artist

insider

photographer

sales

tattoo artist

Kamans Art Shoppes


PROS:
 The coworkers are nice; the management at the location is nice. Since it's art, you do have to have the basics down (especially color and anatomy); but you receive good training for a couple weeks to a month (intermittently) before they send you out on your own. The training was paid too!
You can build up your skills over time, and they'll show you ways to improve and subtle selling techniques. 
I heard if you've been there long enough, they can cross train you for the other art services. 
Great way to build a portfolio. Everything you make on the job counts as professional work. Even rejected images can be good for portfolios.
Art trades with coworkers!

Free drinks from employee cafeteria. Also free water from nearby stands for coworkers when it's really hot.
Employee discount on park purchases.
Earn free passes over time (6 months to a year)
Free entry (yourself) into the park
Employee food is good
Flexible scheduling so it's good if you're taking classes, or have other jobs. 

The entertainment of the resident birds and the ongoing war between seagulls and chip vendors. 
Make friends with pigeons
Go on rides during lunch break (if there's not a big line).
Chat with friendly park guests! Kids give fun ideas for pictures

Not too much stress outside of busy holiday seasons 
If it's really slow you can draw for fun! Using people as practice is a great way to advertise!
The option of receiving hourly pay or commission, whichever is higher for the week.

There's a medical center at the park and you can get treated for minor things or heatstroke at the park at no extra cost to employees.

Mini competitive sales contests for whoever makes more during that time frame, with prizes!
Monthly rankings broken down by type of commission, total sales and average sales per day.. 

Cons:
NO TIPS! You're not allowed to accept any tips, cash or otherwise.  I have no idea why this is a policy. There's some really good tippers out there and it hurts every time to turn them down (for my wallet and my brain). 


When reporting/contacting higher ups with complaints, they don't keep you anonymous so everyone you work with will know who asked what. Depending on what you complain about, they will subtly cut your hours. 
If it's off season you can't really prove it, but you'll get confirmation from someone. That's probably the only shady thing about working at seaworld. 
 (there's also gossip among employees occasionally but it's not really bad unless you yourself are the problem).
There's not really retaliation or hostility in the art/retail/vendor departments so it'd probably just be normal work after a while. 

OFF SEASON.  when the parks not busy, after holidays.
If you're not one of the few full time staff or management, then off season means abysmal hours for you.

Random long art sales (no matter how it's presented, there's not really a benefit for the artists themselves since lower prices mean lower commission percentage, but more hand strain). the company gets more money but ultimately not so much the worker.

Being part time (seaworld has mostly part time workers for a lot of vendors, non-managerial and non-animal related jobs).
No health benefits or any benefits aside from park merchandise perks and sick time, if you're not full time. 

Not much room for promotion. If you're not doing stellar at your job or getting extra money constantly you will be stuck at your current position. 

You only get paid a dollar over basic minimum wage (currently) Too little for a specialized job and even when the prices go up, you don't get a raise. 
Your commission on each thing you do is raised slightly, but it's still barely a perk.

Hand strain over time. 
Occasional dodging of bird droppings. You learn how it falls and where to avoid after a while. 

Aggressive selling (I guess it's kind of a normal thing since it's an amusement park but no one likes it). 
You have to talk AT as many people that pass you by as you can. Can't give them the option to say no with only open ended questions, have to upsell the entire time you're drawing them; and it's to the point that everyone that comes to the park knows to just ignore any and all vendors if not interested. Or customers are rude to you.
(I also ignore many vendors as a regular attendee. It's very annoying when you say no and they keeping pushing it on you)
There's other ways to attract attention though, but you have to learn that as you work there. For your first half a year you're going to sound like a parrot.

Rude and unhygienic attendees. People will walk right in front of your subjects while drawing, they'll let their kids touch you art supplies (sometimes draw on your boards and not say anything) and bump you or your easel. People will stand right behind or next to you and cough or sneeze right at you, It's nasty and many have gotten sick that way.
They'll leave trash at your stands and spill things on your chairs. 

