http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a41/Chris_texas/7049992d.jpg

Here's a new arm design that I am still working the bugs out of. Feedback appreciated.

wow nice..............

Wow! That must be popular with the teen and older boys. I remember you saying something about your designs not taking that long to paint, but with all the details you include this and your winter scenes must take close to 10 minutes.

And if I haven't said it before, I'm glad you post. I enjoy seeing your work, you are pretty good in my book.

Working out the bugs!! It's perfect!! I wish santa would bring me some artistic talent. I have trouble doing the simpelest of designs. I too appreciate your posts they are inspiring yet impossible for me.

Wow! That must be popular with the teen and older boys. I remember you saying something about your designs not taking that long to paint, but with all the details you include this and your winter scenes must take close to 10 minutes.

And if I haven't said it before, I'm glad you post. I enjoy seeing your work, you are pretty good in my book.


Thank you.

Our longest designs do take close to ten minutes. I think we average about 5 minutes per person over a length of time (given the normal selections people make).

Honestly we really don't worry about time too much, so long as we don't have a queue and the parent's aren't in a hurry. And when we aren't busy we WANT to take as much time as we can, because it's easier to get the next customer when you have a kid in your chair. It is also easier to build a queue when you already have one -- this is human nature and something that every business person should be aware of. If you have no line people will walk on by, but if you have a queue people will jump into it.

Anyway...

I hear people talk all the time about how fast they are (talking about full faces here). To be honest I am still waiting for the proof. Obviously some large or full face designs are easy and quick -- a cat or puppy comes to mind here -- but others I just don't see how they can be done quickly while maintaining quality. Not saying that THEY can't do it, but rather that I can't or don't know how. And I think sometimes people both tend to exaggerate their speed AND they lose track of the time. I had my wife time my daughter and I one day when we were busy and the results shocked us both. They also inspired us to standardize more and get faster.

But then I watched Mark Richards in his video talking about one design, saying "This is about a four minute design." The problem being that when he said it he had already been working on this girl for five minutes or more, and then proceeded to spend another five or ten minutes on top of that before he was finished. "This is a four minute design" has become an ongoing joke in my family.

And for this dragon: as i said it is a work in progress. We are not offering it for sale yet -- not until we are happy with how it looks. Right now my daughter doesn't like it. The other issue (maybe) is going to be painting it upside down. As for the winter scene the longest part is laying down the base. Everything else is actually pretty easy.

Dragon?? I thought it was an Arkansa ravor back!!

LSU Tiger Fan here...so sorry for the groan... it really made me laugh until you said (can't bear to type the words)....

Anyhow great design for DRAGON...yep.

Thank you.

I hear people talk all the time about how fast they are (talking about full faces here). To be honest I am still waiting for the proof.

Not saying that THEY can't do it, but rather that I can't or don't know how. And I think sometimes people both tend to exaggerate their speed AND they lose track of the time. .


Count me in if there is ever a facepainting challenge somewhere.

I really wish I knew how to post a youtube. (I don't have a video camera or a cell phone nor do I plan to purchase one just to post a video on you tube) but I really wish that I could send you some Artsy evidence. I will figure something out later. I have some family things to deal with right now.

I would never exaggerate my speed (I am honest to a fault) and other people have timed me. I am not focused primarily on speed either, as I want every design to be as perfect as I can make it (without taking too much time and having the kid fall asleep in my chair), and I absolutely agree with you that having a queue is essential for a succe$$ful event, but I do enjoy challenging MYSELF to achieve optimal time goals. Afterall, facepainting is the only Olympic Sport I can do physically! (maybe that one sport with the broom sweeping the thing on the ice but even that would be a stretch)

I was approached by someone to teach at an upcoming facepainting seminar, but with the passing of my dad, and me being the eldest child, I have a huge responsibility on my shoulders to handle his overwhelming affairs and I might have to postpone my seminar involvement for now, but I think I might want to offer a course on SPEED PAINTING or SHORT CUTS or something like that. Maybe that'll be my calling card? Maybe someone can videotape me at the seminar.

I like the dragon a lot. Try using neon UV green for the eye and some amber as a highlight? Green is the complementary color of the reds you used so the eye will pop out and be more sinister-like. Bright orange flames coming from the mouth? Or a light smear of smoldering grey smoke from the nostrils? (use a cosmetic wedge and swipe the grey on it for a smoke effect). I can't think of anything else at the moment, but it's fun to try new things to see what works best for you.

the sport on the ice with the brooms is called Curling.
It's actually rather amusing to watch them yelling at each other if you ever get a chance to just sit and watch it....

ACK! That's what it is ***CURLING...I couldn't remember what it was called. Thanks Perry! Yes, I've watched this "sport" and watched interviews and shouting demonstrations of a girl's team who is actually a local group who aspires to hit the big curling limelight...I'll stick to curling my hair, curling my toes, and curling ribbon on packages.

I'll just curl up with a good book.

My husband's aunt and uncle love watching curling... they are snow birds (go to Florida every winter) and bring their Canadian satellite with them to watch CBC and stuff so they can see their curling. Apparently, they were called by Nelsons (?) that rating thing for TV and she had a heck of a time explaining to the woman why they went to the trouble to watch this stuff on tv instead of watching american tv....

Best description is it's kind of like shuffle board on ice using big rocks and they sweep the ice in front of the rocks to make them go faster or turn one way or the other. The person who throws it yells at the sweepers to HURRY!!!!

Love that dragon. I do a few dragons and they are always popular with the boys.

Dinosaurs are popular with the little boys for me. Maybe dragons are dinosaurs on steroids...or caffeine...

Love, the dragon, I do a couple different dragons too, but they're a bit smaller and not as detailed. I also do a full face dragon that takes me only about 9 to 10 minutes. but I had to work my butt off to get it that fast. I wanted to take it to competition u see, and I hate using the whole time limit, because if something were to go wrong, I would have no cushion time to save me.

very welll said

wowweeeeee what would you charge for that

wowweeeeee what would you charge for that

I always ask for $700 on the off chance someone will say okay and give it to me. Sadly, most people are GREEDY and ask for lower rate.

I don't know really. My most expensive designs are $15, and this will probably be one of those. I haven't added this as an option yet and wont until it warms up more.