Whew, my first try! (critiques and advice welcome)(several pics)

[Catalina]

Finally got my first Snaz paints and was practicing with them all night.
Here are a few pictures, please don't be afraid to tell me what can be improved. So far I'm struggling the most with:
1. Sponging. I cannot tell how much white paint is on the sponge (the stupid cheap white thin sponges) So far, not so fond of sponging.
2. Water vs paint ratio
3. Lines
4/ Lines on moving target (of course)

Drawing on myself was much easier, my hand seems to naturally want to go THAT way. Of course you can see on the sides of my face, where I could not quite see. On my son - it was frustrating. His belly was pretty easy though.
Oh yeah, I totally realize now that spider legs are coming out fromt he wrong part of its body. ^^
 
My hubby was very patient, but said that I was pushing on his eyes too much (although i barely touched, dabbing very gently), hence very little white, and none on the other eye.

[Sherry]

I think you're doing great.  I'd hate for you to see some of my firsts!     It all comes with practice and I think you will be more and more satisfied as you gain more experience.

I never realized how hard I pushed on people's eyes, until someone said something, so I try to remember to be more aware of this when I'm painting and use a gentle touch around the eye area.

[Party Picassos Facepainting]

For a first attempt, great job.

Paint consistency: creamier for sponging on large spaces and a bit thinner for line work. Don't use regular make up sponges. YUCK! Tried them and then went and bought a bunch of Snazaroo sponges. Now they even have different colors. Why? So you use red sponges with red paint, blue with blue paint. This way, when you reuse your sponges, they don't appeared as stained. Also, tap your paints on. It is smoother and less streaky.

Practice your strokes. Play with different thicknesses. When you vary your line sizes, it's more interesting.
Also practice doing curly-qs and tear drops. Even after all my years, I try to practice as much as possible. Use different size brushed and different shapes. You will get many unique effects. Look at some website for purchasing brushes. Some display the types of lines made by that individual brush.

Kids do move. Let them hold a mirror, talk to them (nicely), ask questions so they don't realize how long they are sitting still.

Check out loads of videos on YouTube. You learn so much by watching. Go forth and prosper!

[reginanewsum]

Very nice job for your first attemps!  Try using a number 6 brush for the lines on the tiger, practice thick and thin lines,  I use a number 6 round loew cornell for evey thing! You just have to use pressuse and release and just remember for sponging tap tap tap! This works the best, here is a picture of my very first tiger!

[Catalina]

Haha, oh wow, that one puts my "tiger" to shame.
Ill definitely try with more variation to the line thickness.
My pain doesn't go on as smoothly either, I'm still struggling with making it wet enough.

[Catalina]

Ok, so I tried some more painting on myself. I think my son is catching on and refused to be painted.
Here is a butterfly.
I wanted to try the sparkly colors as well.


And a mask. I am planning to "wear" one on halloween, so thinking of ideas. Also testing out glitter, which apparently is a gel, not a loose powder. lol

[Sherry]

Oooh, I like the mask. 

[Party Picassos Facepainting]

Good efforts! One bit of personal experience. Keep your designs simple.
For me, it is soooo easy to get lost in adding more lines, more details.
Then as I was checking out other artists' websites, I notice how clean
and precise their designs were.

Now I try (don't always get it right), to practice my designs,
so that most of my butterflies or all my spidermen or tigers, all have the same strokes.
Sometimes, I get too involved thinking, should I add another stroke here or there?
It slows me down and I add a bit too much detail. So I am working on keeping it simple.

Keep practicing!

[reginanewsum]

Your so right!  Keep your design simple and clean! It really depends on where I am painting!  If I have a long line to get threw, simple and fast but still beautiful, crisp and clean, if it is a family fest where I am doing a PPF, I use the same method.  If I am doing Ren Faire where the design costs $25.00 per person, well I add alittle more detail. Here is a simple fast, clean and bold spiderman design that was done at a family festival, a PPF event.