Favorite Robot Tutorial

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This little guy will win your hearts with it’s spunk and loyalty. It’s made from simple shapes, and I think you’ll find that if you practice this tutorial a few times, you won’t have any trouble when you get a cheek art request for him.

Materials

Diamond FX white
Diamond FX black
Global orange
Global red
Paradise silver
One stroke black and white split cake (such as TAG Magpie)
1/2-inch flat brush
#1 round brush
#2 round brush
#5 round brush
Blending brush
Dot stencil
TAG light blue
TAG royal blue

Tutorial

Load your #5 round brush with Diamond FX white. Make sure you’ve really worked enough water into the paint so you have a nice, opaque white. Make a circle on the cheek with a smaller half-circle just covering the top edge.

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Load a 1/2-inch brush from a small black and white split cake. Mine is homemade, but you could use TAG’s Magpie if you’d rather purchase one. Run the brush around the bottom circle with the dark color at the outer edge. Also run it below the half-circle shape which makes the it’s head so that it has a shadow to make it look three dimensional. On the head, again run the brush around the edge of the curved portion of the half circle.

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Load your #2 round brush with Global orange and create several orange circular shapes on the body. In each one, make four small wedge shapes pointing toward the center.

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There are several circular shapes on the body. You can choose whichever of these you prefer to add your circle details with silver on your #2 round brush. Also add a circular rim to the head portion and a circular “crown” at the top of the head. Load your #1 round brush with Diamond FX black to make the “eye” and circle design on the head. Leave the center of the eye blank for a moment. We’ll fill this in with red in a moment and blend it a little.

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Add some red to the center of the “eye” and dab it with your finger to blend it into the black around it. Load your #1 or #2 round brush and add a two more lines to the head portion. Load the #1 round with black to add the antennae as well.

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I decided it would be best to add an outline for this design, because I wanted it to be more illustrative and cartoonish rather than realistic, as it would help it stand out from the face. Use your #1 round brush and Diamond FX black to give it an outline on the head and bottom portion. Also, run some extra black underneath to create a shadowed area and blend the black down into the skin to soften the lower edge.

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With a #1 round brush and your Diamond FX white, add a few highlights to the eye and head shape. To finish the design up, load a sponge with TAG light blue and TAG royal blue, making sure the sponge is not too damp, or the face paint will bleed underneath the stencil. Press a dot-pattern stencil onto the skin and dab the sponge over it. Shift it two or three times to add a textured pattern with blue, which is the complementary color of orange, to the background.

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I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Beth MacKinney is the owner of and primary face painter for Face Paint Pizzazz in the NW Chicago suburbs. She also writes for Examiner.com as the Chicago Face Painting Examiner.

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