Stencils versus real art...

[SillyWilly]

I have always had issues with people calling themselves face painters or artist when they use stencils. Using someone elses premade design does not an artist make. I have always taken strong pride in the work it took to become a true artist who creates his own designs without outlines ans such. To me using stencils is no more than fill in the lines or paint by nimber, all you do is add colors and this is not true art form.
I am in the advise that if you wish to call yourself a face painter,
then truly learn the art of designing and then really paint the pictures, no machines, no one else's pre drawn outlines, real art.
I may be a bit biased but when those persons' go in and disappoint the clients it makes it difficult for us who truly can draw and paint just as if they hire a fifty dollar part time clown they will not trust a true clown to do a better job since they already have a bad taste for clown from the one who called himself or herself such. I hope I'm not to critical of anyone, but leave the art to true artists and stay with what one knows instead of mucking up for the real ones.

[ibimus]

Well, as an artist (with pencils and paper) myself, I know just how you feel. People who trace and use guides annoy me to no end, and it's the same with face painting. I can understand maybe for mass-production (say, you need an identical design on 50 faces for a performance or whatever), but face-painting in it's truest form should be done free-handed.

[vslg1]

Interesting thoughts...

I'm celebrating my 10th year of clowning this year...and until this year...I've never painted a face...as I'm not very skillful in the area of drawing...(even my stick figures leave a great deal to be desired) I've always...only, provided a walk arounds, a magic show, some dancing and balloon work at my events...I operate a full service party store (party rentals, entertainment, yard cards, etc...) and my requests for balloon artists and face painters is at an all time high...Up til recently I could handle the balloon requests but scheduling conflicts, more business, opening of a new party room/warehouse...etc...don't leave me with a great deal of time...that being said...I'm hiring people to do the work. I can teach them balloon work...I can't teach them how to paint faces...
But they can learn the same way I am...by practicing...is there something wrong with practicing with stencils or stamps...

When we first learn how to write...we use dotted lines to help us trace our letters and numbers...should those people not be students or should they not be learners because they need help mastering the skill of writing...?

Your arguments suggest that one shouldn't call themselves a face painter if they use stencils or stamps...Hmmm...what should we call them...? Are they not painting faces? What difference does it make if they're painting an outline of a picture that's already there? You mentioned learning the "ART"...I've only been using stamps for a short while and must admit that I'm able to create some of the designs without the stamps at this point...this ability came from repetition and "learning" the line, curve and shape positions and proportions...So...does that make me an artist now because I can do some of them freehand...You were blessed with a talent that no everyone shares with you...doesn't make it any better or worse...you can choose to let it rule your life if you like...I'm sure there are more pressing issues in the world to consider...a few people that I've employed over the years have painted murals, freehand, and when I send them out to a birthday party...they prefered using the stamps...faster, neater...and I've not once had a customer complain...they have...to the contrary, complimented...
Does it make you any more of an artist if a child asks for you to put Elmo on their cheek and you do so without help...It's still someone else's design...you're duplicating it...you're just doing so without predrawn lines...And a heart is a heart...not a whole lot of ways to draw one...other than with some additions of other items to it...

We were all beginners at one point...I'm sure you have deficiencies in certain areas that others might excel in...

A clown is an entertainer...painting faces is an extension of that...

Love, Peace & Hairgrease...

[SillyWilly]

