How many FP here have any kind of art background? What brought them into Face Painting?

Was always arty; did an art degree but then did a Science degree; saw bodypainters at work when ~I worked in the Natural History Museum & was fascinated.
Didn't take up art again till after I was a science teacher, and quit to go run the Education Department in 2 zoos. Our facepainter quit, my boss made me do it between talks etc and there it started...

Cat x

I have always been drawing a lot and wanted to be a makeup artist doing special effects. But through to student guidance I ended on a multimedia designer school instead. After that I decided to take a year study classic drawing, continued by a course in illustration, cartoon and comic book (plus a small one in storyboarding). That was when I found out you could actually study to be a makeup artist! Half was special effects and theatre and the other half beauty. One day facepainting and one day bodypainting... I found that really funny, but didn't think it was something I could live of. But now it is my main income. The rest is more ordinary makeup. Love the mix. =)

First off I want to say, that I love everyone's stories. I think they are a great inspiration to new face painters. So now for my story.
I dont have any real art background. My brother is (or was) a professional artist of different "mediums", mostly canvas. I too am a "doodle bug". I have always been into arts and crafts since I was a kid. I think I have tried everything from needle point to scrapbooking and everything in between, but I never stuck to one thing. (I have tons of craft supplies just collecting dust). Anyways about 3 years ago I saw an ad for the TAT Store, for airbrush tattoos, so I decided to buy a small kit just as a hobby. Well three years later that hobby has turned into a business. (oh I got my hubby into to it too!). We started doing mostly airbrush tattoos, but I had found that the younger kids were afraid of the airbrush, so thats when I started Face Painting. I have learned alot just by the fourms, websites, books and videos alot of you have put out. They have been a huge help. I am still learning and I still have alot more to learn. I still can't draw a stright line (on Paper), but I can paint One!

I've always been an "artist"... since I could hold a crayon. My work from when I was 5, 10, etc. is still hanging in family homes... My grandmother and an uncle were/are very accomplished artists, so I got a lot of art supplies for birthdays and Christmas as a child...

Took art all through school, but my college diplomas and university credits are in Administration, Volunteer Management and Business/Marketing.

Have taken art classes all my life in various mediums - oil, acrylic, pottery, sculpting, photography... every chance I get. Pretty much everything hanging on our walls or sitting on our shelves was created by me or my brother who was very talented.

Got into make-up through my involvment in a Star Trek fan club ... we did our own SFX make-up and I decided I wanted to learn all about all sorts of make-up so went and attended make-up school.

The face and body painted started because I was looking for something else to do with the make-up to generate income, and, discovered that face and body painting merged the artist with the make-up artist and is extremely satisfying creatively.

I have always been artsy as well. I have a degree in Jewelry Design from F.I.T. I love all mediums. I am still designing jewelry but as a single mom with no child support I found myself in a deficit every month. Then I answered an ad on Craigs List and I have been painting professionally ever since, it's almost a year now. I study everyone I can on line and pick apart technique and color application. I keep reference material and practice on my legs before a show. I love to see little eyes light up when they finally get to look in the mirror and I get so much creative satisfation. It's kind of zen creating art that is so temporary. I have started booking jewelry/facepainting parties with themes.

IMHO, I think that face painting has advanced so quickly in the last few years because more trained artists are getting into it, useing their bags of tips & trix from other techniques in face paint.
IE; One Stroke face painting I found is much easier to do with face paint than acrylics. I just got a sampling of glitter tats which brings to mind an oil painting technique used to get the oval contact paper on canvases much easier. The wet-on-wet landscape & seascape oil painting technique comes in handy using face paint as shown in my cherry blossom design on my site.
I noticed Donna Dewberrys designs went into light speed when other artistic influences were used. It was obvious that a Certified Bob Ross Instructor(s) had a lot of influence on her land & seascape designs.
Personally, I use quite a large variety of trix from other art techniques and notice that more face painters are, too.
Happy Painting,
Susan
Fantasy Faces For You!
www.SusanLeeBillings.com

I love all the diverse backgrounds and enjoyed reading these posts. I'm a professional illustrator and have been drawing all my life, since about age 3. I graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Fine Art. Used to show my art in fairs and galleries, worked at a Renaissance Faire for a couple summers drawing portraits, started illustrating professionally in 2000. My specialty is childrens art but I also do a lot of pop culture related work such as illustrating trading cards for film and tv properties and I've done a lot of work the Star Wars property. I'm looking forward to adding 'facepainter' to my creative arsenal:)

Since I'm new (literally decided a day ago to dive into this), I haven't painted a single mug yet but I'm anxious to get started!

Mother was a professional Cake Decorator for 10 years, dad was a cosmetologist "wanna be" hollywood make up artist. I got the creative gene but have always been more creative writing. I drew horse, after horse, after horse, when i was a kid. My first word was "horsie" and I got one at 7 and that was what I lived and breathed.

I went through a phase of drawing faces, did some really, really good sketches in high school, painted many, many ceramic pieces and have always been able to draw FAIR. I have a BA in Bus. Admin. I hate my job. I work in Accounting for an Advertising agency. I jump at EVERY opportunity they give me to do something creative. I've done commercial acting, the facebook page, poetry for public relations, you name it.

