We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelsey Boutte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.
I’ve been an artist my entire life, but when it came to pursuing a career in it I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. I always loved theatre so I went to college to pursue my BFA in technical theatre. While in college I was required to take a stage makeup class. This was the first time I had been introduced to makeup as a career and had the opportunity to really explore it as a profession. I was instantly hooked and captivated by the possibility of pursuing a career in makeup artistry. My background in the arts definitely helped me with makeup artistry and I don’t feel like I would have changed my decision to get my BFA first. Having a good understanding of color theory has been pretty essential part of being a makeup artist. After 20 years of doing this one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in this industry is patience. Patience in the art, patience in yourself and patience in your success. I think the biggest obstacle that I’ve encountered throughout my career is myself. As long as I didn’t let my doubts and fears get in the way of pursuing my dreams I always managed to overcome and push forward as a professional makeup artist. I truly believe anything is possible as long as you don’t let yourself stop you from achieving your goals.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a professional makeup artist working in TV & Film, specializing in FX makeup. I decided to pursue a career in makeup artistry after graduating from college. I moved to Los Angeles to go to makeup school in 2009 and was set on achieving my dreams of becoming a special fx makeup artist. In 2014 I joined I.A.T.S.E local 706 makeup and hair stylist union.This was a very proud moment in my career. This opened the door to many exciting opportunities in my career. After 10 years of living in L.A. my husband and I relocated to Georgia. I joined I.A.T.S.E local 798 makeup artist and hair stylist union in 2019, which was another proud moment in my career. I’ve worked with many talented makeup artist over the years and absolutely love what I do. One of the things I love most about working in this industry is the excitement I get before beginning a new project. Working in this industry keeps you on your toes and every job is different with a new set of challenges. I absolutely couldn’t imagine myself in any other career. Some of my credits include S.W.A.T, Grey’s Anatomy, Foo Fighters music video Run, Legacies, Dream Corp LLC, Guardians of the Galaxy & Echo.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My goal has always been to creatively grow as an artist. I want to always be learning and improving my skills as a makeup artist. Thus the creative journey for me will never end.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Early on I had to learn not to get to attached to some of the things I was creating, especially when sculpting. I remember one time I was sculpting some armor for a show I was working on and I think I had to re-sculpt the piece about 4 times before it was completed. I was so frustrated with the process and going back to the drawing board after having had invested hours and hours into it. But the end result was so rewarding and the sculpt looked infinitely better than the first rendition. So for me I’ve learned to be open to the evolution of the creative process which was a tough hump to get past.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: fxtive_creations
- Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm3863585/filmotype/make_up_department?ref_=m_nmfm_1