September 13, 2016

Meet Burbank Special Effects Makeup Artist: Kelsea Sakamoto

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to creative genisu Kelsea Sakamoto.

Kelsea, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I was little, I told my parents I wanted to be a detective. As I grew older, my fascination with art expanded, but it wasn’t until I went to a MAC seminar that I decided I wanted to be a makeup artist.

I finished high school at 16. I signed up for makeup school the following year and graduated from Joe Blasco’s Makeup School at 18. Joe Blasco’s taught me all aspects of makeup (from beauty to special effects), and each part of the course I loved more than the next, but as soon as we hit the special effects portion, my interest for beauty makeup dissipated. Special effects was exciting – coming up with the idea was fun, but actually being able to create something that literally took people’s breath away – it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I would spend hours at school practicing SFX makeup, and then go home and spend hours practicing on my parents, sister and myself. It was then that my mom shook her head and said, “I should have known you would end up doing something like this – after all, you loved watching open heart surgery as a baby.”

From Joe Blasco’s, I started working on small films. When I wasn’t working on that, I was organizing photo shoots with my friends so that I could build up my portfolio. My teacher at Joe Blasco’s ended up being my mentor and one of my closest friends. She started taking me on any jobs she booked, and I even had the honor of hiring her myself for a zombie movie in 2011!

Has it been a smooth road?
I have over 1300 fans on Facebook, and I’ve worked on countless web series, short films, and photo shoots, but the movie industry really is one of the toughest industries to get into.
My goal after graduating Joe Blasco’s was to get into the union and work on makeup full time for large box office productions.

I spent a year juggling babysitting and makeup jobs (many of which were low-budget productions, though I did do a tiger bite for Discovery Network, and I worked on Kellog’s Ce-Reality Show, amongst other things) before I got a “real” job (aka an office job that paid well but was a creativity killer).

Fast forward 3 years, and I’m engaged with a baby and a catering company of my own. Is working for the union and being a renowned SFX makeup artist still a dream? Yes, of course, but instead of stressing, I’ve grown satisfied with working on anything that will get my work seen – I love what I do and I love the effect I create. Talent speaks for itself, and I have no doubt that if I continue working on short films, photo shoots, and other jobs, I will undoubtedly end up on the set of Grey’s Anatomy one day.

How would you describe the type of kid you were growing up?
I was very inquisitive and full of imagination. I spent a lot of time reading, and when I didn’t have my nose in a book, I was drawing or creating something. My mom had me signed up for a lot of extracurricular activities (drawing, ceramics, piano lessons, etc) – at one point, she had me lie about my age to get me into a drawing class.

Is there a specific memory from when you were younger that you really miss?
There are so many!!

Road trips to Kansas to visit my grandpa are definitely top on my list, next to Christmas mornings. My mom, dad, grandma and I would load up in the car and start the 3-day road trip to Clifton, Kansas. We would stop at the caverns, the bat caves, the petrified forest, and way more places that I remember but can’t recall the name of.

So, what should we be on the lookout for, what’s next in store for you?
I definitely plan on continuing my career as a makeup artist. Additionally, I’m looking forward to the continued growth of The Catering Carnival (the catering company I started with my fiancé). We went from The Carnival Truck to a catering company in less than a year. Our goal is to continue to branch out and expand.

I recently started another business called Raising Zola, dedicated to creating products that I found I needed when I became a mom. Right now, I’m selling nursing tops, but I plan on expanding my product line to baby items and other things I found were essential to being a new mom. My Etsy store had 20 orders in the first month alone, so it’s definitely keeping me busy and I’m excited for it to grow into something that Zola can take over one day if she wants to.

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