Professionally trained or self taught?

Why would being self-taught hold you back? I don't have any formal training in art, but have had fabulous training by Pashur, Marcela, etc.

I have people ask me all the time if I studied art - I say - "every chance I get!" Nothing will hold you back when you love the art and love what you are doing. Don't even worry what people think - you certainly don't wear a sign saying "I am self-taught"! (not that that would be a bad thing!)

I don't know - I guess it's just because there's so many schools, courses and classes nower days - especially around here in London and everyone that I know since getting into makeup art has had some sort of training whether it's going to a prestigious school or doing courses at college/university - and here I am, sat infront of my mirror teaching myself (along with Youtube tutorials etc). Wasnt 100% sure how people would react to that if I was to 'charge' - like maybe 'oh, so where did you train?', 'ermmmmm in my bedroom...' haha.

Just curious anyways - it's nice to know there's others out there who are doing it the same way as I. :-)

x

there are schools for face painting over there?? You don't need makeup training to do face paint, they aren't even close to the same thing if that's what you were thinking.

Most face painters start out completely self taught and as they make some money doing a few parties, they take a workshop here or there with the professional face painters that tour the world teaching classes. There are conferences like FABAIC if you want to do multiple classes at once.

I regularly have people asking me if I went to "clown school" ... my problem is that there are places that call themself "THE" clown school. There isn't a standard for it. There used to be Ringling Clown College, but to my knowledge they got rid of that a while back (it may be back in some form I don't know, but not like it was anyway) and that was for circus clowns and had very little to do with party clowning (which is completely different in so many ways). I have been to Mooseburger Camp twice now and am going back again this summer.

I am professionally trained and self-taught. I have a diploma in Make-Up Artistry, but it did not cover face and body painting so I learned that from a couple of books and practise. I also passed my union exams for IATSE (movie/television local).

There are a lot of self-taught MUA out there, including some of the top names. But there are a lot of jurisdictions that require certifications and licenses where you need some sort of formal training to get certified.

Talent and common sense goes a long way and formal training just dots the "i"s and crosses the "t"s as there are some things, such as hygiene and sanitation practises that get "missed" by a lot of people... things like applying make-up with your fingers. Which is strictly prohibited in union situations.

Thank you all for responding, very much appreciated.

I think Shannon read between my foggy lines with her answer hehe! Sorry, I probably wasn't very clear, but yes I mean although I do have common sense and I know how to apply makeup, I know the ins and outs with the hygience etc - is there certain certifications that would probably I'd probably be better off having in regards to these things?

I guess I just need to jump the gun, get out there and find out. :-D x

I'm selftaught and had the oppurtunity to attend two workshops of the wolfebrothers in the last two years...and going to do a workshop by Lynne Jamieson next september! wahoo! and I absorb everything I like of other people's work!

Oh and sorry, I'm not sure if there's schools for face painting specially - I know this is a face paint forum but I guess I'm just talking about makeup artistry as a whole - probably shouldn't do that.

See - complete beginner here :-p

I have a "degree" from FPF University (FacePaintForum)....

haha Miss Ronnie - I need to get me one of those :-p

;-)
I studied stage makeup in college and have been a professional actor for a truly mind-boggling 30 years. (Typing that actually blew my mind so hard that I had to go make a facebook post about it, LOL!)

Translating that to facepainting... well, swirls and teardrops and double loading and one-stroke? All of that is new to me. So, despite training, I'm learning ALL new!

Lots of people ask me where I learnt to face paint and i tell them that I have a youtube degree, they just look at me kinda silly like I'm joking and crack up in laughter...if only they knew how serious I was!

I was trained by another face painter and worked for her before I branched out on my own. But honestly YouTube and the forum are just as good! Personally i was glad for that training for the business side, to see how she ran things and interacted with clients.

When people ask me, I tell them I am pretty much self-taught (I have ZERO formal art training outside what I needed to graduate high school almost 20 years ago - yikes!). I tell them books and I subscribe to an online training service where I learn techniques and gather design ideas. I do not mention YouTube, because I don't want to just hand them my biggest free tool for learning. If they are serious about learning, they'll figure that out on their own! When they ask where I get my paints, I tell them I have an "online distributor" that I order from that I'd be happy to give them more info about when I'm not painting their child. I don't want to hand all my research over to my potential competition, but I want them to know I am a professional and it is a business not a fly by night throw a couple of bucks in my pocket thing!

That being said, I think I want to go back to school for a degree in Fine Art. I want to expand my horizons a bit and learn how to CREATE art from inspiration, not just copy what I see. I think I have a little bit of that ability, but I want to nurture it and improve it. I also want to create using all kinds of mediums (media?) rather than have skin be my only canvas!

Love that Miss Ronnie... Maybe Metina should start selling certificates for us to display, lol. A degree from FFP and SOHK (face paint forum and the school of hard knocks)