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.”

MADRID (AP) — Portugal 's parliament on Friday approved a bill banning face veils worn for “gender or religious” reasons in public, in a move seen as targeting the face coverings worn by some Muslim women.

The measure was proposed by the far-right Chega party and would prohibit coverings such as burqas — a full-body garment that covers a woman from head to foot — and niqabs — the full-face Islamic veil with space around the eyes — from being worn in most public places. Face veils would still be allowed in airplanes, diplomatic premises and places of worship.

The bill stipulates fines for those wearing face veils in public ranging between 200 euros and 4,000 euros ($234 and $4,669).

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa still has to approve the bill. He could veto it or send it to the Constitutional Court for review.

If signed into law, Portugal would join a number of European countries such as Austria, France, Belgium and the Netherlands who have full or partial bans on face and head coverings.

Not many women in Portugal wear such coverings, but the issue of Islamic veils has generated controversy similar to other European countries.

Chega cited France and other European Union countries' rationales for banning face coverings commonly worn by Muslim women. The far-right Portuguese party received support for the bill from center-right parties.

In its bill, Chega said that hiding the face subjects individuals — especially women — "to situations of exclusion and inferiority" and was incompatible with principles such as “liberty, equality and human dignity.”

Lawmakers from left-leaning parties disagreed.

“This initiative is used solely to target foreigners, those who have a different faith," said center-left Socialist Party lawmaker Pedro Delgado Alves whose party voted against the bill.

He said that while no woman should be forced to wear a veil, the far-right party's approach was wrong.

FILE - Members of opposition parties stand to vote against a government confidence motion at the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, file)