Pet Face Painting Designs with Wies Geluk-van Veen

Pet Face Painting Designs with Wies Geluk-van Veen Webinar

If you've ever wanted to paint the cutest critters on little faces (or big ones — no judgment!), this webinar is for you. Wies Geluk-van Veen joined us all the way from Holland to share three gorgeous pet face painting designs: a cartoony hamster, a realistic-style cat, and an adorable guinea pig with a flower crown. The best part? She painted every single design using only brushes — no sponges required.

About the Artist

Wies Geluk-van Veen is a talented face painter and fine artist based in the Netherlands. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree, where she paints portraits, birds, abstracts, and everything in between. Wies has taught face painting workshops in Switzerland and Holland, and this was her second webinar with FacePaint.com — her first was so well received that we just had to have her back. She brings a painterly, artistic approach to face painting that is refreshing and inspiring, and her relaxed teaching style makes even detailed designs feel totally achievable.

Design 1: The Cartoony Hamster

Wies kicked things off with an irresistible cartoony hamster. She started by sketching the basic shapes directly onto the practice board — the eyes, top of the head, muzzle, and ears — because as she explained, shapes are what really make or break an animal face painting design. The muzzle shape especially is key to making an animal recognizable.

For filling in the larger areas, Wies used a big filbert brush, applying the paint in a loose, painterly style. She pointed out that you don't need to smooth everything out perfectly because the slightly textured brush strokes actually suggest fur — a happy little shortcut! She used Mehron Fallout for the muzzle area instead of pure white, noting that white tends to look unnatural on most animals. Superstar Bubblegum pink went on the cheeks and inner ears, giving the hamster its cute, cartoony personality.

To add dimension, Wies used Superstar Graphite with a blending brush for shadows, working around the eyes and under the chin. She then popped in highlights with a neon color and a dauber. For the outline, she kept things intentionally loose and slightly sloppy — her word, not ours — because a tight, perfect outline can look stiff on a furry animal. The finishing touches included a tiny nose, upward-pointing whiskers (never let them droop!), and two little buck teeth that had the whole chat swooning.

When asked how long this design would take on the job, Wies estimated about five minutes without the talking and thinking. She also reminded everyone that you can always scale back on details if you have a line — skip the shading, simplify the outlines, and you've still got a design that reads as a hamster.

Design 2: The Realistic Cat

Next up was a cat design inspired by Wies's own two kittens, which she had just adopted about a month before the webinar. She studied them up close to really understand the shapes and proportions of a real cat face — and the result was a design that felt much more natural than the typical fuchsia cat with exaggerated ears.

Wies started with two pointy ears set at forty-five degree angles, then sketched in a small nose, a compact muzzle, and a pointy chin. She emphasized that the muzzle on a real cat is not as wide as many face painters tend to make it. She filled in the lightest areas first using Paradise white from Mehron, working a bit drier than usual on the practice board. Pink went into the ears and nose, followed by Superstar Foxy brown for the larger fur areas.

The shading was where this design really came alive. Wies used Superstar Graphite with a finger dauber, working completely dry — no water at all — since the Superstar paint has a soft, creamy consistency that blends beautifully on its own. When someone asked how she knows where to place highlights and shadows, she offered three approaches: imagine a light source and shade accordingly, reference an actual photo of a cat, or think about the bone structure of the face and where it naturally protrudes.

She added fine fur lines in the darker areas using small brush strokes, noting that cats often have subtle tiger-like markings. Rather than creating a perfectly symmetrical design, she encouraged painters to embrace slight irregularity — real cats are not perfectly symmetrical either, and the imperfection actually gives the design more life. The finishing touches included bold eyeliner for cuteness, delicate whiskers painted with a well-loaded liner brush, and soft highlights.

Design 3: Guinea Pig with Flower Crown

The final design was a guinea pig wearing a flower crown — unrealistic but undeniably adorable, as Wies put it. She outlined the basic head shape, the white muzzle area that wraps around the mouth, and those funny little guinea pig ears before sketching in the flower placement: one large flower, then progressively smaller blooms to create a balanced composition.

For the fur, Wies again used Paradise white from Mehron, praising how comfortable it feels on the skin and how it applies best when used on the drier side. She built up the fur color in layers, starting with a lighter tone and adding a darker shade on top for dimension and contrast.

The flower crown was where Wies really got to shine. She shared her approach to painting layered flowers using a half-inch angled brush — the one brush she would recommend above all others for flowers and leaves. She built each flower in layers: a base color first, then a contrasting color on top to make the petals pop. Her key tip was to break down the brush movements into many small strokes rather than trying to execute one complicated motion, which makes the technique far less intimidating.

For the leaves, Wies used a one-stroke with the darkest color on the tip for the first layer, then flipped the brush so the lightest color was on the tip for the second layer, creating beautiful natural contrast. She was careful not to outline every single leaf and petal — just enough to suggest shadow underneath without making the design look too heavy or cartoony.

The design was finished with fine line work for the guinea pig's features, dot highlights grouped in clusters for a bright, lively look, and soft blending on the nose area.

Key Tips from Wies

Throughout the webinar, Wies shared some valuable wisdom for face painters at every level. She stressed that shapes are the foundation of any animal design — getting the muzzle and proportions right is what makes an animal instantly recognizable. She also championed brush-only painting as a perfectly valid approach, noting that it is gentler on your hands over time since constant sponge use can dry out and irritate the skin.

Wies encouraged everyone to practice sketching in their designs before adding color, even though she doesn't do this on the job — it is a fantastic way to build confidence with placement and composition. She also reminded painters that perfectionism is the enemy of creativity. You can always scale a design up or down in complexity depending on how much time you have, and a slightly messy, loose approach often looks more natural than a rigid, overworked one.

For her flowers, Wies shared that she wasn't always great at painting them — she just left her one-stroke cakes out all the time and practiced whenever she had a spare ten minutes. Consistency beats talent when it comes to building new skills.

Products Used in This Webinar

• Mehron Paradise (white — for fur and muzzles)
• Mehron Fallout (skin tone for muzzle areas)
• Superstar Bubblegum (pink for cheeks, ears, and noses)
• Superstar Graphite (shading and shadows)
• Superstar Foxy (brown for fur)
• One-stroke cakes (layered flowers and leaves)
• Half-inch angled brush (flowers and leaves)
• Liner brush, size 1 or 0 (outlines, whiskers, and detail work)
• Large filbert brush (filling in big areas)
• Finger daubers (highlighting and dry blending)
• Blending brush (soft shading)