Koalas, the sleepiest bear around, are incredibly cute, and closed eyes (which are easy to draw) are a perfect choice when face painting koalas because of their habit of drowsing away the majority of their time. Whether you're painting for a zoo-themed event or a your clients are just animal lovers, this simple one stroke koala mask is a great design for kids and adults.
Materials
• Black, grey, and white one stroke
• Lime green face paint (Paradise)
• Medium green face paint (TAG)
• Brown face paint (Paradise)
• White face paint (Diamond FX or Wolfe)
• Black face paint (Diamond FX or Wolfe)
• Small filbert brush
• 3/4-inch flat brush
• #5 round brush
• #2 round brush
• Sponge
Tutorial
Load your large flat brush from a small split cake with white, grey, and black. Make a generous half circle about 1/4 inch above one eyebrow and use your 1/2-inch flat brush and the same split cake to add two ears near the bottom on each side.
Again use the large flat brush to make the body and the smaller flat brush for the legs and tail. Sponge some lime green over the eyelids and just below the koala body on the temples.
Use a #5 round brush and brown to create a few branches angling out and away from the eyelids.
For the tree leaves, you can use either a small filbert turned on its side or a #5 round to pull leaf shapes all around the koala with medium green and light green. If necessary, use your lime green sponge to blend this into the lighter green face paint.
Load a #2 round brush and add the facial features as well as black outlines to the koala, the leaves, and the branches. Remember when making the koala face that you'll use a large oval for the nose and keep the eyes on either side of it.
Finally, use the same #2 round brush and white to add little highlights to the koala's fur and the leaves.
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in Elgin, Illinois, and her artwork has appeared in The Colored Palette and SkinMarkz magazines. She services Elgin, Illinois, the NW Chicago suburbs, and northern Chicago, as well as the eastern suburbs of Rockford. Stop by Facepaint.com to check out her other face painting blog posts and tutorials.