Snake designs are pretty common, but having become a little dissatisfied with my old snake design, I tried this one out this week on a little friend, and then decided to create a tutorial for it. Normally I use Diamond FX Green Carpet for snakes, but I wanted to try out the Global split Borneo, too. I hope you enjoy using this design yourself.
Materials
• Global small split Borneo or any other small green split cake
• Diamond FX or Wolfe white
• Diamond FX, Wolfe, or Global black
• Paradise red
• TAG yellow
• Paradise dark green
• #1 round brush
• 3/4-inch flat brush (or 1-inch flat brush)
• #5 round brush
• Any reptile or snake skin stencil
• Sponge
Tutorial
Begin by loading your 3/4-inch (or 1-inch) flat brush from the green split cake. Make two teardrop shapes, with the largest of the two on top and the smaller, shorter teardrop on the bottom.
Sweep the brush up and around the temple, twirling to a point past the center of the forehead.
Use the #5 round brush to add white for the eyes and the fangs.
I used a sponge, TAG yellow, and one of the small reptile stencils from a BAM set, but any reptilian stencil will work to add texture. The texture is always an impressive component of your snake in the eyes of the parents and kids, and takes it to an extra level. Stencil yellow over the darker side of the snake and Paradise dark green on the lighter portion of the snake. Use the Paradise red and the #1 round brush to add the snake’s tongue.
Outline your snake with the #1 (or #2) round brush and black. You can choose any type of cartoon eyes you prefer, but I thought these would be funny for a snake, who is kind of mesmerizing in his stare.
The last step is to use the tip of your brush to add white highlights to the design. By comparing this image with the step before, you can see how it adds a finishing touch to the snake and makes him more visually appealing. Although I didn’t add any cartoon lines for movement on the outside of the snake, you could do that as well.
Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. Stop by Facepaint.com to check out her other face painting blog posts and tutorials. If you’re on Facebook, join the Facepaint.com Challenge Group to showcase your artwork and have a chance to win a store credit for each week’s challenge.