An editorial project that celebrates the artistry, history, and different looks for Halloween was put together by makeup artist Bryan Francisco, stylist Émelie Gagnon, and photographer Jared Bautista.
This project 31 Days of Halloween marks the inception of a series exploring diverse artistic interpretations of Halloween.
People with over five years of experience in their field took their artistic abilities to show Calgarians a different approach to Halloween costumes.
Each team member specializes in distinct areas and their unique skill sets and perspectives lend a multifaceted dimension to the interpretation of every look in the project.
Émelie Gagnon, stylist and owner of Kept Clothing Collective located in southwest Calgary expresses her vision while she prepares the different outfits.
“How we’re going to build the story around texture, silhouette, and colour,” she said. “Those are the three things that I like to play with when it comes to costumes to bring the character’s traits out.”
Gagnon assumes the role of shaping the character attire and innovative concepts to create something unique for the photoshoot.
“Most of the looks are available at my store now at Kept Clothing Collective so you can create your own Halloween costume based on what we’ve done,” she said.
Bryan Francisco is a hair and makeup professional artist known for his social media presence. With his seven years of experience in the industry, he brings to the team the creative process of editorial makeup techniques.
“When I do makeup for social media, it’s very costume, it’s a very social media approach,” he said. “Within this type of photo shoot, I want to diversify more of an editorial makeup look instead of a costume look.”
His creative process came from different ideas he has researched such as TV, film and magazines.
“I’ve applied that onto [the] shoot and also kind of put my twist,” said Francisco.
Jared Bautista, a photographer who specializes in editorial concepts and has 10 years of experience in the industry, approaches the shooting with different types of lighting.
“I want to create a feeling whenever I take a photo such as when I see the image I want to stop and then analyze it,” he said.
“That’s what I want the viewers to see. I don’t want just a plain image. It’s almost like they have to analyze it to understand it.”
To complement the look and achieve perfection, they use mood boarding where they gather ideas, and the creative process becomes a group effort.
“We have a mood board for lighting, for posing and then move forward for makeup and wardrobe,” said Bautista.
“I like to make sure that clothes stand out so that you can see the hard work Brian is putting into the hair and makeup.”
They envision potential expansions, collaborations, and innovative additions for the 31 Days of Halloween project in the future.
“We are looking at different projects on how we can continue our creativity building. It’s working with different clients and working with and creating different visions based on different concepts,” said Gagnon.“That will come with time, and it’ll come naturally. Just like everything has come so beautifully and naturally for this project.”
“We’re just hoping to keep on creating some magic.”
Check out the Shorthand version of the story here.
