You get unusual requests in the face painting business. This weekend, a guest at a party pointed at one of the eye designs in my idea book and said, “I want this one, but on my arm.” It gave me a pause and pulled me out of my painting zone for a moment, but I plunged in and liked the result so much when I was finished that I wanted to share the design here.
Materials
• Kryvaline Summer Sunset split cake
• Diamond FX black face paint
• Diamond FX white face paint
• White translucent glitter
• #1 round brush
• #4 round brush
• Sponge
Tutorial
1. The Kryvaline Summer Sunset split cake has become one of my new all-time favorite split cakes. It is absolutely gorgeous for butterflies, but it was also a great choice for this design as well. Load your sponge from Summer Sunset and make a slight S-curve shape on the arm. When you’re finished, add some cosmetic glitter before it dries entirely.
2. Next load your #4 round brush with Diamond FX black. For this type of design, the quality of your brush will really show. I prefer the Mark Reid or the Majestic brushes for this type of work, but there are others which will work equally well. (What won’t work for this are cheap craft brushes, so invest in some good ones, and you’ll definitely see the difference.)
After you have your basic design in place, you’re going to double some of the curves and add some tear drops using the same brush.
3. One of my favorite ways of adding detail to a design of this type is to put a thin line around the exterior of the design. It’s not necessary, but it adds a delicacy to it that is visually pleasing. Use your #1 round brush for this.
4. And no design would be complete without the contrast which comes from white highlighting and which is so important. I added some white within my swirls as well as just inside the lines around the design. Then I placed a few black and white dots and white starbursts around the outer edge.
I hope you enjoy this design and that it helps you convert a few of your own favorite eye designs into body art for your clients.
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She has a degree in art and also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.
