How to Face Paint a Clown

Making a Simple Clown Face

Make thick arches over your eyebrows with white face paint. Dip a wide face-painting brush, with a width about equal to that of your thumb, into a container of white face paint. Start painting the arch at the inside end of your eyebrow and continue until you cover its entire length. Extend the bottom of the arch to your eyelid, just above your lash line, and the top of the arch 2 centimetres (0.79 in) above your eyebrow. Position yourself and your face-paint kit in front of a mirror so you’ll be able to see your face as you paint it. You can find face paint and brushes at most craft stores and online.

Use a thin brush to paint a white outline around your mouth. Shape the outline around your mouth so that it looks like an exaggerated smile. Keep the top of the outline about midway between the top of your lip and the bottom of your nose and the bottom line 3 centimetres (1.2 in) or so below your bottom lip. Extend the side edges outward and upward to the bottom of your cheeks.

Fill in the area between your mouth and the outline with white paint. After drawing a white outline around your face, use the same brush and white paint to cover any exposed skin between it and your mouth. Use the finest brush in your kit to fill in the area right next to the edges of your mouth for a crisp look. It might be helpful to use a small, handheld makeup mirror with magnification for this step and when painting other small details. Rinse your brush in a small bowl of water once you’re done applying the paint, before the paint on the brush has a chance to dry.

Redden your cheeks with red face paint and a slightly damp sponge. Start by getting a face-painting sponge slightly damp. Get some bright, ruby red face paint on it and dab the red face paint onto your cheeks in the shape of a circle. Apply the paint to an area that’s around the size of one of your eyes.

Draw a red circle on the tip of your nose. Dip 1 of your finest brushes into a container of bright red face paint. Paint slowly and carefully to get the circle as perfectly round and even as possible. Start by making a small circle and extend its edges outward until you get a circle you like the look of.

Coat your lips with the same shade of red. Once you’ve finished making the circle on the tip of your nose, use the same brush and shade of bright red face paint to brighten your lips. Add small circles to the corners of your mouth to create an even happier look.

Add black eyebrows above the white arches you drew earlier. Make the eyebrows slightly thicker than your normal eyebrows. Angle them upward to complement the clown’s smiley face. Extend the outside end of the eyebrow around the top of the white arch. Try not to leave any skin exposed between the bottom of the eyebrow and the top of the white arch.

Paint thin, black vertical lines above and below the centers of your eyes. Dip one of your finest brushes into a container of black face paint. When painting the vertical lines, align the top and bottom lines directly above and below your pupil. Start the bottom line just below your bottom eyelid and extend it ⁄2 in (1.3 cm). Center the top line in the middle of the white arches, and make it slightly shorter than the bottom line. Be careful when painting around your eyes so that you don’t get any paint in them.

Outline the bottom of your mouth with a thin black line. Adding a thin black line between the bottom of your bottom lip and the white outline around your mouth will help the red color on your lips pop. You’ll want to keep the line relatively thin so that it’s not too noticeable to the eye. It’s probably best to use the finest brush in your face-painting kit to make this line.

Dab some red glitter gel onto the red circle on your nose. Adding a little red glitter gel will make your nose sparkle and add extra sparkle to your clown face. To add the glitter, just put some onto the tip of a fine brush and gently dab it onto the red circle. If you’re happy with your look, you can go ahead and skip this step.

Creating a Scary Clown Look

Apply flesh tone face paint to cover your eyebrows. Dab a slightly damp sponge into a color of face paint that most closely matches your skin tone. Cover your eyebrows as best you can with a thick coat of this paint by dabbing the sponge over your eyebrows. Covering your eyebrows like this will help conceal them after you apply white face paint to your entire face.

Cover your entire face and neck with white face paint. Once the face paint you applied on your eyebrows dries, get another sponge slightly damp and then get some white face paint on it. Dab the white paint onto your face until your entire face is covered in a thick, white coat of paint. Be sure to cover your neck, ears, and lips, as well as any areas of skin on your face.

Draw a pair of angry eyebrows with a fine brush and black paint. Start by drawing a “J” shape between the top of your nose and the inside edge of your eyebrow. Then, extend the line upward over your eye before curving it down toward the outer edge of your eye. Create a mirror image of this over your other eye. Using a #1 liner brush would work well for this step. You can draw a different style of eyebrow if it gives the clown’s face an angry look.

Add some frown lines at the inner edges of your eyes. After you finish drawing your angry eyebrows, you can enhance the clown’s angry look by drawing some frown lines. To make these, use the same black paint and fine brush you used to make the eyebrows, and draw 3 faint lines in the shape of crow’s feet coming out of the inner corners of your eyes.

Underline each of your bottom eyelids with a thin black line. Use the same black paint and fine brush you used to paint the eyebrows and frown lines. Carefully add a thin black line right below your eyelid, from your eye’s inner edge to slightly beyond its outer edge. Make the part of the line that extends beyond your eye’s outer edge slightly thinner. If you’re painting the clown face on a small child or on someone who has trouble sitting still, you can skip this step because it’s easy to accidentally hit the eye.

Paint your lips and surrounding areas a dark red color. After using a fine brush to coat your lips with dark red face paint, extend the paint line below your bottom lip to create an exaggerated bottom lip. Then, paint an exaggerated cupid’s bow right above your top lip. Finish by extending the sides of the mouth outward. Make sure the coat of paint is thick enough to give your lips a deep, blood-red look.

Draw thin, red lines from the corners of your mouth to your forehead. Once you’ve finished coloring your lips, use the same brush and red color to paint thin lines up to the black line you drew below your bottom eyelid. Add a slight curve to the lines to give them some definition. Then, extend the lines from the top of your upper eyelids to an inch below your hairline. Try to make the 2 lines as even as possible to give yourself a symmetrical look. These lines will give your clown the same look as Pennywise from the 2017 movie It.

Brush some red paint onto the bottom of your nose. Use a thick brush and the same dark red color you used on your lips. To apply the paint, put the brush on the bottom of your nose and flick it upward to create a fade. Cover the bottom ⁄2 in (1.3 cm) of your nose with the red paint. Flicking the brush to create a fade will give the top of the red section a frayed look, which will give your clown face a look of wild unpredictability.