Spiderman has been the most in-demand mask for boys for at least 15 years, which means both new and experienced painters are in need of great variations on this design.
The Spider-Man design offers numerous variations — this version by Milena Potekhina is great for both beginners who need a go-to OTJ design and experienced artists who are ready to try something new to keep a request they’ve been painting for years fresh!
Materials used:
- Colors:
- Red by MAG (Alternative: Beach Berry by Paradise Mehron)
- White by PXP (or your favorite waxy white such as Diamond FX, Wolfe, or Fusion)
- Black by PXP (or your favorite waxy black such as Diamond FX, Wolfe, or Fusion)
- Ziva blue by Superstar
- Split-cake “Dragon” by TAG
- Brushes:
- Big drop by Paint Pal
- Shader brush 1/2 by Aliyah (Alternative: The Face Painting Shop 1/2” Angled brush)
- Round petal 2 943-2 by Kingart
- Stencils: BAM 2035 (Alternate: BAM 1206)
- Sponges: Finger dauber sponges (one each for white, black, and red)
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Step 1:
Using the Paint Pal Big Drop brush, draw eye sockets. Gently, almost without pressing the brush, paint the child’s eyelid. It’s better to start by making a stroke slightly above the lash line to assess the boy’s reaction.
Check if he can keep his eyes closed and endure the eyelid painting procedure. If the child, especially a boy (as they can be quite sensitive), can’t keep his eyes closed, then the eyelid should not be painted. Otherwise, the paint might get into the eyes.
If everything goes well, and you manage to paint the eyelid, the next step is to draw a straight line from the inner corner of the eye at a 45-degree angle.
Then, from the upper point, draw a curved line to the outer corner of the eye. Finally, fill the entire eye socket with white color.
Step 2:
I like to fill in the forehead and temple area with a flat angled brush (1/2) because this brush allows covering a large surface with color at once. This significantly saves time during the process.
Take care around when painting with red near the white eye-areas so the colors don’t bleed together.
The shape should fill in the forehead and end on the nose in a clear line across the nose connecting the two focal points at the inner eye corners. It looks nice to curve this line slightly upward on the bridge of the nose, but not too much.
On the sides, outline the white carefully again ending in the outer corner of the eye. Create a curved line down to a point at the cheek focal point and connect this back up to complete the mask shape. Keep a curve in all these lines as they are the starting point for where the spiderwebs will go.
Step 3:
With an angled brush and any split cake that from red to black, draw the border between the white eyes and the red background.
Step 4:
Using stencil BAM 2035 and a finger sponge, I apply dark red dots on the red background (I mixed the split cake red and black on my finger sponge to achieve dark red) on the sides of the forehead and on the temples, as shown.
Next, I add white dots in the center of the red background, thus creating the texture of the mask.
By placing the white dots on the spots where light would hit most directly and dark dots on the part that would be more shadowed, we’re also creating dimension and shading.
Also, with the base red color, you can add blush dots to the upper part of the cheeks. This will give the mask softer boundaries.
Step 5:
Using brush #2 and black paint, draw the spider web and outline the eye sockets, as shown. Use the focal points as your guide for where to direct the tips of your lines.
The outer linework should all converge at the outer corner of the eye.
Superheroes are a popular request, and Batman is another favorite! For experienced artists, this Batman Mask Face Painting Step-by Step-Tutorial by Wies Facepainting is a total winner. Check out the easy-to-follow tutorial here.
Step 6:
With brush #2 and SuperStar Ziva Blue pearl paint, draw highlights on the spider web and around the eye sockets. The contrast of the blue color is very eye-catching.
For an even brighter POP of highlight, add highlights with white paint on top of the pearlescent ones.
And now, take a step back and look at your finished design.
POW! WOW! SUPER!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this design tutorial! If you have any questions, feel free to email us or ask in the comments below! And when you try it out, we’d love to see your work. Tag us @facepaintingschool 🤩
Get inspired with loads more superhero designs to delight your clients in our Ultimate Face Painting Ideas Guide! You’ll also find other boy favorites, the most popular girl designs, fast OTJ options, and more! We’re not kidding about this being the Ultimate inspiration resource!
Want to learn more Superhero designs? We have a whole playlist of design tutorials on our Youtube: @facepaintingschool. You can start watching now ;)
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