Think It’s All About the Music? Meet the Pros Who Give Artists Their Image

During a recent “Happy Hour” livestream event — dubbed ‘Creating Killer Artist Images’— we invited an esteemed photographer, prominent hair and makeup artist, and leading wardrobe stylist to discuss how they’ve brought many of music and entertainment’s most iconic looks to life.

 

Happy Hour Guests

• Pamela Littky – Aside from capturing memorable images of world-class talent like Kid Cudi, Green Day, Dave Grohl, and Major Lazer, photographer and filmmaker Pamela Littky has shot for FX, Sony, and Hulu.
• Mark Holmes – On the attire side, wardrobe stylist Mark Holmes has conceived and crafted one-of-a-kind outfits for Daniel Craig, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruno Mars, Nick Jonas, and a long list of other high-wattage celebs. 
• Vanessa Price – Throughout her more than 20-year-long career in music and film, hair and makeup artist Vanessa Price has helped the likes of Justin Bieber, the Foo Fighters, Seth Rogen, and Zooey Deschanel look their best before the camera. Additionally, the hairstyling mainstay’s work has appeared in advert campaigns for Apple, Adidas, and Prada, to name just some. 

The discussion was moderated by Songtradr CXO, Victoria Wiltshire.

 

Pursuing a Career

Despite the apparent differences between their backgrounds and professional roles, all three of the Happy Hour guests specified that they embarked on similar paths to their present careers, gravitating to the fields only after exploring other types of work. For Pamela Littky, the journey began with organizing weekend photoshoots while holding a day job. 

“I had a job, like a day job, before I became or decided to try to become a photographer,” said the Most Likely to Succeed documentarian.

“So I would set up shoots all the time on the weekends. And I really would do the styling, which is kind of laughable. But I mean I was doing everything.” 

These comprehensive initiatives helped Littky gain experience, develop a portfolio, and cultivate worthwhile contacts, culminating in a Jane’s Addiction photoshoot for a little-known publication called Venice Magazine. Shortly thereafter, other opportunities fell into place.

Mark Holmes spent about a decade in pursuit of success purely as a musician, before realizing that his strong interest and talent enabled him to be part of the industry in a different but equally valuable way. 

 

“I dreamed of being a musician or a rock star all my life,” stated the wardrobe stylist, whose creations have appeared on red carpets around the globe.

“I went to school for it, studied music in college in Boston at Berklee College of Music. I toured for about 10 years, sleeping on couches all over North America. Then there came a point where I had to make a decision about whether or not I wanted to make money and live and have food and a bed to sleep in.”

A renowned UK menswear stylist invited Holmes to accompany him on a job – for Jay‑Z’s 2003 “99 Problems” track – which piqued his interest and prompted him to explore additional openings in the field.

“I just sort of started talking to other stylists and trying to get assisting jobs and assisting jobs. It was like a snowball effect, really,” noted Holmes. 

And Vanessa Price, for her part, started in a hair salon prior to pivoting into the world of music, television, and film. 

“I worked in a salon for a period of time, you know, I thought I wanted to be this like Beverly Hills hairstylist doing rich ladies. Hated it,” said Price, who tuned in for the Happy Hour from an on-set hair-and-makeup trailer. 

“So I quickly, quickly started working with a couple friends who were doing hair and makeup for a fashion editorial. And at the time – and even in my life now – the majority of my friends are musicians. So it just kind of happened.”

In spite of these eventual results, however, the Happy Hour participants made clear that they put substantial effort into shaping their careers. Ultimately, hard work, contacts, and experience coordinated to produce the foundation upon which they’ve built their reputations and livelihoods.

 

“When I started out, I didn’t know this was a job,” admitted Price. “For me, it just took saying ‘yes’ to all of the opportunities that were coming my way. And a lot of those opportunities were for no money.”

“I don’t even think I got paid for the Jane’s Addiction shoot,” added Littky. “But it didn’t matter, that was your currency. Jane’s Addiction, in my book, meant something.”

A positive attitude and an unwavering willingness to make the most of trying situations (including less-than-desirable jobs, which often prove helpful from a networking perspective) are integral, especially for up-and-coming stylists and photographers, Littky, Price, and Holmes emphasized. 

“This goes for any job: 85 percent of your job is whether or not people want to hang out with you. Whether or not they want you around,” said Price. “And then the other 15 percent is can you back up your actual job.” 

Elaborating on the point from her own perspective, Littky said that she goes out of her way to keep relationships with clients light, fun, and genuine – aiding her career and the quality of her work in the process. 

 

“There’s that secret sauce in there that has to do with rapport and personality and connecting with a human being. And sometimes you have to build that rapport in five minutes…

…and you have to be able to pull something out and keep it natural,” said the Better Things photographer.

Lastly, Holmes relayed that his commitment to strengthening client relationships encompasses adaptability, which also dramatically assists the creative process. 

“Sometimes, to a very surprising result, the thing that ends up happening after your bubble was burst because something wasn’t working, the thing that ends up happening is you both discover, ‘Oh, actually that look is better than anything we had planned,’” he said. 

“You always have to have a little room left for fluidity because that’s the magic in creating art and image, I think.”

And it’s this intersection of pre-determined vision and change – of intangible energy and physical appearance – that’s allowed him and the other guests to build the images that define today’s most widely read magazines, universally beloved films, and popular culture as a whole. 

 

Fans can catch the full replay of the Songtradr Happy Hour on YouTube.

 

Watch the full panel discussion:

 

Watch other Songtradr Happy Hour Sessions in full:

• Hip Hop Deconstructed with Murs
• Touring’s Out. Now What?
• Power Songwriting for Sync Placement
• Up Close and Personal with Hit Filmmaker Jon Turteltaub
• Pitching Yourself to the Industry
• Music for Gaming: What’s Working + What’s Ahead
• Balancing Branding with Artistry
• Music Through the Ages: Soundtrack or Catalyst for Change?
• How to Make Money with Your Music: Monetization Tips for Indie Artists
• Music Supervisor Roundtable: How the Music & Media Business Has Been Impacted by COVID-19 

 

The content of this post was adapted from an article written by Paul Resnikoff and Dylan Smith, originally published in Digital Music News, as a broader partnership with Songtradr.

 

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