A lesson in Speed...and sweat :(

In my attempts to market my business, I volunteered at a local Montessori preschool today. They had an Easter egg hunt, and early dismissal. I painted the 3-6 year olds. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about 40+ kids in a short amount of time, but after reading some great ideas on the forum I chose 6 really simple and fast designs that still look good, and printed out a ton of flyers with attached business cards to send home to parents.

So I chose snakes, bats on the forehead, and spiders with a web for boys and of course butterflies, flowers and rainbows for the girls. I stayed away from Easter eggs and bunnies all together because they take too long or just don't look that great. Not so surprisingly, only one little girl asked for an Easter egg but was thrilled with the flowers she got instead.

I was pretty proud of myself, the workers all thought my artwork was really good (compared to anything they've seen in my town) and were surprised when I said I can do some really cool stuff when I have time. In less than 1hr and 45 min I painted 40 happy faces.....who then went outside to play in 90 degree weather and sweat all of my paint all over themselves. So much for sending a great small example of my work home to their parents. The preschool also didn't have time to disperse my "Happy Easter" promotional flyers, so the parents might get them sometime next week, after Easter.






Oh well, today I learned to stay away from preschools unless they want to pay me, that I can knock out a ton of good designs in a short amount of time, and I can only do summer parties that are held in doors, unless I'm doing glitter tattoos (my recent purchase of a glitter tattoo kit is looking like a better and better investment). I'm also beginning to think the South Texas heat may have something to do with why face painting hasn't caught on in Corpus Christi yet. I was hoping to change that, but now I'm not so sure. If anyone has experience in pioneering the face painting market in your city, I would love to hear about it!

Spraying hairspray on the paint after it dries can usually help some of the sweat factor of it running. That is what they do in shows on stage in front of those hot lights.

Mita... I'm a big advocate of NOT using hair spray on the skin for kids.
It pretty much cancels out everything about safety that we are trying to promote. Plus, it will sting if even a speck ends up in the eyes. It's a tip used for many years in theatre production... that and spraying eyeglasses with it to get rid of glare from the stage lights.. but not something to be used on kids' faces.

I could definately see that being a safety no-no. I know that I have seen it work in the past, but those kids were all older, about 7 and older. Don't they make actual cosmetic face painting products to help set the paint or to be used before the paint is applied? Do those work or are they a big no-no too?

Mita wrote:Spraying hairspray on the paint after it dries can usually help some of the sweat factor of it running. That is what they do in shows on stage in front of those hot lights.

No, "they" don't... I don't use any barrier sprays or hair sprays when using face paints or pancake make-up for stage. I have found over 15 years and over 75 theatrical productions that face paint will stay pretty well, even on dancers, for 2-3 hours of a performance.

And I never use any sort of spray on kids. Too many chemicals to be breathing in.

Face painting is all about the mirror moment... that's what they remember. It is a temporary art form so don't sweat it (pun intended)

I don't use barrier sprays on body painting either. If I need it to hold better than water activated products will do, I use other cosmetic products like regular oil based make-up, alcohol based inks, or liquid latex - depending on what results are required.

I do use hairspray for bodies, but not faces (especially kids). I also make sure they're not asthmatic. My son's asthma goes crazy around hairspray, Axe, etc (needless to say competitions can really set him off, being back stage w/ all that hairspray:-(

Back to subject...
Try a pressed powder for your base & then use very minimal linework, tear drops, etc.
I use Starblends, & Ben Nye Lumiere Pallet & use a #1 or #0 roundbrush in the summer. I try to use white when all possible (it doesn't run as bad as black or it just looks better if it does run:-).

In my area, the nearest painter in the next town, has been painting for 30+ years and uses acrylic. When I started, I'd receive comments on how her paint lasted better than mine. But I never said anything bad about her choice of paints to anyone. The lady painted my children who are now in their twenties! So I guess I'm the pioneer in my area for this type of face painting. I'm in South Carolina. We're already having 80+ F degrees. I stay busy all summer even though these are mostly outdoor parties and the paint stays on only about 10 minutes. Like Shannon says it's about the experience. I don't do much details as dots and outline just makes it worst when it runs. But a single line is easier to touch-up if I have time.

P.S. Because it's hot, most everyone will have their arms/legs exposed. Try to come up with some awesome arm or leg designs, not the cheek art style but large and bold. For the older children and for younger children (if the parent asks me too), I will spray arm or leg art with sweat sealants. I have the kids turn their heads and I use a cardboard to block to mist from that direction when I spray.