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[00:00:00] Welcome back to The Artist to Artist podcast. My name is Angie. I'm a full-time freelance makeup artist, and today we're talking about something that every new makeup artist should know how to do well, and that is assisting. And no, I don't mean just standing around, carrying makeup, eggs, holding a powder brush.
I'm talking about being an actual asset on the job. Whether it's your first time assisting, or you've done it a few times, but you feel a bit lost when it comes to assisting, or maybe you're listening right now and it's the scariest thing that you can think of at this point in your career. This episode is gonna help.
Today. We're gonna cover what assisting actually looks like, mindset shifts you need to make before saying yes to an assisting job. Quick wins that make you a great assistant, and how assisting can actually speed up the progress of your career. So let's get into it. Let's start with what assisting actually means. Assisting is not just about makeup application. You are there to support whatever the artist needs, and that can look different on every single job. Sometimes [00:01:00] you're gonna be setting up the workstation, cleaning brushes, organizing products.
Looking for shine on the face. When your talent is on set. You might be running for coffee, making sure the artist doesn't forget where they put their phone. Other times if there's trust with the artists that you're assisting. You might be doing touchups, you might be doing light applications, starting or finishing a makeup application for. One or more talent. But the thing is, your role is gonna be determined by the artist and also what their relationship with their client is. So don't assume you're always gonna be doing makeup
actually don't assume anything because you will need to ask what is expected of you Before every single job
I know a lot of you love these mindset shifts that I've been talking about in the last few episodes, so I wanted to include them in this episode as well, and I wanted to share where a lot of newer artists, I think go wrong. And I've experienced this myself firsthand when I have had assistance. I think
a lot of new artists feel like [00:02:00] assisting is beneath them, or they feel like they're being overlooked, but the truth is, assisting is a privilege. You are being trusted with a client relationship that took. Sometimes years to build that artist is choosing to bring you into a professional situation where one move or one thing you say could make them look very bad.
And you know how competitive this industry is and how hard it is to nurture really good client relationships. So your mindset, if you feel that way, it has to shift. This isn't your show. You're there to help someone else do their job at the highest level. And how you show up in that role as assistant says a lot about you to clients, to the artists that you're assisting, it sends a very loud message.
Are you reliable? Can you work under pressure? Can you just be quiet and get the job done without asking a million questions or making problems for the artists that you're assisting? Now, of course, when you listen to my podcast episodes or when you take in [00:03:00] content, I wanna make sure there's some quick wins that you can get from what I'm sharing with you. So I wanna talk about what actually makes you a good assistant, because it really doesn't have anything to do with talent, it's not just about talent.
You wanna show up early, not on time, but early. You wanna be clean. Your kit, your brushes, your hands, your clothes. All of this needs to be together. No chip nail polish, no smelling like cigarettes. No. Coming into the job hungover. And this should be for your own clients as well. Not just when you're assisting.
I'm sorry that I have to say this, but it's true. You have to be ready for anything. Are you shooting in a warehouse? Are you standing for 12 hours? Are you gonna be outdoors in the cold? You wanna be prepared so you are not the one complaining. You wanna ask the artists that you're assisting what to bring.
Don't assume they always want your full kit. They might just want a few essentials. They might want you to work out of their kit, so make sure you have that conversation before you show up to an assisting job. Stay quiet and observant. Watch [00:04:00] how these artists work. Watch how they speak to the client.
Watch their body language. Watch how they carry themselves on the job. That's how you're gonna learn. The next thing, please do not make it about you. This is not a networking opportunity when you get on set. Don't pitch yourself to clients. Don't post BTS unless you ask the person you're assisting. Just don't assume you can operate as you would on your own jobs.
Do not expect to be trained. An assisting job is not an on the job training situation. If you learn something that's great, which you definitely will, but that's sometimes a bonus and not always a guarantee, and it's not a masterclass for you.
And last thing I just wanted to point out, because this is something that has bothered me in the past with certain assistants. Just respect the whole setup and I mean, like the actual makeup station. Don't touch the artist kit without asking. It's not an opportunity for you to go shopping or to swatch products.
Don't reorganize things, don't. Go ahead [00:05:00] and do anything to that kit without asking the artist first, and don't hover over the kit. You should be paying attention to what's going on on the job. Remember, at the end of the day, your function on that job is to make the artist that you are assisting.
