Welcome to Gloomth’s new “Artist Spotlight” interview series where we pester people we think are super cool with questions about their work and process!

We came across the incomparable Drac Makens last year (when we sent her a Halloween print dress to coordinate) and we were so excited when she agreed to participate in our new Artist Spotlight series for the Gloomthzine! Drac’s artwork and personal makeup style are huge inspirations around here. We love her experimental makeup creations, looks that are over the top and elaborately detailed and so out of this world. Her artwork is lush and textural and absolutely inspiring!

(all photos are from her instagram)

Your approach to makeup really transforms it into an art-form, how did you start exploring it that way?

It started off little by little whenever I really started getting into makeup; first it would be experimenting with different liner shapes, then combining different colors of eyeshadow, etc. It REALLY kicked off whenever I shaved my eyebrows off and started experimenting with odd brow shapes and adding different designs along the brow bone area, a whole new world of possibilities for makeup creativity opened up for me!

When you sit down to create a new look how do you develop the concept? Do you sketch it out first or dive in? Where do you find and preserve inspiration?

A lot of factors go into it, it all depends on mood, what products I feel like wearing,  etc. in regards to creating a new look. I used to only dive into creating a look and hope for the best, but I’ve lately been doing a mix of both; I’ve found for my tutorials especially, it helps to know what I’m going to create and what products I plan on using for it before turning the camera on. Inspiration can honestly come from anywhere, the colors of a sunset, a song I might be listening to, an article of clothing I want to wear, a pattern I’ll see, foods I like to eat, it’s everywhere!

We love seeing your kitty Absinthe on instagram, how did you two meet?

My parents used to own a lakehouse in a neighborhood in the Texas hill country, my brother and I were hanging out at the community center with other kids that we knew and one of them came up to me and said “Look what I found” and handed me this adorable tabby kitten; he knew I liked cats so I instantly fell in love with this random stray. He wouldn’t leave my side and he was so sweet and loving, I “wasn’t allowed” to have pets at the time but I said f**k it and took him home with me anyway. He’s very needy and can be a lot to handle sometimes but he’s momma’s baby boy!

 

I absolutely love your artwork, especially the textural 3D pieces! Tell us a bit about your art and what themes you like to explore with it? What mediums do you like to incorporate?

I like to dive into primarily anything that I’m afraid of, deal with, or find fascinating, so a lot of the stuff I like to create often involves blood, gross anatomy, sadness, dreams, death, things of that sort. I really love watercolors and acrylics (or even hot glue and faux fur in some cases) but I’m really wanting to explore other mediums like resin and oil paints!

Do you have any shows or events coming up we should know about? Where can we buy your lapel pins and prints of your makeup and artwork?

 I don’t do a lot of shows at the moment, however my stuff can be found on my website (dracmakenscreations.bigcartel.com) or for anyone local to the San Antonio, Texas area, I carry my stuff at Toxic Salon and at the Jess Adorables booth at Wonderland of the Americas Mall

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You can see more of Drac Makens artwork and makeup at the following links:

YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/DracMakens

Shop- dracmakenscreations.bigcartel.com

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/drac_makens/