How do you rate a painter's skills?

hahahahha! 5 years!

I've got enough to last ... hmm.... maybe two years... I use a lot up on theatre work....

I've seen your work, so I won't dispute that you go through a lot of supplies...but I saw the picture... it's burned onto my retinas...

So you don't have a secret room in your house that's full of supplies? I believe WE would call it a store...?

Ah I want to go shopping in Shannon's secret room!

I want to buried in Shannon's secret room!

It's not secret and is it not "a" room... It is three rooms and a garage .. whaaahahahahahahahhaaaahhhhaaa

BTW... the "Bob Ross" on the wall was painted by my uncle - his first painting!

Shannon.... you're my idol!!

Empty q-tip boxes BTW are great storage for small items - see the shelf? All neatly labelled. Who said OCD is a bad thing?

Cassandra, that must be really nice being able to see that others are doing up close on a job. It is so different that reading books, seeing pictures and even DVD's. I try, when at a convention, to sit up front, so I can see the way all the elements are being made, but it is still not the same as seeing one work "live"

I've gotta clean my ears more often

I would like the FACE standards more prevalent here also from the professionalism side. Code of conduct, hygiene, insurance ect...ect....

Lone is right, the face test illustration in Brush Strokes e-mag was good. I hope to hear back from them and maybe we can all start working on this.

Who knows they may not want to bother with us Yanks! Just kidding. I am going to email another person that is on there board(or something like that) and see what she thinks also.

Will keep you posted. Working ALLLLLLLLL weekend.

-Metina

Thanks Metina! I really think that having FACE membership is a good thing for me to strive for... but for now, I'll have to settle for striving for FACE quality work practices...

Soooo, Shannon gets to have mad skills, a fabulous car, killer gigs, a not so secret secret superstore of supplies...AND the world's cleanest ears?

When are we going to get to some type of equality here? Is it too much to ask that Shannon Fennell AT LEAST have dirty ears?!!!

HAHAHA

Yes, I was really lucky to hook up with another very experienced painter. As a beginner, I would have been a lot worse off skill wise if I had not.

Shannon - you are soooo neat and organized. Luv it!

Hey... that's 12 years worth of q-tip boxes!!!

Being able to see someone else work IN PERSON really makes all the difference - although, they should be BETTER than you are to really have a beneficial effect!

I was able to attend my first face painting workshop with Olivier Zegers in Calgary (cost me about $1500 to get there, stay in the hotel, pay for the class, buy product...) BUT honestly, if I hadn't done that, and watched HOW he worked his brush, and applied the paint... I would still be painting how I had been, and wouldn't be where I am now - certainly wouldn't have a book out as I wouldn't have been asked to do one!!

Just seeing HOW he loaded his brush and used it made ALL the difference to what I was doing. It made my stuff look better, increased my speed... made me a better painter all around.

And someone posted yesterday about brushstrokes - doing them properly and fast, even if they aren't even or straight still looks better in the end than slowly drawing them...

Do they ever have workshops in Ohio? I feel as if I'm stuck in a no-fly zone...everything is going on around me, but nothing near me...

Jayde, there's a good number of teachers who will come to YOU if you can get a minimum amount of people for the class. I know Gina Niemi requires 8, I think Snazaroo requires 25. Usually you find the venue, organize, and they come teach. I'm sure there is SOMEONE in Ohio who is interested in learning!

And Shannon...what can I say but oh. my. god. First of all, TOTALLY drooling over your collection like Gollum. And besides that, holy neat freak! You'd go NUTS in my place!

I wouldn't even know HOW to start finding other face painter wanna be's other than those rabid banshees at the school...and I still haven't forgiven them for trying to take my brushes! lol!

I've called the Jinxed shop and they referred me to a clown that does face painting...she's a person, but she has a clown persona, well, her job is a clown...well...look, you know what I mean. Anyway, she was not willing to allow me to shadow her "of course you understand why I can't?" she said.
So, rather than persuing more rejection, I'm going to save my pennies and maybe play the Lotto, if I win, I'll just stalk one of you guys...

No point in storing something if you can't see it... because, out-of-sight out-of-mind.

I hate having to take all the bins out of the closet (the door has been removed - it was in the way! ) to get the one I want. And everything always goes in the same place so I don't have to hunt for it. So... all the Snaz is in one drawer, the Fardel on a shelf in the studio (you can see that in the pic) as I only use it there (don't use it on FP gigs), Kryolan in another drawer... etc.etc. Glitters are stored on a shelf in plastic trays (what isn't in the kit packed to go,) stencils ditto...

