100 Scary Body Painting For Halloween For Kids and Adults

Last Updated on November 19, 2023 by Masha Eretnova

Paint yourself as your favorite character this Halloween with one of these brilliant body painting ideas. From superheroes to mythical creatures, there’s something for everyone. Be sure to use skin-safe paint that will be gentle on your skin and non-toxic, I will recommend some too!

Body painting is a great way to stand out from the crowd this Halloween. Whether you’re painting your whole body or just your face, there are plenty of ways to get creative

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Ideas For Body Painting For Halloween

Body Art for Halloween night is easy to create and skin is actually a very nice surface to paint on – smooth and the paint adheres great and colors remain vibrant! You can come up with dozens of unique styles but I also got some popular Halloween body paintings to share.

Make sure your outfits match your face or body painting – it can be a sort of cosplay outfit easily if you have some spare time to make it. To make your full-body or face painting even scarier or spectacular add fluorescent body paint, and glitter, and find a wig. Some enthusiasts even add special effects like flames, alternate their eye color with special lenses, and imitate bruises with professional paint or makeup.

Superheroes Body Painting For Halloween

#1 Superman Body Painting for Halloween

Superman body painting for Halloween can be either a full Superman costume or just the S sign on your chest. The main Superman colors are blue and red. You will also need red underwear and a red mantle to complete your Halloween costume.

A quick tutorial on how to do Superman body painting for Halloween by Jess Instantly:

#2 Batman Body Painting for Halloween

To create a Batman body painting for Halloween, you can only paint the torso and buy leather or simple black paints and a mask. It would be perfect if you can craft or buy a Batman belt too!

*I cannot find who made this amazing costume, if you know, email me and I credit the creator!*

Here is the Batman body painting for Halloween tutorial by Alicia Goveas:

#3 Venom

Venom’s body painting idea works amazingly for both men and women and looks especially scary when you paint Venom’s mouth across the whole neck.

*Project by Alejandro Servin on Behance*

#4 Carnage

MakeUpEnPointe made a simple tutorial on how to do Carnage body painting for Halloween:

#5 Harley Quinn

*Model@lindsaycrolius Body art by @nicbodyartla*

*PHOTO CREDIT: MICHAEL DELLA POLLA for NY Comic Con. Model: Georgina Billington*

Alisha Barron recorded a face painting tutorial on Harley:

#6 The Joker

*by Marina Lane. Image: @marinaeloise/Kennedy News*

*by Patty Osorio, founder of Patty Kloset*

MsMaoMaoz created a full tutorial on Joker’s face and body painting for Halloween:

Extremely talented make up artist MCroft on deviant art is absolutely killing it with unique body and face paintings, for ex., here is her take on Batman vs Joker:

#7 Spawn Easy Body Painting for Halloween

Black and white color for the body and red elements or paint for hair, mantle and gloves.

Nikki paint has published a tutorial on Spawn body painting:

#8 Two-Face from Batman

Two face is easy to paint for Halloween, you can keep one side of your face clean and paint the other one with an angry face burnt by chemicals.

#9 Swamp Thing Body Painting for Halloween

Another superhero from DC – Swamp Thing – isn’t the prettiest to me which makes him perfect idea for Halloween body painting. You need lots of green khaki color and some elements you can use o create texture.

#10 Deadpool Bodypaint

Deadpool os one of the most popular superhero from comics and it is also very easy to paint on body and face – you need only red and black paints, and white paint for eyelid.

You can either make or paint the straps and guns.

#11 Scary Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy by herself is beautiful but we can add darker colors and play with delivery to make it suitable for Halloween

#12 Nebula and Gamora Body Painting

#13 Scarlet Witch Body Painting

Amazing art by mcroft07:

#14 Hellboy Body Paint for Halloween

Perfect for Halloween costume – Hellboy body painting. Works both for women and men and is quite easy but time-consuming, and red paint consuming as well lol

#15 Ghost Rider Body painting for Halloween

Ghost Rider is a rider directly from Hell who can burn anyone’s soul! Quite easy body painting ideas for Halloween as you’re basically drawing a skull, skeleton, and flames!

*Artist Lana Chromium, model Isabelle Turell @fitrockstar*

Movies Characters Face & Body Painting For Halloween

#16 Darth Maul Body Painting

Darth Maul’s body painting for Halloween is easy to create but requires some patience. You only need black and red body paint. You can make horns and paint them with golden paint.

