Meet Nicholas Robinson: Makeup Artist, Content Creator & Cosplayer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicholas Robinson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicholas, why did you pursue a creative career?
Being an artist was actually one of the first identities that I recognized about myself at 3 years old and so growing up I was always singing, dancing, illustrating and playing instruments. For me, doing these things just felt natural and fun and coming from the south side of my hometown in Georgia I didn’t even know that the arts could be turned into a career path because I never saw Black people in my community thrive off doing the arts. So as an adult I went to college for journalism and ended up in corporate America after college, working a 9 to 5 to pay the bills and ultimately feeling like I’d lost all sense of direction and happiness in my life. It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I was introduced to the world of cosplay at DragonCon and discovered that I have a natural talent for makeup after I helped my friends put together their cosplay looks. I instantly became obsessed with the craft and began teaching myself how to do beauty, avant-garde and special effects makeup. So by day I worked in corporate America and by nights and weekends I’ve steadily built up my skills in makeup, cosplay, content creation and photography to become a brand with relationships to both mainstream and indie makeup brands and a growing list of clients. Looking back, It’s ironic to realize that the little kid version of me always knew who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing but as adult I had to lose and then rediscover my creative side to really understand and accept that I’m an artist and that can feed both my soul and my bank accounts.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art really does come from my perception of what beauty is and what it can be. I grew up loving comic books, anime and video games and as a young adult I became obsessed with the world of high fashion models, specifically Black models, and Black Queer culture. Mix all that together and out comes my art. It pays tribute to the beauty of Black people and our skin, our music, our fashion, our culture and Black femininity. My art pays tribute to that beautifully geeky world of sci-fi and fantasy and the ways in which Black people can thrive and hold space in those worlds. And it pays homage and tribute to my rich Black Queer history from Drag culture to Ballroom to the ways in which African people have bent and reimagined gender expression. So in essence I take the things that I love about myself and my communities and filter it through my art. In a world that doesn’t show a lot of possibilities for young Black people, especially young Black creatives, It’s really been quite a journey trying to find my own style and determine what I want to say as an artist and I love it when fans tell me how happy my art makes them feel and how beautiful my clients feel after I’m done creating a look for them. At the end of the day I want people who see my art to feel like they can be beautiful pieces of art too. And I want other Black men to see that they can choose a career path in the world of makeup and cosplay. There are so many rigid hyper-masculine boxes that Black men get trapped in because of racism and societal expectations and so many of us deserve the chance to see examples of carefree Black men breaking gender norms and expressing ourselves through beauty and art.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First off, my bestie is going to enjoy some good home cooked meals because me and my friends throw down in the kitchen. But we’d have have to go to Buford High because there are so many bomb Asian, African and Latin restaurants there. We’d enjoy have to enjoy a spa day at Jeju. We’d have to get dinner at Jinya Ramen or Miss Gogi and desserts Cami Cakes or Cafe Intermezzo. We can enjoy a night out dancing at Bulldogs or The Groove: R&B All Night if that’s still running (I hope it is after lock down!) and then to end a night of dancing we’d need a 3am trip to Waffle House.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have a collective of creative friends that have definitely shared their time, love and support with me to help me grow on my journey and that collective includes Simmeyon Strickland/@AFX_Sim, Mario Reid/@Supahem/@KBZ_Supehem of Scrubs 2 Dubs and Darrian Jones/@djones_photos. Simmeyon’s cosplay, graphic design and UX design skills are unparalleled and Mario is an amazing cosplayer, graphic designer and rising gaming streamer and host of his own show and they’re the first two people to let me do makeup on them. And Darrian is such a talented photographer and creative and he was the first professional photographer to put me in front of a camera and take pictures of my makeup. So I dedicate my Shoutout to them.

Instagram: @BFX_Nic

Twitter: @BFfxNic

Facebook: @BFXNic

Other: Business inquiries should be sent to Bfxnic@gmail.com

Image Credits
Blue Panthro Model – Jacolby/@sirbilboswaggins Nightcrawler Model – Simmeyon/@AFX_Sim All makeup and photography and photo editing was done by me except for the Nightcrawler and Panthro photos. Photo editing on the Panthro photo was done by myself and Simmeyon/@AFX_Sim. The Nightcrawler photo was edited solely by Simmeyon/@AFX_Sim