How fast are you for parties - really?

[Party Picassos Facepainting]

I advertise 12 - 15 full faces per hour (depending on detail).
But I like to display my GREAT faces. For me, it is detrimental.
Because the children pick these more impressive and TIME CONSUMING
designs. If I leave out dots, glitter and lip color, I hear
"you forgot to put this part on me!" They don't miss a trick.

I can do 12-15 faces, IF everyone sits still and stops moving, has their design
picked and doesn't make their decision UNTIL it's their turn. But how often does
that happen. Not nearly enough!

Occasionally, I have done one hours gigs, if a customer lives close by and I am available.
But that does puts the pressure on! Wham, bam, thank you...whoever! I will do simpler designs
with very limited detail. If I have extra time, I'll do more detail. If not, it will be quick and easy.
And that bugs me, cuz I want each face to be a masterpiece, just like I advertise! I may also have
to cut down on the number of photos that I display, otherwise it makes their decision more difficult.

For PPF jobs, I think I can display EVERYTHING I DO; the simple AND more difficult designs.
But the prices will reflect the time it takes.

Hope this doesn't sound like complaining, I'm just trying to figure out how I can keep to my timelines
and give what I promise...quality art! How about you?

[Sherry]

Yeah, it can be tricky to judge an event.  Sometimes when I know I need to fill more time, they'll pick the simplest designs.  When I know I need to be fast, I worry when they keep picking the most time consuming designs.    I have a sign I take along and whip out when I need it to try and speed things up.  It's a small sign that says, "Please have your design choice picked out before taking a seat.  We may need to serve the next in line until you have picked out your design.  Thank you."

I can usually do 10 - 15 designs per hour depending on the complexity of the design and how quickly I can keep the line moving.  All those little things that can slow a line down, (not knowing what they want, wanting more than one design combined, parents taking photos while the child is still in my seat, uncooperative wiggly model, etc.)

[twink-elle]

Hi All,
I don't charge by the hour for birthday parties but just a flat rate that reflects the going rate for other party type choices in the area. My basic party is for 12 or fewer kids and then I add $5 extra per child more than that. It usually averages about 1.5 hours but I also tell a story, sing a song and if there is time I twist simple balloon figures(often when the cake is being served).
For big events I charge a per hour fee and have a board of about 40 designs of varying degrees of complicatedness. I average 17 faces per hour over the course of a day(even with cleaning brushes, those who can't make up their mind and at some events handsanitizing between each guest.)Some designs take longer than others but it averages out and I'm pretty consistent from event to event. I was a little quicker at some of the Christmas parties by offering a smaller board with just Christmas designs some of which were very fast.
Danica

[sparklingfaces]

i can a princess or a butterfly in 2 minutes....

but I think the issue here is your board.
I would not have one AT ALL... yes it's great for kids to see everything you can do.
But like you said - they will want it exactly like the 10 min face you have on your board.

My thing is I judge how many kids are at the party, and that's how fast I go.
If there are 10 kids, everyone will get a super intricate design with glitter and the works.
If there are 50 kids, then they get the same design, but no "works"
so bigger tear drops, so I need less of them, no hilighting or shading....stuff like that.

this worked really well, untill they turned the slipNslide on.... darn you slipNslide!

[reginanewsum]

or the bouncy house! hahahaha

[Jhayded]

i can a princess or a butterfly in 2 minutes....

but I think the issue here is your board.
I would not have one AT ALL... yes it's great for kids to see everything you can do.
But like you said - they will want it exactly like the 10 min face you have on your board.

My thing is I judge how many kids are at the party, and that's how fast I go.
If there are 10 kids, everyone will get a super intricate design with glitter and the works.
If there are 50 kids, then they get the same design, but no "works"
so bigger tear drops, so I need less of them, no hilighting or shading....stuff like that.

this worked really well, untill they turned the slipNslide on.... darn you slipNslide!

I totally agree about the board. I took a class with Mr. Amsterdam and when he said that having a pictured menu board could limit your creative growth something clicked in my head. I do have laminated cards with pictures in my bag for people who request it or for kids who really don't know what they want (perish the thought!), but I rarely bring it out. My cards are designated difficulty so if I'm donig a party with 15 kids, I only show the requester my fast faces card. I am finding that I've gotten a lot faster and more creative without the cards...nothing I hate more than painting the same pink and purple butterfly over and over again! It also alleviates the "my butterfly doesn't look like the picture" complaints.

[LillyW]

I agree about your board being your issue.  I have a binder, with pages in plastic protectors.  The very first page says PICK a design, I will customize it JUST FOR YOU. They get to pour over it while I am working on others.

The only thing I have in there are things I can do in a party setting. You can do the same for your board  )

At the back is a page with my fancy stuff, and in big letters on top saying, NOT TODAY, COME TO MY STUDIO.

