help/advice - face painters

[megrob]

hi,

so in my spare time i would love to start face painting. love children and love art and not bad with a paint brush - so why not?

however, i have a basic kit that i want to build on, but how do i begin to build experience or find work or be asked to do parties in order to make a bit of money to develope skills by maybe doing a course, buy more paint or be asked to an event/party. where do you even start so ppl contact you.

did anyone work as a volunteer somehwere at first to begin with if so where??

Does your local primary school have a Christmas fair where they let out cheap stalls to local businesses? Church/village fetes. You could print a flyer about your party rates - they might let you leave them at local halls that are used as kids party venues.

@waltzingparrot hi they do but as a beginner how much qoukd you charge, or charge nothing at all?

I'd do the first gig for donations for the school's charity and to see if I was good enough to charge for parties. . Then at the next fair, I'd produce a leaflet but honestly don't know where I'd pitch the fee. Parties up to 10 kids, parties up to 20?? I've done face painting (not as a business) and was always buying new brushes, sponges, glitter which can be costly (I wasn't paying 😁) Can you practice on friends kids?
Snazeroo paints were always the best and I had a sheet with 6 standard face ideas that I could do quickly. Ask a kid what they want and you'll be there forever or won't understand their description - general tigers, butterflies etc work well and you can always add your artistic flair.

Years ago my local college did a Saturday one day face painting course. Some people wanted to start a business, some to help with school stuff and others like me just for my own kids and friends. You might find something local.

I agree with pp that you need a few photos of the faces you are happy to do. Get children to pick which face they want whilst queuing so that when they get to you, you can start painting right away with no dithering. You need a disclaimer about at parents own risk, don’t paint under 3s (as I think paint says only for 3 up) don’t paint children with snotty noses - maybe supply tissues and wipes for parents to clean them up first and make sure you have insurance.

Also think the suggestion of offering to do it free for school Xmas fair and parents just make donation to school funds is a good one. You need to know how many you can paint in a hour for example before you want to do parties. You could always have a few cards with contact details on if anyone asks at the fair. I think do the first few at a reduced rate in return for a good review you can use in advertising. Once you know how many you can realistically do in an hour, then work out your costs and what you want to charge per hour - I guess that needs to be compared to what other party entertainers charge around you.

@TheHomeEdit @waltzingparrot theres an xmas fair coming up but dont feel ready at all for that just yet. when the next event is on at the school i will offer. but do u really think i shouldnt receive even a small amount back to cover cost of paint/materials?

@TheHomeEdit @waltzingparrot is there any watsapp groups or facebook support groups i could join?

Just had a quick look, though I've not used this Facebook group

'Newbie face painters help group'

....and there's loads of face painting tutorials on YouTube. I think you'll just have to suck up the first gig - see it as market research. Don't see how you can ask for charity donations and then dip into the pot. You could just limit paints to red, white and green for Xmas and just do small, simple holly leaves and berries, candy sticks, baubles etc - not full face.

Also look on pinterest for 'christmas face painting'. Something like these would be quick and easy

Do you have access to a child that will sit still for bribery? Own child, nieces, nephews etc?

Pick a couple of easy faces to do, dogs, tigers and butterfly's are always popular. Be warned that often children ask for the same image that they've seen others have so you can end up doing 20 butterfly's.

Learn the pattern off by heart, you want to be able to get through a full facepaint in 2-3 minutes for something relatively simple.

I would always do the same pattern but would ask the child to pick their own colours. So for a dalmatian I would do whatever colour spots the child asked for.

Once you've got the pattern down, take a photo of your model and get it printed and placed onto a board with the patterns that you offer.

Good brushes are worth their weight in gold and more sponges than you think you need. I used to cut mine in half.

You need public liability insurance just incase something goes wrong.

You can ring schools and even restaurants or soft play areas and see if they would be happy for you to get some voluntary facepaint practise in.

You can charge a low fee (£2 a face) or just take donations for charity whilst starting out.

@megrob you should view this as a hobby that one day might make you some money and you'll have to absorb the initial outlay. If it doesn't work out you can still use the paints for family parties.

A £10 snazaroo starter kit would be enough for an initial job. I'd buy some extra sponges to go with it.
Or just buy full size pots of christmasy colours.

thanks all for ur messages. really help! ive requested to join newbie face painters group.

so i have my first event in december on voluntary basis for practice in a nursery. can someone tell me every single item i will have to bring along with me as in towels, bowls, sponges, cups, mirror etc?? please list below so i can make an order tonight of EVERYTHING! I have no idea apart from paints and vrushes to pack in my bag and the quatities.... please help!!!

im terrified of this event in december at it will be my first and have no idea.... but gotta start somewhere!!!

Mirror
Baby wipes
A board showing what face you are going to do... Practise on Someone, take a photo and then use Canva to make a poster.
Paints
Brushes (as bare minimum a no. 4 and a fine liner)
Sponges - cut them in half (2 options 1 per colour or for better hygiene purposes 1 per person and a plastic tub to put them in once used)

Highly recommend you get public liability insurance whether it's a paid gig or not, you won't be covered by the nursery's insurance as you aren't an employee and if anything goes wrong and someone has a reaction you could be sued.

Make sure the kids are clean and free from sores or anything else before and bare in mind different skin types. Have you actually done young children as some places say no under 3’s. Also remember you might need different colours for different skin colours. Alice bands always useful if the child has long hair. Sometimes people would rather have a butterfly/spider on the hand if child has a delicate face. 100%on liberty insurance, it’s not expensive. If your doing it alone might be worth asking/taking someone with you to collect the money for nursery, wash kit and make sure the child knows what they want

Roll of kitchen towel
Donation/money pot
Bin bag
Water jar to wash out brushes

Age range is a good point, facepaints say not to use on under 3s.

Dark coloured small towel to put your brushes on after being in water pot.

Also how fast can you paint a face? I think you want to be child sitting to child leaving in a maximum of 5 minutes. So that includes the pre and post chat meaning face designs need to only take you 3 minutes really.

You need to practice. Face painting is easy, face painting quickly and accurately on a wiggly child is not.
Can you get hold of one of those hairdressing heads to practice on?
How old are the nursery kids? Lots of the professional companies won’t paint children under 5. Definitely not under 3.
Are you confident about asking about allergies etc? Don’t paint scabby or snotty kids. Don’t paint near eyes.
Choose 3 easy designs and just offer those, they can choose colours if necessary. But you need to practice.
Snazaroo are okay, but I would invest in a good quality black and white.