics

In this chapter, there is a paragraph regarding code of ethics written by the author who was originally written or an American skin care association. Here they are of what this author thought about a code ethics for makeup artists.

“Pledge”: As a professional makeup artist I shall be moral and ethical in the practice of my craft.

I shall do all within my power to bring respect to myself, my business, and the industry I represent.

Creating community goodwill for our organisations is my responsibility.

I shall seek knowledge and truth in a continuing quest, exercise care in my judgments, change my opinions when evidence indicates, and dispense wisdom within my abilities. Sensitivity to emotional well-being shall be as important as my therapy and enhancement techniques.

Honesty shall be a part of my conscience at all times; in all matters.

I will be ever mindful of sanitary conditions throughout my practice and create beauty in all my surrounding. I promise to lend dignity to the name “professional makeup artist.”

5a) Considering the codes of ethics and regulations in my place of work

As a professional makeup artist, it is important to train or acquire yourself the necessary licenses or qualifications to practice makeup artistry in your state or wherever you may work. Beyond that, to keep yourself fulfill on a set of rules is a very important aspect to guarantee success in your career.

Ø  Always insure my makeup kit such as brushes, sponges, powder puffs etc. are washed before and clean to apply on the client’s face.

Ø  Always insure my personal clean and grooming counts my hair, skin, teeth, clothing and my hands, in addition a good oral hygiene is important to avoid offensive odors. (I think this can be related to the professional image of a makeup artist given to clients)

Ø  To be punctual and professional

Ø  To be aware the health and safety regulations

Ø  Apply correct and professional information for any question regarding skincare/makeup application from the client

Ø  To be organized with my own stuff and plans on the casting or shooting day

Ø  Always keep my working area clean while doing work so others can have spaces to lay their stuff out and tidy up any mess after work

Ø  Be alert to the client’s moods, my attitude can make a difference in whether or not my client will return.

Ø  To be aware that any abnormality happens once the client is sensitive to any makeup or skincare product is used for them so always insure my kit has first aid products for emergencies.

Ø  Always look after my clients, make sure she/he is comfortable with the atmosphere and the environment.

Ø  To be creative, professional, and smiling when I apply makeup service for my client.

These are my codes of ethics at an initial level without research and I am often confused with what is the most right or the regulated ethical behavior when conduct with work? Those points always seem to be the right ways to behave whether you want or not, they are rules to insure everyone behaves ethically and legally at places of work.

Developing my question, with my professional community

Seeing through the discussions on my SIG, I think it is starting to become more clear and detailed of what I am going to develop my inquiry. Narrowing down some of the boundaries and discussing the questions within my professional community, nowI have combined question No. 1, 4, 5 and 7 to a category and develop them to one question. All these four questions are associated with professional image of a makeup artist; freelance and some other the qualities required to become a successful makeup artist. They seem to give me a guideline for my inquiry and guide me to look at my practice and start questioning myself from my professional context.

The question:

How does a makeup artist become professional and ensure to work successfully in such a competitive industry?

My SIG for BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts

My SIG:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/228351680572841/

Developing my questions, with my own knowledge and experiences from both training and working

After weeks and weeks thinking, I have developed these 7 questions to be asked in my SIG.  

1) What is the professional image of being a makeup artist?

2) Why is make up so important in the industry? (Fashion, Film & TV, Theater)

3) How to become a creative makeup artist?

4) As a new make up artist, how to build up portfolio in order to get an agent?

5) What does working freelance mean? And how do I develop my career into this business?

6) Why effective communication is important to the make up artist? (This question may include human relations, courtesy and tact, business ethics)

7) What are some of the qualities and training required to become a successful make up artist?