If you’ve read our 3 Impressive Kitty Face Painting Tutorials Blog then you’ll know we have some fantastic designs for cute and girly cat lovers.
But what about when you’re asked for the classic black cat? Or boy wants an edgy cat design not your current pink fluffy cat offering.
Well we scoured the internet looking for tutorials and found very little.
So we are here with two fantastic black cat designs you can add to your board and both of them are fantastic for Black Cat Halloween Face Paint options.
First up, we have a traditional Black Cat Face Paint by Simona Rad. It is cute, it is simple to recreate and it is a fantastic cat you can add to your menu board all year round.
Secondly we have Annabel Hoogeveen’s Halloween Cat Face Painting for Boys. This design has a cartoon mask feel to it and also provides an option to avoid painting over the eyes which a lot of boys don’t enjoy.
Follow the guides below and don’t forget to grab any of the supplies you need from our affiliated global superstore JestPaint.com.
Navigation:
- Classic Black Cat Step-by-Step Tutorial by Simona Rad
- Halloween Cat Face Painting for Boys by Annabel Hoogeveen
Classic Black Cat Step-by-Step Tutorial by Simona Rad
🎨 MATERIALS USED:
- DFX blue sponge – trimmed
- Finger Dauber
- Superstar White (or Eulenspiegels clown white or other glycerin-based white)
- Superstar Yellow
- DFX Black
- DFX White
- Blender brush Sparkling Faces (or try Blazin Brush | Face Painting Brush by Marcela Bustamante – Filbert #4)
- Long Filbert ½“ – Bolt Brush
- Pointer no. 4 Sparkling Faces (or any round brush you prefer for dots)
- Liner no. 1 Sparkling Faces (or try Blazin Face Painting Brush by Marcela Bustamante | Liner #1)
Step 1 — Lay the muzzle base
Using a trimmed rounded sponge we create the white part of our design – the muzzle area that is elongated, reaching the model’s forehead as this cat design will have a feature bow in between the cat’s ears.
We are using a glycerin based white because of its blending properties. The glycerin helps us obtain a uniform white base with no visible sponge strokes or other uneven spots.
The muzzle will go up from the model’s mouth corners – note the curve UP towards the cheek focal point, it is not parallel with the ground nor down towards the jaw.
Then it curves inwards towards the intermediate focal points and climbs through the middle of the eyebrows before it enlarges again and becomes the cat’s fluff once it passes the model’s eyebrows area.
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Step 2 – Create the bow and nose
I have used the blending brush by Sparkling Faces for the eyes and the nose. Whilst this brush is called a blender it can be used both as a filbert and a blending brush, in this instance we’re using it as a filbert and you can substitute for a small filbert brush.
Loading the brush with Superstar yellow we will paint a small heart on the nose (the heart shape adds extra cuteness to the design ) and a simple bow, centered above the model’s eyebrows.
We create the bow starting with a small square that will become the bow’s knot. For the sides of the bow – imagine you paint the upper wings of a butterfly (45 degree angle) and a slightly curved line. Just like a butterfly wing, the bottom part will be a bit smaller than the upper corners of the bow.
Step 3 – Sketching the cat’s cheeks
We will use the long filbert brush loaded with black paint. The paint’s consistency in this stage should be inky.
We want to sketch the edges of the furry cheeks and for this we will use the blade of the brush. If you are not confident using it, just load a round brush and use it here instead.
I like using the filbert brush here as it saves time not having to change the brushes twice when it comes to filling in the cheeks in the next step.
Very important! With the cat’s cheeks we want to connect the outer corners of the eye focal points with the middle of the muzzle.
As a good reference, try not to go below the yellow heart level with this cheek outline! This rule will help you reduce the quantity of the black used while also helping you create a cute design. Smaller cheeks will always result in a cuter cat!
As for the line, we need a jagged movement and we want the fur to have peaks in different sizes and shapes. This will create an interesting texture and a visually pleasing flow.
Step 4 – Fill in the black
Using the big filbert brush we will fill in the cheeks with black paint. This time we work the black paint into a creamy consistency to obtain a perfect coverage.
We will create a nice clean line where the black meets the white muzzle and we will also paint in the ears and cover the model’s eyelid in black.
For the ears we will start from the bow with the butterfly wing shape in mind again – and we will paint a simple ear shape – no need to create a complex ear here.
