Need a quick vote on easy designs for a BIG job

call me over ambitious...or just crazy! But I still am very excited about this HUGE JOB that I got. I signed the contract today...it is a little out of my ordinary contracts and is almost contracted like a fundraiser in a way. as that I am charging,not paying to set up, but donating a % towards this particular cause from the proceeds of the venue. Only catch was nothing too high priced. Material are covered out of the costs. I can do any designs I want but, can only charge my medium half face rate. So, I want to keep designs wonderful but simple. I am NOT a simple person. You would think this would be so easy but alas....no.

If I am not painting my usual designs that then what to paint that will be great advertising and not make me seem like a regular painter? I have three people helping me to paint, two stampers/stencil artists, and another artist. I was planning on doing the full faces. I am pretty quick I get lots of compliments on how fast...so should I just offer the usual? I was thinking of designs that were made for the event specifically. Each artist will have their own board with prices. I usually get $10 to $15 a full face so it is really hard to come down.....ADVICE PLEASE!!!!

What are some cool designs that give punch without being the whole face. They kind of want to keep it about 2 to 3 minutes per kid. I am thinking maybe lots of crowns and masks but what about the traditional things like tigers and spider-man? suggestions please!

I say definitely include the traditional, but do modified versions of it. For spiderman, just do a mask around the eyes, and maybe have a spider dangling from it or something. For a tiger, you can do the same type of eye mask, but add whiskers and fangs by the mouth. That way you aren't painting the full face design, but people still get a sense of what you can do.

Also, another suggestion, you obviously can't do extremely detailed designs for this event, but what if you painted yourself and your helpers with extremely detailed designs just to showcase what you can do? I once worked an event with another face painter, and she had an assistant come to help with line control, money, etc. She'd had the woman wear a bikini top and a pair of shorts and had painted the rest of her for advertisement. Depending on the weather, this might be a great way for you to show what you are really capable of.

In the TAG posts there are several nice, quick faces that you might use.

Good luck with it!!

I'd also go with the half/half faces... *s*
Just the edging of the masks... or brow/nose/cheek area.. without full coverage...

Often when I gotta take things down real simple, I do like a spiderman eye, tiger, eye, things like that. It gets the point across while being really quick.

I also look at things and see how can I simplify it. Remove a background? Simpler lines? Tribal?

Hope that helps...

I made up a board for those types of events where I want to paint "big", but it also has to be quick. I've got maybe 1/3rd of my options on there, so there is still a large variety (20-25 designs or so?), but everything on there can be painted fast. Spiderman is on there because he's so popular and also I can whip it out after painting it 100 times. I'd just take a look at your normal options and select the ones that go faster for you. And modifying a big design is also a good idea. That way you really show off what you can do without having to try to make new designs. Good luck!

Thanks guys....I appreciate the input. It is hard cause some designs don't take me anytime like spider man is fast, butterfly faces,and so on...but I know if I do my regular work I will be saying to myself..."I could have gotten double for that design!" So, I think masks are the way to go too.

And the one eye designs are also a thought, I do those a lot on older kids and young adult ladies so, that could be something to add.

Thanks! I appreciate the input....