My Biz: Self-taught artist finds a colorful niche

Name: Lori Strasburger

Title: Owner/Artist

Company: Funny Face Designs by Lori

Address: 1215 D Ave., Marion

Phone: (319) 377-5608

Website: http://facepainters.biz/

Elevator speech: Full-face face painting to fit your personality

One might say Lori Strasburger is a kid magnet.

As soon as she sets up her four-foot long table - covered with vibrant and eye-catching paints and all the glitter a little girl can dream of - a line of children forms, all ready to have their faces painted.

But Strasburger likes to be clear this isn't your average painting on a cheek. As owner and artist of Funny Face Designs by Lori, she specializes in highly detailed, full-face face painting.

She has 36 core full face designs and 24 eye designs.

“We put out our ideal design on our display boards, and then we modify it to fit the child's face and little personality,” she said.

And she offers kids lots of choices.

“Kids take ownership of the designs as well,” Strasburger said.

Those who see her finished designs may be surprised to learn Strasburger is self-taught.

“There's a knack to it, but this did come naturally to me,” she said.

“It's a three-dimensional moving target,” she added. “Kids are squirmy and wiggly, and the paintbrush reacts differently to skin.”

Strasburger worked during most of her professional career in sales and marketing. After suffering a broken arm back in 2009 that kept her from traveling for her business consulting job, she began to think about partial retirement.

“I figured out I could do a part-time job,” she concluded. “After talking with my kids, I realized it had to be fun, no stress and not out on the road.”

Starting was a challenge, though.

“I'd call potential places to paint at, and they didn't understand what I meant. It was tough to break into initially because people didn't get what full-face face painting was,” she recalled.

The Play Station in Cedar Rapids gave her first gig at a New Year's Eve celebration.

“It was trial by fire. I had tons of kids lined up,” she said.

Regular venues now include every Wednesday evening rotating among the Applebee's restaurants in the Corridor.

“We average three gigs a week, sometimes four or five. And July, for example, is just nuts,” she said.

Her company - which includes her daughter, Ann MacKenzie, among its face painters - is the official face painter of the Hawkeyes, so they paint Hawkeye designs at football and basketball games as well as wrestling meets. Strasburger also does Kernels games, festivals and school carnivals, as well as company events and birthday parties.

Funny Face Designs in its third year, and Strasburger is in the process of hiring her fourth employee.

“I thought I wanted to keep it small, but this has taken on a life of its own,” she noted.

When she's not painting, her work day includes a lot of marketing and practice.

“I am always looking for new ideas,” she said. “The rest of the day, I'm retired.”