Ultimate Face Painting Tutorial: Step by Step for Beginners

Want to learn how to face paint? Whether you want to help make your child’s birthday party more fun, you’re learning for fun, you want to make a little extra money or you’ve been asked to face paint as a volunteer at a school event or fundraiser, this guide provides everything you need to know about face painting.

Gathering your face paint supplies

Before you can even learn how to face paint, you need to gather a basic set of materials and supplies. Most of these supplies can be found at an art shop or face painting shop. You don’t need to purchase every single item, but most if not all of these tools are helpful for learning how to face paint. We recommend buying the following supplies:

• One pot of white face paint for linework
• One-pot of black face paint for linework
• A palette of about six or 12 face paint colors
• One optional rainbow split-cake for sponge
• One optional small split-cake for one stroke
• One optional pearl metallic white face paint
• Five round brushes: We recommend one #1 size brush, two #3 size brushes and two #4 size brushes.
• One flat one-inch brush
• One 10-millimeter filbert brush
• Sponges, including half-circle and optional petal sponges
• A water tub
• A spray bottle
• Glitter
• Stencils
• Wet wipes
• A case or bag to store everything and carry the setup

Which face paint colors do you really need?

Most face paints are sold in either round or square containers of 30, 32, 40, 45, 60 or 90 grams. Since you are a beginner, you probably don’t need singular colors in the larger amounts, but you will likely use some colors much more than others. For example, white and black face paints are the two most common colors in face painting, especially for linework, so you should probably invest in a 45-gram pot for both white and black.

Once you have purchased your white and black paints, you can think about any additional colors that you might need. For example, consider if you are purchasing face paints for a specific design, like a play or a Halloween costume, and which colors you need for the costume. Most face paint brands offer three types of paints, including regular paints that come in matte colors, metallic or pearl paints that come in shimmery colors and neon or UV paints that come in vibrant matte colors that actually glow in UV light.

If you don’t need specific colors but you want to purchase a wide range of paints without spending too much money, you should buy a starter kit or multi-color palette. These palettes are usually super affordable and give you a lot of different color options, including regular, metallic and UV paints.

About This Author

Edmond Masjedi Edmond Masjedi, an experienced and talented entrepreneur. Joined: February 25th, 2020