*Image credit: © Skincognito Bodypainting*

#17 Avatar Body Painting for Halloween

Avatar is not scary but became one of the staples for Halloween or body painting shows as it is a very remarkable costume. And easy to recreate too!

*LiquidLatexFashions team has created an actual body painting kit for Avatar!*

#18 Frankenstein Body Painting for Halloween

You can choose greenish, grey, or bluish colors to paint Frankenstein but most importantly paint stitches!

*Candice Dixon transformed into Frankenstein by @julietattambodyart (© Skincognito Bodypainting)*

#19 Jason Voorhees from Friday 13th

Jason Voorhees’s body painting is mostly face painted like his mask ( or you can buy a mask if you don’t want to paint). Some creators also add mask-like elements on the body and some blood stains. You can also paint only half of your face.

#20 Carrie White Halloween Bodypaint Costume

Carrie body painting is super easy for Halloween – you only need blood like red paint and that’s all, well, and a dress like you would wear for a prom and a tiara…

*Carrie White (@gonnalaughatme) / Twitter*

Ash Levi created an amazing video tutorial on how to create a Carrie costume for Halloween:

#21 Predator Halloween Body Painting

Predator “face” is quite challenging to paint and most creators use a special painted mask but still paint the whole body. You can do the same or try to paint even the face, in that case, it will work but it won’t be 3D.

#22 Freddy Kruger

Nothing is more classic than Freddy for Halloween. Get a shirt or paint it and create face painting like a burnt face with red and light colors.

*by Laura Cristina @lauracristinax (Twitter)*

*Face paint & special effects by* *Ilianna Valsamaki*

#23 Hannibal’s body painting for Halloween

You can paint your body to recreate Hannibal Lectors costume in prison with face protection mask:

#24 Oogie Boogie Halloween Bodypaint

Amazing color choice and Oogie Boogie body painting for Halloween tutorial by MsMaoMaoz:

#25 The Nun (Valak) body painting for Halloween

Makeup tutorial on how to transform into the Nun by Claire Dim:

#26 Walking dead main characters

It is an advanced idea as you will have to paint the clothes and it is not easy nor as exciting as painting creatures 🙂 But anyway, Walking dead follows perfectly Halloween theme and you can do it, by following this Youtube video:

#27 Inside Out Anger

Cartoons can also work especially if the characters are scary or angry, like this one:

The same will actually apply to Mike Wazovski, Hotel Transylvania Series, Beetle juice, and others. I’m sure especially kids will be happy!

#28 Ursula

Ursula is such a simple and unique character to paint for Halloween. You need crazy hairstyle, lots of pale purple paint, red lipstick, and blue eye shadows and that’s it! Would be cool if you find a maxi skirt or make real tentacles.

GMA had a great idea to paint two faces: Ursula and Little Mermaid:

And here is how to do make up Ursula style:

Video Games Characters Body Painting for Halloween

#29 Mortal Kombat Body Painting for Halloween

Some Mortal Combat characters are perfect for Halloween body painting, for example, Scorpion, Sub Zero, Mileena, Kitana, Goro, Noob Saibot, Skarlet, Quan Chi, Daegon, Baraka, Jade, and many others!

*Mileena body painting for Halloween. Uploaded on Pinterest by Alexandria Cook.*

*Kitana body painting by Tabitha Lyons @Artyfakes (Twitter)*

*Scorpion face painting by @natzbuzz on Instagram*

*Quan Chi by Kelsey Boutte for Anime Con*

Jade body painting by Violentnacho:

#30 Silent Hill Nurses Body Painting for Halloween

For the Silent Hill nurse costume for Halloween, you need a short nurse costume and lots of white paint, and a little bit of red paint to create blood stains.

More Easy Body Painting Halloween Ideas

#31 Scarecrow

#32 Zombie

To paint a zombie for Halloween on your body, use green or grey paint on your face and body with black accents around your eyes and mouth. Put red paint as blood on your body and especially your neck and chin (to prove you ate some brains already!)

#33 Monster

#34 Skeleton – Easy Body Painting for Halloween

To create a Skeleton body painting for Halloween, paint bones with white paint and black accents around your eyes, mouth, and in between bones.

You can also paint your whole body black and then paint bones over, it is very easy.

