Halloween: Face Painters’ Favourite Time to Shine
Halloween is the perfect time to get creative and transform yourself into spooky characters. Face painting and key use of special FX is an excellent way to enhance your costume and create an immersive Halloween look. In this article, we will explore some exciting Halloween face paint ideas that will help you stand out from the crowd. Whether you’re going for a scary or adorable look, we’ve got you covered.
Glamour Halloween Looks
Vampire Vixen
One of the classic Halloween face paint ideas is to channel your inner vampire. Start by applying a pale base color to your face using water-based face paint, metallic gives smooth coverage. Then, create some dramatic, smoky eyes with dark eyeshadow and eyeliner. I go all the way and draw lower lashes and huge, dramatic eyebrows. Use red face paint to emphasize the lips and give them a bloodred look. Add some fangs and blood droplets, if you like, to complete the vampire vixen look.
Halloween Idea: Spiderwebs, Everywhere!
Pretty Spooky Crown
Combine your knowledge of princess crowns and the spider webs of Spiderman for this beauty. And of course, this video from Sophie’s Tips for the most realistic spider & shadow tutorial is great to practise. My favourite trick for spiders with colourful backs is to swipe a circular dauber or round sponge through a one stroke and stamp it. Then, build your spider around that.
Sponge on pretty eyes and backgrounds for the spiderwebs, any colour to match the outfit to the look. Spiderweb spokes can mimic spider legs with segmented thick joints connecting whispy lines or you can use thick to thin teardrops from outside into focal point.
Halloween Cat
I love to take our usual face painting layout for a cat on a child’s face, and make it Halloween! As above, add spiderwebs everywhere you can. If you’ve got a halloween stencil (jack o’lantern below left), use it! Maybe you want to add a spider! Face painters cannot be held back from adding dots for decoration.
A very popular choice, every Halloween.
Witch
I loved seeing Elodie Turnois’s witch design, because it is not cute and I’m obsessed with this nose (painted on top of a human nose). No special effects needed! She teaches it so we can all use her face painting design on the job, thank you, Elodie! That said, I believe the last little lady I painted this way thought I’d take a glamourous twist! Oops!
Mummy
A mummy face paint design sounds intimidating when you first imagine it, but once I realized how perfectly the look is achieved with a straight-forward one stroke technique, it is truly so easy! I just swiped on a few strokes of Teddy Bear by Tag, added thin black lines and hash marks, and voila! The depth is conveyed with the colour variance of the one stroke. Could shade in some extra shadowy dirt with a kabuki or dry brushing.
Zombie: Decaying Human (Realistic)
This truly frightening look is based with a Mehron Bruise Wheel, then accented with water-based face paint and Mehron Coagulated Blood. Because the bruise wheel is grease paint, I use a disposable makeup sponge, one per customer. First, I lay down rotting skin of green and yellow, sores of red, and bruises of purple. Once that is based, I add wrinkles under eyes, red wounds, and teeth with water-based paint on brushes. Add some shine with white face paint. Finally, I add blood as a final touch. There’s some special FX techniques here, and learning these few basics benefits your art the whole year.
Zombie: Pop Art Style
This super fun, pop art style zombie is family-friendly. Going from Linnea Novak’s step by step guide (below), I’ve recreated the design with only water-based, professional face paints, like she did. My model had to rush off, but if he hadn’t, I’d finish the look with white highlights as Linnea has. This look is a big hit at Halloween events.
Fierce Wolf
Unleash your wild sided this Halloween with a wolf howling at the moon. I use a one stroke called Magpie by Tag with a 1-inch brush for the whole based. Add frown lines, fangs, and details with black and white on round brushes and let your usual dog design transform into the fiercest Halloween embodiment!
How Bloody Is Bloody Enough for Halloween?
I ask children if they’d like small, medium, or super bloody mess.
Face Paint Bloody Open Wounds
Claw marks and long scratches are an impressive and quick face paint trick, especially appropo for Halloween. These are all done with a round brush, the swelling is done with dry brushing, kabuki, or sponge. This is all water-based face paint; no special FX required for claw marks. To make these impactful marks on a face, arm, or anywhere, simply paint red lines – thin to thick to thin. Then, highlight one side with white and shadow the other side with brown or black. Add swelling as desired.
Small Bloody Mess
Painted blood with a paintbrush and water-based face paint, such as the above wounds or simple red drips.
Medium Bloody Mess
To add to the small mess above, I dip a paintbrush in runny red face paint and flick it at the face – make sure they squeeze their eyes and mouth closed first. Trust me, this is fun for the whole line of customers.
Super Bloody Mess
On top of the previously mentioned bloody messes, Mehron’s Coagulated Blood leaves clients with a 3D, realistic nightmare. This special fx add on takes a little while to dry but is an absolute stunner.
Conclusion
As Halloween approaches, it’s time to start planning your spooky ensemble. Face painting is a fantastic way to add depth and creativity to your Halloween look. From vampires to fairies, there are countless Halloween face paint ideas to choose from. Experiment with different colors, designs, and styles to find the one that resonates with your personality. A little bit of special fx can go a long way, as well. Remember to have fun and let your imagination run wild.
Request your fellow Halloween enthusiasts to leave their comments in the comment box below and share this article with their friends; together we can inspire and create incredible Halloween looks.