Letter from the 25th Subscriber

This is a condensed version of the letter that the 25th subscriber sent me, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Love,

Anna

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Hi Anna,
I was very excited this morning to read that I was the 25th !

Yesterday I was searching for inspiration for a clown face that “A” asked for because of the school party, so then I found your YouTube videos which are really great! Then checked out your blog for the first time yesterday, I noticed you’ve only just started it, so I just had a little dream during the night if there was any chance that I might win the 25th coupon. I’ve never subscribed or posted to a blog before ! So I can see I’ll have to do it more often. 🙂

A couple of years back I volunteered for a Haloween fund raising face paint at the girls school, so in searching for inspiration I came accross some interesting designs, not haloween feel at all, but I liked the feel of so much so that I just had to save them for future ideas.  I’m so impressed to find your youtube videos and see such a design building up.

I wish you and your husband all the good luck in developing your online presence so you might secure a good income from doing what you obviously love doing.

In the meantime I’ll be checking out your other sites flickr and entertainment which I’ve not had chance to do yet, and of course browsing your shop to try and decide just what I should treat my girls and me to, the metalics and black light stuff looks so exciting.

With best wishes and thanks for the coupon,

The 25th Subscriber

We have reached our 25th Subscriber!

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the blog! Please feel free to come to my site to ask questions about face painting, and learn from myself and other artists. Let me know what a dream blog would contain for you! We are still sending coupons to new subscribers, some will have some extra surprises! Thanks again! Much love from Kalamazoo!
ANna 🙂 Clash :oD

Getting Crazy with Black Light Paint

The past couple of weeks my husband and I have been experimenting with the DFX UV/Blacklight paints under Black Light. We figured this could be a fun way to spend our evenings after my daughter went to bed, and now I am dreaming in neon! 

I bought a 2 foot long black light from Spencer’s Gifts, which can make my whole room glow. You can also buy round bulbs from GE and large flashlights. Look for cool accessories that glow too around your house.

Working with the Neon Paints with the intention of using them for black lights is a whole new animal. You don’t need a heavy application to have them glow under black light, and the bolder and crazier the better. You don’t need to do very much delicate blending, or use fancy line work either. ~However, you should warn the people you paint that the design might look totally different under regular light.~ I painted my nose with regular black to cover up a mistake and when the lights were on…there I was with a black nose tip, and other correction marks.

Since the skin will not show (it will appear black under the lights) you can do all sorts of cool effects just highlighting certain parts of the face.

For example, with the design above I used a dotter sponge to make the two large spots on my forehead. The black around them is just my regular skin. Below I painted just Santi’s eyes and forehead and the strip down his nose…and his hands.  Everything else disappeared. Note how cool they look in his hair!

The reds, pinks, yellows and white really pop forward, while the blue and violet look farther away. Knowing this you can make three dimensional tricks. You can blend regular paints in to make shadows too, but don’t get to dark or the paint will just vanish.

I think it is best to paint under black light with a small regular lamp nearby as well so you can see where your brushes  and water cups are.  This way you can also see the immediate effects of what it will look like with the black light, but not make a mess. Then the design will look good under the regular light to.

WHY USE THEM ANYWAY?

I have a couple of face paint friends that have regular gigs at bowling alleys and roller rinks (Jolene and Jenni :o, that’s you!) who use their Neon paints when the black lights are on. Other times face painters use them to paint people going to a party or club where there will be black light.

You can also buy tiny black light flash lights and paint people for Halloween…and they can shine the light on their face to make a really awesome surprise.

The pinks, oranges, greens and yellows look amazing under regular light, and with the crazy fashion trends these days of neon graffiti t-shirts girls really love the neon paints when they see them in my kit. The Star Skull below shows  the neons under regular light.  Sorry I look so grumpy in this picture!

Check out my body paint page on my blog for more info on taking pictures under black lights, and more of the pictures we took. Below are some items from http://www.JestPaint.com that can get you started!

Check out the Super Split Cakes at JestPaint.com

NOTE:  We sold out of our initial batch of Split Cakes, and we are not producing anymore until we come up with a better game plan. We found that many colors were very brittle for splitting, leading to damaged cakes, and some took months and months to sell. Comment below about combos you would like to see in our store. If we can come up with a fool proof way to cut them, and make combos that would be high in demand, we will start making them again.