In reply to your inquest, if ou use stencils, you are not "an artist'" If you trace, you are not an artist, if you take a camera picture of someone elses work you are noT an artist. Thusly you should not use this label to sell yourself. A face painter is no less than an artist he extends his gift via a picture, self drawn to another person's face, and brings joy in doing so. A master of trash , does not an engineer make, an engineer must have years of training and the skill and knowledge to be thus. To call a trash man a sanitation engineer belittles all that the true engineer worked for. Woul you rather have a skilled, trained surgeon do an operation on you or would you like some guy who played doc as a kid come do the intricate work for you, maybe he or she has stencils too so they know where to cut, but I for one don't want to be the test victim.
Is not our field of work competitive enough , to work, train and hone our skills and just allow someone else to waltz in under false pretenses and take work from us?
You said you hire people to do face painting , whom are ligitimate painters, well, that's fine, give the right work to the right people, I don't suppose you call your temporary tattoo persons face paint artists too.
As for your comment of drawing someone else's idea makes you less of an artist, well that's would be incorrect, I didn't claim their work as my own I am complimenting the "true" artist, whom , by the way, did not trace or use a pre made outlines. I am using their design in the sincerest form of fflattery by copying what I think is a great picture already. There is that old statement that mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery.
Yes I was bless with a painting and art skill, yes I had to practice, I did it freehand not tracing. When I was a beginner I didn't use tracing to go out and claim a name of artist or face painter, nor would I claim to be something I'm not. I can't juggle for crap and I don't try to book myself as a juggler, I can no longer stilt walk, I don't boook myself as that either. I never tried to do something for pay that I really couldn't do in the first place...
I also hire others whom are levels above me in the arts and I would prefer they do it if they are better, I am a very good artist, but not the best. I have no problem , even at my level to put better people out there, I refuse tough, to put amatuers in the position of skilled people and label them what they are not... This is the problem in our industry, these so called "agencies" for lack of a better word who hire these unskilled persons, for $30-65/hr and the customer has a bad experience and create a much harder procees to sell the real thing... plus they undermine what we have worked so hard to gain, (refer back to the doctor, engineer idea) If these unskilled people are that desperate for money let them get a job selling burgers. Otherwise let them earn their label by working for it like the rest of us did.
Yes I have defieciencies like any normal human does, but I don't try to sell them off as skills. As for practice, I'm all for learning, just not on my time or in my circle of income, I don't practice on the job I go equipped and trained.

[vslg1]

Ahh...grasshopper...if you go to the doctor...in an emergency situation...and the person treating you is a resident...you may not always have the luxury of a more skilled doctor at that particular time...a resident is learning on the job...they're not coming with knowledge in hand...book smarts is a start...but common sense is something altogether different...

I may not have a problem with not calling that person an artist...but if they are putting paint on face...then they are by definition, face painting...

if you'd like to assign degrees of skill...then call them an apprentice...but most apprentices learn on the job...you could be a master face painter if you like...

You wrote, "A face painter is no less than an artist he extends his gift via a picture, self drawn to another person's face, and brings joy in doing so. "

So is a wall painter an artist...? not a muralist...just a person that paints walls...what are they?

I don't know if this tete to tete will ever have a correct answer, but I'm enjoying the spirited debate...Keep em' coming...Forums are awesome...

[SillyWilly]

Appreciated your candor, and the grasshopper, well it tells our age to rememeber that, lol. I have always loved a good debate, and I agree, there is probabaly no perfect answer to any of it.

[OkiDoki]

You come to the difficult question what is the line we draw towards how skilled do you have to be that you may call yourself a facepainter,juggler,clown,balloonartist, magician etc. I quess this is a very subjective question with an even more subjective answer.

Yes there are facepainters,jugglers,clowns,balloonartists, magicians etc. that call themselve that way by which I feel ashame that they do. There are probably also artists that think the same about me.

[SillyWilly]

So true, so true....

[The_Princess_of_Bozonia]

You both have valid points about facepainting but I think it's like the difference between creme brulee and Jello... both are good desserts, but one is for everyday use and the other is an art form. There's room for both but I think the creme brulee maker deserves to jack up the price

[Gladman]

Why box ourselves in? Some kids may like to have identical Scooby Doos, or Shrek, or hearts, or flowers. Call it what you will. I've known many "artists", especially in the music world, that have become legends in their own minds. They basically entertain to feed their own egos.
Elizabeth Cotton (look her up) taught herself the guitar growing up in the south as a little black girl. Trouble was, she was left handed and could only find an old right handed guitar. So she turned it upside down and figured out how to play it that way, using her thumb or whatever configuration to make the chords. Her style was labeled "Cotton Picking" and to my knowledge has never been duplicated. I have one of her last performances on CD at 86 years old. Technically, some might say she was barely a musician. But in fact, she was a true artist that entertained from her heart and connected in a very special way with her audience. Obviously skill doesn't hinder ones work, but it's not necessarily the most important ingredient either.