Feature: Sarah Mitchell

Feature: Sarah Mitchell

Interested in amazing Special Effects Makeup? This girl is incredibly talented in both special effects and fashion makeup designs. I first found her over at Makeupbee a while ago and was thoroughly impressed by her talents! So I'm going to share them with you! 

1. How did you get started with makeup?   

I started experimenting with makeup when I was about 3 years old. I would always sneak into my mother's makeup bag. Every since then I've been obsessed with it.

2. What is your all time favourite brand? What's your favourite product from that brand? 

My favourite brand is Ben Nye. Every product from them is high quality and highly pigmented. My favourite product from Ben Nye are the Cream Colours (pots & cream wheels).

3. Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Most of my inspiration comes from dreams that I have. I wake up in the middle of the night and sketch out ideas all the time. Also things like Cirque du Soleil and Sci-Fi movies inspire me.

4. Favourite tool?

My favourite tool would have to be my Paasche airbrush. It is the most useful tool with the special effects and creature design work that I have been focusing on. It gives quite realistic paint jobs on foam latex appliances and is time efficient.

5. Have you gone to school for this? Or is this more of a natural talent? 

I have gone to school for makeup. I went to Complections International Academy of Makeup Artistry, in Toronto. I graduated #1 top of my class. I feel that I have a lot of natural talent. School teaches you about how the industry works, they can not teach creativity.

6. Do you make a living off of your work or is it more of a hobby? 

I do make a living off of makeup artistry. Right now I am a freelance makeup artist. I am in the process of applying to special effects shops and a Union. This will allow me to work on feature films.

7. Which design of yours is your favourite?

My favourite design so far is my prosthetic lizard. It was my very first prosthetic, and turned out exactly how I planned for it to look. 

8. How long do your designs usually take? 

My designs usually take (depending on how intricate) between 15 minutes and 2 hours. Fashion looks and some special effects such as bruises and cuts are extremely fast. Prosthetic looks take much longer, usually closer to 2 hours.

 

9. How long have you been doing this?

I've been doing makeup literally my entire life. But I've only been doing it as a fully licensed artist since November.

10. Any advice for beginners?  

My main advice for a beginner would be to just be creative and have fun with it. Play around with different products and find what works best for you. Everyone develops their own style of how to do things. And, never let a negative comment discourage you. Also, take any opportunity to practice on other people. It really helps in the long run to know what works well for every face shape and skin tone.

Want to see more? Check out her Facebook Fanpage