Meet Crista Llewellyn | SFX Makeup Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Crista Llewellyn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Crista, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
I have 2 quotes or phrases that I try my best to live by. The first one is “If you are early, you are on time. If you are on time, you are late. If you are late, you are fired”. That phrase was ingrained in me early on by my high school theatre teacher and it still sticks with me to this day. And this phrase really rings true in the industry. I was very late twice in my career and both times the people who hired me have never hired me back. I still beat myself up about those 2 gigs, but I completely understand. Especially in film, time is precious, so showing up and being ready to start working right on time is integral. The other phrase I try to lie my life by is “Never stop learning”. There are always so many new techniques or technologies that are constantly being introduced. Keeping up to date and constantly opening yourself to learning will not only make you a better artist, but you will also be able to work over a longer period of time. Plus, every artist I have met who thinks they know it all, isn’t a very well rounded or working artist.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been working for the past 8 years as a professional makeup artist, focusing mainly on special effects makeup. I have always loved makeup and fantasy/sci-fi worlds. So when I discovered that I could turn those passions into a career, I was hooked. Starting out, you get to dip your toes into a little bit of everything. I really tried my best to learn all aspects of makeup and sfx to be as well rounded of an artist as I could be. With that, my work tends to range. From realistic to cartoony or out of this world, but one thing always grounds my art: Character. I always try to think about the character as a whole being and try to have my work be able to tell a bit of a story. One of my favorite things about film making is how a story can be told through visual cues. And I think makeup has a very important role to play in that. Makeup and costumes are that last step for the actor to be fully immersed in their character, so being able to help out that process and breathing a little bit of life into that character is always very rewarding. I’m excited to continue to build my career and hopefully within the next few years make it into the Local 706 union for Makeup. But with the pandemic this year, it has made it hard to work towards that goal. To keep my skills sharpened and my creative juices flowing, I started live streaming makeup looks on myself. I post all of my looks on my Instagram and do the lives streams on Twitch (@cristallewellynmua). They have been so fun to do and I hope to continue to do them as things calm down to keep my creative portfolio updated.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Growing up in Los Angeles I have found lots of spots that I really love to go to. Little Tokyo is always fun to walk around, shop, maybe grab food. My boyfriend and I had our first date there, so it holds a special place in my heart. Burbank is another great area to go to for some good shopping and food. Downtown Burbank has everything you need, including 3 movie theatres within a block of each other. And a few streets down, on Magnolia Blvd, there are even more shops and places to eat! My favorite places to go on Magnolia are Halloween Town, ShopTansy, Geeky Teas, and Porto’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shout out to all of the amazing women who have taught me and mentored me throughout my career: Tania Russel, Elizabeth Fox, Chloe Sens, & Alana Rose Schiro. A special shout out to Eryn Mekash whom I have never met, but she is one of the artists I most admire and strive to be like. And a last special shout out to all the amazing women I have had the pleasure of working with.

Website: www.cristallewellyn.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristallewellynmua/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roguesfx
Other: https://www.twitch.tv/cristallewellynmua

Image Credits
Will Akana, Chris Oeurn, Vyvy Tran, Crista Llewellyn