Talking to Your Paintee

Hello! I was wondering, do you talk to the child that you are painting? If so, what kinds of things do you say?

First I ask them what they want to be painted as?
Then I ask their name, age, school.....by this time I am done.
If it is a longer more detailed painting, I just ask about siblings, pets....what their favourite cartoon is etc.
Just be yourself. Be genuinely interested in what they are saying.

i just ask them what they want me to paint. like glitterfly said ask them what colors they would like their design ,, just make small talk and remember to smile..a smile makes them very comfortable.. and you will get a great smile from them when you are done and show them the results

I usually ask them their name, age, etc... and chit chat about the choice that they made.

Example: The kid chooses a pirate
Me: "Oh, a pirate. I love pirates!"
Kid: giggles
Me: "I have to warn you that this is going to tickle a little bit"(paint lines/details)
Kid: giggles and scrunches nose
Me: "you know what makes pirates cool? A scar! Where do you want your pirate scar?"
Kid: points
Me: (paints scar) "okay, you're done. Would you like to look?" (show mirror) "Can you give me your best 'arrgh'?"

Or something like that. It varies depending on the kid's age and what they want, but I do try to talk to them. I actually just booked a pretty large gig because the lady preferred someone who liked talking to the kids vs. another local face painter who openly admitted to not enjoying talking to kids.

"So what would you like to be today"
"What colours would you like? Same as the photo or to match your beautiful dress?"
"Purple [sigh] okay, another beautiful purple butterfly, what? Oh, sure I'll do it exactly the same as your four friends just had, but different, okay?
"Okay, you have to SIT STILL if you want me to paint you"
"Honey, please close your eyes.... no don't scrunch them, softly like this (demonstrate how)... okay that's good"
"NO don't rub your eyes!"
"Ouch, that hurt me, stop kicking me or I'll stop painting"
"If you don't SIT STILL Spiderman will look like dryer lint instead of a spider web"
"No!" (physically remove the child's hand from my cake of black snaz) "do NOT touch my face paints"
"Please do NOT touch my stuff... I don't come to your house and play with your toys do I?"
"ATTENTION (directed to everyone in the queue) please keep back from my chair and table by at least two feet. I can't paint well when my arm and table are being bumped."
"Honey, quit leaning on the chair you are making it wiggle while I am painting your little sister"
"Buddy, please give me back my mirror - go look in the one over there."
"NEXT!"

ROFLMAO! This sounds familiar! It seems children love to lean, bump & attempt to sit and or swing from tables. Drives me crazy with henna sometimes!

@ Shannon: ROFLMAO!!!!! That is hysterical and spot on...LOL! still laughing!!!

OMG...totally cracking up!!! I try not to ask too much because then they move too much .

What Shannon said.
I'm not huge with small talk - I tend to ask what they want, what colour then paint. The really young ones I will talk a bit to make them comfortable or explain what I am doing as I do it. If the kid is really chatty an initiates talk I'll talk to them but eg today I did ppf for 7hrs wih a queue the whole time - 7hrs of small talk would do my head in so I just paint!!! Funny though cause I had one kid get henna and then come back later in the day for a face paint and as she was leaving her mum told me that her kid had told her I was shy! Never been told that before.

ONCE!
When I was VERY young!
I put a WORM right on my TONGUE!!!

I didn't like the TASTE one BIT!!
And SO I didn't SWALLOW it!

But OH!! It makes MY MOTHER SQUIRM!
Because she thinks I ATE THAT WORM!

I also tell stories and sing. The best part is that a few minutes later I have a WHOLE NEW AUDIENCE!!

OMG Shannon! Thank you for the good laugh, that is so funny!
What about, can you please! spit up your gum, or can you swallow what you are eating?
I am with you Sonya, I rather do the talking when I am painting.
Before I start I ask them their name, age, what would they like to be or their favorite thing and color, then I make conversation from there.

Haha, thanks everyone. I obviously knew about asking what they wanted and what colors, it was just that when it came to actual painting time, it was dead silent, but I get it now! Thank you!

LOL! THAT'S SOOOOOO FUNNY!!!

Shannon Fennell wrote:"So what would you like to be today"
"What colours would you like? Same as the photo or to match your beautiful dress?"
"Purple [sigh] okay, another beautiful purple butterfly, what? Oh, sure I'll do it exactly the same as your four friends just had, but different, okay?
"Okay, you have to SIT STILL if you want me to paint you"
"Honey, please close your eyes.... no don't scrunch them, softly like this (demonstrate how)... okay that's good"
"NO don't rub your eyes!"
"Ouch, that hurt me, stop kicking me or I'll stop painting"
"If you don't SIT STILL Spiderman will look like dryer lint instead of a spider web"
"No!" (physically remove the child's hand from my cake of black snaz) "do NOT touch my face paints"
"Please do NOT touch my stuff... I don't come to your house and play with your toys do I?"
"ATTENTION (directed to everyone in the queue) please keep back from my chair and table by at least two feet. I can't paint well when my arm and table are being bumped."
"Honey, quit leaning on the chair you are making it wiggle while I am painting your little sister"
"Buddy, please give me back my mirror - go look in the one over there."
"NEXT!"

Shannon - I love it!

