once upon a blog...

[Alison]

Face-Painting - You can learn a specific 'face'.
Caricatures - Unless you want to be a hack, you really have to Look and See the Unique stretch of each face and then each feature too.  And you're not Holding the person's face while you're trying to figure out the shapes.  Each and every person who sits down is a whole new experience for the Artist. 

Me - I came in to Caricature from Portraiture.  Actually, I had been an Art Teacher, and I refused to work in that field until I could do a good Portrait.  I thought that I would be a sham if I was teaching Art but couldn't do a real Portrait (which was so much harder than the Landscapes and Still-Lifes that I loved doing).  And I loved playing with the Colors in Portraiture, but I would have been just as happy to do just the Colors Abstractly.  I thought that the actual Portrait was a tedious job.  And then - then I just slid right into playing with the Portraits - making myself laugh - Decided to drop the tedium and just do Caricatures (I didn't even know the word for it at that time.)  They come out of me pretty fast.  And now I'm thinking of re-incorporating some tedium to create 'more developed' pictures.  Just because it's a skill that's been lying dormant.

BTW - Knowing 'the skull' helps in Caricature, Portraiture, And Face-Painting.

What's your background been?

[Sherry]

No background, just dabbling here and there.  I took an oil painting class with my stepmom years ago and I've done some acrylic craft painting with her and for Christmas presents one year.  I picked up a face painting book that came with face paints in the 90's (Osbourne book) and used it on my oldest son for Halloween and just loved it.  I never thought about doing it as a business until 2 years ago and really had no idea there was a whole professional face painting world out there.

I guess we're totally off topic, but my sister has done a lot on her own with sketching people.  (self-taught) I guess that's portraits?  I think her drawings are beautiful.

[Party Picassos Facepainting]

People get very picky about your ability to get their likeness. "my nose isn't that big," "my skin isn't that dark," "my friend's turned out nicer"..... blah, blah, blah. They sometimes think that they shouldn't pay you because they are not happy with how it turns out. 

Caricatures are supposed to be fun and funny. They are not portraits that you keep over the mantel.
I always enjoy putting a person's hobbies or interests into the drawing. Kids can be fun, but in that case, you have to be fast. Most kids are not known for sitting still for very long. If they move too much, it is hard to get a good likeness.

You also have the option of doing profiles or full face; color or black and white. It can be a lot of fun, but I too enjoy face painting a bit more.