Scenic Art Skills - professional/staff

1. What do you think are the top 10 skills or qualities required to be a scenic artist?

Lynsey Sinnamon 1. Having a good eye 2. Knowing your art history to communicate with designers and understand style 3. Good knowledge of materials- the best materials for the job are often too expensive so having an alternative is very important 4. Skill at replicating many styles 5. Being able to drop your own style 6. Colour matching is vital 7. Scaling up/down projectors are not always available 8. Understanding instruction- all paint calls are different with varying ways of working 9. Always having a back up plan- things go wrong but always have an

alternative

10. Knowing the projects limitations (time, budget, skill) Lynsey Sinnamon

2. What do you think are the top 10 skills or qualities a scenic artist needs to get work?

Lynsey Sinnamon obviously many of these skills are transitional but jobs can be few and far between and usually if a production company finds someone the are happy with they will stick with then so it can be hard to break into. 1. enthusiasm even if the sets ugly or your priming! 2. Good judgement- someone isn't always available to answer questions 3. Confidence- your selling yourself and your work 4. Initiative- there is always a job to do often tidying up don't just have a cuppa 5. Commitment- hours are long and anti social but a deadlines a deadline 6. Speed- you only have a limited time on jobs and have to walk away unfortunately we cant have years to work on one piece! 7. Knowledge of materials, planning

and the structure of command- some jobs are formal IE do not speak to designers/ directors

others are casual but you must judge which are which 8. Knowing when to speak up and when to keep quiet- there more than one way to skin a cat but sometimes people don't want to know! 9. Working as part of a team with many many different personalities!!! 10. Having a good kit and knowing where to order materials