Que/Line Quality work

Life has taught me to put my best face forward . But I'm finding that my quality of work during heavy lines, or wigglers is less than par. Last weekend I got my first, "but that doesn't look like the picture..." comment. As an artist how do I communicate the variances in my work? Some days I really do awesome, some days I don't dare pull out my camera (but the kids still love it).

One thing I'm doing is removing all the photos from my board and just having words to choose from.

If they're really looking at the picture and I think they're going to want it to be just like the picture, I usually tell them as I'm painting "You know, it doesn't always look exactly the same as the picture but it usually looks BETTER!"

...you can also say something like "yeah, you're right but I think it looks better than the picture! Besides, you have a different face than her and I think you look soooo pretty."

Just do your best within the time constraints that you have. Of course the pictures may look different... I can sit at home and make a face look super spectacular but when painting as fast as you can things aren't going to be as perfect as they could be. Just do your best!!

I change up the pictures for events when I know I have to go super fast leaving simpler, quicker faces on the board. Those who see me often may ask me for something they've seen before and I'll do it but it may be a quicker version and they wouldn't know. I make sure the pix on my board are pix I'm confident I can do well, usually better than the picture on the poster. Practice helps. I take more complicated design boards to small birthday parties but most of my gigs are by the hour big events with lots of kids in line and I have to work fast. It does get better with experience.

There will always be some kids (or parents) who are just totally OCD about the original design. I once had a parent come back to complain that his son's snake did not look like the picture, when it looked EXACTLY like the picture. I just try not to take it personally, and please them as best I can. Keeping the picture board a distance away from where you are painting helps too, because they can't make side-by-side comparisons as easily.

Also, sometimes a child will choose a design because of a particular element that they love. If that element is left off, even though you never even noticed, it is very obvious to the child. It could be a star in a certain place, or the way the butterfly antennae swirls, or most often, that I forgot to paint the lips! If I can tell ahead of time that the kid is going to be particular, I will ask them casually what they liked about the design. "I liked that it was bright blue" or "I loved the swirl at the eye" helps me to be sure not to forget their favorite element.

Just remember that we can't please all of the people all of the time but for the most part people love what we do....every once in a while you'll get that "ONE" (it is what it is). *shake it off

I have a story:
I volunteered my time to paint faces while kids got finger printed and pics taken for one of those child ID things....anyway, this little boy (about 2 maybe 3 years old) sits in the chair and says "I want to be a "pirate" (at least that's what I heard). I even repeated it to him and said "cool, then a pirate it is!" when I was done I showed him the mirror and and and....he jusst walked away not looking so happy His mother comes over to me and says (rudely, I might add)...he asked to be a "Pilot" not a "Pirate"!!!!
LMAO!!!
She didn't find it funny that I chuckled & I said "I understood and repeated to him Pirate"....anyway, she walked away (I just smiled, shook my head and kept on painting....I didn't let her phase me because if she was really concerned she would have been there with him during the painting process instead of talking crap and complaining about something else at the event)....LOL! Like I said every now and then you'll run into "ONE" but for the most part people are really great about face painting!!!

That is too funny Gloria!! Who would have thunk "pirate" would have been "pilot".

I had a kid ask for a certain numbered design, back when my designs had numbers, and I showed them a picture of the design on my cheat sheet that showed all of the numbers and designs, just to make sure it was correct. He nodded his head YES, so I painted it. Like you, no mother in sight. He actually started to cry after seeing his face, but wouldn't tell me what was wrong. His mother came back to tell me it was the wrong design. They ended up washing it off and getting re-painted (I did it for free) and everyone was happy, but sheesh... I don't know how you can be any more careful other than having the child and parent sign a contract stating that they approve of such and such design...?

I do find it odd that so many parents leave their kids to tell us what design they want. I really prefer to get parental approval of any design a child asks for, and half the time there's no parent around.

[quote="AngieAnders"]If I can tell ahead of time that the kid is going to be particular, I will ask them casually what they liked about the design. "I liked that it was bright blue" or "I loved the swirl at the eye" helps me to be sure not to forget their favorite element. [/quote]

This is a great tip actually! Going to have to remember that! Thanks!

I try to make sure that my sample photos are the simplest version of a design, then I can always add extra swirls and glitter and stuff if there's time... that way, they are more often than not, pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. The other thing to remember, and it's hard... no matter how many people are in line... this is my mantra: NO ONE IS IMPRESSED BY CRAP. Take your time and do a good job. Don't rush, they'll wait or they'll leave, but no one will be impressed if you don't do a good job. Don't make your sample photos something that took you an extra 15 minutes to do just so that it looks increadible or yes, they will be upset at your 5 minute version.

on the subject of kids being left there and getting the wrong design... I have a sign that I often put up: "Children left unattended will get a double shot of espresso and a musical instrument" (I keep whistles and stuff in my pockets at those events). Also, I never paint a child unless the parent is there (at least) at the very beginning of me painting them to say, yes it's ok for them to be painted. I don't take a child's word that it's ok because some parents worry about reactions or the child's clothes getting dirty or whatever and I need the adult to tell me that this is permitted.

My youngest doesn't pronounce Ls at all... had she said "pilot" it definitely would have sounded like "pirate" ... I still can't understand her sometimes and it makes her terribly upset. The letters L, R, W... they can be hard for some kids to pronounce properly. With little ones, I often ask them a couple of times to be sure.

@Gloria: are you familiar with the show "The Pirates of Penzance" by Gilbert & Sullivan? The premise of the show is that the main character wanted to be a pilot, but was misunderstood as saying "pirate" and was sent off to be one

Perry Noia wrote:... I have a sign that I often put up: "Children left unattended will get a double shot of espresso and a musical instrument" (I keep whistles and stuff in my pockets at those events).

I love the sign in our local coffee house "Children left unattended will receive a double shot of espresso and a puppy."

You could try a small sign posted somewhere near your board that reads something like:

"Face Painting is a form of art, and just like fine artwork no two paintings will ever be exactly the same"

and it is true

...plus the face is not the same, so it will always be different anyway!

I usually hear out what they have to say and try to correct it. Like Angie said, most of the time it's just one element that it's missing. I've never had anyone actually upset though. Most kids usually just look at the mirror and say "but you forgot the start" or something along those lines.

I often ask my little boy to show me what he wants, even though I talk to him all day everyday I sometimes still get it wrong. I keep a little "brag book" of the very few faces that I am working on and he then shows me which one he wants.

I had a boy about 10 get upset at a halloween event, tears and all.
He wanted wolverine, which was on my board. So I did wolverine.
He was upset because I did stubble. Then he got even more upset as I was painting his brother because his spidey looked cooler than the wolverine. Ugh. I handed his mom a wipie and apologized, but the kid didn't want to be repainted.

Most times I will say something like "everyone is a unique work of art"