This happy basketball is just about to go through the hoop for two points, and I hope he’ll score big with the sports fans at your events as a funny cartoon kids can wear.
Materials
• Diamond FX or Wolfe white
• Diamond FX, Wolfe black, or Global strong black
• TAG orange
• TAG royal blue
• Paradise dark brown
• Paradise red
• #4 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #1 round brush
• Small filbert brush
Tutorial
Use your #4 round brush and the small filbert to create eyes and the backboard (respectively) on the face. The eyes will be halfway up the forehead. Also create a small row of teeth for a smile below them.
Next load your small filbert from the TAG orange and add a circle around the facial features of your basketball.
With #1 round brush, add the brown lines on the basketball and the red tongue below the teeth.
Outline the face and add features, such as the eyes, eyebrows, and outline of the mouth with the #1 round brush and a good lining black. Use the #2 round brush and TAG royal blue to outline the basketball back board and add a small rectangle on the bottom.
The basketball hoop is a flattened circle (oval), and the easiest way to make it is to make a curve on the top and a mirror image curve on the bottom with your #2 round brush and Paradise red.
Create the net by curving two white lines down from the sides similar to an inverted trapezoid which is open on the bottom. Crisscross lines between the white curved lines to complete your net. (Make sure to put a few crisscross lines inside the hoop as well.)
Darken the lower edge of the rim to give it a shadow, and add a white highlight along the top.
Add a few highlights to the basketball as well as movement lines around it so it looks like it’s flying across the forehead.
I hope you have a great time trying out this design, and don’t forget to share your basketball or other sports versions in the comments below.
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. Stop by Facepaint.com to check out her other face painting blog posts and tutorials. If you’re on Facebook, join the Facepaint.com Challenge Group to showcase your artwork and have a chance to win a store credit for each week’s challenge.