Chronic redo customers. Sometimes you get those people that don't like your work no matter what (even they don't know why). You can keep redrawing it or send them to someone with a different style/senior artist. 


Generally It's a pretty nice place to work at, but don't make it your sole source of income. If you have questions, management or your coworkers will help you so don't be afraid to ask!

I work as a caricaturist with the public typically alone when we're understaffed, though I've been there long enough to know what it's like when we're overstaffed so I'll give both examples. 

When you're working alone (Which you can request if you really wanted to) the only people you have to talk to are the customers, our job is to basically lure customers in with our art and to draw them trying to sell frames for the pictures themselves. Obviously, the quality of the work is on the eyes of the beholder and I'd like to think I am good at my craft. The good news is that somedays if you really don't want to talk, all you really need to do is bring in one or two people and you'll have a line the rest of the day, not needing to say a word or really try. On days like these, I'll admit, it's a confidence boost.

When working with another person you're always sharing the load unless you personally aren't feeling well enough to draw or write in which case, unless it's really busy, you can just have the other person do all the work and everything will be fine. Obviously, it's going to be froundupon when found out. On days like these, I just calmly explain that I'm feeling really unwell but I was kind of forced to come in and I'd say they are pretty understanding. In my experience, I would still be doing things on those days regardless because ironically enough the job itself is pretty relaxing.

Management will be checking in on some days to see if the stand is doing well and will be writing an ever changing schedule. The schedule is honestly the biggest draw back from this job in my opinion. You work more days if you do really well or if you're just higher priority. I've just been promoted to supervisor so I'm going to have a higher priority than a lead or a team member. If there is a day where you are sick (at least from how the branch I work under did it) you'll need to find a replacement. I'm planning on mitigating this with the people I'm training next year by taking their shifts if they call in sick to avoid hassle but I can't guarantee that I alone will be able to change this policy. 

The next biggest issue is pay: It's a minimum wage job with a flat rate based on your sales at the end of the week. For example: I WILL make $10 (yes, it's higher than $10 but it's easier to explain like this) if I work 5 hours that day I should have only made $50. However, let's say I made a bunch of color face sales (20) and each one was worth a $5 flat rate. I would have instead made $100 which is double than what I would have made. This is all well and good until you explore two very realistic possibilities. 1: you'll have days where no one wants a drawing and thus no sales. Keep in mind that you'll only get whatever pay would be higher *at the end of the week* meaning that if your pay was $300 but your flat rate is $400 you'll only be paid the $400.
2: You'll be making the company thousands of dollars over the course of your time there if your goal is to achieve flat rate every week to be paid higher, but will undoubtedly struggle to make $2000 a month. 

On a side note, this job is hosted at various locations and does a lot more than just caricatures. I'm pointing this out because in my area that I am doing it, the park the business is residing in for that particular area doesn't allow us to accept tips. Other places do and I would highly recommend working in one of those locations.

This job really is a case-by-case biases due to how much of an impact an outside company has to this company because of the fact that this company *borrows* space instead of actually owning it.

In regards of the culture, it's incredibly relaxed. As long as you're at least trying to make sales, you can pretty much chill and have a relaxing day of work. I have made friends with co-workers and typically the crowed that gets drawn in is the nerdy artistic type. Every now and then we'll get a highly popular kid in school or someone who'd much rather do construction and it's always encouraged by everyone to not keep this job forever but to use it as a stepping stone to enhance your resume and to make connections with those outside of work.

No one cares if you take photos of your art and post them on social media and no one really cares if you ask about other work opportunities with customers even. I don't even think they care if you do take tips or take it easy if you're having a hard day.

They do work well with your life schedule's and you can always schedule a day off 2 weeks in advance no matter what time of year it is. 

There are no benefits because you'll never be full time unless it's in an area that doesn't really get a winter and you'd be working year-round.

It's interesting to get promoted because you'd need to wait for there to be a need for a new lead or a supervisor and you'll need to ask for it via email on why you deserve the promotion.

