In this webinar, professional face and body painter Kathy Vergara shows us how to face paint animal masks!

For this animal mask face paint tutorial, Kathy will be using Kraze FX's brand new line of paints: Kraze FX Fundamentals Palette and Kraze FX Split Cake Palette.

#1. Tiger Mask Face Paint Design

She starts off loading Paradise Paints in Orange onto a sponge. Load up your sponge with regular orange, then flip the sponge over on the skinny side, and load up with yellow. This will create a gradient effect, which is necessary for a tiger design.

The yellow face paint was pretty dry, so she added a bit more water, which will pick up the paint a lot better.

When using a sponge, don't drag, just pounce or dab onto the skin, back and forth. You'll know the sponge is loaded properly when you get a nice color gradient.

If there are bald spots, that means your paint is too dry. If there's dripping, then the paint is too wet.

Make a V shape at the forehead, come around, and go right under the eye
and cheek area, making another V shape there. One on each side of the face.

Cover the nose area using the tip of the sponge. 

If you're face painting on a baby or toddler, try to stay away from the eye area. On an older child or adult, have them close their eyes, and go all the way down to the eyelid. 

Now use a #8 filbert brush, and load it with white face paint. Make flicking motions, just to keep the edge of the white, and do the same thing on the other side of the face.

Bring the paint out just past the natural lip line and cover that space. Add a couple of teeth, turn the brush so that the skinny side goes downwards, and ends in a point.

If you were to add glitter, you'd do it now. Glitter looks better when you can see the black line work.

Take another filbert brush, size 8 also - the one Kathy uses is Simply Simmons. Take some black paint - the one she uses is FAB Superstar in Black. 
This black is good for line work, nice and opaque. According to Kathy, it's not as
good as Wolfe would be, but it's a close second!

When doing the tiger stripes, you want to make sure that when you finish loading the brush, you flatten the bristles, so that the edge is very thin, to make sure you get precise, thin lines.

Make a thin line, apply pressure, wiggle it a little bit, and then make it thin again. Thin to thick to thin.

Start with the eyes, thin, around the eyes, over the white paint. Do the same on the other side of the face. Apply black around the eyes, as if applying eyeliner.

For the nose, it's just two tiny little tear drops. Apply black around the muzzle area and bring it up towards the nose lines.

Paint some lines across on the muzzle (the white paint). Start on the forehead, and paint lines down on the center. Add a couple more lines on each side.

You want to make sure all the tips are going down towards the focal point of the face (which is the middle of the face).

On the side of the face, start underneath the eyes and  go up, one in the middle, and one that goes down towards the mouth. Repeat on other side of the face.

You can stop your design here, or, you can add a few more things. She likes to add a few random dots onto the face. The more pressure, the bigger the dots. For the dots, Kathy used a smaller round brush, Loew-Cornell #4.

Don't forget to put glitter on, if using, before doing your black line work. And always do it while your paint (the base) is still damp, so that the glitter can stick on. And there you have it! A 2-minute face paint tiger design!

#2. Cheetah Mask Face Paint Design

For a cheetah mask face paint design, follow the same instructions as for the tiger, but instead of stripes, you'll make irregular black spots.

Make irregular brown spots and outline them in black using a filbert brush. Be sure they're all irregular to make the design look more natural and organic. 

Kathy uses purple spots, making bigger dots on the outside of the face, and smaller as they go in more towards the middle of the face. Outline the purple spots with a black paint using a filbert brush. Don't forget to outline the muzzle! To really make this design pop, add some Liquid Bling!

#3. Alligator Mask Face Paint Design

Load your 1" chisel brush with a green split cake and start with the nose. Make a curve from the top of the lip, over the nose, and back around to the other side of the top lip. Fill in any empty spaces. 

Grab the same split cake and go over the eyelids. Go once more above the eyebrows, and be sure to do both sides of the face. Fill in the nose and underneath the eyes area using a sponge caked in yellow face paint.

Create the mouth of the alligator on the side of the "muzzle" (the first shape). Kathy now takes a #1 round brush to paint on the nostrils and outlines the muzzle and mouth. Using the same brush and black paint, add some horizontal lines over the nose, giving it the illusion of a more 3D nose.

