HELP!!!! I just got asked to do a gig

A friend of mine just asked me to paint faces at a school carnival. Aside from the fact that I don't really think my work is that good, I have some questions for you guys...

Here is the e-mail I got from her:

On Dec 5-6th we are hosting a Christmas Store at Queensdale School and I was wondering if you would like to come and share your face painting skills?? Nothing elaborate, maybe just a small seasonal picture on a cheek or hand. You tell me what price would be reasoable, a daily fee for your services or a fee per child which you would keep. The store runs from 9am -4:30 on Wednesday and 9-2 on Thursday. You can come one or both days, don't have to stay the whole time.

Here are my questions/concerns:

1. I don't have very many paints. I definitely don't have any seasonal colours. I just started painting before Halloween, and only ordered the colours I needed for my kids' costumes. I would absolutely have to order some stuff in order to do this.

2. I'm not really wanting to get into face painting as a business. I am happy to do some painting for a friend's child's b-day party as a gift, but am a professional organizer by trade, and want to focus on that right now. A few years from now, things might be different, but for now, painting is a hobby for me (one that I want to be really super good at - which is why I am here)

So, why am I even posting about this right now?? Well, this time of year is incredibly slow for organizers - like NO clients really slow... people are thinking about Christmas shopping and not organizing. I could REALLY use the money (can't we all??) or even some new paints as I don't have the budget to add anything to my kit right now.

I thought of offering my "talent" (I use that term VERY loosely in the presence of the REAL talent here) in exchange for the paints that I would need in order to do this gig. Aside from that, I don't really know what I could charge. The going rate in my city is about $40-$50/hr. I don't have the skill or speed to justify that.

In all honesty, I would be very happy to get some paints out of this event, but i also want to be mindful of the professionals in my community (there are only 2 that I know of). I am not looking to undermind their business or talent in any way.

So, that said, my final question is:

I currently have Snaz black, white and red. A pink/purple rainbow cake, a black white and grey arty cake, as well as a blue, silver, and black arty cake - that's it. What do you think I would need in terms of paint at the bare mininum to do this event?

I would be VERY grateful for any thoughts/opinions you are willing to share.

Definitely some green, maybe silver or gold. Metina has one stroke Christmas cakes in the shop. If you want to do Gingerbread men or reindeer, brown. If you don't have glitter, I recommend a poofer of iridescent white, it looks good on anything!

Also, if you need some ideas, last year we did a Whimsical challenge for Dec. on here, there is cool stuff there, also this month's Christmas challenge has some super cute but doable designs coming in.

Here is the link to last yrs contest.
http://www.facepaintforum.com/t8843-vote-for-our-winner-holiday-whimsey-challenge

$40-50 seems very low but you know by looking at what other painters are charging in your area what is right.

I will tell you that school carnivals can be crazy busy and overwhelming. I suggest that if they pay you hourly, instead of them making it free for kids they have someone at your area charging and collecting for each face and this will also help them recoup some of their cost for having you.

They also may sell tickets for each thing they are having there, make sure they are charging enough per ticket that the line is not out the door. They once made my table, 3 tickets that were only 25 cents each I found out later, it was tooooooo busy and I had complainers. The last school fest I did they charged $3 and $5 for each painting and paid me hourly. It went so smooth I always had a line but never more than 10 deep.

I hope this is helpful and not confusing.

Oh, if they do decide on making your painting cost tickets, make sure they have someone at your table to collect them, this makes your job to chaotic if you have to collect. Shoot just tell them no matter what, to have a helper assigned to you to cut off the line, manage it and collect $$ or tickets. OK I think that's all the advice I have LOL.

Thank you soooo much Jody! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my post!

I have asked my friend for a little bit more information. I have also tried to dig a bit deeper to research going rates, and you are right, what I posted were rates I saw on FB and Kijiji. After calling a couple of people, I found it's much higher than that - which is ver intimidating to me!

Christina, I've done exactly as many events as you have, but my suggestion would be to work up the designs you want to do and see what paint you need for those. What folks told me was that, even though it's a Christmas event, you'll still do mostly fairies, butterflies, superheroes and tigers.

