Anybody's done street portraits?

[Turtle Boat]

Recently I've been on the grind to go out to some NYC parks to do some caricature / portraits.

A couple of weeks ago, I did it for the first time based on donations and made very, very little money, so this time I'm gonna charge 5 dollars per portrait / caricature. (Reception was pretty good overall, except for a shitty lady who actually handed the portrait back to me saying that she didn't want it.)

Anybody here have any experience doing this? I know that there's a big chinese monopoly over it on Times Square and Central Park, so I'm not necessarily picking those locations. How do you handle weather changes? Could you do it at night?

[KarAnde]

I dont know that I would try it at night unless you were indoors at a mall or something, rather dangerous otherwise. When doing by donation tell them its a preferred 5 dollar donation minimum, gives the opportunity for more while kinda hinting at a bottom line.

Then again that trick might only work with things like car washes.

[Symson]

The nearest I've come is doing it for one summer at an amusement park.

I'm puzzled by your other questions, mainly in that the answer seems apparent.

"How do you handle weather changes? "
The weather makes that decision for you. When it rains you and your supplies get wet. No one is going to stop. When it snows, same situation. When it's cold, you shiver and can't draw well.

"Could you do it at night? "
Of course you could. Unless you have some kind of night vision problem and you can't see.
KarAnde brings up a good point about danger.

[Huerta]

charge 15 or 20. You'll be taken more seriously and seem more professional.

[Mase]

I've done caricatures for years, but always at pre-planned venues, so I'm not sure how much help I can be. I do know that if it rains you might want to pack up and go. Even if you have decent shelter, the humidity messes up your paper and its hard to draw on.
Same with nighttime - you need decent light to draw with.
At festivals, its hard to get more than 5 bucks out of people, so I'd start there. Make sure you have good, topical samples up to bring people in.

Most important: HAVE BUSINESS CARDS. Street caricatures will pass the time, but getting hired for parties is where the real money is.

[Turtle Boat]

Thanks mase, that's good advice man.

Huerta - mm, I'm not sure currently. If the reaction's pretty good with five dollars then maybe i'll hike the price?

symson - no, i don't have night vision problems. (wth?) I was asking more in terms of lighting and attracting a crowd in the night time. Same thing about weather. I was asking these in terms of what people did under those situations.

KarAnde - haha, no worries about that, the park is in a pretty hipsterish area with college kids. I worrry more about rude people though

[Symson]

No one can tell what your lighting and crowd situation is going to be. You have to adjust to your situation and not really care aboutwhat anyone else. As they say in the commercials, "Your mileage may vary."