Face Painting for Halloween -- Cute and Scary Ideas

Face painting for Halloween is a lot of fun no matter what age you are! Just about every Halloween costume will look more impressive if you leave some time once the costumes are on for face painting. Halloween themes these days range from spooky ghosts and scary monsters to cute creatures and bugs, and even fruit and vegetables. Not forgetting, of course, the classic pumpkin. All of these cute costume ideas can be enhanced with a little face painting.

If you want scary face painting designs for older kids and adults, head on over to my other face painting for Halloween guide.

This little pumpkin face painting video doesn't have a voice-over but there are some text captions to give you clear instructions for each key stage in the pumpkin painting. And the end result is so adorable that I couldn't resist sharing it with you!

NOTE: Here is an easier pumpkin face painting for Halloween tutorial WITH audio instructions which might be better for first-time pumpkin face painting!

The face painting colors used in the pumpkin face painting video tutorial below are:

* red for the outlines

* orange for the main color

* brown for shading

* black for the eye triangles and the mouth

* green for the stalk

* a touch of white for some highlights.

Awww, isn't this little pumpkin cute!

This is a very quick video but I like this face painting tutorial from bemycanvas a lot because it's a super-easy skull face that anyone can create on a child or even on yourself. Once you've seen the face she will give you step by step images of how she created it. All in under a minute!

A Step by Step Skeleton Face Painting Tutorial

Here's another video tutorial which you can view over on YouTube: Skull Tutorial.

Face painting VideoJug expert Karina shares one of her fantastic face painting Halloween designs in this video tutorial of how to transform your cute kid into a horrible skull! She'll even show you how to paint on cracks.

Kids will be thrilled at the horrible effect that can be achieved with only some white and black face paint.

Karina's top face painting for Halloween tips:

* Once you have the basic white face paint add black to eye sockets in a rectangular shape

* Use your sponge to blend in the dark shadows in the temple and cheek areas

* Remember to make skull teeth larger on the top jaw than on the bottom

* White highlights make the dark areas look even darker

* Use a fine brush to add on the cracks with black paint

A pirate is a fantastic costume choice for boys in particular, though girls can also be just as fearsome as pirates. If you are looking for easy Halloween costumes to make, this is definitely one to consider.

No matter whether it's a girl or a boy pirate you are getting into costume this Halloween, face painting can really finish off that pirate look. It's also a lot more impressive than simply putting on an eye patch and looking like every other pirate in town.

Why not take some tips from a true professional -- Disney face painting artist Rebecca Downin.

Rebecca's top face painting for Halloween tips:

* Use water-based, hypoallergenic theatrical make up

* Have a cup of water, brushes and baby wipes handy

* Add some sparkle with glitter designed for the skin

Professional clown and face painter Shana has a tiger face painting tutorial with kids in mind. A tiger is a fun Halloween costume that's a little bit different and kids won't be able to wait to show off their tiger face paint to their friends!

Shana's tutorials are friendly and fun. She paints on herself and explains everything clearly, so you might also want to look out for her butterfly face painting tutorial. She also uses only a few colors so her face painting designs are not expensive to copy. For the tiger, you will need only orange, yellow, black and white face paints.

Her deluxe tiger face painting further down this page is more difficult and has been included just for fun. This one is the one to use unless you are already an experienced face painter yourself.

Shana's top face painting for Halloween tips:

* Start with lightest colors first

* Avoid painting right over the lips if kids are going to be eating

* Vary pressure on the brush to vary the thickness of lines

* Younger kids might not be comfortable with painting too close to the eye

Some of these have minimal or no instruction but they are interesting face painting designs for adults, if you are up to having a go at copying them.

In order:

1. Pumpkin

2. Skull

3. Corpse Bride (with instructions)

This popular Snazaroo 16 Color Face Painting Wheel for Walk Around Pallet gives you a wide choice of colors -- ideal if you are holding a face painting party or if you have more than one kid to paint and they want to be totally different characters. Snazaroo say there is enough paint here to do 80 full faces!