I miss working here a lot. Airbrushing was a love I didn’t know about until I worked here. My coworkers were all really nice and I had a lot of fun working there. Some days were really hectic, which proved to be a an issue when we were understaffed (which was almost always). Definitely a fast paced environment most days, so be prepared to do a lot of multitasking and talking to customers. I worked here while in high school and truly enjoyed it. If you have some issues with people skills, this job will definitely help you break out of it. You get rewarded for the effort you put in. If you make a lot of sales and do a lot of artwork (you Have to do the artwork otherwise it doesn’t count) then you can potentially make more than your coworkers. Employees who make top sales would get rewarded from the managers

However, the management was very poor. I had 4 managers in total (3 headed each department and the fourth was a new overall manager to offer some help). 3 of these individuals just seemed very condescending and talked to you like you were dumb. They would also nitpick at every little thing you did which kind of sucked the joy out of it at times. One manager was super great though and very friendly. She was really understanding when I started to get overwhelmed one day I was working alone and helped me out. Beware of some of the people there though, they will tell about any little mistake to the managers in a heartbeat. Taking extra hours means nothing to them. If you want to call out or take off a day, they will chew you out and make you feel so guilty for asking. For the potential airbrush artists out there- BEWARE THE HEAT PRESS! The one at my location had a broken bolt and didn’t always stay open so sometimes it just slammed closed- they would not fix it. It slammed down on my hand one day an hour away from closing and burned me, no one else in the park could airbrush (I was working alone) and I had one job left. One of the worst managers asked if I could “just finish that one piece”. So I did, but I was in extreme pain the entire time. I didn’t leave that day (the Fourth of July) until 1am. She made me clean up/close the stall by myself (bless the WoodShop people who helped me out), count out all my tickets, and then write an injury report after (she of Course, took care of the register). I came back that Friday and the heat press was tied up using a throwaway lanyard. I quit two weeks after that because I found it ridiculous. They tried to guilt me into “saving the day one last time” (exact words from the new manager) two weeks after I quit. Also, we worked outside in a little shack with absolutely no fans on a blacktop so the summer heat was intense. If you wanted a fan then you had to bring your own.

Despite those few incidents though, I worked there for about 6 months and truly did enjoy it. Just be careful of where you go and please watch out for the heat press. I do honestly recommend this for high school students or even college students who need a seasonal job.

(For Body Artists) When you start, you get about 3-4 days of paid training that are 4 hours long each day. It is not enough time but luckily they will have you work a shift with multiple people at the same time so you can learn the operations when you are in the park. There are three body art managers that were good teachers. The rest do not teach and either chat away with another artist or assume you already know what to do now. A lot of the Letter Brush Artists are passive aggressive, condescending, and rude. Most of the time it is difficult to ask them questions or for help if you’re new. Along with the upper management. 
A typical work day includes: setting up your stand, face painting, doing henna art, closing your stand down, counting money, interacting with guests, providing customer service. 
The hardest part about the job is how old fashion the protocols are. You have to manually write down lots of information including: when you clock in/out, how many face paints you did, your sales, your rate, how many transactions you do, etc. Why can’t that information be calculated on the register? The information is already on there.
The most enjoyable part is the face painting. It is actually very fun and being in the parks is a nice atmosphere. You are outside all of the time no matter the weather but it’s honestly not that big of a deal especially because the weather is Southern California is not that bad. Another thing is they advertised you getting commission but it is actually difficult to get because you have to exceed your work week pay. For example, you get $1.75 for a painting that is $18.99. If you’re supposed to get paid $200 for that week because of your scheduled hours, you must exceed that $200 in Face Paints or Henna to get commission. It also takes a long time to get to your stand and out to the parking lot for some locations and you are not compensated for it if you need to help a guest on your way in/out. 

Kaman's is a company located all throughout the United States with the one I worked at located in Kings Island Amusement Park. It's a lively area and a good place for people who like being social, being outside, and standing. You do a lot of it. 

When you start off, no matter what shift, position, or job you're assigned, you're given around three to four weeks of training before the park opens in April, and if you're late, you're given the training during your shifts. After training, you're kind of on your own the rest of the time; At least for a Caricature Artist.

