A portrait of key makeup artist Faye Ryan

She has quite a liking for horror film make-up, although she doesn‘t enjoy watching horror movies. ‘I‘d rather see the making-of,’ says Faye Ryan. Next year, the 29-year-old will be able to look back on ten years as a make-up artist.

The German-American lived in the USA for three years before returning to Germany. Her good command of English has stayed with her – and her international-sounding name, of course, which is ideal in the film business.

She grew up in Augsburg and completed her training at a private school for make-up artists. “I was doing my own make-up at eleven and experimenting with fake blood by the age of 14,” she says. Her dream job soon became clear. After almost ten years in the profession, her CV now includes 16 movie projects for which she has helped shape the productions as (key) make-up artist, as well as music videos and television work. She has also supervised make-up design for Europa-Park’s musical productions.

One of her most challenging projects was the 2020 film GEWALTEN (FORCES) by Constantin Hatz, in which the young lead actor had facial abrasions. The healing process had to be clearly visible for days. Faye Ryan needed to create the wounds a total of 40 times, ranging from very fresh marks to increasingly scabbed edges that would soon disappear. She modelled a wound for this purpose, which was then filled with PTM (prosthetic transfer material, i.e. skin adhesive paste) so that the same wound could be created again and again and be finely modified. “You have to hide SFX well, fool the camera and the eye,” she says of that task. “I love heavy make-up,” she admits – which also explains her penchant for horror effects. But it can be a challenge to apply discreet make-up for an everyday face, as well.

Feature film is her ‘passion, it‘s my favourite thing to work on,’ says Ryan, who now lives in Freiburg. “I like working on set, the whole atmosphere, how everyone pulls together.” Good preparation is vital. One challenge, for example, was creating a slit throat for FÜNF FRAUEN, her first film as key make-up artist. To conjure this, she modelled a silicone wound with tubes attached underneath the skin, through which the fake blood was pumped. Faye Ryan regrets that the scene did not make it into the finished film, unfortunately. A Kambo ritual had to be depicted for the feature film WANN KOMMST DU MEINE WUNDEN KÜSSEN, in which an actress’ skin is burnt using red-hot sticks. Faye Ryan succeeded in preparing the scars and painting them with red alcohol-based paint, which looks like fresh blood, shortly before the shoot.

Her most recent film project as key make-up artist is still in post-production. One scene of HOLY MEAT by Alison Kuhn was played in BDSM look – meaning that a lot of heavy make-up, gel for the hairstyles, fake blood, and latex were necessary. There is a lot of good fake blood available nowadays – but it all tastes like peppermint: raspberry flavour would be more appropriate, says the expert with a smile.

Although it was much less spectacular, she also enjoyed working on ELAHA (2021), for which she was additional make-up artist. The film deals with a controversial topic, highlighting the issues faced by a young German-Kurdish woman who is torn between the tradition of her origins and a self-determined life. The make-up was mainly discreet, although she was allowed to make it more colourful for the Kurdish wedding.

Faye Ryan has also created make-up for television, e.g. for DIE COMEDY MÄRCHENSTUNDE on Sat 1 or DIE REZEPTSUCHERIN for SWR. The challenges are new and exciting every time.

What qualities does she consider important for her job? “Creativity, a good eye for colour, and being able to keep calm when things get stressful. As a make-up artist, you also need to be good with people, since some actors like to retreat into make-up from time to time, especially when things have been stressful. When someone says to me: I felt so comfortable with you. Or, you met, or even exceeded my expectations” – those are the wonderful moments that she would like to experience more often.

Marion Meyer