Cartoons are magically fun to children, possibly because they have expressions and personalities of their own. If you haven’t drawn or painted cartoons because you feel they’re too difficult, take heart. If you can paint simple shapes, you can paint cartoons!
Materials
• Diamond FX white (or Wolfe white)
• Diamond FX black (or Wolfe black or Global strong black)
• Paradise lime green
• Paradise Amazon green
• Paradise light brown
• Paradise dark brown
• Paradise red
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• #1 round brush
• Sponge
Tutorial
Begin by painting two white ovals in the center of the forehead about 1/2 to 3/4 inches above the eyebrow line with your Diamond FX white and a large round brush.
Sponge Paradise lime green over the eyebrows. This is a good design for younger children because it doesn’t go right down the eyes. I’ve found that boys especially often prefer not to have paint right up to the edge of the eye.
In the center, add Paradise Amazon green over the lime green and sweep the edge of your sponge up and away to form blades of grass.
Paint your puppy shape with a mixture of light and dark brown. Each child will have a different color in mind for his puppy, so feel free to experiment with different colors and ear shapes for your design. It could just as easily become a dalmatian if you made it white with black spots or a black lab if you make it black. (If you make it entirely black, you’ll want to create your outlines with a lighter color such as white, light blue, or silver.)
Add a small red tongue hanging down from the puppy’s mouth.
Use your small #1 or #2 round brush to outline the puppy and blades of grass with a good black for lining, like Diamond FX black, Wolfe black, or Global strong black. Also add the eyes and the nose. (Change the expression of your puppy by changing the eyes and the mouth of your cartoon.)
Use the #1 round brush and white to add highlights on your puppy and the grass and you’ve finished your design. I hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial. Please share your own puppy cartoon face paintings in the comments. I’d love to see them!
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. Stop by Facepaint.com for more face painting tutorials and articles by Beth.
Beth is also a writer for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.