Easy Monkey Face Painting for Beginners

a girl looking at the camera with a monkey face paint desing
Shawna Fae — 18 August 2023 —

Now you can say YES to monkey face paint when it’s requested! There are some requests that face painters just say no to. For many, monkeys don’t turn out well, often because the flesh tones aren’t being used to their best advantage. Better to say no to a tricky request than do a terrible job and have everyone be disappointed, right? Not anymore!

In fact, this design is cute enough to put on your menu for kids to choose all the time! And, trust me, they’re gonna choose this one.

Are you ready to paint an adorable full face monkey? Let’s get started!

Materials Used:

a banner showing face paints and three brushes

By the way, if you are looking for the best face painting supplies, you may find it helpful checking out our specific recommendations for best paint, brushes, stencils and more! Check out our “Face Painting Supplies Guide”!

STEP 1:

I’m starting by sponging on an ivory skin tone color around my eyes, on the nose and muzzle area, on my chin and then two big circles on my temples, close to the hairline.

a girl with an beige outline of a monkey face paint design
Tip: Sponges are not all made equally. Get the best face painting sponges for crisp, clear designs. Professional face painters have several varieties on hand at all times and know how to use them to their advantage. Become an expert on sponges with this guide!

STEP 2:

Now, using a medium brown shade on a sponge, I’m making some fur on the forehead and connecting that to the outer corners of my eyes. Then, I’m adding some fur on either sides of my cheeks. I’m also adding a thin line around my chin and around the circles on my temple.
 

Tip: For precise sponging, use a sponge with a sharp edge (as opposed to a rounded edge) and apply using light pressure.

a smiling girl looking at the camera at an angle with a almost finished monkey face painting design

STEP 3:

Using only what’s left on my sponge, I’m making a faint contour above my nose, connecting to the muzzle area and the chin. It should make an oval shape around the nose and mouth.

I especially want the line on the nose to be faint so I’m going on top of the line I created with some of the ivory color to diffuse it.

a smiling girl with a almost finished monkey face painting design

STEP 4:

Now I’m adding some pink starblends to the cheeks and inside of the ears using a smoothie blender.

a girl smirking to the camera with a monkey face paint design on her

STEP 5:

For the outline I’m using a dark brown color and doing zig zag motions to make fur. I’m making sure my lines are quite thick, because I plan to blend this out later. I’m also outlining the ears.

a girl wearing a compleated monkey face paint design

Step 6:

Now I’m outlining the muzzle area, again with a thick line. I’m doing a thinner line over the nose and then diffusing it with ivory on my sponge again.

a girl wearing a monkey face paint design

Step 7:

Here’s where it all starts coming together! Using the same dark brown for the outline, I’m making some cute smile lines, nostrils, and some rounded lines around the eyes, which give the illusion of big eyes and adds to the cute factor!

a girl smiling with a compleated monkey face paint design

This would be a good place to stop if you need to paint this design quickly.

Step 8:

To make this design feminine and add more cuteness, I’m painting the lips bubblegum pink and adding some pink glitter. I’m also adding pink glitter to the cheeks and ears. For a more masculine look, the lips can be painted brown or copper.

girl making a kissing face with a monkey face painting on her
Tip: Have trouble making your glitter stick? We have a whole blog post about all the best ways to apply glitter. You won’t have trouble when you’re done with this quick read!

Step 9:

The final step is optional but I recommend doing it if you have time. I’m blending out the muzzle area using a damp blending brush.

I also tried blending out the inside of the fur using the damp blending brush but it wasn’t working well.

Instead I used my brush with dark brown and my sponge with medium brown. I did some flicking motions with the dark brown, and immediately blended that out with the sponge. I recommend watching the video tutorial to see how I did this.

a girl with an compleated monkey face paint design

Hooray! The design is complete!

a girl with an compleated monkey face paint design with arrows pointing to focal points

All of the elements of this design flow between the Central, Outer Eye Corners and Chin focal points.

Tip: No idea what this means? Focal points are an essential component to making balanced and beautiful designs that sit well on the face. Learn our Secret Tips for Flawless Designs (including focal points and more!)!

a girl with an compleated monkey face paint design holding a banana

I hope you enjoyed this simple, but effective monkey design!

??? Are you looking at this design now because you already had a monkey request you weren’t prepared for…

Subscribers to our email list got this design right to their inbox as soon as it was published! It’s a game changer: In just 2-steps, you can better prepare for all your future events. Don’t miss out on this!

We have loads of great tutorials on our blog for animal designs that you will love! Get a load of all these options:

…which one will you try first?

 — Shawna Fae

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