Elise Ball (10) swiped her paintbrush across her client’s arm, creating a purple-pink ombre in the shape of a butterfly wing. She finished by dabbing glitter across the child’s hand, dried off the paint and left them in awe of the art. A line of children awaited eagerly for their turn, excitedly picking out the designs and colors they wanted, Feb. 8.
As a part-time face painter, Ball was asked to paint at a carnival-themed Jewish congregation. To prepare, Ball creates pages of designs tailored to the event’s themes.
“If I have an event coming up, I’ll make sure to get more designs, which takes a while, especially because I have to practice on my sister,” Ball said. “I paint on her, take a picture, and then wash it all off and go again. I have a whole catalog of designs, which I sometimes swap around. For example, for Christmas festivals I’ll put more of the Christmassy ones to the front. I also try to come up with at least five designs that people can choose from.”
Ball has been working as a face painter for the last three years, painting at birthday parties, elementary school events, and awareness campaigns.
“I started a couple years ago because I really like art and working with kids,” Ball said. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, I really got into makeup. There were all sorts of trends online where people would paint themselves, and I started doing it too. I liked the ‘zodiac as princesses’ trend, [which is] similar to ‘your month, your duo trends’ where people would pick designs to match different zodiacs and months. I would usually recreate these trends with my own ‘spin’. I was also inspired by scary makeup videos and special effects makeup, where people would pretend to stab something and add cool transitions.”
Inspired by creators online, Ball purchased her first face-painting kit.
“It was pretty exciting; it’s a little bit of that kid-on-Christmas-morning feeling with the fun of getting new stuff,” Ball said. “When I was first starting out, I wasn’t very serious about the idea of face painting, but getting my first materials made it feel more like something I could actually do.”
According to Ball, she started practicing at home, teaching herself all the basics and figuring out how to use the new materials.
“I learned mostly from YouTube, I would search up designs and practice them,” Ball said. “At first, they were not great, but I definitely got better. I had to learn specifics like how to load a brush properly, meaning getting the right amount of paint on it. Sometimes it’s too watered down and drips, and sometimes it’s too dry and doesn’t show up. I got the hang of it pretty quick because I had so much practice with makeup already.”
After constant practice at home, Ball was ready to showcase her new skills at her first event.
“My mom is kind of my manager for everything, especially because she’s on Facebook and has a lot of groups,” Ball said. “She reached out to a friend who was organizing an LGBTQ event at a library, and asked if I wanted to paint the kids there. I then did birthday parties and even painted at an Earth Day event at Adobe Bluffs Elementary.”
According to Ball, working with dozens of kids and painting the designs on them was extremely stressful at first.
“When you see all the kids at the event, it gets stressful, especially because they’re sitting right in front of you, and [there’s] pressure to finish quickly,” Ball said. “The younger kids are also not patient and move around a lot. My mom helps me handle the kids when they’re a bit rowdy. I think it’s most stressful at birthday parties because you’re squeezed into a backyard while kids are climbing all over and trying to touch my stuff.”
Ball said she has learned a lot from working in high-stress environments and how to manage every aspect of the job.
“I didn’t really know what I was doing a year ago, or even months ago,” Ball said. “Now, I have a routine I follow for events, but it’s always slightly new because I come up with new designs for event themes, which helps it stay interesting. There’s a lot of work that goes into preparation, like designing menus and talking with my clients and organizers. I’ve learned about business ideas too because I run an Instagram account and help with the Facebook page. I think I’ve gotten way better and more efficient. I learned how to handle myself in stressful situations and how to deal with kids.”
Ball said the most memorable moments while working are when she sees the kids excited and satisfied with the face paint.
“I remember there was this one girl who came back to get painted a second time,” Ball said. “At one event, a girl walked by the table and thanked me for face painting her, I thought that was really cute. I love when after a kid gets their face painted they run off to go show other people. The most memorable parts are also when kids get painted for the first time and say things like ‘I’ve never done this before, but I’m really excited’. That’s my favorite part.”
Seeing the overflowing excitement from the children and interacting with them reminds Ball of her younger self.
“When I was a kid, I loved to get my face painted,” Ball said. “Face painting now I almost see myself going through and reliving the excitement [again]. I also talk to the kids differently than I would to an adult, sort of like humoring them to keep them entertained. I find it cute [talking to them] because when was the last time someone asked you what your favorite dinosaur was?”
