Why Assistant Makeup Artist is A Great Career

If you’re just starting out on film sets, and you’re not quite sure what its all about, the term makeup assistant is one you’ll probably become familiar with.

why assisting in makeup is a great career for a makeup artist

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Three Key Episode Takeaways:

• Assisting is far more than just holding brushes or getting coffee – it requires knowledge, creativity and the ability to handle many demanding tasks.
• Assisting can provide you with opportunities to learn from experienced artists, be exposed to different approaches, and constantly develop your own skills and career.
• Even if it sometimes feels unnoticed, your hard work and accomplishments as an assistant are making a significant contribution to the makeup department.

Episode 78: Show notes

It’s also one of the most underrated and often misunderstood opportunities you can find.
So I wanted to explore these misconceptions with you and help you appreciate just how great being a makeup assistant can be, and how revered a great makeup assistant is. And let’s not overlook the fact that having a successful career path in makeup can (and often does) start as a makeup assistant.

How do you define a makeup assistant?

Among professional makeup artists, the definition of a makeup assistant does have some wiggle room, sure.

But for the most part, the sole purpose of an artist in the role of an assistant makeup artist is someone who is a solid support system to the makeup department members, from the Makeup Department Head or Designer, down through the key artist and other makeup artists within the team.

Once looking past that definition, the actual tasks that you may be responsible for, on any type of project also have a huge margin for variety in scope and skill set.
So it’s important to keep in mind that the type of work you may fulfill on one job may be very different from the next. But that’s the most exciting aspect of the field of makeup artistry for me.

I hope it is for you, too.

So, let’s say on one project you may have a personal or a celebrity makeup artist who looks after the makeup and maybe even hair for one actor only.

That actor may have multiple wigs and different makeup looks throughout a project, so he or she might have the need to bring in an assistant who can be just that.
This assistant can then run their own little department of two while the personal artist is onset all day. They could look after administrative tasks, and keep the trailer organized, clean and dress wigs that aren’t in use on any given day. This can actually be an incredibly demanding and fruitful position for the right assistant.

On the other hand, you may have a massive war film, and the Department head might have an assistant that physically assists them each morning with the main cast they make up.

Sure, this may sound like it is a more collaborative hands-on role. And then once the cast are on set for filming, the assistant can clean up after the makeup is finished, cleans the DH’s brushes, airbrushes and whatever else is involved.

They can sometimes arrange meals for the makeup artists because, hey we never get a chance to go to breakfast – I dont care what the rules are – it’s either a van ride away, or coincides with when we are getting everyone ready in the morning.

So there’s that sort of role too.  

Or you may be on a project with a small team of makeup artists, and a number of make-up assistants.

You might even fall into a more specialized field of makeup, such as assisting a special effects makeup artist and find that this is where your heart belongs. So it may well all come down to timing, and lead you down a different path than you may have had in mind when you were at makeup school.

Every job is a little different, but the assistant still provides that same backup, supporting heart, mind and hands to help get the job done.

No matter what opportunities present themselves to you, rest assured that assisting is a great way to get your “foot in the door” of many avenues of makeup.  From music videos, to the fashion industry. To working with special fx artists, or being an assistant and part of a team. The opportunities are endless, and only limited to your own choices and exposure to these opportunities.

It’s kinda mind-blowing when you look back – and if you ever watch old movies (and by old, I dont mean 90s, I mean like 1950s or 60s) when there was just one makeup man, who did everyone.
And that meant everyone – from the leading ladies to the gore or special effects makeup in the movie.

Well, haven’t times changed a bit? And for film crews in a broader sense as well – there is now a person for every niched-down, niche of a job. Usually because everything happens all of a sudden, and then very quickly, so its all gotta be happening at once right?

So while the role of the assistant may be relatively new in the history of movie making, I suspect its going nowhere fast.

 Let’s pause here and cover a few very common misconceptions that get bandied about when it comes to assisting.

A Makeup Assistant Just Gets Coffee and Sweeps the Floors

The first is that it’s just about “holding brushes, sweeping the floor, and just getting coffee” for everyone.

