Epic Eyes
Many face painters are turning to smaller designs around the eyes, and no wonder – there is so much scope!
Kids
Children are often happy with their requested design to be minimalised around the eye. The advantage for you is that it can avoid the eyelid scrunchy-eye problem.
Adults
Eye designs are a go-to for adult events where you need something sparkly and colourful to enhance their make-up without overdoing it.
Teens
Teenagers are often reluctant to be painted in case they end up with the classic orange tiger from their childhood! But most will happily join in if you suggest a ‘festival’ design.
Quick design
Many clients ask if you can just do quick designs to get ‘all’ the children done. It’s our job to explain and educate that small doesn’t necessarily mean fast! I explain that I’ll use my experience to make a judgement call – if the child requests a tiger, cat, dog, Spidey or similar, I’ll do as requested, as I can do a full face fastest; if however they want a transformer, I may choose to do it around the eye.
High numbers/High speed
High speed jobs are not for everyone; however, if you wish to develop fast designs, then eye designs can help to get through lines quicker.
My advice is to consider carefully when a request is made to paint more than the standard number of children in a party (10 – 15 per hour). With some exceptions, experienced painters don’t usually choose to work in this way on a regular basis.
- It’s exhausting!
- It’s not very enjoyable for either you or the client
- It’s not sustainable for any length of time.
I suggest charging more for events where speed is required.
‘Just something small…’
Bear in mind that small cheek designs DOES NOT always mean faster! They may ask for a little Pikachu on the cheek, or just a small hedgehog… lol! However, these small images can be extremely difficult and consume more time, particularly on wriggly excited children – or even adults at an event having conversations with friends.
The only time small is fast, is if you can apply minimal base colour and minimal simple linework.
I’ll be covering eye designs in FAM Club this month, so do join us if you want to add epic eye designs to your repertoire!
