In this article I’ll teach you how to create a pregnant belly painting! Here is a belly painting step by step of a super cute bunny! I hope you enjoy it and have the chance to embellish some mom-to-be pretty tummy soon. 😘
Before we begin, let’s remember what we spoke about in one of the previous lessons “Secrets for Perfect Belly Painting”.
The Belly Painting Placement
I chose a classic placement in the center of the belly for this design. To fit the bunny belly painting design nicely on a rounded tummy, I decided to sit my bunny, so that the height of the design is equal to its width.
Belly button
I made sure that the skin above the belly button is stretched well and doesn’t move when the mom-to-be changes her body posture. That allowed me to paint the head of the bunny without being afraid that it will distort when the mom-to-be will be standing.
I checked the belly button. It was slightly protruding, allowing me to place the carrot over it (I would place the edge of the carrot over it if there would have been a skin fold there).
Pregnant Belly Painting Preparations
And of course, I prepared a sketch on the paper and on a practice pad before I moved on painting the belly.
Here is a little gift for you — a Belly Painting Practice Pad Template. Download, print it and use it for your paper sketches or laminate it and use it as a practice pad for your final designs.
In the International Face Painting School, students that are studying on Elite package are getting a Set of my author practice pads along with the training. 😉
And when all the preparations are ready…
Let’s move on painting!
1. Start by making a sketch using a light face paint (I prefer white or ivory). A white cosmetic eye pencil can also work great for this.
2. Fill in the bunny with white face paint. I prefer glycerin based white for the background, like Mehron or Superstar, because this type of paint is softer and is easier to blend. And we are gonna make lots of blending here! A filbert brush will work the best for this purpose.
It is essential to know the differences in glycerin and wax based paints qualities to make the best use of each of them. That’s why I dedicated an entire module in Part One Module 3 — “About Face Paints”. Review, comparison and recommendations to this topic.
3. Fill in the clothes and the bow with regular light pink and the carrot with regular orange.
4. It’s time to add the first shadows! The light source is above, that means that the shadow will be placed below. Apply dark pink to all of the light pink bottom parts.
5. Same thing with shading the bunny. Use regular grey and apply it on the bottoms of the cheeks, ears and paws. Regular waxy grey (like TAG, Cameleon, Diamond FX, Wolfe FX etc.) will work well here if you have a glycerin based white on the background. If you used waxy white, then metallic waxy black mixed with some white can make the blending process easier. Metallic paints blend better too. And again, use a filbert brush here and a very tiny amount of water!
Blending is one of the four essential techniques (besides linework, double dip and one stroke), that should be mastered by a professional face painter.
In the International Face Painting School, Module 5 Part Two “Working with filbert and blending brushes” we speak in details about types of blending (dry brushing and regular blending) and nailing the technique by performing a series of practical tasks.
6. Apply the highlights and the shadows on the carrot using white and brown and paint the haulm.
7. Paint the eyes and outline the bunny belly painting design. For this type of feminine and delicate designs I prefer adding a very soft outline with metallic black or with glycerin based black. Both of these blacks are lighter than regular wax based black. To make our bunny’s eyes catch attention, I paint them in regular waxy black, so that they are the darkest points in the entire design.
8. Add the highlights with regular waxy white and sponge the background with light blue. I prefer a patchy background for this type of soft designs.
Materials used:
Superstar White — for the background of the bunny
Cameleon Pure White — for highlights (or your favorite waxy white like DFX, Wolfe or Fusion)
TAG Grey — for shading the bunny
Paradise Light Pink — for the background of the clothes, bow, paws, cheeks and nose
Paradise Dark Pink — for shading the light pink
TAG Earth Brown — for shading the carrot
Paradise Black — for outline
Cameleon Strong Black — for the eyes and the darkest shadows (or your favorite waxy black such as Diamond FX, Wolfe, or Fusion)
TAG Orange — for the carrot background
Global Light Green — for the haulm
Global Dark Green — for shading the haulm
TAG Light Blue — for the sponged background around the bunny
Round #3 brush by KingArt — for the sketch and small details
Round #5 brush by KingArt — for filling in the pink details and the haulm
Cameleon filbert brush #2 — for filling in the background of the bunny and the carrot
Loew Cornell filbert brush 7500 series #10 — for blending the shadows (Alternative: Cameleon medium blending brush)
Mehron green sponge — for the sponged background (Alternative: Mehron half sponge)
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I’d love to see your attempts at this design! Share it with me in the comments! 👇
