This is one talented artist, inspired by the current reigning queen Sasha Velour, artist Lotte Giebens has gone onto creating some fantastic and inspiring artwork. Not only by traditional convention such as digital, and run of the mill canvas, she has gone onto to use her face as her latest canvas. This girl can turn out some stunning looks, her advice for this? “Practice makes perfect. And what’s also important is: get inspired by other people, but don’t make yourself insecure by comparing yourself to them.”
Something we can all agree on is her work is creative, unique and stunning.
Dragadventures: You seem to create a lot of art around Sasha Velour does she stir up a lot of creativity for you?
Lotte: She does. Whenever I feel a creativity block or just don’t know what to do and create, I look up things she created, performances, art… Everything about it is so amazing and usually, it gives me ideas. One of the most fun looks I did was recreating Sasha’s ‘Cellophane’ performance on my face, I really want to do that kind of things more often.
DA: When did you begin to branch out to drawing drag queens in particular?
L: I’ve been drawing and painting all my life, so when I discovered drag race I knew what I had to do. It was a new source of inspiration. I’ve been watching drag race for about two years now so that’s when it started I guess. I started my digital art about a year ago though! Before that, I only drew on paper or painted on canvases.
DA: Is there any local drag queens in your area you admire or follow on social media?
L: When defining local I always find myself thinking about Dutch queens even though I live in Belgium, but since it’s really close to me that counts as well I think? I absolutely love Madame Madness (IG: @madame.madness) her makeup and creativity and I’m so excited to finally meet her soon! I adore Rœm Service (IG: @roemservice) because her cyborg/futuristic drag is so inspiring, it isn’t what you see every day.
I also adore Lady Galore (IG: the_lady_galore) her makeup and I love the entire concept of Drag queens united. Some of my favorite Belgian queens: Ivana (IG: @joeribeelen), Sugar love (IG: @henlust), Lola Mcqueen, Raven Cortez (IG: @raven.cortez) and Zelda Von Trapp (IG: @zeldavontrapp)
DA: Do you find creating makeup looks is a similar process to creating your art?
L: It’s a bit similar but there are differences. Thinking of a good concept, finding ideas and materials, that’s kinda the same. When I do ‘regular’ art, I mostly do ‘realistic’ portraits because I love the individuality of faces. It’s often the same: locate the eyes, nose, mouth etc, play with shadows and highlights and make sure the proportions are okay. But when I do makeup it’s different because I let go of the “realism” I use in my art. I use my face as a canvas and I can do anything with it, it’s more “free”.
DA: You created a stunning piece of art for Laganja Estranja, how did it feel giving the piece to her and her reaction?
L: It was amazing! I met her the night before Dragtech and I mentioned my art. She hadn’t recognized me from my looks but immediately knew what I was talking about and she was so sweet. The day after, I met her at Dragtech, but she didn’t recognize me – probably because I was in drag and I wasn’t the night before.
When I showed it to her she was shook and told me how talented I was, which was amazing coming from someone like her. It feels so good to be appreciated by people you actually look up to, it’s one of the best feelings in the world.
DA: Although we all have a favorite drag queen… (we know we shouldn’t) is there a particular queen you find the most inspiring be it art wise or in general?
L: Probably not a shocker at all: Sasha Velour. Art-wise, god, she is actually incredible. When I don’t have the inspiration I find myself looking back at her art, her make up… And eventually, I will find something to create. Her art and her vibe are a creativity boost. Personality wise, she is one of the kindest souls I’ve ever seen and the way she interacts with her fans is beautiful. As I mentioned before, it’s great when your art is appreciated by someone you admire and that’s very much the case with Sasha. She supports her fans so much and she loves everything we create. It’s amazing to see how involved she is with people and their art.
DA: Have you had any particular reactions to your work from queens on social media or in person?
L: Yes! I gave Gia Gunn some prints of my art as well at Dragtech and she loved it, she even made a video with me to put on her Instagram story, it was super sweet! I gave my dot drawing & a digital print to Aja at Dragtech as well and she loved it. Sasha follows me on Twitter and is always supportive of my work, I’m seeing her in February and I’m going to give her some artworks.
DA: What would be the main goal with the art or makeup looks? Would you like to branch out into the merchandise world?
L: There are very exciting things that are going to happen in the future that I can’t talk about just yet, but I’m definitely going to expand to different social media platforms. I mainly want to focus on my makeup, art is more of a hobby. Merchandising world? Maybe one day, but not right now. I don’t really want to start my own Etsy shop or something like that, but I if someone would want to work with me, I probably would.
DA: Any advice for anyone who thinks they aren’t very good at makeup looks or confident with makeup in particular?
L: Practice is the key to everything. I know that’s probably not what anyone wants to hear because that takes time and everyone wants to be amazing right away. My make up used to be bad, really bad, but I’ve been practicing for like 2 years now? And it has evolved greatly. Even a year ago my eyeliner was questionable sometimes, sometimes it still is.
And what’s also important is: get inspired by other people, but don’t make yourself insecure by comparing yourself to them. I often struggle with this, especially if you look at social media where almost everything is photoshopped – it’s very demotivating. But try your best, practice regularly and you will see yourself become better every time. And don’t hesitate to ask for help or advice! I’m always happy to help!
If you don’t then get following this fantastic artist, full of helpful words of encouragement. Check out her Instagram account below to see her collection of makeup and artwork.
DragAdventures 