Face
painting
Everyone loves face painting! If
you have kids, you will absolutely know how much kids
love to have their face painted, to look like their
favorite superhero or animal. Face painting can be a
special treat for kids at any time, but is especially
great at special events, such as church picnics and
birthday parties. Of course, getting someone in to paint
the children’s faces can be expensive. Fortunately,
learning to paint people’s faces is not actually that
hard and can be accomplished by anyone with a bit of
practice and perseverance. The key is to find out what
to do now, before being confronted by a line of hectic
children waiting for their turn to be turned into a cat
or princess.
What
are popular designs?
Before setting up your table and
calling the kids over, it would be a good idea to get a
few basic designs down. Fortunately, there are many
basic face painting designs available on the Internet.
Clowns, butterflies, cats, and dogs are all perennial
favorites. If you are feeling creative, throw a few
current movie or television characters into the mix. Of
course, if you are starting out, it is probably a good
idea to limit the number of design you do to ones that
you know you can accomplish. If that is the case, be
sure to put graphics of your designs down on a piece of
paper for the kids to look at when asked to pick their
favorite design. When you can present the kids with a
tangible graphic list, they will be less likely to be
upset that you cannot paint whatever abstract character
or object they have asked to be.
How
do you paint a face?
Once again, if you are relatively
new to face painting, it is a good idea to know exactly
what you want to accomplish before jumping in and
spreading the paints over the kid’s face. Visualize
what the final face will look like, and stick to your
plan. Apply the paint in thin layers to avoid it
cracking, and give it time to dry before applying new
layers so the colors do not run into each other.
For lines or other detail work, you
can apply the paint with normal paintbrushes. In order
to cover larger areas, however, it is a good idea to use
sponges instead of paintbrushes. For a start, it will be
faster to use a sponge because you can cover a larger
area at once and you won’t have to worry about washing
the paint out (since you will probably be using a few of
the same colors for the base on whichever design you are
using). Using a sponge will also let you apply broad
strokes more evenly while will produce a better overall
effect.
Taking
face painting to the next level -
Once you have gotten better at the
basics, it is time to take your face painting skills to
the next level. Instead of just going with a few basic
designs, let the kids pick their own designs. You will
be amazed at the array of ideas that will come from the
children!
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