If you grew up in farm country, you know that raccoons can’t resist sweet corn, and the Sneakadoodle Raccoon is no exception. He wants that tasty sweet corn, but without your help, he’ll never find his favorite treat. Check out this raccoon face paint design!

Tools

• Paradise grey face paint
• Paradise light green face paint
• Paradise dark green face paint
• Diamond FX white face paint
• Diamond FX black face paint
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #1 round brush

Tutorial

1. Using your Diamond FX white and either the #1 or the #2 brush, make your raccoon outline on the forehead right below the hair line to one side of the center of the face. The raccoon’s tail will be hanging down over the temple. (The idea you’re aiming for is that the raccoon is just peaking out, looking for corn.)

2. On the opposite side of the face, draw several vertical lines using the #5 round brush and the light green. These are your corn stalks. Add two elongated ear shapes to each stalk, and follow this up with a few leaves which have an upside down u shape coming off the stalk.

3. With your Paradise grey and a #5 brush, fill in the shape of the raccoon’s head and his long, bushy tail.

On the opposite side, use the dark green face paint and your #2 brush to add shadows to one side of each stalk and the under parts of the corn ears and leaves, always keeping in mind that your light source will be coming from the direction of your model’s face.

4. Now that you’ve created your basic color shapes, you can add the larger black areas and outlines with the Diamond FX black. For the raccoon’s mask and rings on the tail, use the #2 round. You don’t really need to go as small as the #1 round brush for this, but it’s nice to use a brush which gives you a little more control and detail than you might have with the #5.

For the fine outlines, switch to the #1 brush. Use this for the outlines on the corn as well. I think this is my favorite part, because the black outlines cause the design to take sudden shape. (On the earns of corn, don’t forget to add a few wispy lines for the corn silk.)

5. As always, our last step is to add a few white highlights to both parts of your design. These will create a finished feeling for your design.

Variation: If you want to make your design particularly realistic (since raccoons are nocturnal), on the cheek where you plan to put your sweet corn, sponge in a background of light blue on the bottom, royal blue in the middle, and navy blue on the top, blending the colors together as you go, or using a split cake. Add a moon and a few stars near the top of this and paint your stand of corn over the background color as a black silhouette.

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