Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Scene painter and scene sculptor
Recognized by ordinance of February 1, 2000 (BGBl. I. 2000, p. 83)

Duration of traineeship

3 years
The venues for training are the company and part-time vocational school (Berufsschule)

Field of activity

Scene painters and scene sculptors work in accordance with conceptual models. They give artistic form through painting or sculpture in particular to stage sets and sets for theatre, opera, musical, film, television and show productions, etc.. In addition, their activity can extend to decorative painting and sculpture for exhibitions, trade fairs, advertising productions and interior decoration.

Occupational skills

Scene painters and sculptors

• develop creative concepts for the realisation of sets and stage sets on the basis of models and talks,
• plan, calculate and organise their work
• make linear and three-dimensional drawings, in particular of architecture, landscapes, living things and fantasy representations,
• model three-dimensional elements,
• produce technical drawings for decorations in painting and three-dimensional decorations,
• use and work materials, in particular textiles, films, plastics, wood, metals and plastic substances,
• paint undercoatings for various drawing and painting techniques and structure surfaces with plastic substances,
• prepare surfaces for transparent, translucent and opaque painting,
• apply plaster, wall, stone and concrete imitations to rigid and unrollable decorative parts
  write scripts in various techniques and design areas with typographical means,
• draw and paint ornaments and shape them in three dimensions,
• control the results of their work in accordance with artistic evaluation criteria and carry out functional tests in regard to the task set and to load-bearing capacity.

Skills in the subject area of painting:

Scene painters and sculptors in the subject area of painting

• mix paints according to design and put together a range of colours,
• use varnishing, colouring and spray techniques,
• develop the picture layout for scene painting,
• produce wood, stone, metal, crevice and crack imitations,
• produce copies of contemporary and historical works of art,
• paint people, animals, architecture, landscapes and fantasy representations,
• create colour and aerial perspectives.

Skills in the subject area of sculpture:

Scene painters and sculptors in the subject area of sculpture

• cut, saw, model, laminate and form materials in accordance with patterns and models,
• join and form adhesive bonds between materials and three-dimensional elements, in particular between wood, metal and plastic,
• design and make moulds, in particular casting, deep-drawing and lost moulds,
• produce three-dimensional elements through forming, in particular using laminating , casting and deep-drawing techniques,
• imitate stone, wood, metal and cracked surfaces, etc.
• copy objects such as reliefs, sculptures, containers, etc.
• fashion persons, animals, figures, architecture, landscape parts and fantasy representations three-dimensionally. 

Last modified on: December 12, 2006