This girl has a cheek art dragon.
Cheek art is a type of face painting or body art that focuses on the cheek as the focal point for the design. Cheek art is popular with small children because it isn't as intimidating as getting full face paint done, and can be easily wiped off. Generally cheek art designs are approximately 3 inches by 4 inches wide, depending on the subject's cheek.
Flowers, Hearts, Stars, Rainbows
Some of the most commonly asked for cheek art designs are simple shapes, such as flowers, hearts, stars, and rainbows. Hearts and stars are relatively easy to adapt to cheek art because of their single color and simple shape, but flowers and rainbows can pose a bit more of a challenge. Consider simplifying a rainbow down to three or four colors and making flowers two-toned. Alternatively, you can get more intricate with these shapes by including outlines and shading.
Seasonal Cheek Art
Many face painters find themselves working at holiday parties, where seasonal cheek art designs are in high demand. During Halloween, pumpkins, ghosts, witches and black cats are all good, simple designs that can be easily applied. For Christmas, stockings, Christmas trees, ornaments, presents and candy canes can all be made small enough to fit on the cheek. At Easter or spring-themed parties, plan to be doing flowers, bunnies, and Easter eggs.
Animals
Animals are an often requested cheek art design and can be difficult to fit in the space on someone's cheek. One way to get around this is to paint the animal's face, rather than the entire animal. When doing a whole animal, remember to simplify the animal down to its component shapes and clearly capture any defining features so it's easily recognizable. Popular cheek art animals include cats, dogs, birds, butterflies, unicorns and horses.
Complex Cheek Art
Although cheek art is usually thought of in terms of face painting small children, many makeup artists utilize cheek art to create elaborate fantasy makeup designs. Delicate flowers and vines are popular designs for these types of body art, as are stars, moons and suns. Makeup cheek art can also use more "heavy" symbols, such as lightning bolts and spider webs for an intense overall look. Remember to take into account the overall look of the subject when designing cheek art for adults.