If you will closely analyze the image, you will see that the simple ear is made out of an arch(towards the bow) side and an ‘S’ shape side( towards the model’s hairline). Pay attention! The ‘S’ shape side will not reach the outer corner of the eye focal point and instead comes back inline with the outer corner of the eye – keep it small!
Another good tip here would be using black pressed powder for filling in the cat and achieving a nice effect.
Step 5 – Adding the outline
Now we take our round brush and load it with black if it is not already loaded from step 3.
We want to outline the bow and created the impression of a few fabric folds coming out of the bow’s knot.
Next, we need to outline the cat’s fluff – making sure we orient the sides towards the central focal point while also creating the fur’s peaks in different sizes again.
Then we outline the heart and we split the muzzle in two, painting a line from the bottom of the heart to the upper lip of the model! Attention! This line will end in a reversed teardrop and the rounded part of this teardrop must be painted ON the upper lip and not above it! We will touch up the teardrop afterwards until we will obtain a triangle shape — see the image below.
Lastly, we outline the muzzle and we will paint 3 teardrops on each side of the muzzle. Make sure that the rounded part of the teardrops is painted outside the muzzle and that the pointy end is oriented towards the line that is splitting the muzzle in two.
These teardrops are a graphic representation of both whiskers AND whiskers dots – so in my opinion, no need to add extra whiskers. I would suggest painting whiskers only when we have the whiskers dots as well. You can go ahead and paint a small black lower lip for the cat. If you paint this design on a boy, you can add small fangs too!
Note in this design I have painted the bottom lip narrower than my full lip to give a cuter lip in proportion to the compact size of the design.
Step 6 – Optional White Detailing
In our final step, if time permits, we’ll enhance the ear’s shape by illustrating the inner part with its fur. For this, it is enough to paint a line with a hook on top and a couple of fur peaks of different sizes.
We will use a super fine brush like the no. 1 liner brush and inky to creamy consistency for the white paint. With the same brush you can highlight the eye shape with a dramatic ‘S’ shaped line on the eyelids.
And we are done! Congratulations on creating your super simple and classic black cat face painting design!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And remember, if you decide to join in the fun and give this fantastic design a try, don’t hesitate to tag me. I’d be thrilled to witness your creations!
You can contact me/tag me on Instagram: @radsimona17
This is a classic black cat design you could add to your board for any day of the year.
But if you want something really special for Halloween check out Simona’s Halloween Black Cat Face Paints below.
Note the use of the black ghosting technique to create a stunning visual effect without having to lay down a lot of black paint. The ghosting technique is something we teach our Elite Students how to master.
Step 0 – Behind the Scenes!
And now a short story from a face painter’s life… The girl in the photo below is Amelie. She is 3 and she was supposed to be my model for this black cat. Even though she has agreed to come for this painting and accepted to sit in the chair, after the first step she announced to us that she doesn’t wish to be painted anymore. What did I do? Of course, I accepted her decision and I started to paint my own face.
It is so important that we listen to a respect the wishes of children at all times! Whether they’re your own children you’ve asked to practice on, or a friend’s child offering to pose for your tutorial, or a child in your chair at a party of Pay Per Face event.
After I finished, she really loved playing with me having fun saying ‘meow’ and watching me making faces. In the end, while she was painting on a practice board she allowed me to paint a little yellow heart on her nose too.
So, dear face painters, dear moms, we want you to know that we understand the real struggle of getting your children to model for you! But it is what it is, we need to understand them too – and sometimes they really don’t feel like being painted anymore. Good thing that we can paint our own faces too!
Halloween Cat Face Painting for Boys by Annabel Hoogeveen
Looking around the internet, trying to find some inspiration for a new (domestic) cat design, I was a bit disappointed. There are so many girly cat designs and so many big cat (tiger) designs, but I couldn’t find one single (domestic) cat design for boys.
So, although I was planning on creating yet another girly cat design, I changed my mind and made a Halloween cat face paint boy-friendly version. Here it is!
