How easily are people offended?

I have a large corporate event coming up. 2 painters, 4 hours 230 or so kids. We have done this many before, but I am developing a new board of fast faces. I want something to target older boys and I am considering a zombie face..... So do any of you offer this? My fear is that it may scare some of the smaller kids and blow up in my face... but I want something to offer the older boys. Maybe I will just go with the tyson eye.

Oh heck no. Go full on zombie. Kids LOVE it.

I painted at my kids' school (ages 4-12) at the end of last term and at first it was all the little girls with butterflies and swirlie designs. Then a girl wanted vampire teeth, then a boy wanted to look like he'd been "attacked by a bear". Then a boy wanted a zombie skull. From then on it was all gore, all the time. Even the next 6 princesses wanted beautiful eye swirls and bloody vampire teeth together!

You mean a zombie face on your board? Sure. My most popular boyish things are bloody skulls and zombies.

Painting your own face as a zombie for the event? I tend to stay away from "scary" faces on myself as the little kids can be scared. Even tigers are too scary for some.

Yes for the board. It didn't take much to convince me! I thought the bigger kids would love it.

Yes a quick skull is always welcome in your board, the only time I was been warning about the menu board was painting for a Christian School, No dragons, no devils, no snakes, no spiders, it was hard to come up with something for the boys, but at the end I realized that the parents didn't care about only the school staff.

If you're worried about freaking the little ones out, you could always put the scary designs on the top part of the board, so the smallest children aren't at eye level with the gore designs?

I wouldn't worry about it. I was painting at a football tournament (soccer to you lot over the pond) and a lovely young girl about 5 years old sat in my chair and asked for a zombie. I looked over to the dad and he just shrugged his shoulders.

I get gruesome designs on girls a lot, they love them over here!

artyfacesbyluz wrote:Yes a quick skull is always welcome in your board, the only time I was been warning about the menu board was painting for a Christian School, No dragons, no devils, no snakes, no spiders, it was hard to come up with something for the boys, but at the end I realized that the parents didn't care about only the school staff.

Okay, I'm NOT wanting to start a religious debate or anything, but I have to say - as someone who grew up in a Christian environment I can understand the no devils bit...but no snakes!? no SPIDERS!? That's not logical!! LOL

I do several christian events every yr. My parents are pastor of one of the churches and both agreed for me to not have a snake on my board. Satan was in the form of a snake(legless lizard) in the garden. God created the snake so I don't get it, but whatever! LOL

Halloween is also in question with a lot of christians. Obstain from ALL evil Spiders and monsters are associated with halloween, but most of the time I can get away with spiders. Even VBS is ok with heros like spiderman

Now when I'm out at a festival, it's full on skulls and zombies anytime My mother is not so proud of some of my art, but she gets over it

this is my FAST zombie... I do more for hallowe'en faces and stuff, but on my board for PPF when I need to be fast, this is the way it goes.

Yes... kids love zombies!

CottonKandyClown wrote:I do several christian events every yr. My parents are pastor of one of the churches and both agreed for me to not have a snake on my board. Satan was in the form of a snake(legless lizard) in the garden. God created the snake so I don't get it, but whatever! LOL

Halloween is also in question with a lot of christians. Obstain from ALL evil Spiders and monsters are associated with halloween, but most of the time I can get away with spiders. Even VBS is ok with heros like spiderman

Now when I'm out at a festival, it's full on skulls and zombies anytime My mother is not so proud of some of my art, but she gets over it

Wow, you guys are really uptight when it comes to religion apparantely
Halloween technically is a christian holiday, so what are they whining about? And it's not like a kid will turn into devil's child when it gets painted as a snake from time to time??? Are apples allowed????

Tineke wrote:

CottonKandyClown wrote:I do several christian events every yr. My parents are pastor of one of the churches and both agreed for me to not have a snake on my board. Satan was in the form of a snake(legless lizard) in the garden. God created the snake so I don't get it, but whatever! LOL

Halloween is also in question with a lot of christians. Obstain from ALL evil Spiders and monsters are associated with halloween, but most of the time I can get away with spiders. Even VBS is ok with heros like spiderman

Now when I'm out at a festival, it's full on skulls and zombies anytime My mother is not so proud of some of my art, but she gets over it

Wow, you guys are really uptight when it comes to religion apparantely
Halloween technically is a christian holiday, so what are they whining about? And it's not like a kid will turn into devil's child when it gets painted as a snake from time to time??? Are apples allowed????

Tineke
I'm sorry, but that was really harsh. People are people and opinions are like noses...everyone has one, but to disparage people for having views that you don't share is just rude. I understand that from where you sit, calling people you don't know who have different views and opinions uptight whiners may be taken lightly, but it is of poor taste here.

I apologize if you feel offended by my comment, but it seems a bit over the top to me.
I'm a Christian as well, as are most people in my country, but I've never had reactions to designs as described above, that's why they come over as very uptight to me...

