Plum teen uses artistic skills, special effects makeup to create unique looks

Myiah Pastorius was 11 when she began watching horror movies.

Knowing the gore in the likes of “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” wasn’t real left Myiah, of Plum, more curious than scared.

She began looking into how to recreate the injuries, facial deformities and conditions characters in horror movies suffered from.

Starting from scratch, she began learning how to recreate different wounds from staple makeup products, like eyeshadow, and make them as realistic as possible.

Myiah started with recreating bruises and slowly worked her way to facial deformities. She described the process as a lot of trial and error.

“I really knew nothing,” Myiah said.

She remembered cutting up toothpicks and gluing them on her face in an attempt to create a jaw injury.

“That was a rough one,” she said.

The now 14-year-old has since graduated to using special effects makeup and has moved on to creating her own staple looks.

“By far, my No. 1 favorite (look) is mold on people’s faces,” Myiah said.

She said the look gives a zombie-like effect, and it’s a process that allows her more creative license. She’s able to expand the colors and textures she works with while creating a look that’s pretty uncommon when looking into special effects makeup, she said.

“When I’m making a bruise … I know what colors I’m using — red, blue and purple,” Myiah said.

Her mother, Hilary, was introduced to Myiah’s new hobby when the girl’s father, Matthew, sent a photo of Myiah’s hand missing a finger. After a moment of panic, her mom was supportive of the hobby.

Hilary still gets a bit unnerved at the prospect of Myiah being legitimately injured when she sees her daughter’s latest looks.

“It was a little unsettling at first,” Hilary said. “Myiah does all types of things, and it’s cool to see what she creates.”

Myiah said she has spent a lot of time combing through images of real injuries to create the most authentic look possible.

“I can usually handle a lot (of gore),” she said. “I have come across some stuff where I’ve been like, ‘I should close this down and take a step away.’ That’s only when it gets extremely gory.”

Myiah said the favorite Halloween costume she recreated using special effects makeup was the character Georgie from the Stephen King novel and movie “It.”

Georgie is a little boy whose arm is ripped off by an “ancient, shape-shifting evil” that normally presents itself as a clown. Myiah’s costume was Georgie, post injury.

During her exploration of special effects makeup, Myiah discovered cosplay. As a fan of anime — her favorite being a horror series titled “The Promised Neverland” — Myiah began dressing up for comic-cons and pulling inspiration for makeup looks to recreate characters.

“The Promised Neverland” ties in heavily with her special effects makeup.

As she has worked to hone her craft, Myiah has begun helping friends with their makeup for comic-cons, Halloween costumes and renaissance festivals.

Hilary has tried to convince her daughter to take art classes or even start a small business using her skills.

But Myiah simply said both would take the enjoyment out of something she loves because they would require structure.

A free spirit with her art, Myiah only creates makeup looks, costumes or other art pieces when the inspiration strikes her. She also sculpts and draws in addition to working on human canvases.

She hopes to use her skills to enter art school and one day design her own costumes.

“When inspiration strikes,” Hilary said, “Myiah can create some amazing things.”