One of my favorite things to do is to combine themes which otherwise seem unrelated, like dinosaurs and pop art. The bright pop art colors and graffiti stencils add extra energy to this dinosaur design, making it a vibrant variation for the reptile fans who climb in your chair.

Materials

• Kryvaline light blue face paint
• Kryvaline dark blue face paint
• Kryvaline yellow face paint
• Kryvaline red face paint
• Kryvaline purple face paint
• Paradise orange face paint
• Paradise black face paint
• Diamond FX or Wolfe white face paint
• Diamond FX or Wolfe black face paint
• Small filbert brush
• 1/4-inch flat brush (for letters)
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #1 Round Brush
• Sponge
• BAM Mini Dots stencil – BAM2035

Tutorial

Begin by outlining the design on the face with white and a #2 round brush. If you’ve created so many dinosaurs that you’re comfortable starting directly with colors, you can do that, but if you’re unsure of where you’d like to place your dinosaur on the face, use white first to outline, because it’s easier to make changes and corrections.

Fill in the areas of solid colors with the small filbert brush and the #5 round brush. If you’re using yellow for the large starburst on the forehead, you can color it in completely and place the red letters on it later. (This is much faster and easier than trying to add the color around the letters, so keep it in mind while you’re making your color choices.)

Use a sponge and stencil to place orange dots on the yellow and purple dots on the blue body of the dinosaur. Place a small yellow eye on the dinosaur’s head, and use your #2 or #1 round brush to add teeth and claws.

The easiest way to make crisp letters for this design is to use a 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch flat brush, because it will give you nice, straight edges and corners. You could do it with a round brush, but it would take longer.

Use your #2 or #1 round brush to add a black outline to the design. Also use one of your smaller round brushes to add the white highlights to the lettering and the dinosaur.

Finally, sponge black over your mini dots stencil around the design. I use my Paradise black for this, because it’s a softer black, and I like the way it looked on the design, but any black will work.

Enjoy your pop art dinosaur!

Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. Stop by Clownantics.com for more of her face painting tutorials. Beth also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.