CHENNAI: With face and body as the canvas, makeup kit as the colour palette and her imaginary designs, Sringa Syam decided to pursue painting as a career. As a child, she loved painting. Sringa quit her job as a HR professional and started working as a bridal makeup and body artist. Her Instagram page kabooki_mua has 7,134 followers. Currently, she is gearing up to be in the second edition of NYX Face Awards India. After clearing the first round, she made it to the top 15.“I wasn’t really prepared for the first edition, I just wanted to give it a shot. This is a great platform to tap your creative energy and direct it in the right direction. The mere joy of creating your own characters is beyond words. Body art designing is a different stream from makeup. Chennai has great potential but people need the right platform to showcase it,” says Sringa.
The winner will get a chance to visit Los Angeles and participate in the International Face Awards event.
Contestants from different parts of India had to upload a YouTube video on the making process. Based on the posted videos, the jury selected the top 15 contestants. The next round of selection for top six contestants is based on a voting process. Sringa had created the character of lady Plutonia for her first round.
With every art, Sringa says, you get to fabricate your own storyline. In her submission, Pluto is kicked out of the solar system and so the story is based on revenge. “I’ve drawn Plutos on my neck with hues representing planets,” she says. Her second look for the themed round was the dropdead gorgeous narcissusm (a hunter) from mythology. “True to the name, the person fell in love with the self-image and got trapped inside the mirror. I’ve painted a mirror on my neck and the upper portion of the chest. Surrounding it, are the flowers and creepers.
A bow that strikes the neck is the highlight of this painting. I’ve also used a tiara to highlight the head region. The fundamentals for any creative artist includes knowing the right colour contrasts and supplements. It’s more like a painting except for the fact that you are the canvas,” she explains. The duration of the work depends on the look created and on the person’s style. It took her eight hours to film in round one, and 11 hours in round two.
Born and raised in Coimbatore, Sringa settled in Chennai after marriage. She earned her set of clientele through social media in just two years. Like many, Sringa also started with bridal makeup and specialised in eye designs. “Bridal makeup has become common and it fetches good money. It gave me good exposure and traction among my followers. I’ve gone for weddings in Delhi and Bengaluru. But I realised soon that bridal events are not very regular. So during free hours, I decided to channelise my potential into creative design in body art,” says Sringa.
The artist is prepping up for her next round. The Face Awards India has given her the opportunity to do groundwork, research and invest in special equipments, products and body paint that would suit the skin type. She says that drawing by looking at the mirror is always tricky. Balancing the proportions for freehand body art, and certain designs involved drawing in reverse to ensure the viewer understands. Also, it’s easier to paint on someone else, ideas easily flow since you look at it from a third person’s angle. But while painting it on herself, she often gets stuck not knowing how to proceed.
Despite her busy schedules, Sringa makes sure that she invests maximum time coming up with a new line of thought. She dedicatedly follows Nikkie Tutorials on Instagram. “My followers are very supportive. We’re all under the common assumption that it’s easier for popular faces to make it to the finals. But the value for fresh talents is very encouraging,” says Sringa. Having said she also feels that having her own YouTube channel might expose her to a larger audience base. These mediums educate people and also inspire other artists. She plans to start a YouTube channel and workshops. “I want to practice transformation art and not just inspired look where I still look like myself. The motto is to try and shape up the features to look like the person I choose as my model,” she says.
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