One of the most frequent questions that I receive is how do I get the colors in my designs so bright and vibrant? Today I will share with you top 7 tips how to make your designs pop. Let’s get it started! 😉
1. Paint brand
Some of the brands like Snazaroo and Kryolan are less bright than the others.
If you want your designs to pop, choose between professional brands like Global, TAG, Diamond FX, Cameleon, Superstar, Paradise (Mehron), Wolfe, Kryvaline or FPA.
2. Clean tools
If you’re already using the pro brands listed above, but your designs still look dull, then move to the next step and check your tools:
- Make sure that the surface of your paints is always clean and doesn’t have any dirt or pigments from other colours on top.
- Organize your brush tub the way you have one separate container for rinsing black paint, one container for rinsing white and one container for rinsing all the other colours. Also, don’t forget to change your rinsing water frequently.
- Make sure that you wash your brushes and sponges properly at home, until you get all of the pigment out of them.
Examples of bad hygiene, bad table organization and as a result — low quality of face painting with dull designs.
3. Tidiness while painting
Not only your tools, but you too should look tidy and behave accurately. Your hands should be always clean and your strokes should be clean. You will certainly obtain dull and dirty designs if you smudge the paint or if your hands are dirty.
4. Paint consistency
Master working with different paint consistencies: dry, sticky, creamy, inky and watery.
- Creamy consistency is usually the one that will release the most vibrancy from the paint. And it is the one that is used for white linework too.
- Inky consistency works the best for linework with black and other dark colours.
- Dry and sticky consistencies are used mostly for sponging and stenciling.
- Watery consistency works well for creating drops and splatters (like realistic blood) and for watercolour style.
5. Photo editing
We rarely have a chance to take professional shots of our artwork. Since the regular ones are usually taken with a smartphone camera or a simple camera, it is natural to edit them before publishing.
Almost every single professional face painter does that, so don’t be ashamed to brighten up your designs in an editor. Just know the limits and don’t go too crazy with it. 😉
6. Combining colours
There is no need to reinvent the wheel! Colour combinations can be created using already existing colours schemes. That’s why we study the Colour Theory and various Colours Schemes and how to use them in Module #7 Part One of the Course.
Here are the main tips on how to use different color combinations for your designs:
- Analogous colour schemes need one bright colour that will balance the composition and will make the design pop
- Complementary colour schemes are the most attractive ones
- Split-complementary colour schemes work like the previous ones
7. Highlights and shadows
Follow one simple rule — the light should always be on the opposite side of the shadow.
Add highlights to the colored areas of your design, but be very careful with overlapping the dark outline with them. Highlights look good on a wide dark background but can ruin it all if you’ll add them to the thin outline.
Note the different placement of the white dots along the outline edge.
Are you new to face painting? ✅ Do yourself a favor and find top designs, fast and easy face painting, and great video tutorials all in one place on our Ultimate Face Painting Ideas Guide!
I hope that this post was useful and that you will be able to brighten up your day with more vibrant designs!
Share this “secret weapon” with your friends if you enjoyed it! 😉
