Super fast face paint designs

Hey there,
I could use some help in finding some more super fast designs for kids faces.
There is one place where I only get 1,5 hour, but there will be 40 kids walking around. I already said that I am not going to make that (since they do want real facepainting, and not very small simple things) but they cannot or do not want to hire me for more time.
I want to make as much kids as possible happy with something, so are there any good idea`s about nice designs that are super fast? Like two minutes/three minutes.

The best way is to only offer designs that you are VERY familiar with and can paint quickly. Speed is just something that comes from practice. Almost any face can be a fast face if you have painted it enough times to be able to do it without even thinking.
It often really just comes down to painting what you know and are comfortable with. I can paint ANY face on my festival board in under 3 minutes easily. I can even cut that in half if I am really swamped and need to amp things up a notch.

RAINBOW CAKES!!!! they make life so much easier :


Also the smaller cakes (video up on silly farm):


This is from silly Farm's actual dvd i think its from "follow the rainbow" that uses smaller cakes for the snake and leaves:


1/2 spiderman:


Dolphin quicky:


Brontosaurus:


Kitty:


A few quickies:

there's a puppy, vampire, mask, and dragon in there

A Phoenix/bird:

I am strictly a beginner, but my daughter's face in my avatar (which I consider to be a base design with no details) took me about 4 minutes. If you are familiar with face painting I am sure you can cut that time by half!

I did this design (found it somewhere on the net) because I was also trying to find ideas that were quick enough for me to do if in a time crunch that still looked decent. Usually a face takes me about *cough* 8-10 minutes *cough*. I figure I'll get better with experience.

Also, here is another super easy face to do. It is the door mouse. It came out of either the Snaz book or the Usbourne book:

Well, I do almost all my designs in under 3 minutes, but that's me... I'm not super nitpicky about details.

Do you have a butterfly brush? That makes super fast and pretty girl designs. I'll post a few of my fastest designs and you can take them for inspiration and make them your own. I don't have a picture of it, but you can do a super quick kitty face with just the nose, muzzle and whiskers. Sometimes it's more a matter of the area taken up for some people than how detailed it is or whether you put a base on them at all.... I prefer to do things with a base most of the time.

I did a version of this sheet at an event last night. I might modify a few things yet, but it can give you some ideas hopefully.

The angel took a little longer than I liked. And The blue mask too. So I might alter those into something else.


The rainbow arm was by far the most popular.

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Wow, thanks! You al remind me of how many designs there are that are ok for two/three minute work. This is going to work out fine. I think I was just a bit nervous, working really fast is not my strongest point.

practising in a situation where you need to work fast is the best way to get yourself faster.

Some designs you can get away with no base at all - like a bunny or a cat, or a spotty dog. Pirates are heaps quick too.
You might also consider limiting yourself to say 6-8 simple designs.
Like a spidy mask a simple tiger, batman and a monster mask or pirate.
And for the girls - rainbow with hearts or flowers, princess crown, butterfly and a fairy or mermaid design. By the end of the gig you will have mastered those and will be able to add to your "quick" faces list.
Good Luck and remember you can't keep everyone happy all the time!

Tash

if you go to my web site
www.artybrushstrokes.com look in the gallery section
most of my princess faces are 2 min or less.

using the arty brush cakes...mini rainbow cakes will really speed up your line
also...when i do an event like yours...i make up a board of 8 designs they can chose from...also helps speed thing up.

good luck!
rebecca

These are all super-duper fast. Of course like anything you have to practice them or make a version that works for you and you remember on the fly. I like the top one, it's really popular and fast...it uses a home made rainbow palette .5inx.5in then quick stars with white.

This face painting job was on last friday, and it went 'ok'. I painted about 16 children in the end, which for me is ok. Its about 5 minutes per child but also some chatting with parents, water cleaning moments, re-painting a child that had fallen on his knees and had a messed up face (from crying I mean).
So I guess it was ok. Painting all of the 45 kids is impossible for me at the moment. Its two minutes per child, but then I do not count all the other things that happen next to painting. Like saying some things, cleaning some brushes/water, answering a question of a parent, keeping the kids in line from creating a big and bumby party ( because its hard to wait). Things like this also take time, so it was less then two.. unrealistic I think.
They should hire two people or someone that does airbrush tattoo`s or such things.

they where happy by the way, no complaints at all about the number of kids.

if someone asked me to paint 40 kids in one and a half hours, I immediately would say that it would be near impossible...
as you say...all the things in between take time too...and you're not a robot...I painted about 20 kids in 2 hours...but not very quick designs though...everyone was happy...had no more than 5 kids in the row...