We just added Split Cakes to JestPaint.com. I have seen a lot of face painters have  these in their kits when I go to jams. Those that have them  love them for at least three reasons.

If you want to pack small, but play big, having two colors in each container is a really great way to maximize space in your kit. Split cakes let you use a brush or a sponge to easily and quickly load two tones of one color, or two popular color combinations together. Once your tool is loaded the colors come out nicely blended on the skin.

Split Cakes Designs

If you don’t face paint like crazy it also will save you money because you buy more colors in less cakes. The 32’s and 45’s are half as expensive per gram than the 10g refill cups of Diamond Fx. With split cakes you get smaller amounts of each color  but at a very good price!

When I do butterflies I use split cakes to have the lighter color close to the eye and the darker color on the edge.  The Neon Pink and Violet Split cake is an awesome choice for those! For tigers or cheetahs I keep the yellow in the center of the face and the orange out on the edges. With monsters and skulls I keep the lighter color on the most protuding parts of the bones, and the darker color shades the bones. I save so much time using these cakes that I can paint full faces in about 2 minutes flat.

Great Deals for Blog Subscribers!

I want to give my blog subscribers some privileges, so here is what I thought:

– for the first 50 subscribers to my blog there will be a 10% coupon code discount e-mailed to you that can be used on any purchase over $20 on my online store until May 31st 2010 (the coupon can only be used 1 time and it can’t be combined with any other coupon code)

– the first 50 subscribers to my blog will  also receive by e-mail a  Free Glitter Coupon to be used on any purchase over $20 on my online store  until May 31st 2010 (the coupon can only be used 1 time and it can’t be combined with any other coupon code)

– the 25th subscriber will also be sent a SPECIAL DISCOUNT COUPON of  25% to be used on my online store on any purchase over $20 until May 31st 2010 (the coupon can only be used 1 time and it can’t be combined with any other coupon code)

Good luck and go Wild!!!

I Have a Question For You!

Hey, I would love to know what brand of facepaint  you prefer, so I am posting this Poll!

Step by Step #1 Cheek Art Horse

Be a little girls hero by learning how to paint cute ponies and pretty horses.

Step1

Make a diagonal “chicken leg” with two shades of one color.  Sweep a curved neck following the angle of the back of the horses head. Add two ears. *If you keep the darker color around the jaw bone of the horse and on the neck, you will add more depth to the design.ç

Step2

Take another two shades of color and make bangs coming from between the ears and along the back of the head and neck. If you press your brush harder where the mane meets the neck and then drag the tip as you get to tips of the hair it will look like this, or you can make super swirly hair or rainbow hair using a rainbow cake.

Step3

Take a thin brush (a round #1 or so) and paint a c, n or < shape for the eye. Add a black circle in the center and eyelashes. You can also make a small arch under the eye to look like the horses cheek is popping up in a smile.

Step4

Outline the ears and the face and neck of the horse. Keeping the bridge of  the nose curved on the top will make it look cuter. Note the little lower lip, and the way the neck line meets the jaw.

Step5

Add fine hairs in the Mane and Bangs (Forelock…a kid told me that was what the bangs are called).

Step6

Take a small white brush and add highlights in the eye, the mane and the neck and jaw. Go horse crazy!

Hello world!

THE FIRST BLOG ENTRY! All the rest are down below, or check the categories to find what you are looking for. THANKS for Popping in!!

Welcome Face Painting Empassionados! I have been dreaming about making a blog for the past year, and well…with the help of my wonderful husband Santi, I am here writing my first official post. I have been face painting for 20 years now, and I am just soo filled up with information about paints, techniques, tips and all that jazz, that I am dying to get it all out of me…and hopefully for you to learn from and enjoy!

If you have any questions about face painting techniques, running a business as a face painter, or anything else that might pertain to face painting I will bring them up on the blog to address.  I want to put polls on here about products and events too…so we can all learn from each other in a fun way.

We have over 100 YOUTUBE videos on face painting at my clashtheclown channel. If you haven’t seen them yet, please go be entertained by the wild kids in the background and the funky designs.

I opened a face paint store in January 2009, where you can find a whole slew of face paints and supplies.  We also sell rake brushes and dotter sponges and have awesome DREAM KITS! You can check out my store at www.JestPaint.com!

If you have no idea who I am, you can go learn about me on my entertainment website, www.jestparty.com by reading the History page.

Here is an example of what you can find on my YouTube Channel!!