By now, you’ve probably seen our September cover look with Gen-Z trailblazing icon, Willow Smith. If you haven’t, firstly, where have you been? Secondly, go and look now. Willow’s cover look is a powerful statement of radical beauty. Created by Raoul Alejandre, it's an edgy amalgamation of glimmering face gems, a brazen buzzcut and a lit-from-within glow. It was a no-brainer, then, that we would take Willow’s look from the real world to the AR world, in the form of a TikTok filter.
London-based AR designer and technical artist, Balraj Bains, was our first choice to take on this epic digital transformation, collaborating through TikTok's Effect House (its AR tool which lets anyone build interactive TikTok filters). Balraj's AR effects take you to an ethereal, otherworldly place and the balance between beauty and innovation is more exciting than ever, so they were the perfect fit to take our gem-adorned look from the expected to the unexpected.
TikTok content
Here, they speak to GLAMOUR about their creative processes behind the Willow Smith cover filter, and how they see the future of beauty and AR…
What inspired you the most about the Willow Smith cover look?
The intricate design with the gems immediately drew me in. The blue with the clear colours inspired me to think about ways to make them feel as delicate and magical as they are on Willow with the soft sheen of her glossy makeup.
Talk us through your creative process behind making the Willow Smith cover filter
Firstly it took some ideation, as to which parts of the look were important to keep and which may be better suited to being more subtle. With makeup looks, it was important for us to have it work well on different skin tones which included a lot of testing and feedback. The face gems were the key focus so having other aspects such as shadows and gloss support this without distracting from it was important.
I made a 3D model of the gems to import and place on the face in Effect House. I drew some textures for the makeup and applied them to face mesh objects with one for each area of makeup to get the right material settings. Finally, I added logic to animate immersive floating gems to extend the experience out to the space around you. This part can be challenging but it’s rewarding when you see the additional level of imagination it can add to the effect!
What’s exciting you about the future of beauty and AR?
I’m very excited about the growing belief of rejecting euro-centric beauty or any ideas of beauty that say that something other than yourself is aspirational. It’s encouraging to see when creators of effects and videos or photos leave out the face tune and share the message that your face shape and features as they are, is beauty. Whilst it is difficult to challenge and overcome insecurities, I believe that journey is worth it. When we see more people authentically sharing without e.g. making a nose smaller or lips bigger, I think it plays an important role for younger and older generations in challenging their own ideas of beauty and creating an easier space to allow people to flourish in their own self-image.
Taking beauty and AR into an artistic space of experimental self-expression is exciting too. A place where, again, there is no need for trying to make facial features follow a trend, but instead using the idea of identity to lead into fun and imaginative pieces. It’s a place where we can experiment and explore who we want to be without the need to limit ourselves to the real world or even others’ judgement.
What would your advice be for aspiring young female and non-binary creatives?
Allow yourself patience and consistency. Whilst it seems things have been improving, it does take that extra something to be seen and taken seriously.
I think we need a lot more gender diversity and within that, intersectional diversity. My advice would also be to not be afraid to look past following what others are doing or what’s popular. It can be overwhelming to keep seeing the same things, but I think there’s more power in finding your own voice and identity in the AR space. One example would be how the games industry is male-oriented and dominated, but when there aren’t enough or any women or non-binary people in decision-making positions, the atmosphere and outputs will be lacking in inclusivity or interest to people of different genders. By taking steps in developing your own ideas and skills, maybe there will be more games we would like to play. Even if it seems like all the advanced creators are men, let yourself be in the space, ask questions in forums and try out building your ideas.
Being nervous is normal, but push through it and share what you make. Especially when you think it’s too weird or not ‘pretty’, that’s when your ideas are unique! It helps get your work seen and encourages others like you to start or keep going too. For women and non-binary people of colour too, you may see only white women promoted a lot of the time, those who are not allies included. Take a step away and brush them off and be vocal about it otherwise, the assumption is that things can carry on as they have been. I know it’s so difficult, so find the spaces which don’t do this. There are wonderful people managing spaces and promotions who actively challenge the old way of things, so look out for those. Don’t feel like you need to kiss up to anyone because we should all be seen for our own skills.
What has your experience been as a person of colour navigating the tech industry?
