How to Face Paint

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Thanks for all your comments and challenges set for me.

This post is in reference to Marie’s challenge (via e-mail): to create face painting designs to match dresses, for a little girl. What a great idea! Why not create a beautiful design for your little girl for a party or when she’s wearing her favourite dress at home. So firstly, choose a dress that has some kind of design on it, luckily I have plenty of dresses to choose from.

Depending on how much time you have and how patient your child is, choose a dress with a simple design or difficult. This time I’ve chosen a dress that has large flowers and few colours.  As you can see I’ve just copied the flowers and made a simple line of them across the forehead. Then using the same colours I painted the eyelids in the sequence of colours I used.

I was surprised how much she loved having a princess like design on her that matched her dress. Something that is unique to her, of course sometimes the problem with face painting is not getting it on but trying to wash it off that night.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my post. Something to think about: that sometimes even the simplest designs can bring as much joy to a child than the complicated designs do for us adults.

Feel free to leave a comment for me, especially if you’d like to see anything in particular. There will be a new addition to our Face Painting Tips Site in the near future,  Halloween Designs. So be on the look out for that, some great original full face and cheek designs. 

Have you got a question, or face painting designs request/challenge for Pauline?

If so, leave your question or request by clicking here.

Pauline Keogh Tivoli
Get more face painting designs here.

 Hi everyone, here’s my next post. Thanks to all the comments. It’s always nice to hear your thoughts. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see turned into a design, please leave a comment…I’m up for any challenge.

Looking around my house, I came across an old apron that was probably my mothers. It had a flower pattern that contained two different flower designs.

 You could choose just one of the flower designs as a motif, making your own pattern to create a face painting design. I have chosen to use both flower designs, and created a face painting design for the side of the face.

Changing the colors slightly and the angles, the design wrapped nicely around the cheek bone and up around the forehead. I  have chosen not to have a background color, however it would be easy enough to sponge the red on first, let it dry and then paint the design on.

Here is the final result. It’s a very simple design, starting with the white, then yellow, red and finally the black. I used a thin pointed brush, don’t worry about being precise, just be confident with the strokes and make sure you have your brush loaded with paint. The most problem people have in creating clean lines is not enough paint, having to go over a line or restart a line, so make sure you have enough paint to paint a line in one go.

Thanks for your company….remember to be inspired and create. Your next inspiration could be looking you in the face.

Pauline Keogh Tivoli
Learn how to face paint with our face painting designs!

Hi guys, my name is Pauline - Philadelphia’s sister in law and co author of the Comprehensive Guide to Face Painting and I’ll be making guest posts on the blog every now and then….depending on whether or not you like my posts ofcourse hehe…so leave a comment to show Philadelphia that you like me too! I hope you enjoy my first post

Coming up with original designs can be tricky, but coming up with face painting designs on the spot is even trickier.

It’s good to train yourself to look outside the box, to look at things in your current enviroment.

So here’s some food for thought. I’ll show you my thought process and process in coming up with an original design.

STEP 1: I had an old screen print hanging on the wall. In the corner was a very complicated,and intricate design. From this I could make a simpler design. (see picture one)

STEP 2: Looking at part of the print and looking at it sideways, I could see a part that would fit perfectly under the eye, with the similar curvature. Normally I would just sketch in my face painting scrap book. But here is a computerized version of what I’d do. (see picture 2)

STEP 3: It’s as simple as that… simplify and add your own elements to it. Your painting is always going to be different, from what you have designed on paper to what ends up on the face. This is not a bad thing. It just means that every time you paint this design, it will be unique and different on every face. (see picture 3)

Now this particular design probably wouldn’t be suitable for little kids, but its great for teenagers and adults who want and can appreciate something with a little more detail. 

It’s always rewarding when you can sit back and look at the wonderful creation you have made…

Something you have created with love and care.
So share the love and go paint

Pauline Keogh-Tivoli
We can teach you how to face paint!