How to Paint Your Face Like a Pro

Even a beginner can face paint like a pro when it's taken step by step.

Face-painting is a fun activity for parties, school fairs or to make an ordinary afternoon more special. Even if you aren't blessed with artistic ability, you can achieve professional looking results with inexpensive materials and a little practice. Gather pictures of designs you'd like to try, or purchase a kit that has pictures and basic supplies. Practice on paper first, then recruit eager models and try different techniques. The paint is water-based, so just wipe it off and try again.

Things You'll Need

• Face painting kit or 6 individual face paint colors
• 3 face painting sponges
• Face paint brushes, thin and medium sized
• Scissors
• Paper cups
• Water
• Paper for practice
• Paper towels
• Facial tissues
• Baby wipes - hypoallergenic or for sensitive skin
• Pictures of face painting designs

Instructions

Getting Started

1. Cut your sponges in half. This gives you twice the number of sponges for your money, one for each of your six colors. Fill six paper cups with water.

2. Practice painting a thin line with a thin brush. Curve and swirl it as you would on a face.

3. 

   Experiment with different levels of pressure on the brush for variety.

   Vary the width of the line by flattening the brush out slightly in places without lifting the brush from the paper.

4. Load a medium-sized brush with paint by pushing down slightly on the brush and "painting" back and forth within the paint pot, so paint is pushed up into the brush, or "loaded."

5. Practice painting with the medium brush using just the tip, angling it to use just the edge of the brush, and paint back and forth using the full brush.

6. Practice using the edge of the sponge to outline. Use short strokes to fill in the area.

7. Prop up your paper and practice painting at this angle. Now you're ready to paint on a real face.

Painting a Small Design

1. Choose six to ten simple designs to practice and learn. The most popular designs requested by children are hearts, flowers, stars, rainbows, balloons, and holiday designs, especially for Halloween.

2. Outline major areas of the design. Use short, even strokes, rather than one large stroke. If you are putting a black outline around a color, add the outline last.

3. 

   Let your creativity flow! Face paint designs needn't mimic nature exactly.

   Fill in the outline using the small or medium brush. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. Even the symmetrical butterfly looks asymmetrical when flying.

4. Add the finishing touches: a green stem for the pumpkin, black antennae and colorful dots for the butterfly. Let each color dry before adding another color on top or near it. Wash the brush between colors or use different brushes.

Painting the Whole Face

1. Outline the large area to be painted, using a brush or sponge. Fill in the base color with short strokes of the sponge. Let the base dry.

2. 

   Face-painting techniques can be used on other parts of the body.

   Add accent colors to make the design more realistic. Let these dry.

3. Add a swirl or curlicue outside the design for a finished look. Embellish with a few dots, hearts or stars. Clean up stray paint with baby wipes or tissues. Voila! Show the model her new look in a hand mirror.

References

• Face Painting Designs: Welcome to Face Painting Designs
• The Face Painter: 18 Tips for Beginner and Semi-Professional Face Painters
• Face Painting Fun: Easy Ideas for Face Painting Fun