No matter what the party theme might be, kids often go for pirate skulls, which can even be popular with teens and adults. Here’s a simple one-stroke pirate which uses the TAG Dragon split cake and

Materials

• Paradise Shadow split cake
• TAG Dragon one stroke cake
• Diamond FX black
• Diamond FX white
• Paradise red face paint
• 1/2 inch flat brush
• #1 round brush
• #5 round brush

Tutorials

1. Begin by loading your 1/2 inch flat brush with black, white, and grey from the Paradise Shadow split cake.

2. Fill the center area with Diamond FX white. You can either use your 1/2 inch flat brush for this or your #5 round brush.

3. Load the 1/2 inch flat brush from your TAG Dragon one stroke, trying to pick up just a little black on the very edge. Above the skull shape, make several u-shapes and then connect them to make flames. This will create the outer edge of your flame.

You’ll repeat this process inside the flame area to create more depth and detail to this part of the design.

4. Add a pirate bandana over the top of the skull with your #5 round brush. On one side, add a small circle shape with the ties coming out of it.

5. Use your Diamond FX black, which is an excellent lining face paint, to create detail with your #1 round brush. At this point you’ll add the eyes, nose area, and teeth. If you’ve got a long line of kids at an event and you need to work faster, you can make a straight horizontal line for the mouth and draw shorter vertical lines through it. Since I had more time while creating this design, I made the teeth shapes individually.

Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary artist for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.