Are you looking for a quick and easy skull face paint idea that would be fast and easy to implement on long lines of clients this Halloween season?
Our School certified instructor Kristin Olsson prepared a great solution! 😃
Get Your Beginner Skull Face Paint Kit Here
Many boys (my own son included) are not very fond of getting paint near their eyes. But they still love a cool skull design!
With Halloween just around the corner, I wanted to create a fun and easy one stroke skull mask that is fast but impressive looking — just what we are looking for when we have our busy Halloween gigs!
This design can be painted in just 3-4 minutes if you have a long line.
And if you have the chance to spend an additional minute or two, I will show you how to add some super cool details that will definitely impress your little customers! ;-)
Products used:
- One stroke cake – Swan from Cameleon
- Superstar White
- Superstar Shimmer Baby Blue
- Superstar Fire Red
- Diamond FX black
- ¾ flat brush — Nat’s gold edition
- Flora bruh #6 by Loew Cornell
- Round brush #3 from Paint Pal luxe swirl brush set (same as yellow handle #3 from the discontinued Loew Cornell 795 series)
- Graffiti eyes stencil — Lea Selley
- Finger dauber
- Half round sponge
Step 1: Add Contour to Your Skull Face Paint
For the first step of creating this skull face paint, I start from the main shape, I use a ¾ flat brush and a one stroke.
As you can see, the outline is not very accurate and in places, I have lifted up the brush from the surface and placed it down again.
That is intentional — I will add some cool cracks here in the next step!
I have used Swan from Cameleon here which is black, silver and white, but you can always use another one stroke of your own preference, for example, a brown and white combination.
In the School, we have a whole module dedicated to one stroke painting technique — and nailing this is so useful when it comes to painting fast designs.
Step 2: Filling in the Mask
For this step, I fill in the empty area of the skull.
You can use the lightest part of your one stroke color to fill it in very fast, or you can use a sponge with some white color and dab it in the white areas, which is what I did.
I used Superstar white for this, as its glycerin based and blends in more easily with the other colors.
For an additional effect, I very lightly dabbed on a bit of light blue as well, but you can skip the blue if you are in a hurry. 😉
Step 3: Halloween Skeleton Face Paint Cracks
In this step, I add the black outline and paint the cracks in the skull.
As you can see, the gaps I left are now turned into some cool, deep cracks as well!
You don´t have to be very accurate but it is good to keep in mind how cracks would look in reality.
This is where you can put your thick to thin line practice in use, so make sure your brush strokes are not too heavy and finish this Halloween skull face paint in nice sharp tips.
By the way, don’t miss your chance to take our “Improve your linework in 3 Days” Free Online Workshop! 😍
Step 4: The Teeth
For the teeth, I use a flora brush and the double dip technique — the shape of the flora brush is perfect for this shape!
I load the brush with white first, wipe off the excess of paint on the tip and reload the tip only with black. Press the brush down flat and voila — your skull face paint instantly have perfect teeth!
In this step I also add a bit of stenciling — I do love to add stenciled details to my designs! And instead of spending time on the shading, why not use some gradient dots instead?
It is a really fast way of adding interest to your Halloween skull face paint design and it looks super cool as well!
If you have a very long line, you can leave the design like this and you will have one happy customer…
Step 5: Another Level to Complete Your Skull Face Paint
…or you can take your Halloween skeleton face paint design to the next level and add some cool stitches and a bit of dripping blood for an extra effect! In the photo below, I have made a little step by step for you on how to paint the stitches around the mask.
- With black paint and a round brush, paint the basic shape. If you curve some of the stitches very slightly and paint a few on top of each other like a cross-stitch, they will look more realistic on the mask.
- Paint the white highlights on top of the stitches. This highlight will make the stitches pop on your design!
- Wipe off the majority of black on your brush and dry brush the black on the tips of the stitches to add a shading effect. If your brush is too dry, you can moisten it a little bit on a wet wipe.
- Adding a few little drops of blood here and there will give your design an added creepy effect!
Add the stitching and voila — you have a super cool and fast Halloween skull face paint!
Want more Halloween inspiration? Check out our other tutorials:
Flawless Sugar Skull
Fast and easy one-stroke Pumpkin Mask
Zombie Unicorn
Not your average Vampire
Did you enjoy this easy skull face paint tutorial? 😃
The International Face Painting School team is always working hard to help you stand out from the crowd and learn the most effective techniques and designs!
Share this article with your fellow face painters! 👇👇👇