You’ve gotten your first booking for a blacklight party, and you’re excited because you’ve seen photos from other face painters and can’t wait to try out your UV/neon face paints. You wonder what the process is for converting your regular designs for a blacklight event or if you’ll need new designs.

Fortunately, most of your designs will convert easily for blacklight events if you just keep in mind a few things. As an example of how to convert a design, I used this standard ninja mask design, which is popular with the children I have face painted.

Tools

• 1/2 inch flat brush or filbert
• #2 round brush or lining brush
• #5 round brush
• UV/neon face paint in desired color
• UV/neon white face paint
• Diamond FX or Wolfe black

Process

1. Begin by using your 1/2 inch flat or filbert brush to paint the background of your ninja mask with the UV/neon color of choice. UV/neons tend to be a little more sheer than standard colors, so you may have to apply a second coat to get the desired coverage so it will look good in regular lighting, but some of this depends on the brand and color of UV/neon you choose.

2. Using your Diamond FX or Wolfe black, create outlines for your mask. I began with the knot on the right and worked my way across the face. I normally use a liner for this, since it holds lots of paint and allows me to work without reloading as often. I also added a few lines at the corners of the eyes at this stage and finished up by making eyebrows using my #5 round brush. Under blacklight, the lines on the edges of your design won’t show up as much as they will in regular light. The black lines within the design, however, will look good under either light.

3. The final step is to add some highlights. These are going to look different under a blacklight, because UV white under blacklight glows blue, but here’s the finished design under regular light.

And here is the finished design under blacklight. (My camera doesn’t operate as well under low lighting conditions, but you get the idea.)

Offering UV/neons will add a new facet to your business, making it more marketable, especially with local skating rinks and bowling alleys, which often have blacklight events for kids. Create a portfolio or menu of your designs with UV/neon options to show potential clients what they can look forward to if they hire you for their blacklight events.