Make-up star who brought
Transformation of internet sensation into film character
THIS is the moment internet star Oli Keenan was transformed into The Grinch, thanks to staff and students at the City of Glasgow College.
The Clydebank man and his little brother Flynn became a worldwide hit at Hallowe’en after dressing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Georgie from the hit Stephen King book IT and its recent film remake.
The Evening Times was so impressed with 22-year-old Oli’s performance – which received over 10 million views in just over 24 hours – that we reached out to him with another project last week – and challenged him to take to Buchanan Street.
Emma Good, make-up artistry lecturer at the City of Glasgow College, oversaw the transformation, along with student Niamh Foulis – which took just over an hour.
Having worked with MAC Cosmetics as a trainer, 28-year-old Emma decided to finally share her experience with budding make-up artists at the City of Glasgow College, where she has now been teaching for eight months.
She said: “After training MAC’s artists up, I decided I wanted to come here. It’s really creative and the students are great as well.”
Speaking about the project at hand, Emma said: “Our curriculum head put us in touch with the Evening Times after hearing about the job.
“Niamh is currently competing in WorldSkills, a competition in Birmingham. She’s been chosen as one of the top eight body painters in the UK. We’ve got everything crossed that she’ll win a place at the competition. It was natural she’d be one of the choices for something like this. It suited her completely. She’s definitely got the skills for it.”
Niamh is originally from Callander and has always had a vested interest in extreme make-up and bodypainting, something she has been sharing for years on her social media accounts.
City of Glasgow College has fielded its largest-ever team of students for this year’s WorldSkills UK Live National Finals. In addition to the 75 per cent increase in those attending the elite competition, the number of core skills have been expanded to include areas of economic growth and priority.
A total of 93 top apprentices and learners from 21 colleges and training providers across Scotland will compete at WorldSkills UK LIVE, which takes place from tomorrow to Saturday at Birmingham’s NEC.
Niamh is competing in the media make-up category, and the 19-year-old told the Evening Times WorldSkills “is the most complicated thing I’ve done so far.”
She added: “The lecturers here asked me in my first year if I wanted to get involved. I want to get into special effects make-up, more ‘arty’ and avante garde stuff.
‘‘ We had to research Oli’s face shape beforehand
There was a photo entry, the Scottish heats, and now I’m into the finals. It’s crazy. We’ve done so much work for it and have put so many hours into the project.
“Organisers gave entrants a brief. It was superstars, divas and legends, but I went down the legends route and did the Jacobites. I did half English and half Scottish with them fighting down the middle. This UK final brief is centred around history and I’m doing the Suffragettes. I’m making a postbox for a headpiece. There’s a lot of intricate work involved. You’re only given four hours with a 15-minute break in between so it’s a lot of work.”
Speaking about turning Oli green as The Grinch – just in time for the release of the animation film in cinemas, which sees Benedict Cumberbatch voice the disgruntled, green creature who despises Christmas – Niamh said she was asked by Emma whether she had seen the nowfamous Pennywise video.