Gab’s Fab Touches
He showcases his art with his face as the canvas; with every stroke of his brush, hues of artistry pigment his skin.
Gabriel Gil, a 15-year-old artist and self- proclaimed member of the LGBTQ+ community, has shown interest and exceptional talent in drawing since he was young. His work back then varies from animated drawings to sketches and portraits of idols and celebrities. In early 2018, he discovered his skills in doing make-up and decided to enrich this newly found talent.
According to him, he started to sharpen his skills in make-up mainly because of another make-up artist named Lance Aguas who receives free make-up products in PR packages from famous companies. He further explained that he thought of improving so that one day, he might receive these packages, too.
In just a span of months, he developed his own style in make-up, with inspiration from Youtube make-up channels like Antonio Garza, James Charles, Patrick Starrr, and NikiTutorials. He then posts his creative ‘lewks’ on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
“My family supports me in my passion naman, they’re the ones buying me make-up products that I have,” Gabriel shared.
He stated that some of his looks are inspired by ‘drag queens’ and such and some are results of his imagination. He added that most of them take 3-5 hours to finish, including how much he spends on his photoshoots which he posts on his accounts.
Blending with Unique Colors
Colored pencils, acrylic, and watercolor paint were Gabriel’s trusty companions as a child, using them to help him convey what’s on his mind through artistic drawings.
Because of such background in arts, Gabriel’s make-up looks rarely revolve around mainstream make-up styles and methods. Usually, he even uses his face and body paint to spice up his looks.
He describes his art style as ‘dark/ fantasy’, often going for alien-ish and out-of-this-world concepts. This aesthetic does not only influence Gabriel’s drawings and make-up style, but also the combination of his clothes.
According to psychological experts, individuals like Gabriel acquire exceptional visual- spatial perception; letting them interpret and create visual images, have amazing pictorial imagination and expression, and understand the relationship between images and meanings and between space effects.
Some of Gabriel’s creative looks are the ‘Faceless’ makeup look where the audience are given the illusion that there is a huge hole in the middle of his face, with its ‘insides’ lined with shades of purple and the ‘Crack’ look where it seemed like his face was broken in shards and falling off.
Another notable look of Gabriel is the ‘My Alma Mater’ look advocating Quezon National High School (QNHS), with drag- inspired eyeshadow, bright highlights, and a face paint of ‘I love QNHS’ right above his jawline.
Stepping Outside the Box
Despite his efforts and creativity, there are still a number of people who thinks ill and disapprove of Gabriel’s talent, some of them throw negative comments such as “Ang O.A”, ”pupunta ka lang sa mall, ganyan pa suot mo,” and other statements downgrading how unorthodox he looks.
“I just… don’t give a d**n. That’s it.” Gabriel firmly stated. He explained that he does not let these shades over his light. Instead, he focuses on continuing to showcase his talent and who he really is, stating that he does this to please himself and not anyone else.
“To these people who just wanna be who they are, don’t let anyone order you what to do, be something you can be proud of. Getting out of the box isn’t bad, being different isn’t bad. Being unique is cool, too,” Gabriel concluded. #PrideandProud
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