Halloween Cat Face Paint for Boys- Step-by-Step 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!

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Materials used:

• Mehron White
• Mehron Light Blue
• Mehron Dark Brown
• Artycake ‘Teddy Bear’
• PartyXplosion Black
• PartyXplosion White
• Regular sponge
• Wiser’s Graffiti Madness stencil kit
• Artigo 1257 Sylinsky flat brush # 18
• Blazin Brush round brush #3
• Blazin Brush script liner #1
• Loew-Cornell 795 round brush #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.

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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 to Complete My Simple Cat Face Paint

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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