Animal Face Painting

Take your face painting to the next level by learning how to create animal faces. It's really quite easy once you know the steps. This guide will help you learn how to make many of your favorite animals.

Girls everywhere will want to don this cat face. To recreate it:

1. Draw a thick, horizontal band of white face paint across the forehead, just above the brows.
2. Add a white triangle top at each end of the band as the base for the ears, and round out the top of the band between the ears a little.
3. Add a second band of white between the upper lip and nose to create the base for the muzzle.
4. Run a band of white down the nose to connect those first two bands.
5. Outline the ears with a thin black eye liner pencil.
6. Smudge some black down the sides of the face to frame the mask, and then add some fur and whiskers.
7. Color the end of the nose pink, and blend some pink in with the white on the sides of the nose and around the eyes out to the sides. Smudge well to blend the colors together and go back in with the black liner to add the final details.

This sweet bunny is easy to recreate on boys and girls.

1. Cover the face in white face paint from the chin to just above the eyebrows. Add some fluffy, white "fur" lines at the top.
2. Add a white outline for each of the ears, and fill them in with pink.
3. Apply some pink to the lips and the end of the nose.
4. Use a black liner to draw the eyelashes and whiskers.

This playful puppy face works well on people of all ages.

1. Draw one large oval around the nose and mouth, and fill it in with white face paint.
2. Extend the white paint up the nose, and then add a white V-shape to the middle of the forehead.
3. Fill in the area around each of the eyes with dark brown paint, and make sure you cover the eyebrows as well.
4. Fill in the rest of the face with a lighter shade of brown.
5. Add some black eyebrows slightly above the natural brow line, and give the puppy a black nose, whiskers, and a red tongue to complete the look.

Little girls everywhere will be happy to wear this pink kitten design.

1. Using white face paint, trace a large circle around the center of the face, from just above the brow line to the chin.
2. Fill in the circle with the white paint.
3. Use black liner to draw the kitten "ears" just above the brow line. Fill in the ears with pink face paint, and blend in some pink around the entire white area as well.
4. Give your kitten some heavier brows and a few lashes at the outer corners of the eyes.
5. Outline the sides and bottom of the nose with the liner, and give the kitten a thin smile, fangs, whiskers and teeth.
6. Finish the design with a red tongue and some pink flowers.

This fierce tiger can be as exotic or adorable as you choose to make it.

1. Paint the area just around the mouth and nose a light shade of orange.
2. Fill in the area around the light orange with a slightly darker shade of orange, and extend it to the hairline.
3. Paint the area just around the hairline dark orange. Gently smudge the three shades together to blend.
4. Outline the lips and nose with black face paint, and paint the end of the nose pink.
5. Add a few little whiskers above the upper lip.
6. Paint the area around the eyes white, and use upward strokes over the brows to create "fur".
7. Paint alternating stripes of thin black and thick white down the forehead from the brow line.

This hairy wolf looks great no matter which color you choose to make him.

1. Paint the inner area of the face from the forehead to the chin in white.
2. Outline the bottom of the nose and the inner portions of the lips with black.
3. Add some medium blue or grey around the outer edges of the white. Blend the two colors together by pulling the white into the blue.
4. Add some darker blue just around the eyes and on the sides of the nose.
5. Fill in the area on the outsides of the eyes with white and blend into the darker blue.
6. Use thin, sharpened face paint crayons in shades of blue, gray and black to add "fur" to the forehead and outline the sides of the face and chin.

This easy bat mask can cover just the areas around the eyes, or you can expand it to cover the entire

1. Outline the body of the bat from the area between the eyebrows down to the tip of the nose.
2. Add ears to the top of the bat's head.
3. Starting at the inside of each eye, trace wings that extend above the eyes and over the cheeks
4. Fill in the entire bat with black face paint.

This leopard shows his true colors with pride.

1. Paint the nose, upper lip and area just beneath the eyes with medium-toned yellow paint.
2. Paint the area extending from around the yellow to within an inch of the hairline with medium-toned orange paint.
3. Shade in the remaining area around the face with brown paint.
4. Blend the three shades together at the edges, pulling the lighter colors into the darker colors.
5. Paint the area around the mouth white, and pull the white out over the orange to create the look of fur.
6. Paint the area just above both eyes white, and use the same technique to create the fur.
7. Outline the bottom edge of each of the white fur stripes with black to accentuate them.
8. Outline the mouth and the bottom of the nose with black. Add black whiskers, and gently blend the black nose into the yellow above it.
9. Add brown asymmetrical spots to the cheeks, outlining each spot on three sides with black.

Use your own lips to give this fish a mouth that opens and closes.

1. Paint one side of the lips with coral color lipstick.
2. Outline this side of the lips with thin black liner, and draw a line bisecting the lips from top to bottom.
3. Beginning at the corner of the lips, draw the body of the fish, and extend it outward over the cheek.
4. Give the fish alternating stripes of yellow and red, and paint the tail red as well.
5. Finish by adding a black dot for the eye.

If you enjoy creating these animal faces, you might want to try branching out into other fantasy makeup looks. This is another great way to refine your body art skills.

Get some more inspiration from this fantasy makeup slideshow.