first gig after months of poof

I was at a friends party last month! I take my paints to anything I can with the hope of getting to practice. This last one had a fellow face painter. She works the ren faire. She invited me to join her this year. So I will have my first gig! I have recently learned that she did not even break even at last years ren faire. I am a little worried. I am not having to shell out a lot of the booth fee, but I will be going through a lot of paint and stuff. I was in TX for 5 years so have not been to the ren faire in quite awhile, but I remember there being tip jars a lot of places and she is saying they don't tip at the ren faire. We are figuring out our prices. I am thinking something like 3/6/9 with tips off setting the more detailed paintings, but with this new no tip info. Thinking of a complicated pricing scene to offset the use of more detail or shines added! The booth is 440 for both weekends. It is a full sat/sun 2 weekend event. I got my director's chair for the kids and stuff to sit in and a camper kitchen thing to set up my paints and stuff. I don't know what my partner's set up is, but this is starting to look a little overly complicated. The faire is the first two weekends of June so have time to get stuff figured out, I hope...

Dear Russet:
Congratulations on landing your first gig!
It is entirely up to you to figure out if this gig is worth it. I painted at a gig in 2013 with Face Painting by Jessica. It was a dud...monetarily speaking. I got SO much out of that gig...I got to spend time with Jessica, who is a hoot! I laughed so hard all day long. It cost more to pay our line manager and to feed us than we made... and for me, it was a great day....Laughing, sharing techniques, admiring Jessica's style.

I do not know what the going rate for face painting is in Alaska, so please feel free to cheerfully ignore the rest of what I am going to say if it suits you... When my oldest daughter was 3 years old, face painting cost $5. Now, she is 21, and face painting is still $5, while the cost of the paint has gone up. If you charge only $3 per face (and keep in mind that small face art does not equal quick face art) you will have to give out a lot of change. This does not guarantee that you will be tipped with the change. I would highly recommend that you start your pricing at $5 and go up from there.

Other painters with experience at RenFairs could probably give better advice for you. Your set-up sounds excellent.
Happy Painting!

If ONLY my booth fees were 440 for two weekends! Where I live it is close to 300 for one weekend at some of the better events. Then again, we charge more (but then pay higher prices for living here).

Oh where oh where is a place where I can live in a tent and charge high prices for face painting and make a quick million and then sit back and read all day?
      Hah! Just having some fantasy fun.

Fess is right - I would enter some fairs and get the experience and not look at money as the main consideration at first. Of course you don't want to lose money, but if you're just beginning, approach it with enthusiasm and soak up all the fun lessons public gigs have to offer (and they are many, and not mostly monetary). Ultimately, this knowledge you acquire will build up your "clinical judgment" (to use a medical metaphor) and it WILL pay off in better pay. First learn the ropes, then sail the seas.

Okay, I will go find Fessie's box and cookies now, and leave my pitiful metaphors for the cybersanitation department to clear away ...

Thanks everybody. We are still working this out and hopefully by June we will have stuff figured out. I am totally planning on going and just soaking up everything. I am paying about 60 towards the booth, and spent around 200 for material to make garb. I am not worried so much about money, but my roommate and funder of this whole face painting endeavor is!  I should probably also look at ordering some extras of the basic colors. I am running with the snazaroo pro pallet, tons of colors but tiny pots on most of it. And during lulls I will get a chance to spin with some of the local flow artists hopefully and maybe learn some new tricks all around! My main worry, at the moment is we don't even have a floor yet. The Anchorage Ren Faire is at a sled dog track and the ground is rather iffy depending how much sun dries it between break-up and June. I have a stage we can use, but that is heavy and stuff. Partner is thinking Pallets and plywood, but that can be just as awkward for a 10x10 area. If we could sell stuff as well as paint, there would be no issue at making money for the 2 weekends, we can't. Ren Faire is probably one of the only public venues I would be guaranteed to sell my beadworks.

What about the interlocking exercise matts you can get at Walmart for flooring? They are waterproof, lightweight & cheap. (like $15 or so for a package of 4). Just an idea...might work..

they are like 40 or so up here here and soggy ground would soak through the cracks. those would work on top of what ever method we go with to raise us a bit off the ground!

a little paint goes a LONG way....just saying.