Starting a street gig

[rye]

hey gang.

so this weekend I am going to be hitting the street and beginning my street caricaturing business. I figure the best way is to get out there and just give it and make some mistakes on the job. I have worked in a theme park setting before so it is not so much the fear of drawing live that I am worried about (its been a while so its there a little but i have dealt with that monster before) I am more concerned with having a professional set up and as I am sure the million little differences between the street and the Theme park avenues.

So to make a long story short I am looking for any advice on really anything to do with street gigging. anything from how you set up (pictures would be awesome but descriptions would do) when you go out, what you charge to what materials you use if they are any different. Any feed back would be much appreciated and I know it is a broad topic but any tidbits will help

thanks team

[rye]

ok so no one has posted any response yet ........I am not sure if the right people haven't seen it yet or if people don't want to give up there secrets or if I wasn't clear enough about something or whatever.........any advice here would be awesome...........maybe I was not clear by using the term street gig............maybe I should just say live gig......although I will be on the street....

once again thanks team

[donpinsent]

one lesson i learned the hard way, but very quickly: make sure you have a way of securing EVERYTHING you use down, to keep it from being carried away by the wind, and a way to keep it all dry in case of unexpected rain. sounds basic, but i know i'm not nearly the only street vendor to whom these things did not immediately occur before starting! here's another one: don't forget to get yourself a float before going out. again, seems obvious (and in this case, i didn't amke this mistake myself), but i've seen a lot of people blow a lot of sales on their first day this way.
the hardest thing for me is figuring out ways to make everything heavy enough not to blow away, able to be displayed so that people can see it easily, but still portable. i don't know about you, but i rely on public transit to get to and from my setup area (halifax waterfront), so everything has to be able to fit in a big duffle bag i drag around behind me, with little wheels on the back. it's a hard thing to work out.

[rye]

thanks don those are some good tips.......the rain thing and the wind thing I had covered....well not so much covered as thought about. I got caught in the rain at wonderland enough to know that that sucks. The advice about a float though is pure genius as I would have never thought of that until it happened and it would be an obvious problem, so thank you for that one for sure.

About getting stuff to and from the gig. I actually live in Oakville and the first day is going to be a drag getting every thing to toronto but luckily I have a friend who lives right downtown who is letting me use a closet at his place for all my stuff. I have a very compactable easel but a stool and a chair the board the paper, markers, artstix, signage. this is all going to be a drag and I have not devised a good solution for all this yet. any suggestions on how to reduce this stuff.

The other thing is signage. what do you use for examples and pricing display and what not........i am thinming of buying a small chalk board to hang on my easel where I can list prices and change them if needed but not sure if this is the best idea. also do you have hardboards with examples on them or just a binder or something else entirly. The other thing I am wondering about is do you activly advertise, I mean are you up on your feet holding a hardboard and barkering people as they walk by or do you just sit and let your signage do that for you.....I am sure this is on a case by case basis but I also plan to do a touristy harborfront area so I am sure it is comparable.

well thats probably enough for one post......lol
thanks again for all your advice......its so very appreciated

[Frank Zieglar]

donpinsent said:

don't forget to get yourself a float before going out.

Maybe because I'm in Texas - but what do you mean a float?

I know it's not a raft for the swimming pool - so I'm guessing a carrier.

I'm using a large rolling suitcase at the moment but have been thinking of buying this >>> www.furniture2yourdoor.com/proddetail.php?prod=SH20&cat=47

When I do a party inside the suitcase is fine and holds everthing I need. But if I'm outside retailing then I also need a market umbrella ans a stand plus two chairs. I can do it all with the suitcase but it's not easy.

This cart looks to me like it might be better for me. Alady I know uses a smaller cart and it works good for her - but this one is bigger than the average cart.

[rye]

Frank.....by float we mean some change for big bills....

a big suitcase though. I am glad you mentioned it because I definitly have one of those and I am going to need something of the sort.......thanks for that one. I figure I am going to need an umbrella but not sure how I am going to figure that one out.

[donpinsent]

frank, i have one of those carts but never use it for my caricaturing because it's not quite the right dimensions to fit my stuff into. oh, and a "float" is, basically, change. tens, fives, coinage, whatever you think you might need depending on your prices. anyone who goes out without one almost invariably gets paid with a twenty or larger on their first sale.

ryan, i don't have any photos (i intend to take some this summer), so i'll try to describe what i use, though i'm suspecting it may be hard to put into words, so sorry if it's unclear:
i built a sign frame last year (spray painted red to be more eye-catching) out of mid-weight wood. light enough to be carried, heavy enough to stand against the wind. two frames the same size, hinged together at the top, so they stand in a kinda triangular shape.... except there's no bottom part of the triangle. keep in mind, it's just the frame, empty in the middle, with narrow, thin strips of wood nailed all around the bottom and both sides, then further thin strips, maybe a half-inch wider than the other strips, nailed on top of that, so that they protrude inward to hold the sign in. hope you understand what i'm saying there. then i made the signs on easy-to-carry, lightweight illustration board that slide easily in between the frame and the top wood strip. that way, if i do need to change my sign, i can do it without having to build a whole new structure. i can just buy a new piece of illustration board. or if i decide to make a price change, i can just discreetly glue a piece of paper with the new price overtop of that part of the sign. oh, and the entire illustration board sign is covered with packing tape to protect it from the rain. believe it or not, that works! my samples are displayed in a flipchart-style portfolio case i bought at the sheridan bookstore. couldn't tell you, of course, whether they still carry them, but i'm not really thrilled with that part of my display anyway. people often don't want to bother going to all the effort of flipping through the thing to see all the samples. they'd rather be able to see them all on display side-by-side, which i still haven't figured out how to do without adding a ton of weight to my load!

