Artist Babs is ‘made up’ by film or television chance

Brae make-up artist Babs Clubb is hoping to land a career in film or television after showcasing her Iron Maiden-inspired creation at an exhibition in Glasgow.

Music lover Babs spent five months making her Eddie The Head character, based on the iconic rock band’s mascot.

She has been studying an HND in make-up artistry and last week, along with 80 fellow West College Scotland students, displayed her work at the Make-up Mayhem event in The Arches.

Babs, 41, has been studying a HND in make-up artistry and moved south to study two years ago.

The evening was attended by industry professionals, press, friends and family, and saw the audience transported to fantasy land of mythical creatures, monsters and fairy-tale characters.

Babs has been interested in make-up since the age of 11 and last year she studied fashion make-up. This year her course has been focused on prosthetics and special effects.

“There’s so many people doing conventional fashion make-up and that’s not what I’m interested in. I’m more interested in monster make-up and sci-fi things,” she said.

She started planning the Eddie project last year and in total it has taken five months.

Combining music and “scary things” Babs chose metal bands Slipknot and Iron Maiden as her inspiration.

But Iron Maiden are “more classic” she said and people are able to connect with the Eddie the Head character.

Babs made a “lifecast” of a head and chest and pulled together different parts of Eddie’s persona.

Eddie was made up of six prosthetic pieces in total, all individually sculpted by Babs.

For each piece, a plaster cast was taken and this was used to produce latex pieces which were then hand painted to be fixed onto a live model.

With the character coming to life, she held a photoshoot of Eddie in military attire at Kinning Park in Glasgow. Fresh latex pieces were produced again for use at the event in The Arches.

The creation of the face was a long process, she said and Babs wanted to make sure the texture of the skin looked realistic.

“As a teenager I used to watch horror films and I would just be fascinated with how on earth they managed to create [the special effects].

“It was so far removed from anything I had seen before. I was so keen to find how on earth they
created it.

“It’s my ultimate dream to work in TV/film and I chose to study at WCS as it had by far the best reputation and professional networks.”

Babs now lives in Largs, Ayrshire, and is hoping if she works really hard she will land her dream job.

She admitted a lot of her work is pretty graphic and gruesome. But her course is broad-ranging and she has done everything from drag queen make-up to making a 20-year old look like a pensioner, and an 18th century wig assessment.

The drag queen task was “basically find a young guy and make him as glamorous as you could,” she said. It was great fun, added Babs but there was a lot of effort to cover up the masculine features.

Even The Shetland Times had a role to play in the wig assessment, with rolls of the newspaper adding to the curls of the extravagant, avant-garde hair piece.

Babs believes the course has given her a good grounding, and her skills stand in contrast to her background of wedding make-up in Shetland.

“My advice to anyone who is thinking about doing this course or who has just started – put yourself out there.

“You really have to push yourself to succeed. You won’t be disappointed; it’s amazing what a bit of self-belief can do.”