My first banner!

I just designed my first big banner and sent it off to gotprint.net for printing! It's a 2x4 so I'm thinking it'll be a nice size to just hang off the side of a table during events. Now just to get some non-birthday party bookings!

skjfunny wrote:Janna, that's the way to go...be prepared, plan ahead, dream big and it will come. Love the banner and your work, when you have down time always be preparing for the next big gig. Perhaps a donation of time to an event you believe in will put the banner in use, serve as an info commercial and bring you many non birthday events.

Thanks! I try to do a lot of planning when it comes to face painting... I hate feeling unprepared, so I like to have everything I need for any kind of situation! I've been wondering what's the best way to really get the ball rolling with bigger events, and maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and do some free work over winter. I think once spring rolls around I'll have a lot more opportunities, but winter has been quite slow for me so far. I'm still working on the whole promotion thing... I find it's a tricky thing to do, since I'm such a shy, unsocial person, haha. I just have to keep forcing myself to get out there and PROMOTE!

Just find a local family friendly festival in the spring/summer and get yourself a booth there! What kind of events are you specifically looking for? The important thing with goals is to be very specific in what you want and think through the steps to getting them, not just hoping and wishing that it will happen.

Don't work for free, you don't have to. You just need to figure out where you want to be and get yourself in there.

Perry Noia wrote:Just find a local family friendly festival in the spring/summer and get yourself a booth there! What kind of events are you specifically looking for? The important thing with goals is to be very specific in what you want and think through the steps to getting them, not just hoping and wishing that it will happen.

Don't work for free, you don't have to. You just need to figure out where you want to be and get yourself in there.

I'm not entirely sure what kinds of events I'm looking for... anything with kids, really! I've only started doing a bit of advertising. I just put around a few posters around town in grocery stores, YMCA, community centres... I also sent out a few emails for events that I thought might want face painting (an annual winter festival, animal shelters). I live in quite a small city so I'm finding it hard to track down potential events. I keep checking online newspapers to see if any events pop-up, without great results. I've seen a few ads asking for volunteers to help with face painting, so at least there's some sign of face painting going on in this city... but I would prefer not to volunteer to do it!

I do think spring/summer will be a lot more productive. There are some good summer festivals that go on, so I'm definitely going to contact those people in the spring to let them know I exist.

I love that banner!! Good Luck on getting those paying gigs, it sounds like you are doing everything right, I'm sure as long as you stay positive you will be overbooked in no time!

Is there a regular market you can book a stall at? My very first gig was at one of my local markets... and now I am a volunteer for the markets and manage their social media/promotions: so I get my stallholders fee waivered and a good site

Looking at your avatar you have the talent, now just go get some experience with a PPF gig. Then you are truly your own boss and things will happen from there. Also, think of the virtual poster... ie social media. Go find facebook pages that suit your demographic, ie. the toy shop, the shopping mall, the local radio station or newspaper, and post a comment on their page. Make it relevant, and make it link back to your page.

BTW - your avatar, what colours are in that split? What's it called, or did you home make it?

Fun2Play wrote:Is there a regular market you can book a stall at? My very first gig was at one of my local markets... and now I am a volunteer for the markets and manage their social media/promotions: so I get my stallholders fee waivered and a good site

Looking at your avatar you have the talent, now just go get some experience with a PPF gig. Then you are truly your own boss and things will happen from there. Also, think of the virtual poster... ie social media. Go find facebook pages that suit your demographic, ie. the toy shop, the shopping mall, the local radio station or newspaper, and post a comment on their page. Make it relevant, and make it link back to your page.

BTW - your avatar, what colours are in that split? What's it called, or did you home make it?

Thanks for the advice! I recently made a facebook page, so I'll definitely go search for some other relevant pages to comment on.

There's a Farmers Market here in the summer, so maybe I'll look into getting a stall there. It's not a huge market... but I could always check it out.

And I used a Peacock arty brush cake, here: http://www.sillyfarm.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=1249&parent=485 Love it! It's my first split cake, can't wait to use it on a face besides mine... haha!