I’M CHARLES BURNS. I’ve been cutting silhouette portraits at events across the UK and around the world for thirty years. Using nothing more than a pair of scissors and a sheet of black paper, I can capture a likeness in under two minutes. The reaction from guests, almost without exception, is one of delighted disbelief. They can’t quite believe I just did that.
It’s a rare thing: entertainment that produces something beautiful, personal, and permanent. Guests take their silhouettes home, they frame them, and they’re still talking about them at the next event they attend.
What I do
A silhouette portrait is cut freehand, from life, in about one or two minutes. There are no stencils, no tracing, no technology involved — just observation, scissors, and thirty years of practice. Each portrait is mounted in a smart folding wallet (branded with your event details if you like) and handed to the guest on the spot.
Each portrait is mounted in a smart folding wallet and handed to the guest on the spot. This is where the name ‘Roving Artist’ name comes from: I work the room, move between tables, join the conversations, and find the guests who haven’t yet had theirs done.
By the end of the evening, almost everybody has had the chance to pose for a silhouette.
Who books me
Weddings, anniversaries and private parties
Silhouettes have a natural affinity with weddings: the romance and nostalgia of the art form, the keepsake quality of the finished portrait, and the way it gives guests something to do and talk about during the drinks reception. I offer a complete wedding package including full-length silhouettes of the couple, branded silhouette wallets, and a set of signed artist prints delivered after the event.
Find out more about the wedding package here.
As well as weddings I appear at a wide range of private events, from large anniversary parties to small, private dinners.
Corporate entertainment
From city dinners and awards evenings to trade shows, product launches, and team away-days, silhouette cutting works beautifully as corporate entertainment. It’s a natural conversation starter, it produces a branded takeaway that guests actually keep, and it works equally well for fifty guests or five hundred.
Find out more about corporate events here.
A little about my background
I began cutting silhouettes as a street artist in London’s Covent Garden in the early 1990s, teaching myself a then-vanished art in one of the busiest public spaces in the country. Since then I’ve worked at Windsor Castle, cut portraits of President Clinton and President Mandela, and travelled five continents as the Roving Artist.
I’ve also written the book on the subject, Mastering Silhouettes, and made a feature-length documentary, Silhouette Secrets. In 2022 I gave a TEDx talk in Norway on the art and its history.
All of which is to say: if you’re looking for a silhouette artist for your event, you won’t find anyone who has been doing this longer, or who cares more about getting it right.
Interested in booking?
Whether you’re planning a wedding, organising a corporate event, or something else entirely, I’d love to hear from you. Take a look at the relevant page below, or get in touch directly if you’d prefer to talk it through first.