5 Easy Face Painting designs

Hello again!

Face painting is a fun way to entertain the kids all year round. Whether its dress up day at school and you can't find a costume, or its summer holidays and they're complaining they're bored every 5 minutes (trust me, I know how it feels). It can be a saviour at Halloween and birthday parties, and you don't need to be an artist, you just need some imagination... and some face paints.

I wrote a blog post about starting out with face painting and all of the supplies you will need, but if you are just doing it to entertain the kids, you may just want to buy 3 - 5 colours depending on what designs you want to paint, I would definitely recommend black though, as black is used in almost every design out there to outline and add detail. 

If you want to read that post, the link is here:
http://libidascreations.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/thinking-of-face-painting.html

I have put together 5 easy designs for you to try out and give you some inspiration.

Clockwise from top left: Pirate, Elsa Crown, Spider web eye, Flowers and finally, a Tiger.

I know some of them look a bit complicated but they are all done using basic techniques. Here's how I did them...

Pirate: 

• Cover the whole forehead in with red, either with a sponge or a brush, doesn't really matter which. Add two little trail bits down one side to create the knot.
• Next draw an eye patch around one eye and fill in with black.
• Outline the bottom of the head scarf with black using a thin brush and draw a circle above your two trail pieces, this will create your knot and then outline the trails.
• Don't forget to add the strings from the eye patch leading up diagonally as if they are tucking under the head scarf.

Optional:

• Draw a thin red line on the cheek and draw little black lines over to look like stitches over a scar. 
• Then draw a mustache on the top lip.
• For extra effect, you can add black or white dots randomly to the head scarf to make it stand out a bit more.

Elsa Crown: (Frozen)

Try to keep this design as symmetrical as you can.

• First draw a blue diamond in the middle of the forehead.
• Using a yellow or a gold, paint a line curving down each side making sure to meet at top and bottom.
• Then from the bottom point, draw an arch over each eyebrow. 
• Add a curved point shape to each side of the center bit and triangles on both sides.

Optional:

• Using white paint, add some flicks with your brush, down from the center of the crown and from each eye.
• You could also try adding dots of different sizes randomly to the design to create some interest and make it look more detailed.

Spider Web Eye:

• Sponge on whatever background colour you would like, covering one eye completely. Extend the colour out towards the hairline, going up diagonally and out along the cheek.
• Let the base colour dry. Then add black lines down the outer edge of the face, all aiming towards the nose. Make sure to bring the top line down onto the top of the nose and the bottom line almost meeting the nose, and both ending in a thin point.
• Now just add curved lines between these to make it look like a spiderweb.

Optional:

• You could add a little spider to your design by doing two dots and flick 8 little legs out from them.

I know my spider in the picture looks rubbish, but my cat rubbed against my arm as I was doing it and I couldn't be bothered wiping it off and starting it again.

Flowers:

• First you need to paint the flowers. You do this by loading up your brush with whatever colour you want and placing the point on the skin. Now keeping the point of the brush in the center, push down outwards 5 times going round in a circle to create the petals. Should look like this...

• Don't forget about the dot in the middle to finish off each flower. You can do as many flowers as you like in as many different colours.
• Next, load your brush with green and add lines between the flowers to look like they are on a vine. try to make it curve a little to look more natural.
• Then with the green still, add some leaves onto the vine just like you did the flower petals but instead of doing 5 just do 1 for each leave.

Optional:

• You can add some dots in any colour randomly around flowers to create a bit more interest or try adding a bit of glitter for some sparkle.

Tiger:

• Sponge white onto both eyes, making sure to take the colour up above the eyebrow at an angle and end in points at either side of the forehead.
• Now sponge Orange between the white on the forehead, taking it down the nose and across under each eye going about half way down the cheek.
• Outline the white areas with thin black lines.
• Add a heart shape to the end of the nose in black.
• Then just add some lines from the outer edges aiming into the middle of the design to create the tiger stripes.

Optional:

• Add three little dots at each side of the top lip and three lines to represent the tigers whiskers.

So, I hope you have fun trying out these designs and feel free to experiment and change them to suit your style. 

Stay Inspired

Amy

xxx

Face Painting - Practicing

Hello again!


I wanted to talk to you more about face painting. The other day I posted about starting off face painting and what essentials you needed to buy to get you started. Here is a link to that post:

http://libidascreations.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/thinking-of-face-painting.html

And I hope that post got you thinking about starting face painting because it is a really fun hobby and you have the potential to earn a little extra money from it if you decide to. But, before you get to that stage, you need to practice!

So whether you practice on yourself or some victim out there who doesn't know it yet, you need to get some designs done and it helps to practice. I know it comes without saying that the more you practice, the better you will get, but there are other benefits to come from it too. Such as, say if you have a design, the first couple of times you paint this design you will probably need a picture or drawing for reference, but, if you practice it, you will find that after a few times you won't need a reference anymore because you've practiced it and you know how to paint it without the reference. 

When I first started, I used Google images a lot by just searching 'face painting designs' and trying to copy from the images that came up. Now though, when I'm doing new designs, I also use Pinterest and YouTube for ideas and references. Usually I will start by copying the image or video once to see if I can do the design (trust me, for some of them it seems like you need to go through art college first), but also to see roughly how much paint is used as this all plays a part when it comes to pricing. 

Once I have copied the design once, I will take a photo and I draw out onto a template my own version of it. Like this... 

As you can see with this design I haven't changed too much as it is a simple design anyway. I just took some of the dots away and I've added some glitter, I have also replaced the snowflake in the center with just some simple flicks as I was trying to keep it simple. I have done this because I do charge for my face painting and I was trying to keep this one within a price range, which is with some of my cheaper designs. 

So, once I have drawn out my version of the design, I then paint out my design. While I am doing this, I make sure to time how long it takes as this adds to the pricing too (obviously designs that take longer will cost more).

This is my design painted out...

There is glitter on the dots under the eyes and on the blue diamond but you can't really see it in this photo. 

This is how I came up with a lot of my designs when I first started and I still use this method now for some of them. But the more designs you do, and the more you face paint, you will come up with your own style and methods that suit you. Sometimes I just sit down with a face template and draw whatever comes into mind. 

So, I hope this will help you come up with some designs of your own and remember... you have to practice!


Stay Inspired
Amy
xxx