Today we’d like to introduce you to Dzhuliia Melnik.
Hi Dzhuliia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My name is Dzhuliia (pronounced as Julia), Melnik; I am a makeup artist from Ukraine who knows from personal experience that if you sincerely dream of something, the dream will definitely come true! My story begins in childhood, as my parents, especially my father, instilled in me a love for creativity from an early age. My dad taught me that to achieve the desired result; there are many ways to do it. He taught me to think creatively with whatever is at hand – you can create something artistic. So, in my childhood, I sculpted sculptures from dough, made appliqués from eggshells, and cut out silhouettes from paper for shadow theater. I was always involved in the process, which developed my imagination. When I grew up, I attended a theater studio and dreamed of becoming an actress. I promised my mom to become famous, and in a way, I fulfilled her wish, but not because of my acting skills. When I pursued my higher education in acting for theater and cinema, I simultaneously searched for a hobby that I could turn into a profession. I tried playing the guitar, piano, be a photographer, making accessories from polymer clay, and even completed a modeling school. It was during modeling school that I had a makeup lesson for myself, and I needed to buy cosmetics and brushes for the first time. I felt like I had a knack for it. Then a series of events unfolded: a friend who was a photographer took pictures of me as a model and realized I could do makeup for other models, so I started working as a makeup artist without formal education. I even felt ashamed to take money because I wasn’t a professional. Another significant event that made me think more seriously about a makeup artist career was when I had a theatrical makeup lesson during acting classes. I always wanted to create more complex makeup looks and enjoyed going beyond the standard. Instead of childish drawings of dogs and cats as face art, I chose a real tiger photograph as a reference. That was the second sign for me. And the third and final sign was when my classmate invited me to accompany her to makeup courses, and I went. That’s how my professional makeup artist career began, and it developed very quickly! After completing makeup courses, two days later, I interviewed for a job at a company that serviced major TV projects like “The Voice,” “Dancing with the Stars,” etc., and four days later, I was already working on set. On the first day, stars on the TV project started trusting me with their makeup, and within two weeks, I was offered a feature in a magazine showcasing my own makeup technique. With each passing day, I gained experience working on video shoots, commercials, TV projects, photo shoots, weddings, and clients. I could already boast of working with celebrities. And at the age of 23, I was offered to be the head makeup department for the movie “Let’s Dance.” There were often tasks related not only to beautiful makeup but also to creating special effects makeup. In 2014, I came across the show Face Off, which changed everything for me. I realized I wanted to develop in FX makeup; I wanted to transform people beyond recognition using makeup. I started researching schools where I could get education and materials. And I realized that in Ukraine, we didn’t have schools or materials for this. So, I started my journey as a self-taught artist and ordered materials from the United States. I learned from YouTube, makeup forums, and from Face Off show. It was two years of experiments, many failures, and several times I questioned why I was spending time and money on this when my result was far from the level of American makeup artists. For two years, every day, like obsessed, I devoted all my free time to studying prosthetic makeup. I spent the money I earned doing beauty makeup not on dresses, jewelry, or vacations abroad but on purchasing silicone, plaster, adhesives, and other materials from the USA. I created creatures, and then my friends and I came up with scenarios for these characters, and we shot short films, some of which were even selected for short film festivals. For me, studying prosthetic makeup was expensive, so I wanted to build a portfolio to show people that it’s real to do prosthetic makeup in Ukraine, and organizing photo and video shoots was my favorite process because during shoots, you see the result of your work and can see how makeup responds to the actor’s facial expressions, see mistakes, problems that need to be solved, and that’s how I learned. When I realized that knowledge from YouTube was not enough, I decided to apply to the school I dreamed of attending. I didn’t have enough money to cover the full course at Cinema Makeup School (LA), so I asked for a discount, but the school didn’t offer any discounts, but there was a scholarship competition that happened once a year. I realized that this was my chance! The first attempt was unsuccessful, but on the second try, a year later, I won the grand prize! As the school said, for the first time in the history of the competition, the audience and judges were unanimous, and everyone chose me! During the competition, Ukrainians actively supported me, voted every day, all online publications wrote about me, all TV channels filmed stories about me. And as a result, more people learned about my dream of studying in Los Angeles at Cinema Makeup School, and more than 40 thousand people supported my dream! Then I said, “Mom, remember I promised you I would become famous?” 🙂 The next chapter of my life began when I went to Los Angeles. My training lasted for six months, and it was like a fairy tale! I realized that this was my element; I want to dedicate my whole life to this! During my training, I had the opportunity to communicate with Oscar-winning makeup artists and ask for their advice. Upon returning to Ukraine, I started focusing more on special effects makeup, and people approached me for the most complex tasks. In Ukraine, trust in our professionals in prosthetic makeup only began to emerge; before that, they turned to masters from other countries. So, from 2017 to 2022, I actively took on special tasks and worked as a makeup artist on feature films. When the war broke out, I had to leave my country. At first, I was in Poland for three months, and then I decided to fly to Los Angeles because I wanted to continue pursuing my passion and helping my country.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t like to say the phrase “it was difficult” on my journey. Although from the outside, it seems like that’s exactly what it was. Many people didn’t believe that it was possible to pursue prosthetic makeup in Ukraine because there was no knowledge, no materials, and no demand for it. I prefer to call my journey “interesting”! Yes, there were moments when I felt discouraged, and I didn’t understand why I was doing all of this. But curiosity prevailed, and the next day, I was back in the workshop experimenting again.