You can equally just paint the hands and feet:

#35 Flesh and Bones

To upgrade a skeleton body painting, add some torn-apart flesh and blood to it. You will need red color for blood, and you can try to mix darker skin tones to imitate skin cuts. If you want to paint blood vessels, get darker red and blue colors.

#36 Spiders

You can paint your face as a spider face, or add dozens of little spiders across your body.

I hate spiders, to me this is the scariest body painting for Halloween haha

#37 Vampire (Dracula)

A vampire is a very easy and classy Halloween body painting – apply red paint on your lips and make it look like dripping blood, make your face pale with white paint and add dark accents around your eyes.

Your Halloween costume absolutely needs good fangs so please get these ones to rock it on Halloween. Full wow would be to buy red lenses 🙂

You can just focus on the face and neck and make it easier for you:

Or go full in and paint your body as a nice retro-style costume as well:

#38 Orc

Whether you like green orcs or grey-blueish orcs like in Lord of the Rings, painting your body as an orc’s body is quite easy as you mainly need to cover yourself in one color and add minor accents.

Here Ginny Di shows how to do so:

#39 Witch

Some witches in cartoons and movies have scary greenish faces with some warts but some are really pretty. You can be either 🙂

Cute Hocus-Pocus-inspired cosplay video by Alina Sandu or this video by Micheli Lima:

#40 A ghost

Also easy to paint – a ghost for Halloween – add white paint on your face and body with black accents around your eyes.

You can customize this idea and be not just a ghost, but a ghost of a model, a ghost of a policeman, etc. To make it more fun.

#41 Devil vs Angel

Right?! In my head, it looks a bit like Hellboy so I would use red paint on your face and body with black accents around your eyes and mouth.

Another cool idea is to paint half body or half of the face like a devil and another half like an angel!

#42 A mermaid (or dead mermaid)

This mermaid didn’t meet her prince. You can create the tail or any color you like, choose purple, green or blue paint.

On your face and body add silver accents around your eyes and mouth. I would also dye my hair with temporary paint to complete the Halloween costume.

Here is how you can do the face:

And here is a pro tip on how to do the body:

#43 Tiger

Tiger is easy to paint for Halloween. You need to paint yourself orange and then add black paint stripes on your face and body with white accents around your eyes and mouth.

In fact any animal print will work. You can go further and add some Halloween drama to it and paint wounds or make yourself a zombie animal (is it a thing? Idk).

#44 Red Hood and Wolf

Great idea for a couple for Halloween – to become Red Hood and Wolf. But even if you will be alone, you can paint your face in halves: one half is the wolf, another is the red hood. Or just pick one character and paint it – Red Hood will be much easier, just don’t forget a red mantle.

Option for couples:

Option for yourself:

#45 Cuts on your body

If you don’t really want to cover your whole body in the paint make some cuts here and there like bleeding tattoos or scars with stitches, burnt flashes, wounds, and bruises.

Pro tip: You can actually buy special scar wax and model your cuts and wounds to be very realistic. It is quite cheap and easy to use.

#46 Alien

What do you think an alien looks like? Paint your face or body as an alien body. I imagine them either being green little humanoids, lol, or some sort of advanced species looking like Predators.

Whichever your fantasy is telling you – go for it! Here is an easy tutorial by Sarah:

Halloween Face Painting Ideas

Not everyone is ready to paint the whole body – it takes time, lots of paint, and effort and it’s not very convenient and appropriate for everyone. Easy to impress the crowd on Halloween – do a scary face painting! Here are some popular Halloween face painting ideas and I hope they will inspire you to do some body art 🙂

Technically most of the above-mentioned ideas will work only on the face as well, so I will be just adding even more cool ideas here.

#47 Grinch

Grab green and grey or black for shadowing lines and do Halloween Grinch Makeup! This idea will work both for Halloween and Christmas!

#48 Scarecrow

One more video to paint a scarecrow on your face, an easier one 🙂

#49 Nutcracker

To paint Nutcrackes face you mostly need white, black, and red paint.

You can either go with just outlining eyes and mouth or go full in and cover the whole face:

Easier option:

Advanced face painting:

#50 Pazuzu The Exorcist Face Painting for Halloween

Easy and pretty damn creepy face painting idea for adults! It is a demon from the movie but some people say it may be based on some Babylonian myths.

#51 Scream

To recreate Scream Ghostface it is easier to just buy a mask but if you want to do a face painting you can also do it! A trick is to paint the screaming mouth longer, going down your chin!

