Summer is just around the corner, so it’s good to be prepared with some designs which celebrate the season. Nothing says summer like kids scaling trees.

Tools

• Diamond FX white face paint
• Diamond FX black face paint
• Paradise light green face paint
• Paradise dark green face paint
• Paradise light brown face paint
• Paradise dark brown face paint
• TAG skin tones palette
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #1 round brush

Tutorial

1. Begin by creating your basic upside down kid shape coming down out of the hair line using your #5 round brush and whatever color you prefer from your TAG skin tones palette. This palette is exceptionally useful, since it makes any kind of design with a character in it much faster to do, and there are a nice range of colors in it.

On the opposite side of the face, create a tree shape using light and dark brown, and add some light green leaves on the top and grass around the bottom.

Follow this with some dark green leaves and grass for contrast, and add a tire swing for your child to play on.

2. Now that your main color shapes have been established, you can add some details with your #1 or #2 round brushes. On our acrobatic kid, we’re going to add some hair hanging straight down with whatever color you prefer, two colored dots for the irises of his eyes, and black detailing using Diamond FX black. (For a girl, you can change the hair style however you’d like, but I made mine a boy.) If you’re feeling especially cartoony, you can add some curved lines next to his hands to show his arms are waving.

On the tree side, also use your #1 round brush and the Diamond FX black to put in details around the tree trunk, leaves, and grass.

3. As a final step, we’re going to add our white highlights (as always!) by using Diamond FX white and our #1 round brush. Consider your light source as coming from the front of the face, so for the tree and swing, most of your white highlighting will be on the part of the design which is toward the nose of the person you’re painting. Don’t forget a couple of highlights in the boy’s eyes, too.

Enjoy!

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.