Clowns to Hire
Glossary

Face paint

Face paint is colored makeup used to temporarily decorate, enhance, or conceal facial features for visual and dramatic effects. Along with bright costumes, face painting helps clowns and circus performers transform into captivating characters that transcend everyday appearances. The art requires specialized safe paints and techniques to craft stunning designs that withstand active performing while complementing expressive personas.

History and Origins

Painting human faces and bodies traces back over 20,000 years to prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies that used natural dyes in cultural rituals. Ancient Egyptians refined cosmetic face paints for visual arts and early stage performers. European clowns and mimes used bold white face paint to enable exaggerated facial expressions clearly visible to audiences. The late 1800s saw face paint popularized by traveling circuses. Performers handcrafted unique visages that reflected colorful circus themes. The 20th century advent of safe commercial cosmetic paints and versatile foam applicators enabled more diverse and intricate designs for self-application. Beyond the circus, face painting also persists at county fairs, children’s parties, sports events, and protests expressing collective identities.

Design Styles and Techniques

Clown face painting allows limitless creativity, ranging from precise illusory makeup to full face coverings:

  • Classical  - Iconic style with white base across the entire face with red ball nose and accents on cheeks, eyes, and mouth. Establishes clown appearance while enabling flexible highlight colors.

  • Partial  - Colorful stylized shapes and patterns covering select facial areas. Allows some natural skin to show through for blended effects.

  • Full Face  - Elaborate designs covering the full face for transformative characters. Often extends down neck as well. Requires precision blending at edges for cohesive effects.

  • Stencils  - Flexible plastic templates with cutout shapes that guide smooth face paint application. Enable consistent symmetric shapes for animals, flowers, heroes and more.

Notable Designs and Artists

  • Pennywise  - The demonic clown face from Stephen King’s “It” features a white base with exaggerated red smile lines, fangs, and peaked eyebrows, all outlined thickly in black. Blue pompom buttons run down bright rainbow suspenders, completing the iconic, yet creepy style.

  • John Wayne Gacy  - Infamous serial killer who performed at children’s parties as “Pogo The Clown.” His face featured classically styled makeup with a painted blue tear coming from his right eye - an ominous signature touch.

  • CIRQUE Colors  - Professional face and body paint company creating vivid theatrical makeup with intense pigments in convenient cake, stick, and liquid options. Used widely among cirque performers today.

The art of theatrical face painting allows clowns and circus acts to become completely transformed works of whimsical living art. With illusory makeup mastery, the possibilities stay as boundless as the imagination.