Whether you’re doing this for fun or profit, I’ve got some short and simple videos and tips here to get you face painting in about ten minutes or so, this isn’t difficult.

If you’re looking to go into this for money, you’ve made a good choice as, once you get good, you can actually make upwards of $50 an hour, especially if you’ve got corporate clients.

Just be patient and keep at it, you don’t necessarily need any artistic talent (though experience with a paint brush probably helps) to do this. Also, it’s actually much more difficult to screw up a full face design than it is a cheek design, so you’re better off starting off with full face designs like lions, tigers, and clowns.

Ok, let’s get this started, I’ve got a full-time professional face painter here and she’s going to specifically show you how to do a butterfly in the first video and a tiger in the second but everything she tells you can be applied to any other designs:



How to do a tiger design:



A Few Face Painting Tips

If you need to cover a large area, like if you’re applying a base color, then just use a sponge, it’ll be much faster than a brush, and make sure you use a different sponge for each color so you don’t have to wash them out each time you want to use a different color (same for brushes). Allow one color to dry before applying a second–you’re much better off applying one thin layer, letting it dry, and then applying another thin layer than just shellacking one thick layer on all at once. Kids aren’t exactly known for their patience, so at the very least have a basic idea for the design that you want to do before you start. The paint itself will actually function as a glue, so to make bumpy noses or big eyebrows, just dab a cotton ball in the paint, put it on the face, put a piece of tissue on it, and paint the tissue paper. You can use puffed rice or wheat for warts, and to get a ghostly effect, just apply a light dusting of flour once you’ve finished painting. If you’re just starting out and not ready for free-hand, or you just don’t have a lot of time, then just use a stencil. Obvious choices are things like hearts, stars, and flowers which can easily and quickly be stenciled onto a cheek.

Additional Resources and Further Reading

This is the best overall tutorial I’ve come across, I actually know the person who wrote this and they’ve been face painting professionally for years, plus they’ve been teaching others how to do it for fun and business for almost as long, I highly recommend it.

Here’s a great article called ‘Face Painting Fun’ that first and foremost covers what paints and supplies to buy, which I wasn’t able to go into here, this should probably be your next stop.

Here’s an excellent site that has all manner of face painting designs and how to paint them.