How many clown faces did it take?

[Jolly Well]

Other thoughts: Remember that the archetypical clown types are only that. There perhaps was once a time when it was customary to let the personality dictate the makeup, or vice versa. (The auguste is the zany one, the whiteface is the graceful one etc etc) But that is only true in a historical sense. If you want to be a goofy whiteface or a graceful auguste, do it, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. (alleys and organizations are usually the worst offenders...take their dictates with a grain of salt. Please.)

Great advice. Too many times, I hear of being being downed because they play a clown "type" that doesn't match their make-up.

Your persona is what is going to matter most, and make-up only an afterthought. I like to think of clown make-up in the same way I do my thumb tip. No matter what it looks like - if you pull off a great performance; people will still see magic.

By the way, nice work on the face. A little refinement (like we all go through) and I think you'll be happy with it.

A light auguste look may not be a bad idea for strict security places.

Good luck, happy clowning.....

[Flutterby]

Since you are in the Virginia/Maryland area - have you given any thought to Advanced Studies??? Advanced Studies 2008
Rumor has it that this is the last year that Leon will be running this camp!

Anyway, my reason for asking is b/c Jim Howle will be there - he does custom designs for clown faces. For $30 he will create a custom designed face for you - video tape the session - and give instruction on what he is doing and why! Not to mention his line of grease paint is AWESOME! I am sure that Jim will be other places between now and August - but just an idea of where you can look if you wanted some professional advice...

Bump a nose!

Flutterby }|{

[tim]

Originally Posted by Mike B

I know that a few have asked, but I still don't have a clown name.

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Everyone tends to push for it because it is so closely tied to what people think of clowns. But it takes time, and you'll probably even go through name changes.

I like the whiteface look, but from reading the message board, it seems that whiteface clowns are not always allowed in public buildings. I will likely develop an Aguste clown for use in those occasions.

I like the whiteface look, also. I wish more new clowns would try it, as it (unfortunately) seems to be a dying art which shouldn't be allowed to pass so easily. It certainly has its proper place.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had a hard time choosing a name too. One of the things that helped me was making a list of all of the things I like, and all of the things that make me happy. I wrote all of these things down in my clown notebook. I had a very long list including some of these words:

Stars
Sunshine
Rainbow
Glitter
Sequins
Glitz and Glamour
Razzle-Dazzle of the Circus
sparkles
twinkle
etc etc...

well out of that list Razzle-Dazzle just seemed to pop out.

[Jobee]

Originally Posted by Holly Jolly

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Everyone tends to push for it because it is so closely tied to what people think of clowns. But it takes time, and you'll probably even go through name changes.



I like the whiteface look, also. I wish more new clowns would try it, as it (unfortunately) seems to be a dying art which shouldn't be allowed to pass so easily. It certainly has its proper place.

It's kinda hard to design a good whiteface. The white tends to completely hide the expressiveness of a person's face.

[Bumbles]

Everything that was posted is excellent advise, if you don't want to buy a lot of books you can go to your local library and check out some books on clowning. Most of them have Strutters book and it is excellent, it even has pages of different face shape that you can copy and design your clown face from there, also contains a wealth of information on how to do makeup.

[Willace-the-Clown]

i donno if anyone said it but as a white face you can still act & Dress like an auguste therei s more then one kind of White face i do the comady white face witch is amix of Classic White face & the auguste you can dress like an Auguste & act like a total goofy dork like Auguste do while still being a white face

[PetalsTheClown]

I just finished clown school and in it we learned about the different faces: white face, auguste and the hobo/tramp. And as we learned we tried each of the faces. It really helped to try them on and we practiced each one for a week before we went on to the next one. Once we picked which one we wanted to be, we are to stay with that one but we can improve on it or change it a little different.
Hope that helps.