How many clown faces did it take?

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

I am just starting my path to becoming a clown. I need to come up with a good clown face.

The first image that I see when I think clown is a whiteface clown. Looking around the forums and the internet, I have seen some nice looking auguste clowns.

How many different faces did you try before you found your first clown face? Any suggestions on the best way to discover the clown face that is right for me?

Here is my picture to give you an idea of the face I am starting with.


Thanks

[Mr. Dazzle]

Hi Mike. Welcome to the forum.

I hope I can help answer your question. I started out as a clown for Vacation Bible School. I learned a lot my first year.

First thing I learned was to use a good quality grease makeup. I suggest Mehron and Ben Nye.

Another thing I learned is that clowns can and do melt if the makeup isn't set. Typical baby powder from wal-mart works fine.

When deciding on a face it is important to look at what kind of character you want to play... White Face Clowns are usually the straight man where as Auguste clowns are the Goofy Characters.

Think of Abbot and Costello. Abbot would be a whiteface and Costello would be an Auguste.

One thing that helped me was sketching first instead of just hitting the grease right away.

When I started out I made a Clown Notebook. Its just 3 ring binder with a spiral bound notebook in it full of scribblings, website addresses, book titles, and sketches.

I'm not very good at sketching and I don't claim to be an artist by anymeans. But I ended up coming up with this cartoony little sketch of the current Auguste face that I'm wearing today.

Here is the sketch


And here is my current look


Once you come up with a sketch you like try and transfer it to your face. Remember that Clown makeup isn't a mask or a disguise. The Makeup is supposed to enhance and exaggarate what is already there.

I hope this helps you. Let us know how finding your face works out .

[BlossomTheClown]

When I trained to be a clown I was told to just start up with an inexpensive costume (from the thrift store) until I developed my own character. I thought I wanted to be an auguste and started with an Auguste face, but as my character developed her personality really turned out to be a white face so I switched to a white face to try it and was much more comfortable.

I think some clowns are actors/actresses and can portray different characters easily while others (like me) need to let their character develop from within and can't easily change from one to another. Maybe that will come with experience because some day I hope to try an Auguste again. If you are a very outgoing person and think your character will be, you may want to start with an Auguste. Maybe even try clowning with one face and then the next time the opposite.

I agree with RD, draw a picture to play with different designs. I enlarged a photo and printed it. Then I used transparency paper to put on top and used colored markers to draw designs to get ideas. Or print the picture in color on paper and use crayons. Most likely you will start with one face and it will go thru changes over the first year as you perfect it, as will your costume and character.

[tim]

A) Get a copy of Strutter's Guide to Clown Makeup and study it.

B) Look at a lot of pictures of clown faces.

C) Understand that clown makeup is not a mask, but something which helps to emphaisze your natural expressions, bring your emotions out, and allow you to better communicate your character. Make funny faces and take note of where the natural lines whichh result are. That's where the makeup lines go!

D) Recognize that your initial attempts will likely look lousy. That's alright. We've all been there. It is the first steps toward finding what works and what doesn't. Your face will probably change over time and certainly improve as long as you keep at it.

E) Draw some ideas over a picture of your face. You can use an actual picture, a tranparency over a photograph, or you can do it virtually on your computer. When you find something which you like, transfer it to your actual face and see how it looks on those curves.

F) And, yes, absolutely use quality makeup.

[Scruffy]

your facial structure would work well with anything you try. For me it took a long time to get my face where I liked it. In fact, I finally decided it was "'done" last summer. And I've been a clown for over twenty years!
my advice to you would be to take a picture of your face put a clear acetate sheet over it and start playing with designs with erasible markers.

[Hopper]

I just want to add one thing: Remember that your clown face will always evolve, no matter how long you do this. Actually the same can be said for every aspect of your clown. Something can ALWAYS be changed....the idea that there is some sort of "end product" will hurt you more than help you.

For your first clown face, concentrate not on the makeup/clown type, but on where your painted on eyebrows go and where your muzzle will be. Muzzle being the usually heart shaped area around your mouth and between your nose and chin. See what moves the most. (hint, most good whiteface designs have muzzles too...just not a clearly defined as the auguste)

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.)

[Mr. Dazzle]

I had never thought of using a transparency over a picture.... Wow... Thanks Blossom.

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I will try out some ideas using a picture of my face.

Until a few months ago when I first started reading more about clowns, I hadn't realized there were different types of clowns. I grew up watching Bozo in Chicago and knew that it would always be Cookie with the pie in the face, but hadn't associated it to his being an Auguste clown.

It is nice to know that I can create my own style. Based on personality types, I am more the straight man, but I will try a few faces as I explore my clown personality.

[Sonshine D Clown]

Welcome to the group - Sonshine had a big red nose at first, but I have trouble with my sinuses - so the red nose went away and have a flower on the tip now. When kids asked me about it.. I said.. Yea, when you turn 5 you get to pick your own nose and I like flowers - they never questioned me after that...... Good luck on your journey

[Nettie Belle]

Well, if you're like me, you can have a few faces, but it's best to develop one at a time. Nettie Belle was my first one, and ooh ... she was a scary sight at first, and nobody told me. I didn't realize it until I look at my first pictures.

Then, a year later, Blondie was born, because some people were afraid of my whiteface, and I wanted an auguste character anyway; it's more like my true personality, I guess ... always confused.

It's kind of funny when I get a call for a birthday party for Nettie Belle and I tell them I'm busy that day, and 5 minutes later, I get a call from the same person wanting Blondie ... or vice versa.

Well, here's another option for you ... if you have a paint program on your computer, you can do cool stuff with it ... LIKE THIS!

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