I think it's very kind of you to be sensitive to other face painters. Something here that I've found very odd is a few people who want to tell everyone how to run their business (side hobby, etc.). They have definite ideas about quality and pricing and view anyone who departs from those ideas as a threat. I'm not advocating cutthroat business practices, but to announce that no one should underbid you or that no new people should be allowed to join the industry is extremely unrealistic. So if, despite your best efforts, you step on somebody's toes, I hope you keep in mind that those folks may have massively unrealistic expectations. And huge feet.

Thanks Jenny! I REALLY like your idea of picking a few designs, and deciding from there - and in order to do that, I can totallyuse what I've got. I never would have thought of that on my own - I was in full blown AHHHH mode

If you want to do it, do it. If you don't want to, don't. Simples.

For Christmas events I find that the basic ten colours are usually needed - white, black, brown, red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, pink. You can work with less too - I've done jobs where I only have the theme colours available and it works well... kids take it as a challenge to come up with stuff that will work with the choices available.

Gold, red, green, silver and turquoise glitter gels are very useful for Christmas gigs... I don't put out any other choices.

I have a Christmas design sheet that we work from - the kids can pick what they want, but you can limit the design choices by just providing the words, drawings or photos of only the ones you can/want to do.

Popular choices are: Rudolf, Santa, Scenic, eye designs, Christmas Butterflies, angels, elf, Christmas kitties, Princesses, Baubles, Snowmen, Snowflakes.

JennyNixe wrote: Something here that I've found very odd is a few people who want to tell everyone how to run their business (side hobby, etc.). They have definite ideas about quality and pricing and view anyone who departs from those ideas as a threat. I'm not advocating cutthroat business practices, but to announce that no one should underbid you or that no new people should be allowed to join the industry is extremely unrealistic. So if, despite your best efforts, you step on somebody's toes, I hope you keep in mind that those folks may have massively unrealistic expectations. And huge feet.

I hope this wasn't dircted at what I had said. I was just giving my advice, that's all nothing more. I can only speak from my experience which is very limited, I have only been in business 2 years. By all means, you should do what is right for you. I hope that the helpful nature of my post was understood, I would never mean to tell someone what to do, just trying to be helpful.

Perhaps you could suggest they provide you with the kit and you charge per face and 1 keep the kit and give back a percentage earned, or they keep the kit and you keep $$. Don't get to fancy with a kit ..perhaps budget 50-60 $ and work with the colors provided by them Ex http://www.facepaintforumshop.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=320
This is what I started with and did very well for several events.

Not that I have a ton of experience, but when I was not sure of what I wanted or needed for a large kit this kept my cost low and enabled me to build up a good kit.

Oh gosh, no, Jody. I was referring to Christina trying to be sensitive about what she was charging so as not to offend other face painters in the area. It's hard, because newbie face painters hear they shouldn't start painting at all (don't want competition for jobs), that they should charge the same as more experienced face painters (don't want to be undercut), that they should charge LESS than more experienced face painters (they're not as good), that they shouldn't charge at ALL until they are as good as professional painters, that they should NEVER work for free... With that many opinions, it's kind of impossible not to leave someone offended!

I agree, make a Christmas board and limit the choices. Just practice those faces.

Thanks for explaining Jenny. I just misunderstood. I figured it wasn't directed entirely at my post but thought I should make sure.

that`s a good idea New Face! Thank you!

Thanks Tina!

Jody, I agree with Jenny, the mixed messages can be a bit overwhelming, not to mention intimidating!

Well, after asking for more information from my friend, I was informed that each class of 20 or so kids had 40-60 minutes to go through the market and that in that time they were to:

shop for gifts
get their gifts wrapped
visit the bake table
visit the rummage sale table
and...
get their face painted.

the school was willing to pay me $40 for my time (12 hours), and I could charge a dollar or two for a cheek design.

I said "no thanks" I don't think that even a very seasoned veteran could pull that off without somebody taking money from the kids, etc... There is NO way in heck I would be able to do it! Not to mention, I would have to buy paint to do it, and my daycare cost would exceed the $40.

that all said, I am thankful that she thought of me. It gave me a lot of food for thought over the past couple of days - and that is always a good thing

Why do people think things like this are even possible???? Huh? Anyone?

WOW!
You turned down an awesome $3/hour job!!!!

Please note that I am using the typeface "Sarcastica".

xoxox

Oh my. Do these people know any kids? It would take my kids that long to pee. 40 bucks is some money too, don't know how you turned that down!

fesspenter wrote:
Please note that I am using the typeface "Sarcastica".

That's my favourite font!