AU Magazine Issue 3

SUSANN GRASSOW
sOME MAY QUESTION how one gets into
the sort of art that Susann Grassow is into.
Her fascination with both Halloween and
horror movies sufficiently explains of her
love of special effects (SFX) makeup. In a way, it also
explains her talent. Her passion drove her to study
and apply makeup on her body in order to teach
herself to be a makeup artist. The process of
developing skills and recognition as a self-taught artist
is definitely not an easy one (as many can account for)
and it is not without the many plunders of venturing
into a new career. It helps to look at these experiences as
lessons for the future rather than mistakes to dwell on.
Grassow shared with us the relatively interesting
production of her Missing Eyes Makeup Tutorial,
wherein she found herself sitting in a bathtub filled to
the brim with grape juice with makeup that created the
illusion of having no eyes. At one point, she was about
to document everything with her camera, only to
find her memory card not responding, leaving her
awkwardly sitting alone in the crazy setup without a
functional recording device. Lesson learned: memory
cards have a “read only” mode switch that prohibits
cameras from entering new data into it. Needless to
say, she will not forget that little bit of info ever again.
Speaking of not forgetting, another project that has
been engrained in her mind (for better reasons)
is her Pumpkin Tutorial. Inspired by high fashion
photography and, well, a vision of a lady with a pumpkin
head, Grassow spent a full five hours creating the makeup,
a feat she expressed extreme happiness and pride in.
She has had her youtube channel for one year now,
a task she always dreamed of embarking on, but
never thought she would start due to her shyness. But
not letting her timidity stop her, she emphasizes the
importance of being kind and persistently
working hard to achieve your dreams. In continuing her
channel, Grassow dreams of collaborating with some
of the artists she idealizes in the industry, specifically
Lex of Madeyewlook. In her wish list, she is determined
to create her own makeup concept for a horror movie.
She adds while chuckling, “And maybe a collaboration
with Madeyewlook? Call me Lex, if you read this!”
MISSING EYES TUTORIAL
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