People's views on the job is pretty fifty fifty, for me it wasn't as enjoyable as I initially was expecting. When I began I was excited to take it as an opportunity to hone my skills in art while getting paid to draw all day, but when it came down to it, all I got was hot and miserable. The company was always strict on pulling revenue in when there was none to gather. People want to go to Kings Island to ride the rides and fill themselves sick on food; Only a handful truly wanted to sit in sticky heat under an umbrella to be drawn with wind-blown hair, and I praise them for doing so and making my time working there better. 

The rest of the time aside from the occasional Caricature was standing, hustling, rejection, hustling some more, and more rejection. Then if it rained, you packed away the paper and stood, waiting for it to stop. The rain was both a blessing and a curse, you got to cool off but you couldn't bring any money in for the company, which you'd get in trouble for. 

The managers were a fickled group. There was probably more manager and supervisors than there were actual normal workers, so no one really knew what to do. One would tell you one thing while the other would say something else. Either way, you'd get written up by one for following another's orders. A few were pretty nice though, and all were good people when off the clock. They're just as stressed as everyone else at the end of the day is all. 

At then end of it all, i'd rate my experiences and time working with Kaman's as pretty neutral, I was miserable but not enough to quit and stuck through six months until the season was over. It just wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't enjoy it.

All the talented artists disappeared from this park/company because they realized that they weren't being paid enough for their skills and they got the heck out. If you're a young artist, either in high school or just starting college, this is an okay summer job. You can learn a new skill that will last you forever. You can also make connections with other people in the caricature industry. But if you have any modicum of talent, get out quickly. Kaman's doesn't care how good your drawings are. Once you work for an actual caricature company, you'll realize how vastly underpaid this job is.

Typical day at work - Stand until you draw. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's rainy, sometimes there's bugs swarming your stand. You have to draw four faces every hour, otherwise you'll get written up.

What you learn - It can't be overstated how valuable of a skill caricature art is. But it all depends on the skill level of the person training you. If their sketch is trash, your sketch will be trash as well.

Management - Worst part of the job. Sell sell sell. Don't matter the weather. Don't matter the park attendance. Don't matter the fact that sometimes, people just don't want a caricature. If you're not selling drawings or mats and frames, they will make your life miserable.

Workplace culture - By themselves, caricature artists are generally pretty chill people. And when you're working with a talented artist, do all you can to learn from them. However, the age range of KAS employees is usually 16-21, so there's always drama going on.

Hardest part of the job - Convincing people to buy things they don't want/need so that you can appease your managers.

Most enjoyable part of the job - After work sketch parties. Really let your artistic freedom fly without any sort of repercussions. 

Last note: They keep up sample art from artists who haven't worked there in years in order to trick customers into thinking they might get a similar kind of drawing. They won't.

This job is good if you're a teen looking to start on an art career but, apart from that, it's not worth staying here for more than a year or two due to commission pay being super low compared to how much the art cost. They have raised the prices starting from 18.99 to 19.99 for a standard, 19.99 to 23.99 for a deluxe, and 24.99 to 26.99 for a premium face paint, which causes customers to leave a lot of the time due to how high the prices are. Not to mention, our commission pay are still the same since they have raised the prices. As for tips, you aren't allowed to take any even if the customer insists and only allow it if you hand them a card that sends the customer to a tipping system they have created. Which I can only assume that they want tips to go this way due to wanting good reviews and whatnot. What I dislike about this system is that artists can't see how much they made in tips or if they got tipped unless you ask upper management. 

They had also proceed to hire more than enough people, cutting the rest of our hours unless you're a lead or manager, than you still regularly get the same amount of hours. Which is genuinely upsetting, especially if this was your only source of income. 

They also don't consider outside factors when scheduling, for example; if you need to take the bus home and you were scheduled for closing, they simply do not care and it's even worse if you happen to work at a theme park due to them not allowing pepper spray, tasers, etc. Oh and also, good luck on finding cover for any of your shifts here because half the time, no one responds.