Tech, I believe, has been more inclusive racially than the creative world. I think it’s because if you have the skills, you’re going to be needed somewhere. That being said, there’s still a long way to go to reach parity with our counterparts. Like being a woman or non-binary person, it’s another layer of preconceptions.
When freelancing, it’s been common to receive very low offers which have been asked to 10 others at the same time. I found they would target people of colour which sends a message that they are undertaking racial discrimination. It may be worrying that it’s the best type of offer they can get but know that your worth is so much more. There are better opportunities where people will be respectful in communication and expectations too. It may be less often and, as with any experimental industry, you may have some times of no relevant work (it can be really rough), but don’t let those low offers decide your worth for you and become an industry norm.
I have also seen minimal to no inclusion in some spaces for people of colour. Something I found really demotivating was seeing creators who aren't of colour be given every opportunity, and problematic behaviour being overlooked for the sake of followers or existing contacts… But it’s a catch-22 because it’s been easier for creators who aren't of colour to grow their accounts and know important people, so who will be the ones to challenge it from the other side and break out of the option of ease? There are so many exceptional creators of colour who deserve a lot more and newer spaces have started to tackle this. It makes a world of a difference, so I hope it catches on.
Even within our groups, we have our own prejudices to combat, like caste discrimination in South Asian communities. I do see things slowly moving forward so I would like to encourage people to take the actions they can, to make spaces equal and safe for everyone. We say it’s the future, but in the world of the mind we need to catch up to where the tech is.
Similarly, have you faced prejudice from male counterparts in the industry? If so, how do you deal with that?
For the most part, they’ve been kind and helpful. You do come across those who won’t give you any time of day, want to counteract anything a non-male says or will be open to supporting a white woman but not women or non-binary people of colour. Whilst it can be difficult, I’ve learned to not dwell on it and find your people instead as there are great people who will vouch for you. I have created boundaries to not put effort into people who will choose to be problematic and I found there are many who identify as men who have challenged issues and are very open to supporting non-male creators.
By dwell, I mean to say reflection is important, but not to internalise it and think there is something wrong with you. Discrimination happens with subtler actions and words these days, but it is still heavy to deal with and does create problems like who gets to have a career in an industry, who is given opportunities (also income) and that does play on worldwide disparity. I’d like the severity of the consequences to be more acknowledged.
For now, I think we need to not be completely disheartened when there are times when we have to put in 3x as much effort and skill to prove ourselves as our counterparts (even though we shouldn’t have to). If you enjoy it, sometimes we get tired and that’s fine too, take it in your own direction at your own pace and like mentioned before, know your people to have as your core. Keep advancing yourself in technical and soft skills, but just don’t forget about it unless it’s a decision you actively take to stop. And - as they say - when you get a seat at the table, help pull someone else up too, especially marginalised people including those who have been putting in work already or breaking into their own concepts. It’s very exciting to see an effect or tutorial series made by people of colour, women and non-binary people, especially when it is beyond tokenism.
What can we expect from you in the future?
Hm… I hope to still be fully immersed in the creative tech world! And I hope I can make a difference in diversity and authenticity so spaces feel encouraging and empowering without a need to be fake. I expect myself to keep exploring both creative and technical ideas which let people explore ideas of being with our psychological and emotional experiences. Those can be ideas which are useful, conceptual pieces or just for fun!
I’m interested in storytelling, how we interact with or make friends with tech and bringing our imagination to life. The sci-fi we have takes us into complete dystopia or utopia, but neither is realistically the way it’s likely to go. I’d hope it becomes closer to utopia but it takes people changing things with ethics in mind and carefully developing ideas, outcomes and politics while acting in people's best interest. AI imaging is an example of how we can initiate and develop our ideas for further projects and expand our imaginations of who we want to be, where we want to be and what we can do.
I want to encourage others who are underrepresented to explore their imaginations and work together, as I know I will continue to. We can create (almost) anything we want to see through Augmented Reality, or at least start the conversation around it. I know that getting into AR helped build my sense of self, confidence and created some real friends, so my hope is that we reach a day when no one feels discriminated against, including in ways of money, neglect or sub-text so we can fully focus on our creativity and be equally acknowledged for it.
For more from GLAMOUR's Social Media Manager, Luca Wetherby-Matthews follow her on Instagram @lucawetherbym.
