A special effects artist is painting the spookiest faces in town for Halloween.
Make-up expert Mollie Dale, 22, specialises in creating life-like horror and gore. Now, she is preparing to transform the people of Scunthorpe into ghouls, ghosts, zombies and creepy clowns during the busiest time of her year.
“I always liked horror films as a kid, including all the blood and gore,” said Mollie, who owns Molls Dolls training studio in Ashby High Street. “I took a real interest in it and decided I wanted to study the make-up side of things at college.”
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Mollie gained expertise in media make-up and prosthetics at Grimsby Institute and is now a qualified special effects artist. She is so dedicated to her craft that she has spent time in hospitals and with junior doctors learning about how the human body reacts to certain injuries, in order to accurately recreate them.
“It’s really different to what everyone assumes when you say you’re studying make up,” she said. “People often think it’s my back-up plan or just a hobby, but that’s not the case.”
(Image: Molls Dolls)
Mollie added: “I had to learn about real injuries and get experience on how to recreate them. I had an amazing time learning about everything and decided to start my own business when I was 18.”
Her family own a salon in Ashby, which offered her a launchpad for the business, but setting up on her own was still a huge decision. “It was nerve racking, I have to admit,” she said. “It was a huge leap for me, especially when everyone else was still doing college or going to university.
“However, I had to do this for myself, so I decided to jump into it with both feet. I didn’t have much money to my name, but I wouldn’t change a thing. At the start, I did normal make up for weddings and proms, but when the first Halloween came around the scary make up really took off.”
Since 2019, Mollie’s make-up has been hugely popular on and around Halloween. “A lot of people would ask me to do a particular character or theme, but if I hadn’t done it before I would be at home practising on myself until I got it right,” she said.
More recently, she has started training others in her make-up techniques. “Things are going really well and I have even started training people, which is what I always wanted to do. I thought I would have been about 50 before I went into that side of things, but the opportunity came about and I couldn’t say no,” she said.
“While the teaching was my dream, I’d like to expand that further now. I would love my own training building for people who want to work on TV and film.”
(Image: Molls Dolls)
Mollie’s recent creations include a “Thriller” zombie and a terrifying clown. She added: “I just love the whole idea of it.
“[My] dad and I bonded over horror films and the idea that you can be transported into that world as a particular character is amazing. You make people like they could genuinely be in a film and that feeling is a great thing that I hope I can teach others to achieve.”
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
