We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lexi Tyrrell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lexi below.

Lexi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Making a full-time living from my creative work has been my greatest achievement. When I was first starting out, I had to do a lot of my work in exchange for credit rather than being paid in order to build up my portfolio and grow my network. I had the privilege of living rent-free with my mom for the first three years of my career, but I still worked multiple part-time jobs in order to pay my bills. My career as a makeup artist was my top priority and I made a lot of sacrifices; I turned down a lot of invitations to go out with my friends, I missed out on a lot of family events, and countless hours of sleep as most of my work days would be 12-16 hours long. Between multiple part-time jobs and my career, there would be periods of time where I wouldn’t have a day off in months. Once my network grew large enough and I had established a favorable reputation for myself, I started to book paid jobs more consistently and my career continued to grow exponentially. There were plenty of days where I felt like I was not seeing any progress in the growth of my career and a lot of people around me had doubts about this becoming a full-time job. In those moments, I really had to show up for myself and be my own cheerleader; I had to have the discipline to double down and keep pushing. This is an industry where you have to pay your dues; there are no short-cuts. You get out what you put in, and I can say with full confidence that I put my entire heart and soul into my career. It took me three years to get to the point where I was making a full-time living from my creative work, and I don’t believe I could’ve gotten to that point any faster than I did.

Lexi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed being creative and making art. I knew as early as kindergarten that I wanted to be an artist of some kind. My freshman year of high school, I took an opportunity to help do the makeup for the fall musical and I immediately fell in love; I couldn’t possibly see myself doing any other career. A major steppingstone in the journey to my career as a multimedia makeup artist was my enrollment at Faces ETC of Minnesota LLC Media Makeup School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There I learned everything I could possibly need to know about doing makeup for film, television, editorial print, corporate, commercial, and runway. Upon my graduation, I focused on networking and taking every opportunity that came my way and found my niche in film and television. I love doing research and designing makeup applications for characters, working with other crew members as a team, and leading the makeup department as their Department Head. My strong communication and leadership skills, my ability to work as a team within my department and with other crew members, and my broad artistic skillset are what sets me apart from other makeup artists. I’m most proud of my ability to make meaningful connections with the people who sit in my chair and provide them a space where they feel comfortable and can get into character. I place a lot of importance on safety and sanitation, working quickly and efficiently, and executing makeup designs that perfectly match a client’s creative vision.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society can best support artists and creatives by viewing these careers as ‘real’ jobs and encouraging the youth who aspire to be artists of some kind. The effect of creatives is around us at all times– in the architecture of the buildings we live and work in, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the music we listen to, and the media we consume. Tell the children and young adults around you that it is possible for them to make a living doing creative work.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is getting to make money doing what I’m passionate about. In the beginning of my career when I still had to work a ‘survival jobs’ while I built up my network, I noticed a major difference in the way I spoke about my part-time jobs versus my career; on a day I was scheduled to work at one of my part-time jobs, I would say “I HAVE to go to work today”. On the days I had been booked to work on a project as a makeup artist, I would say “I GET to go do makeup today”. It sounds cheesy, but this really is not “work” for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: lexityrrell_multimediamua
• Facebook: Lexi Tyrrell– Multi Media Makeup Artist
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Colton Otte Blue G Productions DreamFirstBorn