A career as a professional makeup artist involves a lot more than knowing how to wield a bit of lippy. Makeup artistry is big business. Just think of the blockbusters of last year and imagine how they would have looked without the presence of makeup artists. These are the people who rubbed in Nicole Kidman's Moulin rouge, who made Hagrid hairy. So what are the skills needed to produce such marvels?

A course will begin at the beginning and teach you about your new canvas - skin. You will learn about skin physiology, anatomy and, importantly, skincare. After all, you don't want George Clooney breaking out in hives (unless, of course, you get to nurse him back to health in a Misery-type kidnap scenario).

Subsequent modules should give you a grounding in makeup basics - its application, the principles behind lighting and shading, how to mix and blend your makeup, looks for special occasions and camouflage makeup. You will then go on to learn about high fashion makeup and how to tailor it, using different looks for fashion shoots, black and white photography or the catwalk.

Once you know how to make people pretty, then you can set about making them look different. Working in special effects is often the Holy Grail for makeup artists but a course should teach you how to mix blood and guts with the best of them. You will learn about wigs and fake facial hair and also how to make people look bald, old bucktoothed or pox-ridden. If you are looking for a legal outlet for your murderous streak, then you will learn to slit throats, break legs and produce bullet-ridden corpses.

Prosthetics are the one of the most exiting things that a makeup artist can be involved, as they can completely change a persons appearance. If your course has such a module then you will learn how to take moulding of the face, sculpt a prosthetic piece and cast it in latex and apply it to the face. Presto chango and Timothy Spall becomes Johnny Depp. A useful skill in any circle…

Good makeup artists need both artistic flair and lashings of tact. To be successful you will have to know instinctively what looks 'right'. You will also have to assure grumpy clients that they look fabulous, darling, even while you are Sellotaping most of their face behind their ears.

So if you want to air kiss and makeup, run a manicured finger over the links below.