I swear it wasn't meant to be a harsh comment, was just an observation about the difference in attitude towards religion in our countries

I did a backyard party last weekend which was on a waterfront canal, with a huge party tent and dance floor and waiters and all. Very upscale for a Sweet 16, and really nice folks. The little children arrived first and I was booked to provide some fun for them for what was going to be along day into a long night. So I'm all set up and the kids come, and they're all around four - seven and there are four little girls all dressed in the same pretty little white linen dresses, with red bows in their hair. And they rush to my boards, which are full of every design under the sun, including lots of butterflies and elegant eyes, which even tiny girls routinely choose at festivals.

And the first little angel who sits in my chair beams me a big wide grin and announces, "Skull." Her mom cringed and laughed (both warmly, as the best of moms can do!), and, we went with it! It was so funny, and the families were great - so airs here about, "Oh, your pretty dress, wouldn't you rather be a this or a that."

It was funny, and great fun. I can imagine their photos that day.

On my boards are lots of photos of designs on my 12-year-old niece. She is a very pretty girl with these crystalline green eyes. So she's sat for butterflies and fancy eye designs for me a lot, but the deal is she ends the paint session with the one she chooses. Ever since I began painting her, it's always been: Zombie.

There are two photos on my board which I point out to people when they're looking and there's time to talk. One is my niece as a gorgeous pink and purple butterfly, looking all feminine and dazzling. The other is also her, as a zombie skull with a multiplicity of horns erupting from its contours. For that photo, I asked her to beam some "scary eyeballs" at me. And, oh! Did she ever! It is a truly frightening photo, and sometimes I tuck it into a corner where I hope the littlest eyes do no wander. But to compare the two photos and tell everyone they are the same child, well, that's fun!

)

I guess maybe I an slightly uptight about what I offer, I have avoided these because of fear of upsetting someone. Stupid people pleaser personality! I wouldn't care about the ppf , these upcoming are all corporate. Maybe I should just email the people who hired me and send them pics to ok. Thanks for the zombie faces! Love them!

A major part of my work are the churches and private school.s. I have the boards approved at each event before hand. I've never had them allow the zombie, most wont let the skulls, strict ones won't let the dinos or dragons. It does make the boys challenging but I just up my game on superheroes. They're paying me, it's not for me to judge.I try to keep it professional, I present many faces , and they pick what they want. I also present boards to mom at private parties, the zombie is sometimes removed by them

You could also offer flaming sports designs - like a football arcing over the forehead with flames erupting from it. Flaming soccer ball, baseball, basketball, etc.

I'm kind of atheist but I try to be as respectful as possible because there are many different religions in my town (many different people from many different countries and cultures). That said I sometimes can't help be amazed. I mean, I know I shouldn't judge anyone because of his religion (and I have snakes, spiders, skulls, and even crosses on my board) but, believe me, sometimes you hear certains things that make you think "Really?". I had a mum who told me not to paint the dino that his cute son wanted because "They don't believe in dinosaurs" . WT*¨^¨***? I tried to be nice and I told the boy to get a tiger instead of a dino but the mum raised eyebrowns again. Uh? A pirate? Nope. Finally he got a beautiful tribal sun but I really felt bad for that child.
Yes, children love gore stuff. Last carnival I tried to convince my 7 y.o. to choose a pretty costume so that mum could show off paint him . I proposed a tiger ("Nope"), a clown("Nope") and Hulk ("Mmmmmmmm, nope"). "I wanna be like THIS" and he pointed at a pic on a magazine: THE MESSENGER OF DEATH? What's that?! Ok, I bought the costume and I painted some bloody scratches on a pale face and my son was the happiest boy in the world

JJJJJ wrote:You could also offer flaming sports designs - like a football arcing over the forehead with flames erupting from it. Flaming soccer ball, baseball, basketball, etc.

And for the less sporty kids, cartoon and videogame themes work well.... I painted an American boy at the airport last week, and if wanted a Ben10 watch with fire on his arm... hadn't heard of it, so looked it us on google, and apparently it's a very popular animated series (I honestly don't know it, I only have a daughter, so that kind of cartoons don't get watched at home :p)

Perry Noia wrote:this is my FAST zombie... I do more for hallowe'en faces and stuff, but on my board for PPF when I need to be fast, this is the way it goes.

Perry! I Love that fast zombie! It is perfect...it's the idea of a zombie!

Compared to many countries, yes Tineke, America tends to be more conservative when it comes to religion. It's a truthful observation, but phrasing it differently can help not trigger reactions to the observation, ya know? =)

That said, I feel like using Mike Tyson as any kind of role model for kids is FAR more ideologically offensive than painting zombies, skulls, and spiders!

He has an extensive juvenile arrest history with multiple assaults, high school drop out, convicted of rape of an 18 year old girl, accusations of additional rapes, drug use, multiple counts of assault as an adult, and spousal abuse....and America is more concerned about spiders and snakes....LOLz.

You forgot his penchant for ear cannibalism...

I don't think it's the majority of America that has a problem with snakes and spiders or the glorification of evil, it's primarily the Americans who follow churches that find fault with those things. America in general seems to be pretty desensitized...

I had one request to keep "everything scary" off my board.... so we got into a debate about how scary penguins were.... I ended up being able to keep my spider and tiger too when we got done with the debate

I think it was me mentioning the youtube video I'd seen about the rabbit chasing the rattlesnake till the snake managed to get up into a tree....