I'm a professional!

When I was in school for graphic design, we were told that as soon as you get paid for a job, you can consider yourself a professional. Well, I finally took a *tiny* plunge and set up a table outside a park in the city for an hour. I had to sit outside because you need a permit (which I don't have) to have any commercial venture inside. I felt a little like I was setting up a lemonade stand: I just used a banker's box covered with a towel, two stools we had at home, and a hand-drawn sign. But I had a customer. I painted a butterfly on a little girl's cheek, and my hand was shaking (which I thought was silly), but she and her parents seemed very happy with it. The parents didn't flinch at the price ($5), and I feel encouraged. Yay!

Wohoo, go you! Hope this is just the start of something really awesome, and a great confidence boost too

Woohoo - doesn't it feel great! I am with you on the second-guessing thing... I always wonder why on earth anyone would PAY me for what I do... but they DO, and they love it! She was probably such a happy little girl the whole day. Have fun, and KEEP GOING!!!!
Barbie

ps: if you used a black towel, not only would it hide stains better, but would even give you a more professional polished look - it made a big difference when I switched to black! HOpe that helps...

Congrats!

Barbie, that's a great tip or the black towel! I'm going to have to remember to pick one up for my kit

earthorange wrote:Well, I finally took a *tiny* plunge and set up a table outside a park in the city for an hour. I had to sit outside because you need a permit (which I don't have) to have any commercial venture inside.

Congrats! You're so lucky that you are able to just set up on the street! Where I live it's not allowed. I'd have to go to Boston and I would still need a busking or peddler's license to set up shop on the street.

Yeah for you!!! Yup, no vending here w/o a licence.
Congrats!

Congrats!!! Keep it up!!!

earthorange wrote:When I was in school for graphic design, we were told that as soon as you get paid for a job, you can consider yourself a professional. Well, I finally took a *tiny* plunge and set up a table outside a park in the city for an hour. I had to sit outside because you need a permit (which I don't have) to have any commercial venture inside. I felt a little like I was setting up a lemonade stand: I just used a banker's box covered with a towel, two stools we had at home, and a hand-drawn sign. But I had a customer. I painted a butterfly on a little girl's cheek, and my hand was shaking (which I thought was silly), but she and her parents seemed very happy with it. The parents didn't flinch at the price ($5), and I feel encouraged. Yay!

Congrats to you on becoming professional! I loved this whole story. Keep it for when your the big time Face Painter of your town.

Congrats. I love the little set up. It is adorable.
Welcome to the world of professional face painting.

Thanks, guys.

So I have a (story and a) question...we were at a county fair in our area this weekend...and they had a face painting booth. What I found so interesting is that we went to this fair last year, and my daughter got her face painted, and at that time I was just another mom who delighted at her having fun and paid absolutely no attention to the setup or the materials or the talent. Now, I looked. I recognized them as the same people as last year, but now I saw the table covered in what looked like wrinkled mylar or aluminum foil and the paint was just in messy blobs all over with big plastic cups full of black water (don't know if they ever changed it). I saw the guy just kind of stab his brush into the paint and the paint was going on so thick on the kids' faces. It just seemed kind of gross. And nobody seemed to care. Anyway...

My mom was with me and encouraged me to ask someone who worked at the venue where this was held if they ever need more face painters for other events, etc. and when I asked, the woman almost seemed relieved...she said they might need a second booth and also they have many events throughout the year and hold a lot of birthday parties and parents are always asking for recommendations for face painters and they don't have anyone (the people at the fair don't do parties, just this one fair, once a year).

She gave me the contact info for the person in charge, and now I'm scrambling to put together some semblance of a professional appearance. When I call or email her, what exactly do I need in place? Insurance? A contract? Rates? Do I have a solid rate, or does it depend on the event, the time, etc. Do I need to tell her it would be my first gig? Does it matter? I don't want to lie, but I do want to sound as confident as possible.

Sorry about the long post.

Black towels is the way to go, we used to use colored towels, but switched. Never looking back, I do use a seasonal vinyl seasonal tablecloth, it helps to decorate the table.
I even received compliments on our table this weekend.