Before the Party!
Before the Party!
Face painting is the greatest job and I'm so happy to be a successful, professional face painter.
Although, most people don't realize what goes on behind the scenes. My clients don't know the hoops I have to jump through sometimes just to book a party. If the party is in Irvine or Newport Beach/Corona Del Mar you have to have a license through the city. The Irvine license costs $50...and Newport Beach? Yikes! That one is $250. If the party mommy wants to have her child's party in a park then you need to be insured and registered through the Orange County Parks Board. Insurance is around $100-$200 a year, and $10 extra to add an additional insured certificate, which most companies require.
Then there's the cost of paint. For quality professional body paint you are looking at about $15-$25 - per color. Then buy your brushes at $7 each; a $75-$150 kit to carry everything in, and not to mention glitter, gems and body glue ($50). A true body painter's entire kit costs way over $1000.
If the mom asks for a specific theme then you must create one. That means rounding up all the neighbors children and coming up with 10 different puppy faces, because the party you are doing the next weekend has a dog theme. Sometimes the themes can be quite daunting, such as once I had to do a Candy party and found it very difficult to make a menu with suckers and sweets choices.
A true professional artist will always have a legitimate web site. And I don't mean a Facebook page. A web site shows that you are dealing with someone who takes their business seriously. A web site means you plan to be around, which then means that you are always trying to do a good job. I pay GoDaddy about $200 a year for my web site. Luckily I am also a qualified web site designer so I got to design my site for free. Normally you would have to spend around $3000 for a site like mine. Same goes for a Yelp page...sure they are free, but if you are planning to make a name for yourself then you would not be afraid of establishing credibility. I love the reviews I get.
Now you must factor in the gas it costs to drive to your gig. Sometimes I drive all the way to Los Angeles, San Diego, even Riverside. I drive a hybrid because of the amount of driving I do (15,000 miles a year) and so the gas costs me around $5-$20 every weekend.
So when people raise their eyebrows at the cost involved to hire a entertainer, please take all these things into consideration and know that $75-$125 per hour is a very reasonable rate for a face painter. And also remember that we are painting on a 3D moving target, but the kids love the end result and the parents love the memories.
That's all!
ARTovator ~ face painting with love
949.357.0557
www.ARTovator.com
Although, most people don't realize what goes on behind the scenes. My clients don't know the hoops I have to jump through sometimes just to book a party. If the party is in Irvine or Newport Beach/Corona Del Mar you have to have a license through the city. The Irvine license costs $50...and Newport Beach? Yikes! That one is $250. If the party mommy wants to have her child's party in a park then you need to be insured and registered through the Orange County Parks Board. Insurance is around $100-$200 a year, and $10 extra to add an additional insured certificate, which most companies require.
Then there's the cost of paint. For quality professional body paint you are looking at about $15-$25 - per color. Then buy your brushes at $7 each; a $75-$150 kit to carry everything in, and not to mention glitter, gems and body glue ($50). A true body painter's entire kit costs way over $1000.
If the mom asks for a specific theme then you must create one. That means rounding up all the neighbors children and coming up with 10 different puppy faces, because the party you are doing the next weekend has a dog theme. Sometimes the themes can be quite daunting, such as once I had to do a Candy party and found it very difficult to make a menu with suckers and sweets choices.
A true professional artist will always have a legitimate web site. And I don't mean a Facebook page. A web site shows that you are dealing with someone who takes their business seriously. A web site means you plan to be around, which then means that you are always trying to do a good job. I pay GoDaddy about $200 a year for my web site. Luckily I am also a qualified web site designer so I got to design my site for free. Normally you would have to spend around $3000 for a site like mine. Same goes for a Yelp page...sure they are free, but if you are planning to make a name for yourself then you would not be afraid of establishing credibility. I love the reviews I get.
Now you must factor in the gas it costs to drive to your gig. Sometimes I drive all the way to Los Angeles, San Diego, even Riverside. I drive a hybrid because of the amount of driving I do (15,000 miles a year) and so the gas costs me around $5-$20 every weekend.
So when people raise their eyebrows at the cost involved to hire a entertainer, please take all these things into consideration and know that $75-$125 per hour is a very reasonable rate for a face painter. And also remember that we are painting on a 3D moving target, but the kids love the end result and the parents love the memories.
That's all!
ARTovator ~ face painting with love
949.357.0557
www.ARTovator.com
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