Fate often tested my love for my profession. Sometimes, I was given unrealistic deadlines, like making two aliens in five days, and I agreed! At that time, I was self-taught and didn’t even imagine how to do it. But I did it anyway. I took on tasks that were considered technically impossible to accomplish. But I sacrificed sleep and did it! I love the adrenaline rush, deadlines, how my brain works and solves complex problems! I accepted projects without understanding how to execute the task, but things worked out as I went along. If I only agreed to do what I already knew how to do, I would never have evolved but would have remained stagnant. When I was a beauty makeup artist, I was sent to do makeup for the most scandalous stars because they thought I was fearless. But honestly, I was sometimes scared, but I still wanted to step out of my comfort zone for the sake of growth.
The biggest blow to my career was the war in my country. The war caught me at a moment when I was preparing to leave for Malta to work as a head makeup department on an American film. I underwent stressful preparation because I was brought into the project two weeks before filming, and there was a lot of prosthetic makeup, special effects, and so on. I didn’t sleep at nights; the producers rushed us to leave Ukraine faster because there might be a war. For me, the war wasn’t scary then; the probability of not being able to prepare all the prosthetics for the film was. On February 24, I woke up at 5 in the morning from loud explosions. I realized that the Russia attacks my homeland, the war had indeed begun. We packed our things and left the capital of Ukraine (Kyiv). We spent two weeks in the village, and then my mom, aunt, and I were sent to Poland for safety. It was no longer about my participation in the film; that became secondary. Moreover, we couldn’t physically leave at that time because there were traffic jams on the roads; it took people 7 days to cross the border. In Poland, I decided that I needed to continue doing what gave me strength. The war broke all of us. It was emotionally very difficult due to the loss of loved ones, friends, moving to a foreign country, losing everything you loved, burying a brother, saying goodbye to parents and not knowing when you’ll see them again, breaking up with a loved one, and seeing all your plans fall apart! Arriving in the USA, hoping to start working, I encountered a period of writers’ and actors’ strike, which still affects my employment. I have never been unemployed for so long as in 2023. But I believe that fate is testing me in this way, and I will remain steadfast in my desire to work and win an Oscar in 10 years 🙂
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
I work as a beauty and FX makeup artist. I cover a wide spectrum of my profession, and I know that there are no limits to it. For 15 years, I have been doing beauty makeup for photoshoots, music videos, advertisements, clients, and celebrities. Additionally, I work as a makeup artist on films, which means I conceptualize looks for each character, plan stages of transformation based on the characters’ development in the script, assemble teams, create estimates, and work directly on set and during filming.
For the past 10 years, I’ve been passionate about prosthetic makeup and special effects. I enjoy transforming people beyond recognition. Sometimes, it involves creating monsters or aliens or aging an actor plus 15-40 years. Other times, it requires bruises, scars, bullet wounds, or slit throats.
I love every aspect of my profession, whether it’s making people beautiful or, conversely, terrifying.
I have worked with artists such as Katheryn Winnick, Ivanna Sakhno, I did make up for Mike Tyson. I’ve created makeup looks, props, prosthetics for ASAP Rocky, Oliver Tree, Bring Me the Horizon, 5 Seconds of Summer, and others.
Perhaps I’m proud of winning two prestigious American contests.
First was the “Next Level of Cosplay” in 2016, which awarded me a grant to study at Cinema Makeup School (I won on my second attempt). Then, in 2022, I won the Stan Winston School contest! (I lost count of how many times I tried, maybe about 5 times). I’m proud of myself because when I didn’t win the first time, I didn’t give up; I kept trying until I succeeded.
I think what sets me apart is my dedication to my work. People call me obsessed because I dedicate all my time to my profession and developing my skills. What distinguishes me is my hard work, endurance, and love for my profession.
For now, I do beauty makeup for clients, work on an independent movies and filming my online course for Ukrainian. Even if I have day off, anyway I keep practicing.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
* Patience, endurance. You need to have patience in my profession and love what you do. Not everyone can endure three days of shooting for 30 hours straight, with 3-hour breaks for sleep.
* Not being afraid of mistakes but learning from them to become better. Constantly challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone. Not being afraid of anything new and adapting quickly.
* Being attentive to details! For example, I am very self-critical! When people asked about my favorite work that I’m proud of, I say that I haven’t done it yet—it’s all in the future. I still have room to grow, and I aim to be at least on par with the best makeup artists someday. Self-criticism helps me pay attention to details. And self-taught thinking helps me find unconventional solutions and improvise with available materials or tools. I’ve had to search for alternative solutions many times in my life in Ukraine to achieve results, but that’s a whole other story!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fxmuartist.com/?fbclid=PAAaYt5tJri_CdDh8WvaEFfC8iQgxabNFR-0oXediX3HLdHEyeEBDvcT9CrxA_aem_AeCoFKZudSo4BhpX6pixnyRjKzb1GomFO2JP4Q3nQMnRl15KvwqUGHcD55RvC4erxTU
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fxmuartist?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/juliamelnikmuafx?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dzhuliia-melnik-952a97260_bio-fx-and-beauty-makeup-activity-7096988874677104640-ow1x?utm_source=combined_share_message&utm_medium=member_ios
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@juliamelnik-fxmakeupartist2450?si=9IYoaIUoqcRLWAdF
