How to become Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance in 2024

Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance Apply makeup to performers to reflect period, setting, and situation of their role.

Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance is Also Know as

In different settings, Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance is titled as

  • Commercial Makeup Artist
  • Hair and Makeup Designer
  • Makeup Artist
  • Prosthetic Makeup Designer
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist
  • Special Makeup Effects Artist

Education and Training of Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

Training Required for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance in different industries are

What Do Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance do?

  • Confer with stage or motion picture officials and performers to determine desired effects.
  • Duplicate work precisely to replicate characters' appearances on a daily basis.
  • Establish budgets, and work within budgetary limits.
  • Apply makeup to enhance or alter the appearance of people appearing in productions such as movies.
  • Alter or maintain makeup during productions as necessary to compensate for lighting changes or to achieve continuity of effect.
  • Select desired makeup shades from stock, or mix oil, grease, and coloring to achieve specific color effects.
  • Cleanse and tone the skin to prepare it for makeup application.
  • Assess performers' skin type to ensure that makeup will not cause break-outs or skin irritations.
  • Analyze a script, noting events that affect each character's appearance, so that plans can be made for each scene.
  • Requisition or acquire needed materials for special effects, including wigs, beards, and special cosmetics.
  • Write makeup sheets and take photos to document specific looks and the products used to achieve the looks.
  • Examine sketches, photographs, and plaster models to obtain desired character image depiction.
  • Attach prostheses to performers and apply makeup to create special features or effects, such as scars, aging, or illness.
  • Evaluate environmental characteristics, such as venue size and lighting plans, to determine makeup requirements.
  • Design rubber or plastic prostheses that can be used to change performers' appearances.
  • Create character drawings or models, based upon independent research, to augment period production files.
  • Advise hairdressers on the hairstyles required for character parts.
  • Study production information, such as character descriptions, period settings, and situations, to determine makeup requirements.
  • Provide performers with makeup removal assistance after performances have been completed.
  • Wash and reset wigs.
  • Demonstrate products to clients, and provide instruction in makeup application.

Qualities of Good Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.

Tools Used by Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

  • Airbrushing tools
  • Angle brushes
  • Angle liners
  • Brow brushes
  • Chisel brushes
  • Colored contact lenses
  • Contour brushes
  • Digital still cameras
  • Dome brushes
  • Eye shadow brushes
  • Eyebrow combs
  • Fan brushes
  • Fine detail brushes
  • Flat brushes
  • Foundation brushes
  • Laptop computers
  • Lip brushes
  • Makeup application spatulas
  • Makeup blending spatulas
  • Makeup pencil sharpeners
  • Mascara brushes
  • Mixing palettes
  • Oval brushes
  • Personal computers
  • Pro striper brushes
  • Rouge brushes
  • Round brushes
  • Smudge brushes
  • Spritzer bottles
  • Tablet computers
  • Wigs

Technology Skills required for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance

  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Appointment scheduling software
  • Autodesk Maya
  • Autodesk Mudbox
  • Blogging software
  • Bookitlive
  • Clear Books
  • Client databases
  • Customer relationship management CRM software
  • DatInf DigiMakeup
  • Email software
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Intuit QuickBooks
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Pixologic Zbrush
  • SavingFace
  • Twitter
  • Web browser software