The phone rang at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and, with that, the news that Nicole Kuppan鈥檚 husband had to go to work for the railway. Under normal circumstances, it would not a big deal, but this was the day of the Battle of the Brushes at the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show where Tony was to be his wife鈥檚 model.
A relative was called, but unavailable on such short notice. Kuppan waited until 5 a.m. and started texting her fellow competitors and former classmates from 麻豆传媒映画Film School. They scrambled, but no model.
Kuppan was about to give up. 鈥淚 cried in the shower, I鈥檓 not going to go,鈥� she said.
But a friend told her, 鈥淕o! Just go!鈥� Thomas Surprenant, a well-known makeup artist Kuppan knew through Instagram where she put out a plea, echoed those words.
Kuppan, eight months pregnant with her fifth child, lugged her makeup kit and costume to the 麻豆传媒映画Convention Centre so late to check-in that organizers almost canceled her coveted spot for the character and prosthetics finals.
Kuppan was in, but still had no model. VFS instructor, Elissa Frittaion, raced outside to where people were waiting to get into the show and convinced one of her makeup students, Ruby Wills, to model. It was a huge favour as modeling would be a day鈥檚 commitment, which included sitting in a chair for three hours while the artists create, followed by the judging process and then posing for photographs with the show鈥檚 many attendees.
It鈥檚 difficult for the artists to make it as far as the finals. Eight people are selected for the character/prosthetic category (eight are also picked for the beauty/fantasy category at Sunday鈥檚 competition) after submitting portfolio entries to judges at Make-Up Artist magazine. While contestants come with a character idea and costume, they are assigned prosthetic pieces minutes before the competition begins. This year鈥檚 theme was Four Decades of Star Wars, meaning artists had to design a character that could be seamlessly slotted into in any one of the franchise鈥檚 films.
There鈥檚 a good reason for this. Michael Key, publisher of Make-Up Artist magazine, which hosts IMATS, has five Emmy Award nominations and two wins for his makeup and prosthetic work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 鈥淥n Star Trek, there would be somebody who would hand him pieces and say, 鈥楪o make an alien,鈥欌�� said Heather Wisner, Make-Up Artist鈥檚 managing editor and student competition director. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why he did this. It鈥檚 about not knowing what you鈥檙e getting and then rolling with it.鈥�
By the time Kuppan was handed her pieces minutes before the competition start at 10 a.m., she was already an expert in rolling with it. The Jedi council-inspired costume she made hung on her female model who was nowhere near her six-foot-three tall husband. And forget wearing the costume shoes 鈥� those were a men鈥檚 size 11.
鈥淏ut I鈥檝e got to make it work. It鈥檚 life experience,鈥� said Kuppan. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛 not come because I would be kicking myself. It鈥檚 very hard to get into this and I was totally upset about the whole thing.鈥�
While Kuppan did not make the podium (that was occupied by Blanche Macdonald Centre鈥檚 trifecta of Devon Burbank in first place, Eva Svobodova in second and Erin Greer in third), she acknowledged life has been good. She, too, worked as a conductor on the railway when she decided to follow her dream of makeup artistry. She applied and was accepted into VFS鈥檚 Makeup Design for Film and Television program, which she graduated from in December and was even offered a stand-by position for the New York version of Battle of the Brushes (student artists and recent alumni can apply to compete in any IMATS competition in New York, London, Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney and Los Angeles). She didn鈥檛 take it, citing the expense for something that wasn鈥檛 a sure thing.
鈥淚 hit 40 and I wanted to do something I鈥檇 always been passionate about,鈥� said Kuppan. 鈥淚 did Halloween makeup on my kids for the first time and everybody told me it was really good. So I thought, 鈥楥an I? Should I?,鈥� googled schools, found VFS, and got in.鈥�
Life, like working for the railway, is unpredictable. Kuppan discovered her real passion at school 鈥� making special effects prosthetics.
@rebeccablissett
