Trying to prepare for my first festival need some advice!!!

Okay, so I am really apprehensive over my upcoming face painting gig I have for a local art fair. I have been trying to practice but I don't think I'm as prepared as I should be. So here is my question. . .

For your first Fair is it best to have 5 or 8 different options for full face such as

Puppy
Spiderman
Captain America
Bunny
Clown etc....

A couple options for masks and a board full of cheek art?

I don't have the capital to make banners yet, and I have to print out business cards from my own computer.. I know it's not very professional but at this point I have no choice because I just don't have any extra funds to jazz up my booth space. Does anyone have any suggestions on what i can do on a low budget in order to attract some extra business? For your first fair is it okay to have hand made signs? My only models I have are my kids and my son wiggles so much that my boy examples are really sloppy he is only 3. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated thanks!

Sometimes I have pictures and sometimes I just use a list. The reason I use a list is so that I dont have some kid saying that isnt exactly like the picture. But unless you know your designs by heart, it's nice to have a picture. Keep it simple, 8 designs is fine. Can you freehand on the spot?

Remember, no-one but you knows it your first event. If your printing your number on paper, you can fold it to look like a "brochure"

Trust me, the kids will find you whether you have banners or not. Vistaprint.com has banners and business cards super cheap, free I think, you just pay shipping.

Good luck!

Lauri Strandell has an inexpensive banner display system using PVC pipes.
You can buy unbreakable acrylic mirrors from IKEA in the children's section.
Kids will find you no matter where you are. You don't have to have a lot of signage if you cannot afford it.
Relax, do your best work.
Have fun!

Happy Painting!
xoxo

Thanks for the advice, i've only face painted twice before this . . . I usually look at pictures for inspiration and free hand it. But sometimes I doodle on the computer to come up with ideas as well. Hopefully once i throw myself at the mercy of the public I can enhance my craft a little more. Lisa I absolutely love your tiger face its amazing!

This is my 17 year old daughter, Darcy, painted like a tiger as my avatar. It took 3 minutes to paint her like this.
I am going over to my mum's tomorrow.
Her favorite artist is VanGogh, so we will see what we can come up with!
xoxox

Dear Untamed,

Don't sweat it! I started out with computer printed business cards on paper and homemade signs. My advice is really read the assorted tips on here for products, promoting and signage. I didn't discover the forum until I had already purchased many things... it will prevent costly upgrading to a better set-up.

Using this search tool in Google, I found all these great posts for you:

festival tips site:facepaintforum.com
and
first festival site:facepaintforum.com

http://www.facepaintforum.com/t5635-setting-up-for-a-festival
http://www.facepaintforum.com/t8162-at-what-size-festival-do-you-need-another-painter
http://www.facepaintforum.com/t5684-profit-at-festivals
http://www.facepaintforum.com/t7843-ohman-i-m-exhausted-did-my-first-festival-today
http://www.facepaintforum.com/t6126-oh-goodness-festivals

I have been doing bday parties over the past year but in a couple weeks I will be doing my first fair (my kids school fair, the reason I started this journey in the first place) I am also nervous about not looking professional enough without nice signage or proper business cards, but I think I will get by okay lol
I also plan on having just 6-8 fast full or half face designs to choose from plus a boy and girl cheek/hand design to choose from for the littler ones.
And instead of cards, I used photovisi.com to make a free photo collage with my info added onto it and then downloaded it to walmart photocenter and printed it onto photo paper. Not as classy as a nice business card (or as small) but I really wanted people to be able to go away with my info and having something with pictures on it too was really tempting because it just looks so nice, Ive printed some to leave at local businesses too ( kinda like postcards I guess)

I just used my computor programes to make signage etc.

I also use my computer to make my own marketing materials (except business cards - they were Vistaprint because my printer kept pulling the business card paper crooked). I have MS Publisher and it's great for brochures, signs, contracts (which I save as PDF and email to the customer who prints/signs/returns it).

Vistaprint have regular sales and free deals often, so worth it. Use a list rather than photos as then if it is slow you can do an awesomely amazing face that will get more people seeking you out and if it is busy then you can do a quicker version. Saves stressing about trying to get pics. Practice on yourself, on paper, on your arm. And read the above threads that Julie linked cause there are some gold things on there... about things like water, bandaids, soo many things!

You can use pictures if you want, but a word list is perfectly acceptable... you can ask people if you can take pictures of kids as you do the designs so you can use them for next time. Don't worry too much about the signs, that comes in time.