Face painting is one of the most creative and fun hobbies that anyone who has an fantasy artistic side to them could take up. Sadly, many feel that, if they can’t draw perfect pictures, then they wouldn’t be any good at face painting so tend to dismiss it. This is a great shame because there are ways around painting designs such as using stencils which many employ until they’re confident with painting freehand.
As Christmas is approaching faster than Santa can harness the reindeer to his sledge, many of you will be already creating and practising your very own fabulous designs. There will be those among you that would love to follow suit, but have yet to apply their first brushstroke. With just a few weeks left to the festive season, now is a perfect time to take the plunge. It really isn’t as difficult as you may think. You’ll be christmas face painting your family and friends in no time at all.
FIRST STEPS: Take things easy at first with simple to do designs. Cheek fantasy art is a perfect stfantasy arting point with basic little patterns featuring flowers, leaves, holly and berries. Remember that the theme is Christmas so red, white, green, silver and gold are essential colours.
COLOURS: Don’t make the mistake that many learners make and rush out to buy every colour under the rainbow. All you need are your primary colours which are blue, yellow, red and black and white. From these you can mix any colour and shade you want, and it will keep costs down.
PAINTING WHISKERS: Try using a small fine pointed brush, working outwards across the cheeks. For any fine lines you may be painting, you will find that liquid paints are the best.
FUR EFFECT: When trying to create a fur effect, use a medium-sized brush, working from the centre outwards. That way the edges taper off. Have a go on paper or a face painting practice pad first until you get to grips with the motion needed for your required effect.
ADVANTAGE OF SPONGES: These will play an important pfantasy art in your face painting kit, being perfect for applying base coats, large areas of paint on the face and body, and great for blending colours. TIP make them go further by cutting them in half
GLITTER AND STICK-ON JEWELS: Depending what design you are doing, stick-on jewels, diamante and glitter can be used to stunning effect. However, as with face paint, you need to remember to use only glitter and stick-on jewels that are safe to put on a person’s skin (eg body glitter). NEVER use aluminum glitter – polyester only. Aluminum glitter can really hurt the eyes and skin.
FAMILY AFFAIR: Use your family and friends to practice on, trying out different ideas. If you begin practising now, you’ll be confident enough by Christmas to paint a whole face and there are some quite spectacular and highly popular choices to have a go at. The Ice Queen and animals will always be favourites along with the traditional Santa and Rudolph.