Creepin’ it real: Makeup artist Liz Dryden masters monstrous makeup

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Sean Martens

Liz Dryden works for the theater department on campus.

The basement of Plumas hall doubled as a makeup studio late Sunday night as senior Liz Dryden painted skeleton-esque features onto the faces of models. The eerie face designs reflect Dryden’s passion for stage makeup which she has been doing for Chico State’s theater program for the past two years.

“It all started in my Intro to Makeup class. I just took it for fun but I guess my professor saw something in me,” says Dryden. “She inspired and encouraged me to pursue something in makeup. She is basically the coolest person ever to be mentored by.”

Dryden is a transfer student form Oroville and began at Chico State as a theater major to do acting until she took an interest in theatrical makeup. She is still involved in productions that are put on by the department but now she chooses to do more behind the scenes aspects such as makeup design.

With the help of her professors she has become a “right hand man” to the costume designer helping assist with characters’ makeup. She has now done two musicals and hopes to continue helping in the design of the productions.

“It’s really fun! They give me a few people to help you do the makeup and then I get to give them an idea of what kind of design that I want them to do,” she says. “I like doing regular makeup but stage makeup gives you a chance to be so much more creative.”

The makeup she did on our models was a mixture of stage makeup, something called “Ben Nye Liquid”, and then store bought products which is a common practice. However this was Dryden’s first time at attempting skeleton face makeup and her keen attention to detail resulted in a spooky success.

Nicole Henson can be reached at [email protected] or @nicohenson on Twitter.