Develop your craft in theatrical and media make-up within BIPA’s specialist performing and production arts environment. This practical course combines make-up artistry, character development and specialist techniques, preparing you for further training and developing your understanding of working within a creative production team.

You’ll explore make-up and hair for stage and screen, alongside editorial, fashion and photographic work. Projects introduce you to character make-up, casualty effects, prosthetics and avant-garde looks, developing your ability to interpret a brief, research references and translate your ideas into finished work.

Through practical studio training, you’ll develop precision in application and an understanding of colour, texture, materials and technique. You’ll experiment with different approaches, evaluate your results and refine your work, building technical confidence and your own creative style.

BIPA brings the full production process together in one training environment. You’ll study alongside college, degree and professional diploma students specialising in make-up, lighting design and operation, sound, stage management and theatrical production, as well as acting, dance and musical theatre. Opportunities to collaborate across these disciplines will help you understand how make-up works under stage lighting, supports character and complements a production’s style.

Your Training

Your first year establishes the foundations of make-up artistry through practical projects across a range of styles and contexts. You’ll develop your research and preparation skills alongside application techniques, learning to make considered choices that respond to character, setting and audience.

In the second-year Extended Diploma, you’ll develop greater independence and focus on the areas that interest you most. You’ll refine your techniques and build a portfolio demonstrating your versatility, creative development and finished work.

Areas of study include:

• Character make-up and hair for stage and screen
• Casualty effects and prosthetics
• Editorial, fashion and photographic make-up
• Avant-garde and experimental looks
• Colour, texture and application techniques
• Research, concept development and responding to creative brief

Progression

The course prepares you to apply for specialist degree courses and further professional training in make-up, hair and related production disciplines. You could continue your studies at BIPA through our specialist make-up degree, subject to meeting its entry requirements.

Your developing skills and portfolio can also support applications for entry-level opportunities, assisting roles and further experience across theatre, screen, fashion and photographic make-up.