Find more Halloween cat face paint tutorials in our Ultimate Halloween Face Paint Inspiration Guide! This is the resource professional face painters are flocking to to set their menus this season. 🐈 🌙
🎨 MATERIALS USED:
- Paradise/Mehron White
- Paradise/Mehron Light Blue
- Paradise/Mehron Dark Brown
- Artycake by Silly Farm ‘Teddy Bear’
- PartyXplosion Black (or your favorite waxy black like DFX or Wolfe)
- PartyXplosion White (or your favorite waxy white like DFX or Wolfe)
- Regular sponge
- Wiser’s Graffiti Madness stencil kit (Discontinued. Alternative: BAMS 1206 “Dots”)
- Large flat brush such as the Face Painting Shop 3/4” Flat
- Blazin’ Brush Round brush #3
- Blazin Brush script liner #1
- KingArt round brush #8 (Alternative: the Face Painting Shop round #8)
- Mark Reid chisel brush
- Cameleon blending brush #1
- Baby wipes
Step 1: Sketching Easy Cat Face Paint Design
When painting design for the first time on a real face, I like the start with a rough sketch to find the proper placement. Of course, I make sketches on board too, but those are flat and it is not always possible to copy them completely onto a face. That’s why I make a sketch first.
For this sketch, I used a watery, glycerin-based white paint and a small round brush, #3.
Step 2: Adding a Base to My Halloween Cat Face Paint
I wanted my design to have a cartoony look to it. That meant that I needed ‘clean’ contours. The easiest way to get those is by using a flat or angled brush for the base colors. But to be able to get nice coverage and blend on the forehead, cheeks, and muzzle I first added a base with glycerin-based white and a sponge on certain areas.
To give the design extra color and depth, I also added some light blue on the sides of the muzzle and ‘in’ the ears of my easy cat face paint.
Step 3: Adding the Main Color
To finish the base I loaded a flat wide brush with a brown split cake and filled in the rest of the design.
In this case that meant following all the contour lines with my flat brush and always keeping the darkest color on the side of the contour line. After that, I painted the nose area.
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The ‘empty spaces’ on the cheeks and forehead I filled in next with the lightest color on my brush. Because there was already a white base in the middle parts, the colors blend easily.
The coverage isn’t perfectly even, but it doesn’t have to be because I will add some texture with stencils later on.
Step 4: Adding Hair and Texture to My Halloween Cat Makeup
Instead of painting fur, I added some texture using a regular sponge, white and dark brown paint and a stencil.
After adding the texture I loaded a round brush #8 with two colors of brown from the split cake and added the hair on top of the forehead. The hair is not painted randomly. The difference in length of the individual strands and the placement are working together to create a main direction towards the central focal point.
Step 5: Adding a Nose, Muzzle, and Outline with Black
Using the same split cake I loaded a round brush #3 with a mixture of black and brown and added a triangular nose (not the one I usually do in cats, but the shape you see in cartoon cats), a muzzle with dot lines and outline all around. This will tie the simple cat face paint design together.
Because I thought the white next to the nose was a bit too much, I blended the brown from the nose into the white a bit more and pulled it down with a dry chisel brush.
Step 6: Shading and Highlights
I painted brown with the round brush #8 I used for the hair earlier (on events I would use a lipgloss applicator for sanitary reasons ) in the bottom lip of my Halloween cat makeup, and outlined him with the black from the split cake and a round brush #3.
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Using a small blending brush and a baby wipe I softened some of the dark contour lines, blended the black lip line into the brown to get a softer look and ‘pulled’ the black of the nose a bit up on the sides.
Next, using the same technique, I added some shading on the ears, on the sides of the muzzle and under the muzzle dots, in the hair strands and underneath the hair.
Almost finished! The final step in finishing this design is painting some highlights. Using a round brush #3 and regular glycerin white, I added just a few highlights on the hair and nose.
Step 7 (Optional): Adding Whiskers and Fangs
If you have a bit more time, you can add little fangs and some whiskers too.
For the fangs I used a round brush #3 and regular white. The outline I painted with the same brush and regular black (or black from the split cake).
For the whiskers I used a liner brush with regular black. Liners are the perfect tool for painting whiskers, but don’t paint too many! Just a few, different sized ones (not too long) will do the trick.
Step 8 (Optional): Outlining the Entire Design in Blue
For this design, I used a brownish color because my favorite cats are Abyssinian cats. I just love their beautiful brownish color , but it doesn’t stand out very much on the skin.
If you do want the design to stand out a bit more, you can either choose a different split cake color (you can use any color you like!) or outline the entire design in a contrasting color. So, that’s what I did.
I loaded a round brush #3 with the same light blue color I already used for the base and outlined the entire design, including the eyes. Of course, this is easier before you add the whiskers.
Additional Info:
Focal points are always my big ‘go to’ when creating new designs. In the photo below I added a few and also some extra lines and arrows you can use to give your cat real ‘flow’.
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