How much do you practice painting (or did practice) as a newbie?

I have been trying to paint for at least an hour (or two if I'm lucky!) everyday. Some of my designs are pretty pathetic though. lol. How much do you (or did you) practice painting as a newbie? How many hours do you think it takes to become "good". I do have many artistic abilities but painting has never been my strong point! Maybe this is why I like face painting a it's a new challenge! What is your best tip for improving?

I try to put in at least an hour per day, but that doesn't mean a whole lot since it takes so long to accomplish a single face design. I was just thinking last night that I need to focus on mastering a design (as far as speed and execution go) before moving onto the next, that way I can at least be really good at SOMETHING instead of OKAY at a bunch of things.

Um... well... ah... I kinda just did it.

I sketch things that I want to paint, colour them... then used to have to wait until my brother would let me paint him to try them out (he is the bald guy in a lot of my photos.) Now I have to wait to schedule models or paint myself.

First time always turns out, second time is crap because I try to "tweak" too much. Takes about six mores times of painting it before I've got it down to the point I can do it right every time I'm asked to.

For competition I NEVER do the final design for practise. I will do test bits, parts of the design to time out the complicated parts, but never do the whole thing.

For theatre designs I do the sketches and a make-up chart, do a test make-up for approval, take photos of that, then, following the photo and the chart copy it exactly for a couple of nights, then I am usually okay to just paint it without refering to the pictures.

I learn as I go... I'll try new things on myself when I paint myself for a gig, then will use it on painting other people.

Number of hours? Well... I'm still learning and improving every time I paint so I really don't know how long it takes.

Like I said to get a new design down pat takes me about half a dozen times ... as for practising things like drops, swirls, blending... that is repetition... you get better at it the more you do it... hard to really say how long that takes.

I guess I will just keep practicing! It is definitely getting easier as I go, that's for sure.

I think if I can learn to cut and color hair and paint freehand on fingernails I can do this too!

That's the beauty of this, after a couple of times, you have the design committed to memory and then you just work at perfecting it. What I need to do is figure out how to come up with my own designs.

Don't worry about coming up with your own right now. There are so many wonderful designs that you shouldn't feel this pressure. I have been painting for three years and only feel like I have one orginal and it isn't even that orginal.

I always felt like I couldn't be taken seriously if I didn't do my own stuff. This just isn't true.

As for practicing, I had my proface I would practice on. Then I discovered that I could practice the faces on my granite table. Not perfect, but I could sharpie on 10 sets of eyes and do it over and over until I felt like I had it. I tried to do one design a day until I felt really good about 20 or so.

-Metina

The best practice is on a job, because it forces you to paint fast, and that way you forget to think, and just let your vision and hand work together.

I don't (and have not) practised a lot of hours with full face or whole designs. It has more been like: argh! my blending (or whatever) is crappy, and then fills all available space I can reach on my body with that until I'm happy. It is easier than washing your arms a lot of times and gives you different curves and skin times to work on

I don't practice full faces a lot either... jobs are good for that, but work on your line work on your arms, legs, whatever.... tear drops, tiger stripes, butterfly wings, cheek art designs.... and certainly, don't worry about original ideas right now, most kids want stuff they've seen elsewhere anyway... there's a reason our most popular designs are spiderman, butterflies and tigers after all.

I purchased a "practice head" to practice full face painting. I just received it last month. I will have to put more time into practicing. One thing I learned is not to leave the paint on over night because it is hard to get off.

I am still kinda new, as far as my opinion is concerned, and I usually only really practice when I want to try something new. Mine is a lack of time issue. In the beginning I practiced more basics, like sponging and blending, and getting decent consistency with line work. That's been a struggle. I still work on swoops and swirls.

I would agree about the not worrying about creativity at this point. I have found that in just a few jobs, I've been able to deviate from the menu some. Like with my eye art picture, butterfly, or whatever. I did the basic until I was comfortable, then ventured out. Can't wait to see what will happen with more time and experience.

Like Shannon, I draw my ideas out (the new ideas), tweak a lot, then my kids and their friends come over for a face painting party. I have an assistant who helps me on certian jobs every year. She comes as well just so we can make sure we are offering the same thing. I keep my drawing pad and color pencils with me so when I am waiting for an appointment, etc I am drawing. And.... to refer back to Shannon, a few good ideas is all you need to start. A good butterfly (they can pick the colors), and good spidey mask, etc as well. Relax an enjoy.

I actually didn't practice on my own a whole lot when I was a newbie.. I painted for tips every Saturday for a year and a half, and that was my practice! haha... It was great though, because I started out really crappy, but after all of that practice with seeing the same kids every week, and them requesting the same faces every week... I got really good at those faces!

I did practice for fun on myself in the middle of the night... mostly doing tear drops and swirls(probably why I'm better at those than anything else!)

Hi Ashley,
Where did you paint for tips?Like a park or playground? I am going to use up all my paint just painting myself and my nieces, I need to re-coop to buy more paint Not ready to charge for my work though...

at a fast food place I had a meeting with the manager and I said that I wanted to work for tips and a free lunch. Worked out fine. Made about $35-$45 for sitting from 11-3... I wasn't working the whole time obviously... The crowd would ebb and flow so, at most I usually had maybe 4 kids in line. It was also the only time that I ever used a choices book, and it'll probably be the last.

Overall, it was a good experience!

When I started out I painted at a teen dance every friday for 3 hours for one year. I then went to a local resturant and painted there on Saturdays for a year even before I went into business. I wanted to be sure that what I was offering was good enough to charge $100.00 for. I also did a lot of volunteer face painting. This might sound like overkill but for me that was the amount of time I needed to feel confident with want I was doing. It also took a long time for my hand to do what I wanted to do.