Face painting is a great addition to any holiday, allowing children to transform into their favorite characters. This is a good solution for a masquerade or just entertainment for a fun group of guys. We wrote in more detail about face painting at the children’s party here.
What you need to do face painting with your own hands
To create beautiful drawings, you need three components: paints, brushes, imagination. And a little patience.
For face painting, special paints are used that are easy to apply, just wash off and completely safe. They can be dry (pressed like watercolor, diluted with water) and liquid. Paints are sold in craft and party stores. You can buy face painting on the Internet at sites dedicated to face and body art.
Glitters are used in addition to paints. It is they who add spectacularity to the images of princesses, butterflies and fairytale fairies.
So, for the preparation of face painting you will need:
- starch – 3 tablespoons;
- warm water – 1.5 tablespoons;
- baby cream – 10-15 grams;
- food colorings.
Mix all ingredients until smooth. Then add a drop of dye and stir. If you need a brighter color, add more paint. When you get the desired color, you can start drawing.
To make face painting on your face with your own hands, you need to prepare not only paints, but also tools. The final result largely depends on them. To make your drawings beautiful, prepare:
- sponges of different sizes for applying tone;
- brushes of different sizes for painting. It is better if they are made from natural materials;
- a thin, pointed brush for contours and fine details;
- thick flat brushes.
In addition, to gently apply face painting at home, prepare a sheet or large tissue to cover your child’s clothes. You will also need a hoop to remove hair from your face while drawing. You cannot do without napkins (both dry and wet).
How to properly make face painting on your face with your own hands
The application of face painting has its own rules, and if these are drawings on the face of children, additional recommendations should be followed. We’ve collected the most important tips for kids’ face art.
You can not do face painting for children under 3 years old. Their skin is still too delicate for even the safest colors.
Test for allergies on a small area of skin before applying the pattern. If after a few minutes there is no reaction, you can continue to do makeup. But if the skin turns red, rinse the paint thoroughly with water and do not apply makeup.
You can not do face painting if there are scratches, wounds or pimples on the face, manifestations of a skin disease.
Before starting drawing, move the kids over the face with a dry brush – let them get used to the sensations. If the child is afraid of tickling, limit yourself to small patterns that are quickly performed (stars, flowers).
When preparing to do face painting at home, select and print several drawings so that children have plenty to choose from. When you put on makeup, be sure to talk to your child about the character he is transforming into. We suggest watching video tutorials on creating simple but effective drawings here.
After all the preparations, it’s time to learn how to draw face painting. This is done in several stages:
Applying tone. The basis of the drawing should be flat and smooth, so it is convenient to use a sponge. Soak it in water, squeeze it well and rub it against the paint. It is better to apply the tone of the picture in a circular motion – straight strokes will be noticeable after drying. You need to tint the entire face up to the hairline: lower and upper eyelids, corners of the eyes.
If the drawing is simple (butterfly, superhero mask), then you can do without full tone. You only need to tint the part of the face on which you will be working.
Drawing elements of face painting. To clearly and neatly draw lines and contours, hold the brush like a pencil. Dampen the brush and dip in the paint in a circular motion. When drawing face painting with your own hands, hold the brush at right angles to the child’s face.
If you need to apply one coat of paint on top of another, wait until the previous one is completely dry.

DIY face painting for children: ideas of drawings on the face
For inspiration and consolidation of the information obtained in the previous paragraphs of the article, we propose to analyze an example of a simple face painting at home. This drawing “Butterfly” is an ideal option for decorating a girl’s face for a beginner face art master.
To make such face painting at home, you will need:
- Paints (red, yellow, green and blue);
- Black outline;
- Two tassels;
- Sequins;
How to make Butterfly face painting? First, we make the upper wing: we dip a wide brush in yellow paint and draw a semicircle above the left eye (along the line of the eyebrows). Draw a red line above it. To soften the edges, you can blend them with a damp, wide brush.
We continue to apply face painting. How to draw the lower wing? Draw two wide lines under the eye – green and blue. This is the basis of the drawing. We make wavy contours with a thin brush dipped in black paint.
On the other side of the face, we repeat all the stages of drawing. It remains to add a butterfly body and complete the look with glitter!