Hello everybody, it's Jill again from Showtown. It's still World Circus Day so I'm here to
talk to you today about clowns. So the two main types of clowns that I'm going
to be exploring today are the Auguste clown and the Whiteface clown.
Now the Auguste clown is the type of clown that you probably picture in your mind when
you hear the word clown. He is the character that is always a fool, he always trips over
a lot, he's very clumsy, he wears oversized clothes, big shoes that he can hardly walk
in and he has a big red nose and silly coloured hair.
And he generally ends up covered in water or has a custard pie in his face at the end
of the show and generally causes a lot of laughs.
Now the other type of clown, the Whiteface clown, is an older type of clown - he's the original.
He is lesser known now because there are less of those in circuses these days and he would
always work alongside the Auguste clown and would work as a duo.
But the Whiteface clown is much more sophisticated in his manner- he's the boss of the other
clowns. The other clowns all look up to this Whiteface clown and he's the leader. He's
usually beautifully dressed in a sequined costume with a white conical hat on his head.
And he never ends up covered in water, he would never end up with a custard pie in his
face and he generally is much more sophisticated in his mannerisms. He always gets the better
of the other clowns. He's very well skilled so he often plays multiple musical instruments
and he's a very good entertainer. But the two of them usually work as a duo
or at least historically they did. So I'm going to be showing you how to create
the Auguste and the Whiteface clown makeup looks because they are both very different.
So first of all I'm going to show you the make up design of the Auguste clown. Now I
was copying a clown called Coco the Clown who was around in the last century. He was
very popular and his make-up design is very typical of a Auguste clown and that involves
a neutral or tan skin colour base all over the face.
The Auguste clown then accentuates certain areas on the face. So you might picture in
your head when you picture a clown, they have very over exaggerated high arched eyebrows
that go almost up to the top of the hairline in white and that is quite often also outlined
in a colour like black or a red or a blue. Sometimes also the Auguste clown will have
'panda style' eyes where they have a big white spot over each eye that is outlined in a colour
as well but for this particular one I was copying Coco the Clown's make -up design and
he has big arches that go all the way up to his hair line in white and then he outlines
them in black and he has a single line that runs down the centre of this arch over the
eyelid. He also has a white moustache which he paints on in white and puts a small black
smile over his lips. Now other clowns might have a big wide smile that goes almost to
each cheek or they might have another arch that runs from the bottom of the chin and
up to the nose and down again. Almost like a goatee mustache shape and then they might
have accentuated red lips and a big red smile and of course the main focus of the Auguste
clown make-up is the big red nose that they usually build up out of putty which they then
attach to the end of the nose and then paint red. I didn't have putty to hand so I've just
painted by nose red with some red lipstick and that's the general idea for the Auguste clown make-up.
Next I tried the Whiteface clown make-up.
Now as the name would suggest the Whiteface clown has a completely white face and neck
and when I say completely I mean all of the face. All the way up to your hairline, all
the way to the edge of your ears, all the way down your neck. Completely white.
And for this particular video I was copying the Whiteface clown make-up design of Paul
Freeman who was Charlie Cairoli's sidekick in the 50s and 60s at the Blackpool Tower
Circus and he had a very typical Whiteface clown make-up design.
So as you can see white all over the face, all the way down the neck. The Whiteface clown
then has accentuated eyebrows that are halfway up your forehead and they are quite, sort
of, elegant in their shape - they will be very smooth curves.
Maybe one eyebrow points up, the other eyebrow points down. Maybe one is pointed in a diamond shape
and the other one is the other way round. You know you can have fun here with your design,
it's totally up to you. But I was just copying Paul Freeman's design and this is his.
He has one eyebrow
that goes up and one eyebrow that curves down. The around the eyes, a bit of black eyeliner,
just around the eyes. Quite minimal really.
Quite often the Whiteface clown will have a shape near the eye so Paul Freeman had a
little read dot on either side of his nose near the eye but you might want one on the edge
of your eye or the bottom of your eyebrow potentially or down near your cheek somewhere.
You might want a little diamond or a little heart.
It's up to you. Red lips, they are quite crucial. So nothing
particularly on the nose but the ears, your ears have to be red. So get your red lipstick
and paint your ears like I did . So there's my two attempts at the make-up
designs of the Auguste and the Whiteface clown so why don't you have a go, see what make-up
you can find around the house and have a go at your own make up design for a clown of
your choice and share you pictures below in the comments.
We can't wait to see them. Thanks for getting involved.