I don't think I could rubber stamp 45 kids in 1 hour. I would have told the client it was impossible & not a good idea to only paint 1/2 the kids. I'm glad they were happy w/ it, but I wouldn't have been
I hate unhappy kids when it's the adults fault.

Exactly. How do you explain that half the kids get a fp but the other half don't? I had someone ask if I could do 25 kids in an hour (no), and tell me I could do PPF after (it was a birthday at a place centre) - I said I still wouldn't - how would you tell them that Susie got hers done for free, but if Billy wants one, his parents have to pay me, when they're at a party?

So bunk.

They never did hire me, haha.

here are some quick designs

I have averaged painting 40 full faced designs in an hour before, but it required a LOT of focus and is NOT a pleasant way to work (painted that way for 4 hours straight, and was exhausted afterward). I would NOT paint that many at a normal gig unless I was being paid at least triple my hourly rate, as the added stress and work it takes to speed paint comes at a premium.

Psalmbook wrote:I don't think I could rubber stamp 45 kids in 1 hour. I would have told the client it was impossible & not a good idea to only paint 1/2 the kids. I'm glad they were happy w/ it, but I wouldn't have been
I hate unhappy kids when it's the adults fault.

I have explained the client about it, they knew perfectly well before I came.
I also hate unhappy kids when it is the parents fault also
Luckily there where other nice activities for them as well, like for example spray painting on big wooden panels. So in the end all the kids got to do something they liked.

The line was never longer then 4 by the way, because I only gave space for four kids. In that way they would keep on playing or spraypainting until there was another space. Instead of sitting/standing in a huge line for a long time.

That's interesting, Eerin. How did you manage to keep them from queuing? In my experience, they will just keep bending the line around, and wind it around a corner if there isn't space.

Can you explain how you did it? This would be a very useful technique when it comes to bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, etc. It also would lessen the frustration of kids and parents who wait in line for an hour.

I've heard that some people paint a number on the back of the kids' hand, and then they can go and play until their number is called. One painter said she had been giving out numbered tickets for the line order, but then some mothers were actually grabbing a ticket off a child near the front, and giving it to their own child.

I tell ya. It can be worse than a new store opening with bargains galore, eh?

Kat

I can paint up to 22 (1-3 min/face) or so kids an hour for quicker designs - but I've been doing this for 7 yrs. I actually just did a gig with about 60 kids in just over 2 hours, and somehow painted everyone, I painted numbers on hands and had someone call them out... However, If they expect the quality/choices on my website, they should purchase more time. If I know I can't paint all the kids in the given time, I tell them that I can't take the job if every child won't be given the opportunity - I do not want tears on my watch and parents that make me feel like trash. In my experience 90% of the kids want face paint, for some reason parent say "not everyone will want paint"...This is not so, MOST of them will want paint, even if they wait until they see the "big kids" do it. I have a couple of assistant who can help me some times, so if they really want things done quickly, I suggest they hire me and my assistant (she's less to hire than me, and I don't usually take a cut of what I charge for her when she helps).

I got hired for a school gig. The number they listed was 0-100.
I told them........um, I can't do 100 faces in 2 hours. I mean, if they did the math, it would be like 1 minute 20 seconds per kid. And then there is the time it takes for them to switch and tell me what they want.

Don't people have common sense? Can't they figure out that we aren't superheros. They expect us to fly in with our capes and super speed and churn out artwork at one kid per minute?

I told them I'd do what I could, but I couldn't guarantee everyone getting painted.

It seems that some people have no clue how much time it takes to face paint and some people just don't care about quality. Can I paint 30 kids in 1 hour? Sure but don't take any photos lol! And you will be limited to 6 designs with little detail (rainbows for anyone!) and the kid had better know what they want or they will have to step aside for the next kid. Kind of stressfull for everyone but ya get what you pay for!

I can paint 100 kids in 1 minute... if I swirl it in a bucket & throw
Maybe I need to start offering painted drum parties!

Just liquify the makeup and put it in a water gun and hose them down....LOL