Maggie - I LOATHE when parents give them a sneaky bite of whatever, thinking it's a good time to make them eat - now I have to wait, or swap them out, which would take just as long. How the eff am I supposed to paint a chewing canvas that now has food at the corners of their mouth (again)?!

During actual paint time: I don't ask questions (unless it's taking me a bit to load) because I don't want them to answer while I'm painting. If it's an older, still child in my chair, I don't really say anything - a couple bits of commentary maybe. If it's a younger one - usually someone who's bursting at the seams wanting to talk - I will chatter straight through, and not give them a chance to talk - pretty much what I'm doing. "Aaaand I'm going to get the pink and purple on my sponge, and we're going to start at this eye aaaaaaand dabdabdabdabdab! Aaaaand let's do the bottom riiiiiight there. Good. We're going to do the same thing on the other side - " etc.

ROFL @ Shannon... Hmmm, those could be all of the things I am THINKING!

Izzy, it is hard sometimes to make small talk while concentrating on painting. It really takes a lot of effort! If I am doing an easy design that I could do with my eyes closed, I will talk with them about whatever... like if this is their first time getting painted, and if not then what did they get last time, and what else they've been doing today, etc.

If it's a design that requires a little more brain power for me, I'll just keep up a running monologue of what I am doing. "Okay I'm putting on the butterfly body now... oops, forgot the antennae! Now let's do your lips... yadda yadda..." Hope this helps! It gets easier to babble on about nothing, the more you do it. Just as my husband. Ha...

Kristal wrote:Shannon - I love it!

Maggie - I LOATHE when parents give them a sneaky bite of whatever, thinking it's a good time to make them eat - now I have to wait, or swap them out, which would take just as long. How the eff am I supposed to paint a chewing canvas that now has food at the corners of their mouth (again)?!

During actual paint time: I don't ask questions (unless it's taking me a bit to load) because I don't want them to answer while I'm painting. If it's an older, still child in my chair, I don't really say anything - a couple bits of commentary maybe. If it's a younger one - usually someone who's bursting at the seams wanting to talk - I will chatter straight through, and not give them a chance to talk - pretty much what I'm doing. "Aaaand I'm going to get the pink and purple on my sponge, and we're going to start at this eye aaaaaaand dabdabdabdabdab! Aaaaand let's do the bottom riiiiiight there. Good. We're going to do the same thing on the other side - " etc.

LOL Kristal "chewing canvas" love it!
Oh, I love-not when the parent try to convince the kids to get something they don't want. I am like...would you like to be painted next?
And the ones that sit their screaming kids on their laps to get painted, clearly they do not want anything to do with paint, Excuse me! but I don't think is a good idea to torture your child.
I keep regular tattoos in my bag for those occasions!

"I need you to close your eyes gently just like you're sleeping... don't scrunch them you get funny little lines around your eyes." *pretend to snore the whole time that I need their eyes closed*

"A pink and purple butterfly?!? Nobody EVER picks pink and purple! You're going to look spectacular!" (I often get asked by neighbouring vendors if I say that to every kid..... well, maybe)

I will sing the spiderman theme song while painting spiderman... I'm usually done by the time I finish the song.

And if they chose an animal, I always ask them to give me their best roar or ruff or whatever as soon as I show them the mirror.

I need to remember to tell them what I'm doing more. They are genuinely interested in which color I'm doing at that moment. The kids at the party I did yesterday were asking "are you doing purple now?" "what part are you doing now?"

I try to compliment them "wow you have beautiful eyes!" "You have a great forehead for painting on." "This is looking soooo cool on you. You're going to make an awesome monster!" ...only sincere stuff.

Sometimes, if I think of it, I'll spout out some interesting fact like "Did you know that polar bears have white fur but they have BLACK skin underneath?"
"Did you know that some butterflies live only 2 days but some live for several months?" "You know, there's a kind of snake who's venom makes a great spot cleaner?"

Oh wow, glad I picked up on this thread. I do the chit chat easy, I always ask the age of young children and use Snazeroo on the littest kids and avoid any metalics. I tell them what I am doing, if they move I ask them to put hands on knees, no chewing (you're right about the gum, it drives me crazy!). Because I work as a Nature INterpreter at a national forest I often give details about the animal/insect I am painting...butterflies "smell" with thier antenna and "taste" with their feet! They (butterflies) have a coiled tongue called a proboscis, they uncoil it like a party blower to dip into nectar the base of a flower....etc...,

sounds familiar shannon! usually I forget what I was small talking about, and possibly painting because mom and dad are saying "look over here, bobby!" click click flash flash! Bobby!!! mommy wants to get a in progress shot! look here! click flash flash! Bobby, mommy needs another picture you were blinking! flash flash...Do people not know how impossible it is to see with camera flash burned into your retina? LOL

♪♫♫♪וּ♪ Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...♪♫♫♪וּ♪

I'm gonna try it, Perry

Also useful "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtels, Leonardo leads, Donetello does machine, Rafael is rude and Michaelangelo is a party dude..." impresses the h*ll out've the kids that I know the words AND can match the colours of mask to the CORRECT Turtle!

Leo = blue (I remember because Leo leads, therefore is first, thus blue!)
Raph = red ( R = red)
Mike = Mike is the most popular one and he's yellow
Don = purple is the colour left so it is Don's

Do you still get a lot of requests for TMNT?

Yep... why, are they not in anymore? Spidey rules of course but I get TMNT requests regularly.