It's to make their life easier. I mentioned in the intro, assisting can really speed up your career and the part that no one tells you. Assisting is actually one of the fastest ways to learn. What actually matters. And to learn the ins and outs of the industry, you get to see real jobs, real pressure, real clients.
You learn how to move on set, how to troubleshoot, how to get things done fast. And if you are a reliable assistant, artists are gonna start recommending you to their colleagues to get you more assisting work. And eventually, if they trust you and they can see that you are doing good work, you will become a referral to them.
And they'll put you up for jobs that maybe they can't do, don't want. Maybe the budget's not where they need it to be. They will refer you for those jobs I have referred. [00:06:00] Thousands of dollars in jobs to people that have assisted me in the past. So now what you have is paid work, real world experience, insight into how other artists work.
That is invaluable. And you're also starting to build a network and not only a network of other artists, but a network of paying clients.
Before we finish up this episode, there are just a few things I wanted to talk about from my own personal experience with assistance. The first thing is, you will notice if you follow me on Instagram, I rarely work with assistance, and that is for a few reasons. The first reason is a lot of the clients that I work with when it comes to budgeting, a lot of them don't see the value in an assistant.
Now, this could be for a couple of reasons, but if they don't see the value, they're not gonna find the budget for it. Also, when there's any economic problems going on in your market or certain parts of the industry are having tough times, and I would say Toronto's in that phase right now, the first thing that gets cut are extra bodies on [00:07:00] set.
. People try to work with a leaner crew, so assistants are just not even in the discussion anymore. The other thing that happens is I have had clients where I have brought an assistant and it actually made things a little uncomfortable and difficult because the assistants were not good. So there's that.
The other thing is I find it so much work to have an assistant with me because there's very few good assistants out there. And I've had so many people that expect a masterclass from me when we're working. They do not approach the job in a professional way.
They don't show me respect, they don't show my clients respect. Um, a lot of younger artists, and I'm sorry I'm gonna call you guys out right now in that sort of early twenties category. This is just my experience. I've worked with a lot of people who come onto the job, very entitled. They have a certain preconceived notion of what this job is and it's just not helpful.
It's really not helpful to me to bring an assistant on set, have that assistant show up, and the first thing they ask me is, [00:08:00] what time are we wrapping? That is no good. If I. Have someone with me that's getting paid and they're not right by my side when I'm working, or they can't follow simple directions, or I catch them trying to network with my clients or be a little too friendly with my clients. It doesn't look good on me and it doesn't look good on the assistant, but also it's just making more stress for me in a job that is already so stressful. So if you are listening to these things, I need you to hear this because I have talked to other artists in my circle.
All of us have had a lot of experience. We've gone through a lot of assistance
and the general consensus right now is that it's just too much trouble to have an assistant. A lot of younger makeup artists come into the job, very entitled because they're not getting real information about how the industry actually is. And a lot of people just don't know how to step up and assist properly and come on to a job and completely take their ego out of it and just be a good support for the person that they're assisting.
So this is. All me being very candid with you, [00:09:00] this is something I think you should know because these are things that more senior artists are talking about. And I've had this discussion many times with artists I know, and right now it's just a situation where we have a hard time trusting assistants and finding good people to assist.
If you are a new artist and you're listening, please pay attention to what I have just told you in this episode.
The thing about assisting too, is that it is challenging to find artists to assist because I think a lot of us, at a certain level have had so much trouble with assistance in the past that you're gonna find a lot of people who are not gonna be open to it right away, but just keep chugging along.
Keep asking people for assisting opportunities, keep inquiring about these things. Eventually, someone will say yes to you, and you'll get to see how valuable these opportunities are. If you're a new artist and you're scared of assisting, that should be a sign that you should definitely assist. If you wanna grow your career, grow your skills, this is something that you need to be doing.
Do it with the right mindset, show up prepared and treat it like [00:10:00] the opportunity it actually is. And if you're listening and you've got questions about this topic I'm definitely open to doing more episodes. This was kind of just an introduction to assisting. There's more that I wanna talk about. I'm sure you can tell by my tone during this episode that I have so much to say on this topic, but I feel like this is good for today. Thank you so much for listening.
Make sure you're following artist to artist on Instagram. Subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss future episodes. And if you know another artist who would benefit from this, definitely send this episode their way.
And I will talk to you next week. Bye.