Wigs and hairpieces are in a large bin in the garage (after being cleaned and dried before being put away), drawers in the garage full of hair accessories, bits of things like beads/ribbons. Costumes are stored downstairs in trunks.

I have three bookcases that are just books... make-up books, movie books, three decades worth of fashion mags for reference, art books, costuming references, my scrapbooks of my work, clippings, etc. Old mags and books from way back that I found at garage sales and junk stores for historic reference.

I do make-up across the spectrum so this is ALL my stuff - SFX, straight make-up, airbrush, theatre, as well as the face and body painting.

And as for classes... as noted, pretty much any instructor will come to you if you can get a minimum number of people. Snazaroo will come free if you can get 25 together, but the rest of the individual instructors (me included) are willing to do workshops as long as we have our expenses covered and a basic fee/or sale of product worked into the equation.

Craigslist, facebook, call churches and schools....maybe even the rabid banshee will be interested in refining their skills a bit...at least they will learn WHY they can't touch your stuff!

Stalking is always an option, too, though...

Lady Jayde wrote: Anyway, she was not willing to allow me to shadow her "of course you understand why I can't?" she said.

Oh yeah... clowning is a proprietary skill set ... geesh. Honestly, people who think anything we do is "trade secret" material need a reality check!

I was thinking that, and I have to credit my superb self control for my not telling her that there's face painting instruction all over the internet. Besides, she would've been like an hours drive from me, so it's not like I'd be encroaching on her "turf". Whatever.

I put my feelers out on Craigslist for someone to shadow and I've contact the Central Ohio Face Painter's guild, but I think there's only 6 or 7 members from what I can make of the website. I'm just going to keep watching tutorials with bloodshot eyes and picking brains here. I'll get there and it will be all the sweeter if I get there the hard way! I'm telling myself that...and in about a month, I'll actually believe it.

I should move to Akron right next to Jellybeans or Bubblegum or whatever the heck her name is. THAT would be encroaching!

I don't mind teaching beginner skills in my area, but in all honesty I'm not keen on giving one-to-one lessons to people who are my "competition".

I teach beginner workshops all over the region. Some of my old students are now working as face painters at trade shows and at the local farmer's market (doing PPF I might add.)

One of the local clowns attended one of the workshops and she did pay attention - she now uses proper face paints! And we run into each other at pretty much every large event in town - I'm hired to paint and she'd hired to clown/balloons. We refer work to each other all the time. She has asked me a few times over the last few years to provide her and her team with private lessons so "they can paint like me"... that makes me uncomfortable.

While I am happy to teach the basics to anyone, I do have a right to keep what sets me apart from my competition to myself in my area. I am happy to teach anything I know at conferences, online, at workshops outside my own market, etc.

I completely understand their point of view - I'm here and can show them how, but, I also want to keep my work "different" than the other painters in the area.

In one way I see the point of view of someone not wanting to be shadowed... but if the person asking is outside of my area I wouldn't have a problem with it... as long as they were willing to work while doing so! And, now that I think about, I might actually be willing to have a local painter "shadow" me on A job - but they have to paint along side me, not watch and take notes! That gives them access to my kit, how I work, and all... ALL of my working designs.

Nothing is rocket science and anything I do anyone else can too, BUT, I have spent a lot of my time and money learning and adapting what I've learned to be unique to me. I learned from books, the internet, attending workshops in other cities and countries, entering competitions... basically, I made the investment in developing my skills.

I train my own assistants and hire them to paint WITH me... any of them are capable of starting out on their own if they choose. They haven't so far.

And ANYONE who wants to volunteer to help me at the theatre can learn to face paint all sorts of things!!! And I have passed this on to the people who ask for more advanced training - if they help and make a commitment of their time, I'll teach them lots of things that they can apply to developing their own style. Painting twelve wolves a night for twelve nights sets the design in your brain IYKWIM!?

It is a small market here - population in the city 50,000 in the county another 20,000 - that encompasses all area within a two-hour one-way drive any direction. Not exactly a huge market to flood with face painters. I regularly drive 3 hours to gigs (that's 6 hours of driving for ONE gig!)...

I feel somewhat guilty BUT... I will teach the basics and pretty much everything that is covered in my book (a copy is provided to every student in my workshops to keep!) That covers everything you need to know to as starting point - the rest is practise and experimentation.

Sorry... this is a bit of a ramble..