[rye]

thanks don

I totally know what you are talking about with the sign frame thanks for taking the time to describe it. I don't think i will have one of those ready for the weekend but it is good food for thought on what to put together over the summer.

Don do you use an umbrella at all and what do you use for chairs?.....also completely unrelated. what made you leave the toronto oakville area? and also while you were here did you do anything caracature wise other than wonderland?

[donpinsent]

i don't have an umbrella. should. don't. for chairs, i use two of those collapsable camping chairs that fold up and slip into the canvas bags, you know what i mean?

i came to halifax because this was the first place i got a job offer. believe it or not, halifax has three or four animation studios. and still no work right now.

after wonderland, i started hiring myself out as a caricaturist at parties and stuff. bar mitzvahs. i did tons of bar mitzvahs! for some reason, that was 90% of my business. i wasn't making enough at it to make it my only job, but it was great supplementary income. if you want to get into that, start looking up entertainment agencies and event planners in the yeller pages and just call them up telling them what you do, and that you're looking to get in with an agency (they'll each like to think tjey're the only one you're calling. you don't actually have to lie and tell them that, just let them believe it.) to be hired for parties and events. they'll probably have you send them some samples, or ask whether you have a website they can look up or something, and then put you in their databases. they'll most likely have several caricaturists on file. that's one of the few advantages i've found to life in halifax: here, i'm pretty much the only thing going!

[rye]

no umbrella...check...i am going to try not using one too because they are big and I am lazy.....lol. I think I have some of those camping chairs too so thats a total bonus and once again I never even thought of using them. Thanks too for the party gig advice, thats something that I am also going to start tapping into but I never really knew how to do it. I was just going to call up one of the guys at wonderland and see if he had any extra gigs around but that is much better.

I am sad to hear there is no work out there, being a soon to be graduating animator and all. hopefully we will see another boom soon with lasseter now being god of california. So I assume you are not with a studio right now then? just doing characatures? ever think about moving back?

thanks again Don for all of your advice so far....you have been a big help...I actually did a characature of you today from the draw this section today so I will post that as soon as I get home and to my scanner. unfortunatly I am at work till 6 and then I got to hit the loomis to stock up for my sunday debut. thanks for all your help

[rye]

everyone else feel free to participate..............this is fast becoming the Don and Rye festival.....lol...........but seriously any and all advice is welcome.....any mistakes that I can avoid the better.

[robincrazy]

Don't forget the sunblock then, place youself under some shadow (beneath a tree for example)

[vtslim]

Hey folks! Hi Rye Guy, I'm Slim. I haven't been posting here for a while because I've been busy getting gigs and I haven't had time to draw anything new. I spent two years in Savannah, Georgia drawing on the boardwalk. It was all I did! Here was my setup...

*I had a market umbrella secured with a heavy bronze base
and a sign screwed to the pole. I had running lights around the umbrella

*I had two displays on either side made of painted plywood also secured with a heavy base each and running lights around each

*I had a painted wooden box to stash all my supplies

*I used a wooden easel and neat folding plastic chairs

*I used a car battery and converter for electricity

I didn't post a price as I figure people will come up and ask and then you can pitch to them. I would also have a little book of samples that they could flip through. This engages them some more without having to commit to anything. For rain I had trash bags to cover my chairs and easel. For heavy wind I would cover things and take down my umbrella. Everything was sturdy enough to just stay there until I could pick it up or the weather would pass.

I had a car and could carry this heavy stuff. I also have a "Guerrila Pack" which is very portable. I have two little plastic folding chairs (I can use one for an easel just by sitting on it backwards and using the chairback for support)I have a bookbag that holds my display frame made of lightweight PVC pipe. I then velcro my display pictures onto that when I assemble it. If it is windy I have seen people bring empty water jugs and fill them when you get to the spot. Bungee your displays to these, they weight ten pounds each full and ounces when empty. Good luck in Toronto!

-Slim
;D

[rye]

hey Slim thanks for the rundown......no, not that movie with the rock but rather your discription of your setup. I was hoping you would put your two cents into this matter as I had noticed from reading the boards that you had some experience with this sort of foolishnessas well as a sense of umour suitable to my own demeanor. I kinda like the idea of not having prices and pitching each person individually as dealing/joking/making an ass of myself with the customers has always been a very enjoyable part of live caracatures for me. where did you find your ultra slick super wicked folding chairs? how small could they get. I bought a really slick portable easel that folds down to nothing, its really awesome if not easy to lose and a couple of equally cool chairs would do me nicely. If I had a car it would all be alot easier but I am afraid I am going to have to do it pretty guerilla, or maybe even gorilla, i haven't decided yet. this week is going to be an experiment at the very least so I can always fix stuff from there. I really dig the pvc piping idea too, another hyper keen idea that I would have never thought of. So thanks for all of that Slim

Oh and thanks robin for the sunblock advice, thats going to be crazy important too.

[rye]

oh yeah, Slim, any pictures of that crazy setup ?