Most people know about the battle for cheerleading to become a sport, but few know that the battle for makeup to become an art form has begun.

There are no hard-and-fast rules about what makes an art form. Art is subjective.

But if somebody can take a urinal, throw it upside down, write his name on it and call it an art form (Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”), then people spending hours creating color ranges, shading and perfect lines should have a place in the art world.

“Makeup can also be an art form — colours, shapes and patterns with references alluding to everything from mod to Cubism,” says Phillip Picardi from Refinery 29. “That’s beautiful even if you don’t want to wear it on your own face.”

There are thousands, even millions, of different sources for how to apply makeup, just like there are thousands of tutorials on how to paint.

The top-grossing YouTuber of 2016 is Michelle Phan. What does she film? Herself. Putting on makeup.

And she has made 50 million dollars doing it. Literally. 50 million.

“This lovely 29 year old is the richest YouTube personality with a true net worth of $50 million big ones,” says Ariel Leather of the Gazette Review. “She started posting makeup tutorial videos in 2006. The videos teach you everyday makeup styles, as well as how to resemble your favorite celebrities.”

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are filled with these makeup videos, images and tutorials, teaching you how to get just the right look for your smoky eye or extra-long wing.

The eyeshadow and the eyeliner are just the start. There is a myriad of color choices and shading decisions that can affect the degree and intensity of the makeup and can affect the overall look.

Do you want bright blue eyeshadow and cherry-red lips?

Or would you choose a more neutral-colored palatte (guaranteed to include something titled “suede”)?

Or do you want black, mile-thick eyeliner with dark purple lips and an ashy complexion?

You can control how others see you based on the kind of makeup choices you use, and this fact adds a whole new dimension to the art. Now it is self-expression.

Jackson Polluck, an abstract expressionist painter (the guy that literally threw paint on a canvas) said, “Every good painter paints what he is.”

There is not a more fitting description of “painting what you are” than makeup because makeup is a form of creative self-expression.

Makeup, painting, cheerleading, football, engineering, chemistry, mathematics and business are all forms of expression.

Although we don’t know if cheerleading will officially make it into the sports realm or not, makeup is coming up strong in the art world.

Megan Finsel, a writer for “The Artifice,” an online art magazine, spoke of makeup artists when she said, “She is an artist, the makeup is her medium of choice, her face is her canvas. When she is done, she is not only an artist but a piece of living, breathing artwork.”