Part of the fun of face painting is learning from other face painters and experimenting with other techniques and styles. In the fall I enjoyed a class by Margi Kanter, so I thought I’d try a Sneakadoodle butterfly design which is reminiscent of her bold cartoon style.

Tools

• Global yellow
• Global orange
• Global magenta
• TAG light green
• TAG medium green
• Diamond FX white
• Diamond FX black
• #1 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #5 round brush

Instructions

Begin by making two eye shapes using your Diamond FX white and a #5 round brush. Put one set on the cheek bone and one set on the opposite side of the face on the forehead.

Next, work up a good consistency with your Global yellow and make the shape of the butterfly’s head and body and the center of the flower with your #5 round brush. I chose Global for several parts of this design because of the vibrancy of their colors.

Add wings and petals in orange with Global magenta for outlines. If you feel the #5 brush is too large for this, switch to a #2 round. Use your TAG light and medium green to create a leaf coming up from the flower and also going along the jawline of the model. (I used the darker of the two greens to make the back portion of the leaf darker.)

Now your butterfly and flower are taking shape, so we’ll use our #1 round brush to add the outlines in black.

They design is beautiful just as it is, but to give it a finished look, add highlights so the butterfly and flower. The addition of dots and starbursts will give the design even more life and visual impact.

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.