Its usually far more demanding and busy (EXCITING) than that – and if you flourish you’ll find the more is thrown at you.
Continuity photos and books to manage, prepping makeups and prepping wrap, and helping to wrap actors – and all of these tasks require knowledge far beyond knowing how to make a decent coffee 

Another is that it’s not creative at all. Now, this of course, is total nonsense – and if you think that, I suspect you should take a good hard look at your definition of the word creative. And thats also the most exciting and beautiful things about assisting, is that you never know where you’ll end up helping. You might be available to jump in and help with the number 1 on the call sheet if they are short on time, or going to set to do makeup changes on the background – and this can be a brilliant opportunity to show your spark and innovation when under pressure too.
There is a lot of work out there for strong makeup assistants, and no matter what kind of work you are seeking out, if you work hard, you’ll find it extremely creative, no matter where.

Makeup Assisting is a Low-Skilled Job

Yet another common misunderstanding is that its a low-skilled job.

Anyone you know that does makeup is completely and utterly aware that its almost like a different language – and this is mot evident when production brings in someone from the production staff, lets say for a PA role. 

Immediately, you have someone being given tasks (as a makeup PA) with materials that they dont even know the name of, or what these things do.  Chasing these challenges can be incredibly  time consuming, and often takes multiple people out of their work to explain and then right the wrongs of the poor, miscast PA – simply because they were entirely uneducated and unaware of what they were working with the begin with.

Now a great assistant already has this knowledge, so there is a sense of time efficiency as there is no need to explain the entire origin story of the products they will be using to get the job done.

Its magic having a well-oiled machine and a stellar assistant is a vital cog in that machine. So don’t forget that!

There is No Room For Growth When You’re a Makeup Assistant

It’s another common thought that stepping in as an assistant means there is little room for growth or development in your own career.

I think that’s rubbish.

Being a perceptive and receptive assistant means you will learn bucketloads and only make yourself more invaluable on the next job no matter where that is.

And that, in due time, you will step up and progress, because it’s only natural. Particularly once you gain strong working relationships with bosses and team members that you work with repeatedly.

It’s only natural that they will take you on the next project. And in time, this will mean stepping up, pinky promise.

The career options are only as small as you dream them to be.

I remember in the first few years I was out of makeup college when I would say yes to every opportunity that came my way. Student film after student film, and free to low paying job, and even those grew in stature and prowess, but the paycheck didn’t.

And there was this point where I thought I would never get paid a real wage to do what I had done for almost nothing for the better part of 5 years of experience.

But it did. It happened.


And when it did, I had this amazing (beginner’s) knowledge of how things worked on a film set. I had a clunky, but visible makeup kit. And I had a familiarity with how things worked each day, from call time to wrap.

In hindsight – everything happened exactly how and when it was supposed to. Sometimes its hard to see that, to have that foresight when you’re in it.

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You Don’t Learn Very Much When You’re A Makeup Assistant

Learning – one of the biggest and bounciest aspects of makeup artistry that never goes away – and thats especially true of assisting.
Because you’re getting to take in what someone else is doing too – I always love assisting different people, because their individual skills and techniques are like a thumbprint.

No two people do things exactly the same, and that can only benefit you as you can take on what you like, and leave what you don’t. Or develop your own way of doing a particular task, or creating a specific makeup look.

Assisting is Only For Beginners

Well that’s just stupid. I still assist when asked, and I love it. Like I said, you learn so much, and constantly and it makes work so much more enriching when you are exposed to different approaches all the time. Especially if you’re fortunate enough to work with new people all the time.

I’ve also heard a lack of respect aimed at assistants. Aside from that being nothing short of unprofessional, if you’re working with the right people, they know how hard you work, how much you take on during the day, and exactly what you accomplish, even if it is unseen, or feels unnoticed. So my general rule of thumb –  do ignore the naysayers. They probably never worked a full honest day and have their own path to walk down.


I know it can feel eternal, like you’ll never step up to that highly coveted title of Make-up Artist, or even key makeup artist, but just keep going.

One day you will look back and treasure the days you spent makeup assisting, and appreciate that all the hard work was for very good reason. Even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.

So stick with it; the dream career makeup artist job will come. Keep assisting, because it’s awesome, and you’re doing great – and contributing a mega tonne load to the department, even if it feels like you’re only getting praise for your coffees.

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