My first party gig is a week away.

I am so nervous.

I'm not getting any faster at this, it seems like it's not going to be possible for me to paint 20 kids in two hours.

I think I'm going to have to limit designs to single eye or cheek or princess crowns. Is it at all acceptable for me to paint the birthday girl a full butterfly mask and everyone else a smaller design? I know every other little girl is going to want what the birthday girl has...so am I gonna have a riot on my hands if I put a limit down for other children? How would I even word that?
*sigh* I don't know...I'm just so anxious about the whole thing.

I have told partiers before that the birthday kids face was special just for him/her for their birthday, and haven't had a fit. Although I can invission that their could be a fit from persistant kids.

How many kids r gonna be at the party? How long is your average per face? How long is the party?

You can do it. Practice helps you get quicker, and the more parties you do, the easier you'll find it. We all have different techniques. Don't be afraid to edit designs to be easier for bigger groups. Just don't rush to the point where your work looks messy. Keep it clean and simple. Love your avatar pic! Good luck!

Yes you'll definitely get faster w/practice! Great advice to tone down the designs a bit to speed them up. I did 5-minute butterfly faces at a festival last weekend using TAG rainbow cakes sponged on and only black DFX for linework then a poof of glitter and stick-on gemstone. Rainbow cakes and mini-splits will help you work super fast, don't worry about too many details and don't forget the glitter!

Btw, Flopsie you are the prettiest clown I have ever seen! My little girl looooves your pink hair!

Well originally there were going to be 20 kids, but she says she's invited 24 and that she hasn't gotten many RSVP's. Nobody RSVP's in my experience...so it could be 10 or it could be all 24, who knows. The party is 3 hours long and my average per face is pathetic, I'm probably around 15 minutes per face right now, so I need to REALLY speed it up. The theme of the party is "rainbows" and since the birthday girl's mom already told me she can't stop talking about getting a butterfly painted on her face I'm pretty sure that's what I'll be painting the most. I'm crossing my fingers that rainbows and butterflies are the majority because I can do both in 5-7 minutes easy and still at the quality I expect from myself. It's the random requests that are psyching me out.
Thank you for the vote of confidence...I'm off to practice more

Set your kitchen timer for 8 minutes and work on getting the face down to that, then down to 5 minutes - you can do it! Also, even more popular than my rainbow butterfly at the festival I did was a super simple and fast rainbow design I called, "twinkle eyes" - you could call it rainbow eyes or something catchy to go with the party.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.141635622585388.36192.121113824637568#!/photo.php?fbid=141636232585327&set=a.141635622585388.36192.121113824637568&type=1&theater


As far as random requests, I follow the great advice I got here on the forum and tell the kids this, "today I'm only doing the special birthday party designs, but if you want to have me at your party, I'd love to your special design"! Having a picture menu really helped me avoid requests for other stuff.

Thanks Sparklyone!
@Stacia - yikes! 15 minutes per face! I'm glad you recognize that is a long time. I sometimes do birthday parties where I have to do balloons, face paints, and a little show all in an hour for 10-12 kids. Remember to always ask if there will be siblings or other family members in attendance along with invited guests. It helps estimate the count better.
My fav speed trick has been to cut my sponges like stamps for butterfly wing. I can lay down a beautiful base with a rainbow cake and wing cut sponge in about 10 seconds. I spend more time outlining and adding detail after that. Also, try to use finer lines. You can always go over them but thick, heavy-handed lines usually look more messy.
You'll be great! Don't forget to take pics of your practice to review yourself.

I have learned to do simple face designs on myself to wear to the gig. It almost always gets requested by every little girl there!

You could do a small rainbow half face to speed yourself up.

Another tip, get organized and know your setup. Get there 15 minutes early or earlier. This can really speed yourself up, by knowing where everything is. You aren't wasting time looking for things. Also, make sure your paints are pre-moistened. Have fun!!!

I think I could do the mask in my profile pic pretty fast, and it can be done in ANY color, and since the birthday girl will most likely want to be a butterfly according to her mom...hopefully I will get LOTS of requests for those two designs. I think I'll also do a rainbow design on my arm. Such a great idea CottonKandy!
I'm gonna practice with a timer every chance I get till the party. I'm making a word list with coordinating fonts too, so I can modify designs on the fly and not be held to the standards of a picture. My husband told me last night that I need to stop being such a perfectionist *LOL*. I think that's my problem. He reminded me of when I took my son to the San Diego Zoo about a year ago and paid $15 for a full face tiger to be painted on him, and I was SO impressed (it's what made me want to be a face painter!)...but looking at the picture now I think "wow, I did way better than that on my first try!". I just need to chill out and let my quality of work be what it is in 5 minutes. I hope this post doesn't sound conceited...the only way I can even come close to all of the beautiful work I see on this forum is by taking 15-20 minutes a face, and even then my work still screams "beginner!".

I think your avatar mask is gorgeous!

Most people are blown away by anything that isn't just simple cheek art.

It's a Birthday party. I don't think it has to be fast! I tend to take my time at parties. Just relax and have fun!

I used to really struggle with time.... it was my nemesis.
When you are practicing you only need to practice your lines as every fac w do is made up of variations on the same strokes. Every night at telly time I would sit down and cover my legs and arms in teardrops, swirls, tiger stripes, leopard spots and smooshwiggles, funny looking 3's and 2's, double swirls etc etc..... Then have a night where you practice one strokes - like roses and snakes and dragons... they are the best for getting through a line.
Don't stress - because the birthday child always has to be painted first I have done quite a few blah's on the b'day kid.... but the last very patient kid gets an awesome design lol
Cover any linework mistakes or smudges with glitter and starbursts.. oh and do both sides at the same time - a bit each side and back and forth or paint your worse side first as it's easier to match with your good hand... and sponge all the bases.. even when you would prefer to paint it like for spiderman if you sponge it's heaps quicker and the kid doesn't end up with so much paint on their face..... really messy for us though.... all this stuff has really helped me to speed up!So hopefully it may help you. Now I can do a butterfly or tiger in 3-5 without even thinking about it.... spiderman still takes longer then I would like.... grrrrrrrrrrr spidey again! good luck and let us know how it goes.

One stroke roses...yikes, I haven't even tried them once! I think that's what I'll be doing tonight. I have been practicing butterflies and teardrop swirly masks and I did a zebra and they were all at 5 minutes. I'm gonna cover a whole wall with wax paper faces by the end of this weekend! I really appreciate all of your tips, sometimes it's the simple things that make all of the difference, but it's stuff I never think of...like painting both sides at the same time...GENIUS! I think that's one of the things that was taking me so long, I was whipping out the first side, then taking FOREVER to match the other side to the first. I can't thank you all enough for all of the great advice !

your avatar mask is lovely, and really only a couple different strokes away from making a fab butterfly!! Practice! you'll be ready, I am pretty sure you will amaze yourself!

Great avatar, I'm sure you will have a great time and that it will work out. Today is the day?