Featuring face painting at your event can be a wonderful, memorable experience for your guests. It can also be a chaotic nightmare leading to disappointment for everyone! As the event planner, you are in charge of the conditions in which the artist will be painting, as well as the patron environment. Here are some things to consider:

Table and Chairs

At Circus Kaput, we ask the client to provide a table and two chairs for each Face Painter. The table can be as small as three feet long or as large as eight feet long. It should be sturdy and on level ground. Typically we bring some type of covering for our table area, but if you are genuinely concerned about the appearance of your table, you should have them covered. Some paint and/or glitter may spill onto the table covering.

Chairs without arms are preferred. Arms on chairs get in the artist’s way to reach the person being painted. Often children have trouble keeping still. It’s easier for them to hold still with their arms in their lap. When painting a moving target such as a child’s face, we need all the help we can get to make the design look great.

We ask that you do not seat artist’s at picnic tables. We feel so strongly about this that it is in our contract. A picnic table is constantly being bounced as people get up and down from the benches. It’s the absolute worst way to try and complete decent face paintings. It really puts us at a disadvantage to have constant movement and jostling when trying to steady our hand to brush a small face.

Lighting

Too often people don’t realize that we need a well lit environment to do good work. We have been placed in dark corners, outside at or after sundown with no lighting, and even on a dance floor in a dim room! We really need bright light to see what we are doing. You will have nicer face paintings and the paintings will go faster if the lighting is good. We do not furnish our own lights. The venue or the event planner should place painters in an environment where they can see well.  

Harsh Sunlight

We ask in our contract that painters not be placed in direct harsh sun. At an outdoor event, we prefer a tent, awning, pavilion or even under a tree. An artist who is sun burned, over-heated and dehydrated cannot make the best experience for your patrons. The patrons themselves will also be much more comfortable out of harsh sun.

Freezing Temperatures

Many other agencies do not paint outside if the temperature is below a certain number. So far at Circus Kaput, we have not adopted this rule. Most of our clients are thoughtful enough to put artists indoors if the temperature is bitterly cold. Again, this also makes for a much better experience for patrons. If indoors is not an option, outdoor heaters is the only way to make sure fingers keep moving and artists can sit comfortably outside. There are a wonderful variety of portable outdoor heaters that can be rented to ensure the environment is fit for human beings.