by Suzanne Robbie Hay ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 19, 2006
A visually stimulating primer with valuable advice on both the practical and creative aspects of professional face painting.
The most evanescent of the decorative arts can be a moneymaker, according to this winsome illustrated how-to manual.
Hay, a face painter, considers face painting to be a genre of light entertainment—the bread-and-butter gigs are children’s birthday parties—and urges practitioners to approach it that way by wearing fanciful costumes and spinning an aura of crowd-pleasing showmanship. But she also teaches readers how to make it a successful business. She reprints sample contracts and invoices, gives detailed instructions on how to run filing and paperwork systems, and advises on how to handle mothers who insist that the face painter stay late to gratify still-unadorned youngsters (bill the overtime in 15-minute increments, she recommends.) She provides a handy list of supplies and equipment, from brushes and paint to antibacterial wipes, recommends Yellow Pages listings as the most cost-effective advertising, discusses pricing and offers miscellaneous tips gleaned from battlefield experience. (“Do not blow into children’s faces to move the glitter around.”) Hay allows that natural artistic ability commands higher fees but notes that children are not the most discerning of connoisseurs and that painters can therefore get by without any special talent if they assiduously practice their craft. To that end, she includes an extensive and very helpful beginners’ art tutorial based on her “Hay coloring book method,” which features bold black outlines filled in with bright colors. Hay covers the basics of brush technique and provides a wealth of sample sketches that show step by step how to compose evocative images out of rudimentary shapes: circles and half-moons become a frog; pointed ovals, a flower; dinosaurs and dragons emerge from a few simple, swooping curves. She illustrates the book with a portfolio of her own eye-catching designs—mainly vibrant, whimsical animal and botanical images that are sure to capture kids’ imaginations. Hay’s text could have used a copy edit, but she conveys her experiences and expertise with clear, straightforward information and engaging lessons.
A visually stimulating primer with valuable advice on both the practical and creative aspects of professional face painting.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2006
ISBN: 978-1425943165
Page Count: 104
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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