One of the most essential designs for any face painter is the kitty cat. This gorgeous creation comes to us from Annabel Hoogeveen, who has recently graduated as an Honor student and is now preparing to become a certified International Face Painting School instructor.
This kitty cat face paint design became one of the three creations that Annabel submitted for the final exam. Use this handy step-by-step to help you recreate this glamorous look, and then let your imagination run wild with a variation of your own! 💜
Don’t hesitate to check out our face painting for beginners step by step tutorial for even further helpful instruction!
The idea of this kitty cat evolved gradually. My initial thought was making a cat design as part of my final exam. I see a lot of cat designs, but there are only a few that really resemble a cat. Therefore, as a former vet, I decided to try to make one myself. 😉
So, my first idea was to come up with a cat design that looked like an actual cat. I started to sketch on my practice board, I looked at the features of a cat face and tried to incorporate them into a nice face painting design. The high forehead, the big cat ears and the small tight muzzle. But, I didn’t want it to be a realistic design. It had to be one that I could perform “on-the-job”. So I sketched and sketched and tried one on a real face. I knew that not everything that looks good on a sketch or practice board also looks good on the face. Some things I had drawn on the sketch were difficult to translate to the face.
Keeping in mind that it had to be a design I could do relatively fast, I had to also simplify it and chose to do a simple base, giving it some color by the use of one-strokes (which I love) and embellishing it with some girly additions like lashes and flower petals. It made the design quite different than I intended, but I liked it and used it for my exam. But not as my “animal” design, instead as my “girly” design. 😊
Step 1: Easy Kitty Cat Face Paint Basic Shape
With a mix of metallic white and glycerin white, I sponged the basic shape of my kitty cat. I added some glycerin light blue to the ears, nose and muzzle and a metallic soft green on the outer sides of the cheeks and forehead.
Next, to create this easy kitty cat face paint, I added some contrast with darker blue stars on the ears and muzzle using a BAM star cluster stencil.
Step 2: Defining the Ideal Shape
After putting on the base, I outlined the ears with a blue and white split cake (any blue and white split cake will do) using a small angle brush (⅜ inch). I tried to pay attention to the shape of the strokes and the shape of the outline in total. It is more beautiful when the strokes are not all the same size and the outline is not simply straight.
Using a 1-inch flat brush, I then outlined the forehead and cheeks with a beautiful green split cake combination from Silly Farm’s Arty Brush line, called “Aussie Mermaid”. Again, I watched the size of my strokes, trying to gradually diminish the size of the strokes from the center to the sides of the forehead and from the top of the cheeks to the nose on the cheek area.
Symmetry is extremely important in these types of designs, our article “7 Steps for Symmetrical Face Painting Designs” will help you achieve a flawless result.
Step 3 Adding Some Flower Petals to My Halloween Cat Face Paint
Now it is time to paint some double-dip flower petals on the forehead of my Halloween cat face paint.
With a very small brush, I accentuated the base of the petals with some darker blue stripes and added a gem cluster above the petals.
After that, I added a cluster of white dots on the cheeks, a row of white dots next to the petals and a few white hairs between the “crown” and the ears.
Step 4: Paint the Kitty Cat Nose and Muzzle Area
I painted the nose and muzzle area with black and softened the nose with a blending brush. Next, I painted the lower lip with a metallic dark green (Superstar) and added light blue glitter (Paradise).
To tie everything together I outlined the whole design in black, with a small round brush (no. 2). I gave my kitty face paint a black eyeliner and girly eyelashes and added some dots between the cheeks and the muzzle.
Step 5: Kitty Cat Face Painting Final Touches
Because the white flower petals seemed to disappear in the white background I decided to outline them with a small brush and some blue to make them more visible.
With a blending brush, I faded the muzzle lines a bit and the lines at the inner corners of the eyes (although on second thought, I think the original eyeliner looked better). 😉
Finally, I added some small white whisker dots and some whiskers to my kitty face paint design.
My girly kitty cat face painting is finished!
Read our Professional and Beginner’s guides for a complete look into everything you need to know about face painting!
— Ultimate Face Painting Tutorial for Beginners
— How to Become a Professional Face Painter and Get Paid
