I really love humor in face painting. I read a cartooning book years ago, and the best piece of advice I took away from it was to think funny. Your art skills will improve if you work on them, and so will your ability to think funny if you practice looking at the funny side of everything around you. Your challenge this week is to think funny and share it in the comments below. In the meantime, have fun with this humorous face painting tutorial.
Materials
• TAG yellow
• TAG light green
• TAG green
• Diamond FX or Wolfe black
• Diamond FX or Wolfe white
• Paradise red
• Cosmetic glitter
• #5 round brush
• Small filbert
• 3/4-inch flat brush
• #1 or #2 round brush
Tutorial
Begin by loading your 3/4-inch flat brush. Paint the base of the Christmas tree with scallops, and form the rest the same way, arching over the eye and progressively getting smaller until it ends in a point.
With your small filbert, make a yellow circle over the top of the bending tree about 1 1/2 inch from the end. If you have a round sponge, you can use that to create the circle, too. Use a wet brush to remove paint from the spots where you’ll put the white eyes.
Add a yellow star with your #5 round brush near the top of the tree. Add some glitter to the star.
Place white eyes and a Christmas hat on your little guy.
Using your small round brush and black, add outlines and details such as the arms, legs, and eyes. I chose not to outline the character and star in black, because I wanted them to appear brighter.
Add white highlights, dots, and starbursts with white and one of your small brushes.
Funny possibilities are all around you. This design came from me trying to hang a star on our tree this year. I balanced precariously on a chair, and I felt I was going to tip forward and knock the whole thing down at any moment. So happy painting, and don’t forget to think funny!
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.