when have you became a face painter ?

Hi !

I just have a question since I'm a beginner both at face painting and in this forum, I have looked for a thread on it but didn't find so if a thread like that already exist, sorry for making it double :S

I just wanted to know, when you have begun with face painting, How old you were and so on. =D
It seems when I read threads that a big part of you have face painting as a job, not just a hobby. I wonder, how much time do you spend to train, to work on practise head for exempel (or husband/wife if she/he agrees ) just to know you little better.

Again, sorry for my english, hope you understand !

I can't wait to read your answers, your experiences ...!

I've been face painting since I was about 13... so 10 years ago! Wow!

It's always been a hobby for me, but in the past few years I've tried to focus on it a lot more - doing more promoting, learning new designs, trying new things.

I actually don't practice often, only a few times a month really... if there's a design I really want to try out, or feel like doing some swirls and teardrops on my arms. What helps me get better the most is actually getting out there and doing gigs.

I work full-time as a video game artist... so I only face paint on weekends.

I would love to be a face/body painter as a career one day!

what a great comment and experience ! your avatar reflects a lot of talent ! How can you be so good with just a few times a month of pratice ?
you were so young when you began, that's impressive. I hope you will reach your dream one day, that's all I wish you

Ansiktsmålning wrote:what a great comment and experience ! your avatar reflects a lot of talent ! How can you be so good with just a few times a month of pratice ?
you were so young when you began, that's impressive. I hope you will reach your dream one day, that's all I wish you

Thanks!! I have a strong background in art, so maybe that's why face painting comes so naturally! My grandmother was an oil painter, and my mom is an artist and art teacher. And I just graduated from Fine Arts at University... So yes, lots of art in my family!

You will get all kinds of answers! I just started my buisness a year ago, and I am 50! but I was a makeup artisit for a cosmetics company about 20 years ago, had kids, got involved with their schools, ended up volunteering at their events, found the yucky face painting crayons and decided to find something better. Now, I do it for me!

I practice all day, when ever I can. If I can paint, I paint! I would rather paint than clean my house. My kids are all older, so they are in school, and I can work on my strokes and designs on my practice head or my arm. not to keen on painting myself.

I work on marketing, contacting my customers, making up new boards, applying to festivals, doing mailings, and sometimes...I do laundry.

I've always done make-up and costuming. When I was 10 I won best costume in a community contest.

I was in a Star Trek fan club and decided I wanted to learn more about SFX make-up. So I went to make-up school at the age of 36 (part-time program as I was gainfully employed and had a certain lifestyle I liked... like a house and food).

I graduated top of my class... passed the union exams... did a few low budget/no budget movies, got into theatre make-up in a big way.

Then we moved way up here - no movies or television. I got involved with the theatre, And then started face painting as I had Kryolan Aquacolours in my kit and a couple of books... taught myself how to do it (had never seen ANY face painting before I started doing it myself actually) and started taking bookings.

And the rest as they say, is history. And I'm past 50 now.

I have been a stay at home mum for over 6 years now and would occasionally pull out some cheap paints to keep my girls happy. I had a friend who happened to see some of the faces we had painted and she loaned me her kit. After trying real face paint I was completely hooked and in the last 2 years have really grown it into a business.
I am still home with the girls and spend most weekends making money painting faces. During the week if my girls are ever keen I will paint their faces for fun/practice and I also now have a few people I teach so I am still getting in plenty of practice.
My girls are now at Kindy and School most of the week and I could potentially be looking for part time work. Although I am keeping myself busy enough running my own business and probably wouldn't earn much more (especially for the time I would have to put in) with a real job. I am just thankful my husband is able to support us with his job so there isn't a huge pressure for me to get a 'real' job.

I started about a year ago. Have a full time job so this is more or less a hobby/passion that I hope will one day turn into something I love to do in retirement.

I have been a stay at home mom for 18 years. Last year was my first year painting as a real business. I dabbled about a year before that. Like so many on here, I have always loved to draw and paint. Art makes me happy, so to actually be able to make money doing something that makes me happy, simply amazes me.

I posted an answer but it desappeared

So thx all of you for your answers full of experience, there are many differents ways but the the same goal for all, that's kinda fun to know you a little better with your experiences and how you live this passion !

As I asked I will also reply, I have began with face painting for 2 years ago, to recreations centers with kids in france, I liked it directly but that was just one time per week, I was bad so I put it in a corner of my head and forgot.. This year with my "job" I like to face paint "my" kids, so I decided to get into it seriously now that I have time to do it !!

But that's pretty cool to have find this forum, to share with others and to learn a looot of things here even if I have been here for a couple of days =D

I am in my fourth year of clowning... I started clowning in August 2008 and added face painting to my offerings that December. I did my first public face painting within days of getting my face paints and the same day as I got my Usborne book... luckily, I'm kind of artistic anyway and my faces weren't ... terrible... lol.

I am the kind of person that believes in lifelong learning and lots and lots of continuing training. I take as much as I can find and afford. As far as practise goes, well, ... I have gigs every weekend, does that count? LOL

I've always loved art and makeup, and I like to think I taught myself the bare basics when I was 4 and got my hands on my mom's face paints (the Kryolan palette that came with the old Klutz book), but I painted at school festivals and craft fairs when I was 14 and 15, and even though they had us use those really bad craft paints, I still loved it but didn't know how I could bring it to fruition professionally. Finally, when I was 20, I took my first face painting workshop and started making connections with other face painters; then a few months after that, I attended my first convention (FABBULAS 2009 in Philly). The rest is history!