If you’re thinking about becoming a face painter and just don’t know how to get started here are some tips:1.
Start out small. Purchase a small pallet of face paints (I highly recommend
SNAZAROO –others can cause children to have allergic reactions). You will also want to purchase a somewhat inexpensive set of
brushes. (Don’t use the brush that comes in the SNAZAROO pallet – and purchase the brushes from the artist’s isle.. not the kids paint isle.) Don’t try to go big too quick and don’t charge a fee right off the bat. Offer to face paint for your nephew or niece’s birthday party. Ages 2-6 are the best. It’s a great way to practice and if the parents like what they see they might ask you to do the same for their child’s party. Take pictures of your work and with the parent’s permission post them on your
Facebook account etc. If you work for a company that often holds kid’s events let the appropriate person know that you’d be interested in face painting that day. Another great way of networking and more than likely your company will pay you your regular rate for that day.
2.
Relax. Most kids will like what you paint no matter how awful it came out. You’ll get used to it and how the children will react. Your paintings will get better and better with each child. When they take a seat, they will NOT know what they want. Make some simple suggestions when you’re first starting out. Balloons, butterfly, ladybug, spider, snake, heart etc. One of those will entice them. Some painters decide to have a board with designs and let the children point to the one they want. That works too.
3.
Know the child. The smaller the child, the more they wiggle. Therefore, the smaller the child, the simpler the design.
Once you feel a little boost in confidence go ahead and help yourself grow…1.
Purchase some inexpensive business cards. Have them with you at all times. Keep them on the table where you are painting. Parents will grab one as their child is getting painted. Parents will have your information when it’s time for their child’s birthday.
2.
Get the parent’s information. Why? So you can email them once a month and make sure that they don’t forget about you. How do you get their email? Create some entry blanks (with a spot for their email address) and have them near your business cards with a sign that says “Sign up to win a FREE hour of face painting” and a box to drop the entry’s in. This offer doesn’t cost anything but your time and you now have all the email addresses of parents that showed interest. Follow up with emails to all of them saying “Thank you for your recent entry to win a FREE hour of face painting! Although you were not the winner I’d like to offer you a exclusive special…” and of course contact the winner.
3.
Get yourself a Fan Page on Facebook, a Twitter account and start a blog. This is called Social Networking and it’s sweeping the nation. Every large business is on Facebook etc. Best of all it doesn’t cost a thing!
This should be enough to get you started. Please comment or contact me with questions! At some point in this blog I’ll get into cleaning brushes and all that good stuff.