- Lilly Walters, 909-398-1228
Face and Pregnant Belly Painting in Claremont, La Verne, Upland, Pomona, and Big Bear Lake, http://www.funfacepainting.com

Books and Face Painting Classes http://www.funfacepainting.com/book.html

[Psalmbook]

I advertise 12-15 per hour. I can probably do 20 per hour or more depending the designs. I do not use a display board for parties(I hate them & feel the crush creativity). For festivals I have word art that I use to let the children know their options. This way i can do the designs as detailed or simple as time will allow. I do use a display board for expos, since I want to show off my work. I only display work that i know I can do in 2-5 minute. I will also display in the back of the booth my more complex designs, but if a child asks for them I let them know that design took 30 minutes & the one I'll be doing on them will be similar, but not identical.

[MandiIlene]

I think my max once at a party for one hour was 40, kids lined up, had their designs picked out and I moved them quick!

I try not to do that often, cept if its ppf, then more faces more money.

[sparklingfaces]

dang Mandi - If someone called me with 40 kids for a 1 hour job - I would either charge them MORE than my hourly rate or tell them to book me for 2 hours.... I would never accept a party for 40 kids in 1 hour.... you got balls chica!

[Whitney Myers]

Ahh... I know exactly how you feel. I struggled with the same thing for a long time. Even if the board wasn't there, it was hard for me to let the faces go without being perfect. As artists, we want to be proud of our work and when you know it's not your best work, it's just hard to do that.

My first piece of advice is ditch the board. You'll get more creative with your designs without it anyway. This will allow you to have complete control over how detailed and how much time you would like to spend on each design.

Next, take up prenatal, body art or adult parties. Children don't care about our artistic nature, but adults appreciate it. When you're at a child's party, recognize that you will not get to perfect every face, but hold onto those moments when you get to paint a belly or body or adult. Those are the times that we can really let our art shine!

Hope this helps.

[Wildcatfin]

No board, no book, no flip cards...
All the same thing, they want 'THAT, EXACTLY THAT' and either hang onto the pic so no-one else can see it or hold up your queue by wanting to get the book BACk to show you what they want.

Yep far more creative if you can do w/o. I loudly announce 'so, - would you like to be something pretty? or an animal? or scarey? and can then go into details e.g a princess? fairy? etc.

9 out of 10 want what the kid (or birthday kid) had anyway. And especially for kids under 12, they are often more about having had 'something' done on their face than the actual quality. Older kids, photo shoots etc or quiet gigs, yep go for the all-out face sif you have time. But you won't be thanked for it at a party when they'll get sweaty dancing, playing games (or the castles/ slide!) and then coated in cake...

At big/ public events yes I have a few pics on my banner to draw crowds & show the standard I'm at, i.e. that I'm not a 1st-timer/ volunteer, but once a few faces get out there it pretty much flows. As when at parties you learn to judge allowed time, and should get the hang of fancying up or down your faces so the fastest version STIll looks good.

The ONLY time I use boards is at stuff like the Rugby 7s in Hong Kong (think superbowl for international rugby teams), when we have set prices for small & fast team logo stencils, medium priced 1/2 faces/ flags, and top price nicer full faces. Thats purely for speed/ inability to hear much/ speak all the languages, as we have 40,000+ crowds.

Cat x

[MandiIlene]

I didnt accept the party knowing there were 40 kids!

It was a friend of a friend and I had a gig to go to afterwards, so I couldnt squeeze anymore time, and I wanted everyone to be happy, she paid me more because of what I did, on her own accord.

I have worked with sign and not with signs, sometimes there are reasons to prefer either. The parents (in public settings) I think need things to look at to feel comfortable with what you are going to paint on their kid before you begin, kids I dont think care as much they are trusting. Parents at birthday parties usually don't care at all what you do, as long as their kid gets painted and is happy with it.

I like telling kids I would like them to come up with new designs I can use from now on because I know kids are so creative they will have some great idea that makes an excellent face painting. That way they really think about it and I get something like this. . .

"I want dolphins with a heart"   so I go with it and make this. . .

[Sherry]

So cute!     I wish I were more creative like that.  Sometimes I cringe when they want to come up with their own design ideas.  I think if I had more time to brainstorm and try things out, I might like their ideas better.  Having to do it on the spot though worries me a bit, because when I've winged it in the past, I've not always liked the result!   

I do think I'm getting a little better with more experience.  I'm hoping with having our new jams, I can step out of my box and get more experience trying new things on the spot.

[Whitney Myers]

Sherry, if you have a phone that can surf the internet, it really comes in handy when the kids put you on the spot. I've been asked to paint things I've never even heard of, but then I look it up on my phone and am able to paint it from whatever photo I find. It's been a life saver on multiple occasions. Of course this doesn't work at really bust events, but it's great for the slower ones.