I stumbled on face painting when I started a business selling LED toys at festivals on the weekends. Trying to find a source of income to give me a boost to get to another level so that I don't have to work at a job I hate for the rest of my life.

My boyfriend on the other hand is a VERY talented artist. He is SUPER FAST and can do detail like I've never seen. He TRULY is an amazing artist (he has NEVER been to a college class in his life - he was born with it). He is eager to learn airbrushing but fp is not his thing. Tried face painting and he couldn't do it. He says it's better to not be such a good artist and face paint. I think he craves the detail. He will do my glitter tattoo's though

I loved Art History in College!

Ummm..My mother is an artist...I had some exposure...I was a makeup/jewlery consultant, I am a wound nurse..I do ceramics, Tricam, sewing, knitting (not that good at it), crochet, embroidery....I painted alot when my kids were little....also painted with my husband(homes)...costume design..No degree...I wanted to do more as a clown, I was tired of being the other clown, side kick..A friend retired from face painting and I took over......

Starponysmama, that is so me! Almost the only thing I ever drew when I was growing up was horses, or cats. I was totally obsessed with them! I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a crayon, and by the time I was 16 I was doing it professionally, having some of my drawings published regularly in megazines. I've never taken an art class in my life and developed almost all my tecniques on my own. I used to watch Bob Ross on TV all the time and so I got a lot of my painting on canvas tecniques from him. I started by drawing with pencil, and still that is my favorite medium. I went into watercolor, but found it too simple for my taste, graduated to oils, but hated how long it took to dry and all the hassle of the cleanup. So I swtiched to acrylics in 1999 and have been using them ever since whenever I paint on canvas or crafts.

I still prefer pencil though, especially colored pencil. I have done a few pieces on consignment, some for indaviduals, some for megazines, and also book covers. I have a childrens book coming up that I will be doing full color painted illustrations for. That will be interesting, since I've never illustrated an entire book before.

Through the years I've always tried to come up with better ideas to make money with my skill, but nothing really seemed to stick. Art on consignment was too slow and never worth my time. I even tried murals for a while, and that was definitely not worth my time, though fun. I was always facinated by window art and face painting whenever I saw anyone else doing it, and finally one day I just decided that I could do face painting! I got online and was very surprised by the vast industry of face painting I discovered. I was hooked at once and knew without a doubt that this would be the thing I would stick with, and I have! I love it!

Nothing formal- but I have always been facsincated with tattoos and the body as a canvas.

I was an unsuccessful makeup artist (email me if you are interested in my kit!) when I read a post on a MUA forum about being asked to do face painting at a friend's party. I found the Snazaroo site and the rest is history : )

~Michelle Heffner
Bright & Shining Face Painting
Columbia, MD

Starponymama & Michelle, we have SO much in common! Goodness, think of all the horse shows and horse cameos you can paint on cheeks & arms to match their own horses! That would definatly get their attention!
And, its a place to go to peddle our work that only horse owners think of ; )
I tried to load my photo of "your fantasy or your horse?" but the sign in window kept coming up, so after many times I gave up - it's on my site.
Happy Painting,
Susan
Fantasy Faces For You!
www.SusanLeeBillings.com

All I have to do is make kids of all ages happy - whatadreamjob!

Horses? This is me in 1983! I'm on our Pinto Barney who was 1982 Canadian National Champion Gelding & National Champion Costume (and lots more).

I drew nothing but horses from about age 10 -12... then I started to pay attention in art classes and drew what they told us to.

My family had a 40 acre horse farm complete with indoor arena and 55 stalls...we bred, trained and exhibited Spotted American Saddlebreds/Saddle type Pintos amongst other breeds.

I paint regularly at the races here (harness and flat) and at rodeos and tractor pulls. Horses and unicorns are very very popular.

OK and Shannon knows how to joust too??? That is so funny about the incurable love of horses theme on some of these posts! I had like 2 or 3 of those Walter Foster how to draw books from the Art Store (begged mom to buy them or spent my allowance!) on horses and animals and drew horses non-stop from ages 8 to 13. Dreamed about having one, riding one, etc.... Then I fell in love with unicorns and all things fantasy in my Tolkien, Star Wars, Anne McAffrey phases.

I took quite a few art classes in summers and at school. Parents encouraged me to be practical and responsible so I too got the business degree. Paid the bills but was never entirely fulfilling except for some amazing bright and fun people I encountered. I painted people at a few neighborhood sidewalk and volunteer events years and years ago with awful paint. Bought mediocre halloween paint (the cheap mehron liquid in a tube at the party store out at Hween was the best I ever found...) and painted kids, self and friends for parties and never occurred to me that it would or ever could be a year round thing that I should try. Also read/did the how to draw with your right brain book. (This lady must be rich!!!)

So I guess I always loved it - it was just a matter of finding it again at the right time and learning to truly paint seriously with the right product. It feels so right and satisfying as I have always been fascinated by makeup, transformation, drawing, creating, color, expressing etc...