HERE in Guyana, if you’re looking for innovative, creative and awe-inspiring body art, there’s really only one place to look: Bravo Arts. Over the years, the name ‘Steve Bravo’ has had quite some traction among Guyanese, and that’s because there’re few people who do what he does. as well as he does it.
From Extraterrestrials, to Disney characters, to Greek Mythlogy, Bravo Arts has done it all, and always has that wow factor to his work.
Now owner of Bravo Arts, 28-year-old Steve Douglas is eyeing higher heights as he competes for a scholarship to attend the Cinema Makeup School in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
The school has produced several famous movie makeup artists, and is also known for being the institution from which many of the SYFY Channel’s famous Face Off television shows originate.
After having been shortlisted on the School’s makeup competition for his submission of his depiction of Medusa, the Greek mythological monster, Steve now hopes that he can make it through the next four weeks of voting, so as he might possibly win the scholarship.
Since the school started offering the scholarship, every year, hundreds of people submit their creations, among which only 20 are shortlisted.
Steve says that after submitting last year and not making it, he knew he had to come better this year. “And even with my creation, I wasn’t sure if it was good enough,” he said.
But it was. And now, among the top 20 finalists, Steve must ensure that he is among those with the highest votes each week, so that he moves on to the next round.
After three weeks of eliminations, the top five finalists will be reviewed by the school to decide who will be awarded the scholarship. And Steve has his fingers tightly crossed.
Steve’s ‘Bravo Arts’ business has been around for seven years, and, outside of one year’s training from the Burrowes School of Art, most of his talent, he says, is self-taught.
But this scholarship could give him the skills required to grow his business and become a trained professional in his field. “When I first started, there were people who were doing face painting; but when I looked at other countries, I saw that people were doing more. And I wanted to do more,” he said.
With his own artistic skills, Steve went from an amateur, to creating beautiful works of body and face painting through trial and error.
“I get inspiration from different things. But lots of work I do is for people who come with their own ideas then try to make it into reality,” Steve said. He noted that the process of creating is always challenging, no matter how skilled he is. Challenges also arise if the costumes require material that would sometimes be hard to source, leading him to have to use all his creative ‘smarts’ to substitute.
Steve would like to encourage any supporter of his work to visit his Bravo Arts to vote for him weekly, as every vote counts.