Outline the eyes using black face paint. Take a white face paint and a #5 round brush to drop down some tear drops on the mouth, creating the teeth of the alligator. Create a line at the mouth, and outline the teeth to make them stand out more. Add in some yellow dots at the forehead and cheeks to finish off the design.

#4. Cat Mask Face Paint Design

For this design, Kathy loads up a brush a #1 flat brush with a pink split cake. Start at the center of the forehead and go around with your brush, creating the ear shape. Go underneath the eyes and down towards the mouth, to create a shaggy outline. Go all the way down to the upper lip to create the muzzle.

Go over the eyelids with your pink split cake. Grab a sponge and blend the design together to create a a "hairy face" look. Be sure that your pink is on the outside, and the white is on the inside.

Go along with black face paint to create a muzzle, just like for the tiger and cheetah. Outline the ears and the top of the head, as well as the eyes. 

Use white face paint to outline the eye area, right underneath the eyebrow. Add some white whiskers to the muzzle. Be sure to use a skinny brush so you don't get super thick lines.

#5. Dog Mask Face Paint Design

Load a sponge up with brown, beige, and white face paint and start in the middle of the forehead. The way this design starts off will be very similar to the way the cat designs starts. Make the top of the head as well as the ears. For this design, Kathy will be doing floppy ears for the dog. 

Make a super big muzzle for the dog and dot with a sponge to blend the muzzle area. If your sponge is too wet, you'll notice to paint becoming bubbly. Be sure to use a super dry sponge to get the desired effect. 

Paint the nose using black face paint and bring a line down onto the mouth. Outline the muzzle and the ears with black paint. Add some dots to the nose area.

Load a brush up with red face paint to create a tongue sticking out from the mouth. Outline the tongue with black and draw a line down the middle. Also outline the eyes to make them stand out more. 

Kathy now adds a couple of spots to the nose to give the dog a little bit more character and make it stand out more. 

#5. Dinosaur Mask Face Paint Design

Load a brush up with a dark orange split cake to create a ribbon like effect on the forehead. Next, Kathy loads up some yellow on the sponge and fills in the upper lip area. Go underneath the ribbon and over the nose, as well as over the eyelids. 

Use white face paint to create the horn, which will be right on top of the client's nose. Add another horn on the left side of the top of the forehead, and another one on the other side of the forehead. 

Use your sponge to blend in the colors. Outline the mouth area using black face paint. Also outline the top of the head as well as the horns. Draw in the nostrils using black face paint. 

Outline the eyes with black face paint, and add in the horn lines. Dot some yellow paint on the top of the head. Add some white highlights around the horns to create some depth and dimension. Add highlights around the mouth, nose, and head as well.

#6. Giraffe Mask Face Paint Design

Grab the same split cake that you use for the dog (brown, beije, and white). Start with the ears, and make the head into a hill-like shape. Go over the eyelids with the same split cake and do two big teardrops at the top of the head for the ears. 

Draw out the mouth area and sponge some yellow face paint over the nose area and the top middle of the forehead. Grab a dark red paint and paint the top middle of the forehead in irregular shapes. These will be the giraffe's spots.

Using black face paint, add in the nostrils, and outline your giraffe. 

Viewers Q&A

How many brushes should you have in your arsenal?

Kathy says you should have at least 2-3 1" brushes, 2-3 1/2" brushes, a couple of round brushes in different sizes (thicker, thinner, etc), a few filberts. All in total, about 12-15 brushes is a good start. 

How much would you charge for this design at a PPF event?

For a PPF event (pay per face), Kathy says to go by the price of beer. If the beer they sell is super expensive, then you can charge a little bit more. If the beer is cheaper, you'll have to charge less for your design. 

How do you keep your hands steady on a client?

Kathy uses her pinkie to steady her hand on their faces. For a kid, she usually holds their head so they don't move.

How do you remember each design?

It takes time and practice, but you usually have an image in your mind, and you just got from there. 

On behalf of everyone here at FacePaint.com, we'd like to thank Kathy for showing us how to do animal mask face paint designs and also thank you to all who joined on Facebook Live and on Zoom!

Stay tuned for our next webinar!