Glasgow students step in to transform viral star Oli into The Grinch

The Clydebank man and his little brother Flynn became a worldwide hit at Halloween after dressing as Pennywise the Dancing Clown and Georgie from the hit Stephen King book IT and its recent film remake.

The Evening Times was so impressed with 22-year-old Oli’s performance - which received over ten million views in just over 24 hours - that we reached out to him with another project last week - and challenged him to take to Buchanan Street.

Emma Good, makeup artistry lecturer at the City of Glasgow College, oversaw the transformation, along with student Niamh Foulis - which took just over an hour.

Having worked with MAC Cosmetics as a trainer, 28-year-old Emma decided to finally share her experience with budding makeup artists at the City of Glasgow College, where she has now been teaching for eight months.

She said: “After training MAC’s artists up, I decided I wanted to come here. It’s really creative and the students are great as well.”

Speaking about the project at hand, Emma said: “Our curriculum head put us in touch with the Evening Times after hearing about the job. Niamh is currently competing in WorldSkills, a competition in Birmingham. She’s been chosen as one of the top eight body painters in the UK. We’ve got everything crossed that she’ll win a place at the competition. It was natural she’d be one of the choices for something like this. It suited her completely. She’s definitely got the skills for it.”

Niamh is originally from Callander and has always had a vested interest in extreme makeup and bodypainting, something she has been sharing for years on her social media accounts.

City of Glasgow College has fielded its largest-ever team of students for this year’s WorldSkills UK Live National Finals. In addition to the 75 per cent increase in those attending the elite competition, the number of core skills have been expanded to include areas of economic growth and priority.

A total of 93 top apprentices and learners from 21 colleges and training providers across Scotland will compete at WorldSkills UK LIVE, which takes place from tomorrow to Saturday at Birmingham’s NEC.

Niamh is competing in the media makeup category, and the 19-year-old told the Evening Times WorldSkills “is the most complicated thing I’ve done so far.”

She added: “The lecturers here asked me in my first year if I wanted to get involved. I want to get into special effects makeup, more ‘arty’ and avante garde stuff. There was a photo entry, the Scottish heats, and now I’m into the finals. It’s crazy. We’ve done so much work for it and have put so many hours into the project.

“Organisers gave entrants a brief. It was superstars, divas and legends, but I went down the legends route and did the Jacobites. I did half English and half Scottish with them fighting down the middle. This UK final brief is centred around history and I’m doing the Suffragettes. I’m making a postbox for a headpiece. There’s a lot of intricate work involved. You’re only given four hours with a 15-minute break in between so it’s a lot of work.”

Speaking about turning Oli green as The Grinch - just in time for the release of the animation film in cinemas, which sees Benedict Cumberbatch voice the disgruntled, green creature who despises Christmas - Niamh said she was asked by Emma whether she had seen the now-famous Pennywise video.

“It was terrifying,” said Niamh. “Emma said Oli was coming in to be made over as The Grinch and asked if I was up for the task - and of course I was. We watched videos of The Grinch and of Oli as Pennywise.

“We did character makeup last year, including Elphaba, Prince Charming, Disney princesses, as well as Khaleesi and Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones. Obviously we do bodypainting. This has been totally different, but it’s been great. Oli’s been a good sport.”

Emma added: “We sat down together and looked at photos and planned out what we’d need to make it look as effective as possible and really bring the character to life. We had to research Oli’s face shape beforehand so we did a bit of Internet snooping! We planned around that to create the character. We also had to research the character and see what kind of makeup we’d use. It was a bit of trial and error.

“We’ve done some weird and wonderful stuff before, but not The Grinch yet - and we’re definitely in the festive spirit now.”

A patient Oli also spoke about life after his video went viral. “It’s been absolutely mental,” he said. “The feedback’s been so positive, nothing negative at all.

“Someone approached me for the first time on the train the other day. The ticket inspector came past and he said, ‘I loved that video’. For a split second, I was confused about what video he was even talking about! I had a chat with him and he was super-nice.

I’ve actually been quite taken aback with the effect it’s had on people. Some have been in touch to say it’s been inspirational. But I just dressed up for a laugh and wanted to make others laugh on the night.

“One of the great things about doing stuff like this is I don’t feel like myself anymore, so I feel like I can completely do whatever you want. It’s great.

“I’m a big fan of The Grinch film. It’s sort of a Christmas tradition that everyone watches it - it’s just class.

“Jim Carey is an absolute genius. Stuff I’m interested in acting-wise is a lot of physical, voice and kind of over-the-top with a point behind it - and that film is a showcase of it.”