Nu Wa - Chinese Snake Goddess

Kelton Ching · September 2019

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Hello! Here’s my entry for the Stan Winston Character Makeup Contest 2019!

This is an original design I created based on Chinese mythology and my Chinese heritage. All costume, accessories and prosthetics by me. The makeup consists of a foam latex cowl, dental acrylic teeth and encapsulated silicone forehead, cheeks/lips, shoulders, breasts covers, rib pieces, forearms, shoulders and neck blender pieces. The snakes bodies on the collar and headpiece are latex skinned polyfoam. The hair ornaments were made of worbla thermoplastic and real jade beads and faux pearls. Makeup was a combination of prepainted prosthetics sea sponging Kryolan aquacolor and Airbrushed alcohol paints.

Creation video: https://youtu.be/iiLRkOXO4WA

Part I “Going back to more ancient times, the four pillars were broken; the nine provinces were in tatters. Heaven did not completely cover the Earth; Earth did not hold up Heaven all the way around [its circumference]

Fires blazed out of control and could not be extinguished; water flooded in great expanses and would not recede. Ferocious animals ate blameless people; predatory birds snatched the elderly and the weak.” - 淮南子 (Huai Nan Zi)

@emiliablackmua for the incredible assistance for application! This was a month long project and five hour makeup application at Monsterpalooza 2019!

Big thank you to @angelmydarling for being such a perfect model! This makeup is dedicated to my Mom and Grandma. Thank you for being such strong women that have always inspired me. I remember reading this Chinese folk tale picture book when I was a child and Nu Wa was my favorite goddess. She saved the world from calamity when the pillar separating Heaven and Earth broke by severing a giant turtles foot and used the five elements, Earth, Fire, Water, Metal and Wood to patch the hole in the sky. And the she made man by sculpting people from clay. Being able to incorporate my culture into my work is so empowering to me especially since I grew up being made to feel that I shouldn’t be proud of my culture and heritage. Thank you again to @cinemamakeupschool for giving me this opportunity to do this demo! Also thank you @samhaincontactlenses for the fabulous Sclera Lenses.

This was a dream project for me and I’m so proud of how it turned out 🤘bodypaint - @ebaperformancemakeup Endura and @kryolanofficial aquacolor

Photography : @ericanderson.gallery and @dr_brown