Down in the deep is a friendly octopus taking a look at a sunken wreck. Use this octopus face paint tutorial to make him come alive for your underwater enthusiasts.

Octopus Face Paint Tutorial

1. Use the 1/2 inch flat brush to create the shape of the octopus’s head using some Paradise light blue. Then load your flat brush with the light and medium blue from the Captain Obvious one-stroke cake. Sweep the flat brush around the head of the octopus to create depth and dimension. Reload the flat brush and using a twisting motion, start at the hairline and pull down to create several octopus tentacles.

2. On the opposite side of the face, create a boat with a broken mast sticking up out of the sand with your #5 round brush and some brown and yellow face paint. Sponge a little Paradise light blue around it for an underwater effect. In the center of the hole in the boat’s hull, put two white dots for eyes.

3. While your #5 round is still loaded with white, create the eyes and suctions cups for the octopus.

4. Use your #1 round brush loaded with Diamond FX black to add details to the sunken boat. You can use other blacks for this, but wax-based face paints such as Diamond FX or Wolfe will help you create cleaner lines for detail work.

5. Finish up by doing your line work on your octopus.

Adding a few fish and underwater critters will help your boat look as though it’s sunken in the water rather than sitting up on the beach.

Materials

• Diamond FX Captain Obvious one-stroke split cake
• Diamond FX black face paint
• Diamond FX white face paint
• Paradise light brown face paint
• Paradise light blue face paint
• Paradise red face paint
• Paradise orange face paint
• 1/2 inch flat brush
• #1 round brush
• #5 round brush
• Sponge

 ______

Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary artist for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.