I first got involved in face painting when I was just a kid. I always got Halloween face paint kits. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t really interested in the costumes. My parents were always frustrated because they would get me an elaborate costume and all I would do is play with face makeup all night! Nevertheless, soon they saw that I really had a talent. I kept with it all through school. I even used my face painting in high school. Some of my friends were amateur movie makers, and I would do face painting for them. I could do it all – party masks, monster movie stuff, Halloween scary mask, glamorous makeup, and of course the classic face painting stuff that I do now.

I consider it an art more than a job. Painting faces is a fairly intricate skill. People ask for all kinds of different designs on their faces. Of course you get the requests for butterflies, flowers, bunnies, and things like that more often than anything else, but sometimes people want something more specific. You have to be able to do it all.

When people see a face painting booth at the county fair, they don’t really think about it, but some people make their living off this. I am one of those folks. I make money at fairs, kids birthday parties, Halloween parties, and carnivals of all sorts. Sometimes people even hire me for custom face paint jobs for their own parties. I don’t make a lot of money doing it, but I do make enough. It is worth it because I get to do what I love.

Kids are notoriously flighty, and there are always new trends coming and going. Nonetheless, there are some things that tap into childhood so effectively that they really stay there year after year. Face painting is definitely one of them. When people ask what I do for a living and I tell them that I paint faces, most of them are pretty surprised. Some of them are outright rude about it. They refuse to believe that you can make a living off face paints, but it is true. Few people really get to follow their passions in this life, so even though I have to get by on a shoestring budget from time to time, I consider it worth it. After all, it makes me happy. Isn’t that what life is all about?