Hi there! I'm a Film/TV makeup artist based in Seattle, WA. I focus in special FX, but am also available for events and portraits. My name is Kathleen Phillpotts, but I do business as Kathleen Era.
Initially, I got into makeup after stumbling upon some unaltered before and after pictures. The concept of improving one's appearance with a few brushes and products really sparked my interest, and I casually started learning about the whole process in my free time. For a while, I was content with making people feel pretty, until one fateful day in 2010. A good friend of mine asked if I wanted to help him participate in the Seattle 48 Hour Film Festival. He explained that we had a weekend to shoot and edit a short film based off a genre that was chosen at random, and I enthusiastically agreed.
... We got "horror or musical", and needless to say, we wholeheartedly went with horror.
Strangely enough, I didn't do makeup for that project. I offered to do so, but ended up playing one of the characters who met an unfortunate and bloody fate early in the film. But as I was getting slathered in stage blood, latex, and dirt, I couldn't help but think how much fun the whole atmosphere was. Being on set/location became an environment I craved, and I found that making people the very opposite of pretty was much more entertaining. Of course, glamour will always have a special place in my heart. It's just that something about hearing exclamations of disgust and awe really make me love FX.