08/22/2026
I stand by my painting techniques in this "Fiona Ogre Backstage Transformation" video that went viral: getting 1.2 million likes and 27 million views.
I shall address the most common comments I have received, below. I hope they are helpful to those who are also doing/ will do makeup backstage for "Shrek: The Musical".
Here are my Shrek Makeup Artist Confessions:
💚 Yes, we could have painted faster. But why should painters go faster when they have the time to take their time? We had one minute and 40 seconds because of the choice to have Farquad's father do a "video call in". Other productions will have much less time, closer to 1:20 or even just 45 seconds.
💚 The brushes were pre-loaded with oil based body paint (I knew the exact amount needed after we first practiced). We didn't need to dip for more. No powder needed!
💚 I will admit: we could have had the green cloth piece that goes around her neck velcroed around her neck instead of using the zipper. That way she didn't need to duck underneath it. I liked the note this commenter had.
💚 I don't own an airbrush gun (yet). Remember that this was a community theatre production, so this would be expensive. Plus I was not seasoned enough to deal with how to fix clogged airbrush guns. Too stressful. I saw professionals use face paint brushes backstage for this musical's moment, so I did too.
💚 The COVID mask style ogre nose happened because I liked how the strings changed her face shape on stage. I did have prosthetic adhesive, but I liked the strings. Plus I didn't want to risk the nose being sweated off. I stand by this decision, haha.
💚 I left Fiona's eye shadow on and not painted over because our Fiona used green and gold eyeshadow, up to the eyebrow. Since she goes back and forth from human to ogre, then ogre to human, then human to ogre again, I wanted to keep her makeup consistent. On stage as an ogre the eye shadow looks like it belongs on her. Do you see a little bit of her natural skin peaking through the base of her eye shadow when you're looking up close? Yes, but as an ogre from far away, that reads as a little bit of peach in her eye shadow. We did not have the time to have consistent eye shadow removed then applied, then removed, then applied.
💚 Fiona's face was tilted the way it was because we were working with what lighting we had, and needed to see what became green.
💚 My assistant has the height that she has. There was no need to comment about it.
💚 Yes, the hair is Ariel red. We understand. We had to sew the wedding veil into this second wig because we needed to have it stop falling off Fiona as she danced. So the first wig is Fiona red headed shade accurate, and the second wig was decided by the team to be this one. Limited budget, my friends.
We made it work. Everything about Fiona looked excellent on stage, and that is what matters! 💚
