A DALGETY BAY woman has been making a drama out of lockdown by creating armies of zombies, comic book characters and scary-looking cyborgs in West Fife.

With her Rising Stars Youth Theatre company not able to operate due to COVID-19, Cloe Anderson is facing up to a new challenge by running special effects make-up classes online.

Cloe, 23, had been giving her mum some gruesome looks and to relieve the lockdown boredom she offered to share her expertise.

She said: “I started to teach SFX make-up online, using Zoom, to children so they’ve been going about dressed as zombies and making cool faces!

“I’ve always been interested in it, I used my poor mum as a model and tried different things on her, and thought it’d be something a bit different.”

The classes, now aimed at adults as well as kids, teach the basics of face-painting, including how to use colour, create structure and blend and apply fine detail as well as an introduction to using scar wax and liquid latex.

The effects are stunning – and chilling – and proved an immediate hit.

She explained: “I was flooded. The first course was so over-booked I had to run another one for the huge mass of people I had to fit in!

“I thought with 22 kids doing face-painting, I’d have to shout to be heard but it’s silent, they’re so focused on what they’re doing and some of their work is incredible.”

Cloe started Rising Stars, which is for kids aged three to 15, at the age of 18 and normally runs classes in Dalgety Bay, Rosyth, Oakley and Cowdenbeath.

However, she started teaching drama as a volunteer at 12. She explained: “I was quite a shy kid and my P2 teacher said when I started to act it really brought me to life. I joined a youth theatre group and while I didn’t want to be on stage, I really enjoyed the backstage stuff and there were people a lot like me who shared that interest.

“It brought my confidence on so much. That’s my favourite part. I get these shy children that remind me so much of myself at that age.

“There was one little girl who was in tears and couldn’t even lift her head to look at me. After a wee talk she came in and after an hour, the change was incredible, she’d made new friends and had completely changed.

“To help someone like that has been my dream since I was nine.”

For information on the SFX courses, email RisingStarsScotland@gmail.com, go to the Facebook page or call 07490 444 221.