Thomas Jung-Famous Hair Process

I started this project with the idea of fame and I began to look at how celebrities are often turned into these objects of almost godly status. I also began to look at major celebrity icons and how they influence people in many ways whether it is in clothing, actions, style or hair. Celebrities are often the start of major trends in the fashion and style world because people want to emulate them. One of these trends that I thought would be interesting are the hairstyles that the celebrities have made popular; even if they are short-lived.

While doing research for famous hairstyles I found everything from the good, to the not so much. I started to compile these images of hair and I tried to get a wide variety of styles. I then decided that I wanted to reduce these celebrities to their luscious locks. I wanted to literally turn the icons into icons. I compiled a list of 26 “celebrities,” one for each letter of the alphabet to create some sort of symbol set. Once the list was compiled I put the images into illustrator and started tracing them, but these were not looking very good, they had no style to them. So I went pre-digital and got out the pencils and paper. I started by tracing the hair and then I eventually sketched each hairstyle.

Now I am in the process of going back to the digital. I am working on scanning in the sketches and turning them into vector files. I am also working on choosing a different typeface for each typeface to fit the personality of the celebrity. Once the fonts are chosen I am going to place the hair on the letters and create a set of hairstyle caps that can be used for initial caps. The detail and variety of hair would make this a very impractical body type.

For my final output I am not exactly sure how I want to present this. One idea is to create an alphabet book with “A is for Aniston” and maybe a little information about each person. I am not set on this idea and I am trying to think of something better. I’m not sure if I should try to make it look like glitzy Hollywood or do something plain and total opposite.