Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cat Elrod. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Cat thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
The very first show I ever saw was at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre, it was the Long Beach Civic Light Opera’s production of the Unsinkable Molly Brown, starring Debbie Reynolds! After that I was hooked. I started doing shows in high school and when I was 15, I took the Summer repertory class at Long Beach City College, which was the Summer production. I started out doing props, running sound and lights, all the backstage stuff and then when I graduated from high school I went to Long Beach City college and started stage managing in the theatre department. But I always had a love of costumes and makeup and so when I had an opportunity, I would take costume and makeup classes and work on shows as a wardrobe dresser or costume crew. I then got a job at Knott’s Berry Farm in their Wardrobe Department, and after a couple of years left to go to Disneyland to work in their Entertainment Costuming department. I worked on shows and special events. I then started designing costumes and wigs for a friend of mine who did drag as Bette David, and Karen Carpenter. I eventually went to Cal State Fullerton, and got my degree in theatre, directing for the stage, but did some costumes there as well. After college, I ended up going back to school to Joe Blanco Makeup Center West, to get my certificates in beauty, glamour, and special effects make up. I started doing short films and really in the beginning to make any sort of money, you kinda had to do everything, so I would do costumes and make up and special effects. And all the while, I was still doing costumes for Theatre because that was my real love. And because I could kind of do everything I was hired to design makeup and costumes for one of the very first immersive shows in Los Angeles, Delusion. That was 2011. I’ve been with them ever since. But I ended up doing lots of film and television and special events, personal celebrity make up, a bit of everything. But I’ve always come back to theatre.
Knowing what I know now, I understand you really can’t speed up the learning process. The best thing you can do is immerse yourself in it and take as a many jobs as you can to learn your craft. I do appreciate school, but being in the field and learning on the job is truly the best way to learn anything. The best skill a designer can have is flexibility and the ability to think on your feet. That’s why learning a bit of everything in combination with a complete kit is so necessary. I’d recommend any kind of designer or creative person to create a personal kit with every single thing you think you’ll need because you never really do know what you’ll need. There are always lots of surprises on a set, and sometimes the best plans get destroyed because there’s a time crunch and so if you’re flexible and you can be creative on your feet, then your designs will always be successful. I’m never mad at happy accidents.
Looking back on my on set work, what stood in my way was my lack of confidence in my ability. So as an artist you should always be learning. Take the class, read the book, watch the tutorial. Be well rounded. You never stop learning as an artist. I really would recommend pairing up with a mentor someone who can teach the ropes and introduce you to people, but really when it comes down to it. It’s finding the work, doing a good job, meeting people. I always found that work begets work and after a while when people get to know you and you’re doing a good job, you don’t look for work, work looks for you.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m most proud of the theatre work I’ve done. Delusion, my immersive show. And all the other theatre I’ve designed over the years. Creating original costumes for original plays has always been one of the highlights of my job . Also many years is a special effect make up artist. I’ve created a lot of strange and different makeup looks, worked with awesome directors and producers and performers who bring out the best in what I do.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
One of the greatest resources out there especially here in LA are the makeup supply houses. Not only do they hold all the materials that you’ll ever need for your kit and for your time creating a make up look on set but the teams that work there are working artists with a wealth of knowledge that you can tap into at anytime. A big shout out, my favorite supply house is Nigel’s beauty Emporium in North Hollywood. Not just great prices and variety of stock but really really great people who work there and support artists like me. When ordering supplies they treated my orders with care whether it was a short film with a tiny budget or a big feature with a giant budget. They were also available to me if I had questions about what I should do with a look or how do you use a product or what product to use? Because you never know what kind of makeup is going to show up on a gig and having a network of artists to lean on is super important
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I think the best thing people can do to support artists is to employ them. Whenever I work on a show, I always try to bring in as many people as I can. Whether that’s on my team to help prep or execute on set or sourcing things out to vendors and independent artists. For a long time, I had a cloak guy , which an amazing thing to have. I also had someone who would make leather pieces for me. And sure it’s easy to order on Amazon and I do, but if I can source a project out to a local artist or site, then my project is the better for it. We’re keeping the work in the community.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.cat-elrod.format.com
- Instagram: @DeadLadyClothes
