Growing up in rural Wisconsin, fall always meant raking leaves, drinking apple cider, burning bonfires of brush, and roasting marshmallows. I still love fall, because you can’t beat the colors in the trees, and the air is crisp and cool after a sweltering summer.

But as an adult face painter, it now means one of the busiest seasons of the year. As face painters, we’re always looking for new designs our clients will love that will highlight this brief season. With that in mind, here’s a special fall design for you. Since I particularly like fall designs which make use of a little UV face paint to give them unexpected glowing features in the right lighting conditions, I incorporated that into this design.

Materials

• Paradise light blue
• Paradise dark blue
• Diamond FX UV white
• Diamond FX white
• Diamond FX black
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• Sponge

Tutorial

1. Load your sponge with Paradise light blue and sponge it around the eye area, going over the eyebrow a bit. Reload with Paradise dark blue and sponge this over the top of the design, blending into the light blue so that there is a smooth transition. (You could also create this design with royal blue and purple, or oranges and reds, if you prefer. Just keep the darker color on the top portion of the design.

2. Using a wet round brush, clean off a circle which will be where you place the moon. Since your tree will be on the side, put the moon closer to the inner part of the forehead. Mix some Diamond FX UV white with Diamond FX regular white to fill in the moon shape.

3. Load your #5 round brush with Diamond FX black (or Wolfe or Global strong black). Begin by creating the tree trunk and bring one branch up and out over the forehead from it. You want to do this thoughtfully. You’re going to need room to place the owl on this lower branch. After your owl is in place, you can add the other branches around it.

4. With a mixed version of the Diamond FX UV white and the regular Diamond FX white, use your #2 brush to add white eyes to the owl and stars and starbursts in the sky. Also consider the position of the moon compared to the owl, the branches, and the tree trunk and run a small line of this combination of whites along the edges which are closest to the moon, so when the design is under a blacklight, it will look as though those portions are reflecting moonlight. (This would also make a great arm design, so don’t limit yourself to just faces with this one.) Enjoy!

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