Face full of freak

Sirapong “Nueng” Diloktaradon has achieved a level of fame over the past two years by painting his face and posting his selfies online, but he’s not just a guy wearing makeup. His facial artistry presents the gruesome and the gory, the mysterious and the simply mesmerising. 

And his magic and monsters serve to prove that the imagination is a more powerful implement than any technical gear. 

The many people who follow “NoyNueng Makeup” on his blog or on Facebook get hooked on his inspiring artistic whims as he transforms a bare face into a wide variety of characters in creative and surpassingly professional ways, using nothing but basic drugstore makeup. 

“It started one day when I had this urge to paint my face up like a zombie,” says the 26-year-old, who was born in Chaiyaphum and raised in Bangkok. “And, like everyone else, I took a selfie and posted it on Instagram. I was amazed that it got so many likes! I haven’t stopped since.” 

Nueng has turned into more than a hundred different characters before the viewers’ eyes, some of them well known and others straight out of his imagination. He recreated the characters from a famous painting by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, From the movies he’s emerged as both the doll-demon Chucky and his bride Tiffany from “Child’s Play”, and Darth Maul from “Star Wars”. He’s assumed Brad Pitt’s character from “World War Z” and become Electro from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and, most recently, he was Mystique from “The X-Men”. He’s even been the T-Rex from “Jurassic Park”.

Having drawn and painted since childhood, Nueng picked up additional skills (and a degree) in industrial design at Chulalongkorn University. 

What’s truly amazing is his attention to detail. He captures each character’s distinctive features perfectly, demonstrating the transformation step by step and explaining the cosmetics used. He then completes the look with costumes, hair and the character’s signature pose. 

“I want to make the point that imagination is the key,” Nueng tells The Nation. “You don’t need an expensive, technical makeup kit or pricey special effects, and you can create lots of looks using just the right colours and shading. 

“First of all you have to be inspired – and then have fun with it.” 

It sounds like fun, too, the way he explains it.

“Once you have a character in mind, you sketch the face on paper to see what to add or eliminate when you transfer the details onto your face. The rest is painting. This is where you need to be very creative with the materials you have. 

“I think of makeup as paint, not beauty products, so, for example, eyeliner has more than one purpose and eye shadow can do the shading and colouring for me. Play with what you have, and it’s even better if you have basic skills in applying makeup.”

Not all of the transformations Nueng has attempted have worked, he admits. “Some of them turned out terrible! But that’s part of the fun – you get to challenge and push yourself.” 

His proudest moment was the T-Rex, which he reckons was a world first – for anyone. “It’s really good, right?” he grins. “It was very hard at first because a T-Rex doesn’t have anything like human face, so you can imagine the headaches. I’d seen people using graphic elements to make their faces look like a T-Rex, but no one had done it with paint, so I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this!’”

Applying the grey, black and green to his face and neck and a deep red patch on his neck (the beast’s tongue) took four hours alone. Then came a row of “teeth” cut from white paper to mimic the dinosaur’s fearsome gaping mouth. For Mystique he used shards of dark-blue paper for the reptilian scales. (If you’re thinking about rocking that look for Halloween, you’re going to need at least five hours.)

Asked how he keeps his complexion tidy amid all this makeup abuse, Nueng says that, even if you only use medium-grade makeup, you’re safe if you use “a decent primer” to prep the skin. “The primer not only protects your skin, it ensures that the coloured makeup goes on smoothly and evenly. It’s something worth investing in. 

“Afterward you have to make sure you clean off all the makeup completely. I use cleansing oil that I massage in and then rinse off. It would cost a fortune using cotton balls,” he laughs. “Then the rest is general beauty rules: drink lots of water and get enough sleep.” 

What started as a lark and a hobby might end up bringing Nueng some substantial income to add to what he earns from store window displays and tutoring high-school students in architecture. Last week the musical trio Buddha Bless commissioned him to paint their faces in gory glory for their next video. He charges Bt4,000 per face – and is always urging his followers to get in on the action.

“I’m most happy when the fans show me their transformations,” Nueng says. “Some are just okay, but some are really good! Face-paint art isn’t yet widely recognised, but I’m sure it will be. Remember when everyone thought cosplay was weird and creepy? And now it’s cool to do cosplay. So I hope the same will happen for face paint.”

What creature might next emerge from the creative closet at Noynueng Makeup? Prepare to meet a Transformer – in the flesh. 

 

On the Web:

www.Facebook.com/NoyNeungMakeup