Magic through makeup: Renee Drake and her award-winning talent
Photo by Samantha Meyeres.
Samantha Meyeres, Staff Writer
Sometimes hard work pays off. Sometimes incredible talent is appreciated. Sometimes you walk into a theater conference for the first time ever and come home with a first place prize.
Senior art major Renee Drake has been practicing the art of makeup since she was in middle school, but she didn’t get into creative makeup until about four years ago.
“I used to do a lot more beauty stuff and I thought that I wanted to be a makeup artist for weddings,” she said “but I slowly became more and more into special effects cosmetics and theatrical cosmetics.”
The work that Drake did for North Greenville University’s 2023 production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was her first time doing makeup for theater. A debut that earned her very high praise and a first place prize.
Drake detailed the intense process that went into the creation and execution of the makeup looks she did for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
First, she talked to the scenic and costume designers for the production to get an idea for the aesthetic and to match her makeup designs to their vision for the set and costumes.
Then she began sketching. Every character came with its own unique design and Drake created a detailed plan for each one. She outlined the materials she would use to do the makeup, as well as what she would need to create the prosthetics for each character.
Because the characters in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” are fairies and other nonhuman creatures, prosthetics were needed to create horns, wings and other additions to make these fantastical creatures come to life on stage.
Drake was not at all daunted by this concept and created all of the prosthetics herself. She molded the shapes out of clay and then cast them in silicone, using a special type of silicone that is skin-safe.
She also took special care to make sure that all the makeup she used was safe for skin and would last throughout the entire production. She did product testing with each actor to guarantee that they wouldn’t have a negative reaction to the makeup and adjusted her process according to the results.
A challenging aspect of theatrical makeup is that it has to be redone for every production. Drake said that having to teach others how to do the makeup looks was a process that she had never encountered before.
All her hard work paid off when Drake presented a design board with her sketches, process and pictures of the finished makeup looks at the 2024 Southeastern Theatre Conference in Mobile, Alabama.
Drake stepped into the conference for the first time ever alongside 4,000 other people, and left with a first place award in Makeup Design.
Associate Dean of the School of the Arts and Chair of the theater department, Amy Dunlap, has worked with Drake multiple times and said she was not at all surprised that she won the award.
“She’s incredibly talented and I’m just really excited to see where she goes next,” Dunlap said.
Drake herself is still uncertain on where she will go next. She said that she has a multitude of avenues open for her future including a masters track in makeup design, a touring group for makeup, graphic design jobs and more.
Drake said that although she is having a hard time deciding what her next steps will be, she is confident in God’s plan and knows He will open the right doors.
Drake’s award-winning project is currently on display in NGU’s School of Theater.
