The Job The show must go on! But without make-up-artists very little goes. Especially on stages, in opera, musicals, movies, TV, photo and show productions, they are indispensable. At make-up school they learn to change the face of an actor to reflect youth, old age, sweetness, or the bizarre. Every mask has to fit – from a bitter face to the everlasting grin of a Cheshire cat. This is a must to start a successful career as a make-up artist. The students take challenging make-up courses. At the end of their apprenticeship the make-up artists are able to develop designing concepts and calculate the costs for the making of a mask. They can outline concepts, craft make-up, design types of characters and realize special effects. For this reason applicants should have endurance as well as artistic aptitude. Technical, art-historical and cultural know-how are also necessary in order to develop characters – real, animal or fantasy-figures – of any given era.