( this is an update of a post from 2013) #zombieattack
Our Transformations technique is to create bold face designs that look exciting, creating a unique design for each person we paint. It’s the over-all effect of the collective faces at an event which creates the transformation. Each face should look good both up close and from across a room, it should draw your attention and excite the person wearing it. To maximize the effect at an event we paint as many people as we can, using a simplified technique and concise imagery to paint effective designs as quickly as possible — a face like this zombie would take 3 minutes.
For this how-to I took these step-by-step fotos on a guest as I painted him at one of our events. This is the fast version of a basic stage make-up approach to shaping a face with shading, with some zombie details on top. A basic make-up concept like this then leads into all sorts of variations and explorations at each event, see #ZombieAttack — Halloween Gallery
STEP 1: BASE — With a sponge, put a solid base color over the whole face (except the eyelids). Use any medium shade: grey is classic zombie, but can be green, blue or others. (See below for info on the makeup, brushes and sponges we use — and also for a pdf of a green zombie and other variations)
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STEP 2: SHADING — Add shading to exaggerate the sunken parts of the face: the eye sockets, the sides of the nose, the lines from the edge of the nose going around the mouth, the hollows on the cheeks and chin. Generally with horror make-up, you want to make the face more dramatic looking by putting shadows into the sunken, fleshy parts of the face and highlights on the bony parts (step 3). I do my shading by painting thin lines with black liquid make-up, then “pulling” those lines with a large soft brush to blend them into the grey base. You can also do your shading with the edge of a sponge — a triangular sponge works well for that.
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STEP 3: HIGHLIGHTS — In this step I use a sponge to lightly put white makeup onto the bridge of the nose, the cheek bones, chin and forehead, to increase the sculpting of the face.
I also put a bright color (yellow in this case) onto the eyelids to begin to make his zombie eyes.
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STEP 4: EYES & MOUTH — I add a red spot for the eyes and black to create the open mouth shape. It’s part of the style that I work in that the mouth is kind of loose and jagged — I like my monster faces to look “ill-formed”, not too precise.
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STEP 5: FINAL DETAILS and EXPRESSIVE LINES — In this case I gave him small pointy teeth with some red dots for blood. I used what I term “expressive lines” to give his eyes an angrier look — they same kind of line techniques a cartoonist would use to change the expressions of an illustration can create the modern, fast type angry zombie or, with different eye lines, the old-fashioned shambling type zombie (in this case, I modeled off of those furrowed brows they always give the Hulk when he’s angry in comic books).
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ZOMBIE VARIATIONS — Starting from this basic formula of using shading and highlights to make the face dramatic, using bizarre colors, and adding playful details like a gory mouth and zombie eyes, you can make a whole range of zombies, monsters, and other horror make-ups. The blue shaded zombie here was also painted at the same event.
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Click here for this printable pdf of the step-by-step for a green zombie, and some examples of variations: Halloween_ZombieHowTo_agostinoarts
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MAKE-UP AND TOOLS — There are a lot of good face painting make-ups available today, so please be sure to get a safe, comfortable make-up product for any facepainting. Never use paint on someone’s skin, even paints that say they are non-toxic — always use make-up.
The brand I prefer is Kryolan’s Aquacolor because of the vivid colors, ease of application and removal, and how comfortable they are to wear. Learn more on our web page http://agostinoarts.com/AboutTheMakeup including where you can get quality make-ups in the NYC area and online. And check out my book: Transformations! The Story Behind the Painted Faces
I apply the Aquacolors with sponges and brushes. I prefer the round craft-type sponges and synthetic sable watercolor brushes.
Learn about all that we do at: agostinoarts.com
Related articles
- #ZombieAttack — Halloween Gallery
- Halloween Face Painting Gallery 2014
- Halloween 2013 — Face Painting Gallery #zombieattack
- #ZombieAttack — Halloween Gallery 2: Vampires, Demons, Aliens and Creepy Characters
- Dia De Los Muertos — Face Painting Gallery
- See our video: Getting Into the Halloween Groove
- Japanese Demons and Kabuki Spooky
- Face Painting Gallery — Prospect Park Boo at the Zoo
For the 9th and 12th grades I did a very different program, doing two workshops with each class. The first workshop was a special presentation on the cultural use and significance of masks (based on the material in my 
The completed designs can be the basis for making a physical mask, which some schools have the students do with their art teachers after my visit. The process can also include a writing assignment — the 9th grade students wrote essays to accompany their designs, in which they were to describe the social concern, find media links to examples of this problem, and develop a storyline for how their Healing Spirit will solve the problem.
Everyone had a lot of fun in these sessions, and it was exciting to see full classes transformed in these strange and powerful designs. In a facepainting workshop the interaction between the students is as important as the results — the goal is not to create great faces, it is to explore this collaborative process and their own creativity, and to experience the transformation of self-identity that comes with wearing the mask. I encourage the students to wear the painted face through the school day, so their peers can see it, and to know the “story” of the Healing Spirit they have become. 
The whole process was documented in photographs, including posed images of the finished faces which the school planned to display after my visit. A great advantage of using symbol-based designs is that there is no concrete expectation for what each face should look like, since these are invented symbolic beings, so success doesn’t depend on a student’s painting skills.