Well-thought-out face paint is the crowning glory to many good costumes. Face paint stirs young imaginations, encourages dramatic play and is a grand lot of fun for adults. Everybody loves a friendly dog; learning dog face painting techniques can make you the hit of the next craft fair, picnic or costume party.
Make-up and Accessories
The costume make-up readily available around Halloween are often low-quality. They are formulated to wash off very easily; as a result they are prone to rub off and wear off relatively quickly.
A full dog face is complicated enough that a higher quality of face paint is in order. The Mehron company started by producing theater make up in 1927. They have expanded their line to include street make up. Kryolan is another high-quality theater make-up supplier.
To create a dog face on a human face, gather a black makeup pencil, white base or cream foundation, black or dark brown base or cream foundation, black or dark brown lipstick, lighter brown base or cream foundation, red cream and setting powder. Also have a little facial moisturizer.
For make-up application, have on hand a dish of warm water, a small sea sponge, some make-up brushes of a few different sizes and a big powder brush. Sea sponges are less irritating to the skin than synthetic triangle sponges.
Preparation
If new to character and animal face painting, plan the face out on a paper first. Draw a large oval then go through the step by step instructions to create a dog face with crayons.
Start with a clean face, washed with mild soap and water. Apply a small amount of facial moisturizer because some make-up can be drying to the skin.
Creation
Take your black pencil and draw the outline of a snout. The snout starts just above the ball of the nose, and is a circle or oval that encompasses the tip of nose, part of cheeks, lips and chin.
Dip your sea sponge in warm water and use it to apply light brown base on the face outside of the snout.
When dry, draw over real eyebrows with black pencil. Use the sea sponge to apply dark-brown base foundation around the eyes. Fill in the circle around the eyes; this creates the illusion that the eyes are further back.
White foundation forms inside of the snout, creating the optical illusion that the snout is extended. Then the tip of the nose is painted black with some dots around the nose or mouth to represent whiskers. Apply black or dark brown lipstick to the lips.
Top it all with a doggie's panting tongue. Red cream paint makes a nice tongue hanging out of the dog's mouth. Tongue should reach down onto the chin. Draw a black line down the middle of the tongue.
A final, optional step is to apply setting powder with a big, dry powder brush. Do not use a powder pad because it could smear the face paint. The setting powder just helps the design last longer.
