• Student Success Story: Savannah Somerville

    • February 14, 2020
    • Author | Celena Rubin

    Savannah Somerville is a model graduate for what it takes to succeed.  She is focused, determined, and with specific goals in mind, she has been going after them since the day she graduated!  Her enthusiasm and professionalism on set has connected her to a stream of production jobs.  In just 2 years since graduating from the Multimedia Master Makeup Artist Program at The Art of Makeup School in December 2017, Savannah is a full-time working makeup artist in Portland.

    As any artist knows, learning never stops.  We often see Savannah back at The Art of Makeup, assisting guest artists at the top of their industry. She has taken every opportunity to grow her own career as an artist by going after each job on The Art of Makeup student graduate job board, which have lead to many other jobs, networking on jobs and at events, and making connections in Los Angeles by working for IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) and being an overall delight to work with. That is how you do it and that is how Savannah is doing it! Her journey has been hard work and we are excited to get a chance to share her story!

    Gabby Smashes (Web Series)

    At just 20 years old, Savannah has already graduated from makeup school, will soon obtain her cosmetology license this year, has worked on feature films, over a dozen short films, including local and in L.A., a web series, a Nike commercial, fashion shows, and theater productions. She is currently head of the makeup department for another feature film.

    She finds inspiration by watching artists’ she admires, attending makeup or film industry focused events like Women in Film and OMPA (Oregon Media & Production Association), and volunteering her time for charity fashion shows like the PDX Fashion Network and Fringe. Upon graduating from AoM, her first job board opportunity was working with the Oregon Ballet Theater for the Alice in Wonderland production in 2018. She has worked on countless other jobs where she’s met other AoM graduates for the first time and recognized their familiar makeup kit supplies. “We all learned from the same system and all of us have an unspoken understanding of what we need to do to get the job done. It’s easier to communicate with your team when you’ve all learned from the same foundation.”

    Her big networking break came from one of our instructors, Linda Wong. Linda had asked Savannah to assist her on a 5 day film set for the feature film “Get Gone”.  Savannah at the time had minimal experience working on sets, but when Linda needed Savannah to take over, she gracefully took the reins and continued to refer to her school notes to help her get through. The director and cast members gave her nothing but glowing reviews. That experience led to many other projects she was recommended for by the crew members on the film.

    Another one of our wonderful instructors Sarah Prevo recommended Savannah for a 6 part web series called Micro Aggressions which can now we viewed on Amazon Prime. It’s crucial even in the classroom to make a good impression. All of our instructors are working makeup artists, and you never know when they’ll call on a student for help.

    Micro Aggressions

    Savannah’s big take aways from her Art of Makeup experience are networking  and being professional by maintaining certain boundaries while also being thick skinned. She says “You have to go in and be willing to learn and adapt. Leave your ego at the door and accept the criticisms you get. It will only help you grow as an artist.” She learned to practice her skills and show up prepared and feeling confident.

    Savannah’s future is looking so bright we had to know her goals for the next part of her career. She said she is incredibly determined to keep working as a full-time film makeup artist, and has set a goal to move to L.A. in a couple years to keep pursuing that dream. We know she’s got the bravado to accomplish her goals and we can’t wait to watch her career bloom.

    Check out Savannah’s full line of work:  https://www.savannahsomerville.com