While I like cats, I don’t normally draw cartoon cats, and this design was the suggestion of one of my models. I’m really more of a cartoon dog person. But because my model knew exactly what she wanted, I decided to try it out, just for her. I hope also you enjoy making your own cartoon dog and cat chase as you use this tutorial.

Materials

• Paradise light blue face paint
• Paradise lime green face paint
• Paradise yellow face paint
• Paradise orange face paint
• Diamond FX black face paint
• Diamond FX white face paint
• Sponge
• #1 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #5 round brush

Tutorial

1. First, use your #1 or #2 round brush and some white to outline your design. White is a lot easier to remove if you make a mistake, so it’s the best choice for “sketching” the design before you begin.

The dog will be running over the forehead. The cat will be coming the opposite direction, running toward the nose.

2. Next, sponge in the light blue background and the green grass. Make sure you place your cartoon characters above the grass, so they aren’t touching it. Running cartoons don’t touch the ground.

3. The next step is to block in your solid areas of color with your #5 round brush. For the cat and dog, you can choose whatever colors you prefer. In this case, the model chose grey for the dog and yellow/orange for the cat.

4. Next use your #1 round or your #2 round to do the line work for your dog, cat, and the grass. This is one of my favorite parts of the design, because now it actually looks like a real cartoon.

5. As a final step, load your #1 or #2 round brush with white and do some delicate highlights, remembering that your light should be coming from the top to either the left or the right.

While this isn’t a design you could do on an antsy younger child, there are plenty of older kids who could sit still well enough for you to do it, and as you practice, it will become easier to do it quickly. As always, practice is the key!

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.