This make-up artist transforms into beloved cartoon characters with face paint

If you’re looking for Halloween inspiration, look no further.

At some point during childhood we’ve all proudly shown off face paint creations to our friends … but this Instagram make-up artist takes it to the next level.

Annie Thomas, a 28-year-old make-up artist from Pennsylvania, creates incredibly accurate paintings of famous cartoon characters on her face under the name Creative Cliche.

She has enjoyed drawing cartoons since she was a child and has been creating cartoon characters out of face paint for a year.

She said: “After getting really into a special effects make-up show (Face Off) I thought that I wanted to be a special effects make-up artist. I started an Instagram page of me practising different looks, but then one day just for fun I did a recreation of the character Cynthia from Rugrats and people loved it!

“It tripled my following at the time and it really caused me to change my direction and focus on cartoons. It’s so crazy how things come full circle like that, maybe we all had it right when we were kids.”

The make-up artist has created characters from the Simpsons, Futurama, Rugrats and more, and takes up to eight hours to perfect a look.

She said: “I create every single look on the spot, so everything that you see is a first attempt. I’m not much of a planner! Depending on the look, it can take anywhere from two hours to eight hours.

Annie’s Instagram page now has more than 68,000 followers, with the number climbing every day.

She said: “I would have to say that my all-time favourite looks would have to be my updated version of Krusty the Clown, and Squidward … I just have so much passion for breathing life into these characters and fully embodying them, to me, is the highest form of tribute.”

Annie added: “What I do is very strange and unusual, so to see the amount of love and support for my work, especially in such a short amount of time has been overwhelming!

“I love seeing the impression that my art has made on so many people, there isn’t a cooler thing in this world than to see someone try to recreate your work.

“I think that people click on my page out of curiousity, but stay for the nostalgia – it almost transports you back to a simpler time and makes you realise that life is only what you make of it. It’s not that serious.”

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Elroy Face, an All-Star reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates who saved three games in the 1960 World Series to help them upset the New York Yankees, has died. He was 97.

In a news release Thursday, the Pirates announced they confirmed Face's death. Team historian Jim Trdinich said the club was contacted by Face's son, Elroy Jr., and informed the former pitcher died earlier in the day at an independent senior living facility outside Pittsburgh in North Versailles, Pennsylvania.

No cause of death was provided. Face was eight days shy of his 98th birthday.

“It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Pirates Hall of Famer Elroy Face, a beloved member of the Pirates family,” team chairman Bob Nutting said in a statement.

“Elroy was a pioneer of the modern relief pitcher — the ‘Baron of the Bullpen’ — and he played a critical role in our 1960 World Series championship."

Selected to six All-Star teams, Face went 104-95 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 major league seasons with Pittsburgh (1953-68), Detroit (1968) and Montreal (1969). He pitched in 848 games, starting only 27, and compiled 191 career saves — although saves didn't become an official statistic until 1969.

The 5-foot-8 right-hander holds the National League record for wins in relief with 96 and the major league mark for relief wins in one season after going 18-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 1959.

He topped the National League with 68 appearances and 61 games finished in 1960, when the underdog Pirates stunned Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and the mighty Yankees on Bill Mazeroski's famous home run that won Game 7 of the World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

Face made four relief appearances in the Series, posting a 5.23 ERA in 10 1/3 innings. He closed out Pirates wins in Games 1, 4 and 5.

Inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2023, he is the club's career leader in appearances with 802. And the team noted that if saves had been an official stat before 1969, he also would hold that franchise record with 188.

Face was born in Stephentown, New York, on Feb. 20, 1928. He is survived by his three children, Michelle, Valerie and Elroy Jr., and his sister Jacqueline, the Pirates said.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Roy Face, follows through after serving up a ninth pitch against the Yankees in fifth World Series game at Yankee Stadium, Oct. 10, 1960, in New York. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Elroy Face acknowledges the crowd during a ceremony for players that are part of the team's Hall of Fame class before a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Pittsburgh, Aug. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)

FILE - Former Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Elroy Face throws a ceremonial first pitch before the Pirates' home opener baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Minnesota Twins, April 2, 2018, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)