And don't get me started on upper management, only one of them are helpful and even then, most of the time, the only management that has been helpful are typically the assistant supervisor which is weird considering it should be the other way around, right? Unfortunately not and I don't think that will be changing any time soon.

I have a lot to say. I started last year and loved my job. I was dedicated to the position and my goal was to move up in the company. I planned on staying for a while.  When management switched halfway through the year, I was nervous but excited because I was close with the people who were bumped up to management positions. Up until then, it had been a healthy work environment. But when management changed, over the next few months everything changed.
I began to feel like I was walking on eggshells. Suddenly all my hours were cut without notice. I knew it was a seasonal position and was informed hours would be reduced but I was completely removed from the schedule for months. I reached out and was made to regret that decision.
I was scheduled three months later to cover a shift. I was accidentally on break a little too long because I felt I was going to be sick in the bathroom. When I came back, I was pulled into the office and scolded for feeling sick often, told I complain too much, that everybody else feels sick but doesn’t say anything about it, and told I was being written up for low morale. My job was threatened and I was told that this was my final warning, despite having never received a warning at any point ever. Later in the day, I was told that I wasn’t being fired but that I was indeed being written up for low morale. I was told I would be put back on the schedule.
I was put on the schedule for two weeks later. One day before my shift, I was told at 9pm that I didn’t need to come in for the week and my weekend shift was “handled” (given to my manager) without speaking with me about it first.
After emailing my resignation letter, the response I got back was, “Got it, thanks!”
I spent a year with the company. I love the job, and I love working with the kids and their families. But the management is terrible and made me realize how worthless I was to the company.

If you are young, very few to no bills, and want to dip your toes into being artist and selling your work, this job is fine. I've met some of the most wonderful people and made great connections through this job. I've improved as an artist, and have been given tons of experience with customers. However, the older I've become, the less this job sustains me.

The company is struggling and and cutting from their artists hard. When it is discussed, they seem to blame us for not trying hard enough. If you are a current employee, please try to look at your commission in terms of % as opposed to flat rates. The concept of flat rates will only pull wool over your eyes for how much you're actually making. Most places do percentages, and right now percentages are extremely low since we are constantly on sale rates.

Only managers get any kind benefits. Regular employees cannot average 30+ hours for the year, and cannot ever hit over 40 because the company wouldn't dare give us overtime. Managers are often exhausted and have little work/life balance, and they also do not make overtime. 

The higher ups treat everyone like they are very expendable. They have no problem firing someone for disagreeing with them, even if they are an extremely talented artist and have been loyal to them for years. They have very high standards and expectations for what they offer.

This job isn't there to treat you like family. It isn't there to take care of you when you need it. It's just a job you'll make just at or slightly above minimum wage for. It's more fun than flipping burgers, but don't plan on it being a career. Most of the dedicated and valuable artists realize their worth after a while, and leave to make more money elsewhere.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I work along with very caring people who work together as a team to ensure guests have the best experience possible and create a positive memory while visiting Legoland!💖 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I didn't find any stressful areas about working at the company, except maybe needing more than one person at the stand when it gets really busy, and lines form at the stand, relying on only one person to take care of everyone waiting... Especially at Castle or Fun Town during busy times, when there is enough room for two face painters or tattoo artists to accommodate the guests, however only one person is handling both.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is very friendly and helpful, and tries to promote a positive experience for all of the guests, and the culture adapts to provide a great memorable experience for all guests.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I arrive at Fun Town home base, fill out my timecard, make sure I have everything needed for my post, including my keys for the area I am working at and my bag for receipts, pack up Henna in a cooler, report to my area and set up my paints, water cups and cleaning supplies, put up appropriate signs for the day, greet everyone who walks by with an offer of service or wish them a great day, do the best I can to put a smile on everyone's face and make their visit a happy, memorable experience!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Artist 5 salaries reported	$13.40 per hour
Insider 3 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Photographer 2 salaries reported	$12.38 per hour
Sales 2 salaries reported	$13.75 per hour
Tattoo artist 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour

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