#52 Mad Hatter

Mad Hatter is crazier more than he is creepy but I think it can still work as a cool face painting idea for Halloween, and it is a popular easy to recognize character too with lots of freedom for you as a creator.

#53 Robot

It can be a very general image of a robot or you can go precise and paint Bender from Futurama.

#54 Animal

Just be a cat, dog, snake, crocodile, panda, wolf, or whoever you want! It is recognizable and relatively easy to do, especially for a cat or panda 🙂 Animal patterns will work too:

#55 Pumpkin

Right! The main attribute of Halloween – a pumpkin can be painted on your face. Either your whole face becomes an orange vegetable and you add a leaf somewhere or you can paint small pumpkins on your cheeks.

This idea will work for kids and adults and you can use Snazaroo face paints:

#56 Santa Muerta

Santa Muerta is such a beautiful face-painting idea for Halloween! I found so much inspiration browsing Pinterest.

For a video tutorial, check Claire Dim:

#57 Galaxy

Painting stars, galaxies, or planets on your face also can be a unique idea for face painting on Halloween. Not that scary though, but hey, no judging! Maybe it is a planet full of zombies?!

#58 Half of the face

This is a great visual illusion for Halloween: keep half of your face normal, but make the second part look like flesh, bones, a skull, or Frankenstein’s face!

#59 Third eye or Eyes on Eyelid

A little bit of spirituality with Halloween taste, paint a scary third eye. Maybe it is even bleeding?

You can also paint eyes over your eyes on your eyelids so whether your eyes are closed or open people would be able to able – it is creepy!

#60 Leatherface

Easy way to do Leatherface Halloween face painting is to pick different colors of foundations, apply them in sections and then paint stitches with eye liner between them!

#61 Babadook

Babadook is very scary to me and I would only recommend this Halloween idea for adults. You basically only need black and white and just copy the image from the movie: big black mouth, black areas around eyes, pale white face.

#62 Maleficent

Maleficent was a great witch and her costume for Halloween will be really cool. Only the horns will take time but you can easily do them with paper mache or even cardboard.

Makeup itself is super easy – go out with makeup on a very pale white foundation:

#63 Corpse Bride

The key to making a great Corpse Bride Halloween face painting is to do big white eyes over your eyelids and beyond! I saw just blue-toned makeup without such eyes and it is not the same vibe!

This is the most famous tutorial:

#64 Pennywise

It is technically a clown face painting for Halloween but many of us know specifically Pennywise and not any other clowns when we mention Halloween. And it is a pretty easy one to paint: white face, red lines – donsy!

#65 Pinhead

Quite a tricky one to make. It is easy to paint your face like Pinhead for Halloween but you must find out how to tape all these pins to your head (you can use carpet tacks).

Her they will explain how to figure it out:

#66 Bat makeup

You can paint little bats around your eyes and lips, make the Batman mask, or experiment with different colors and sizes of bats.

Easy bat make up by Sally Jo:

#67 Huge mouth (that goes onto your neck)

There are 2 ways to do a huge mouth: just a huge mouth that goes from one ear to another or a huge mouth with teeth that goes all the way down your neck so when you bow your head it looks really awesome.

Delia here made an easy tutorial for mouth to neck:

#68 Creepy Clown

Some people have a legit fear of clowns and I can understand them. For Halloween face painting you can choose to paint a crazy clown face with white and red paint.

Get darker red or mix it with black a little bit to get a blood color.

But the easiest way to do clown face painting is like this, you need white, red, and blue paint and a crazy hairstyle.

#69 Mummy

Create mummy face painting for Halloween using mostly black and white paint. First with wide brushstrokes make the stripes, then with a fine detailed brush and black paint outline them. Last, with a sponge add stains and details.

#70 Abstract/Primal

You can also follow your inspiration to create abstract face painting or primal-like lines across your face as some tribals do for ceremonies and fights.

Photo by Khashayar Kouchpeydeh on Unsplash

#71 Fluorescent paint

With neon paints, you can paint a skull on your face that will glow in the dark.

But I personally find that this idea of painting lightning on your face with fluorescent paint is the most on point, as lightning glows and is very bright itself:

#72 Cheshire cat

A big smile is a key to successful Cheshire cat Halloween face painting. Other than that you can either paint the whole face in grey/purple stripes like the cat is or do regular makeup.

#73 Beetlejuice

I loved the cartoon and movie so much even tho it scared me lol!

But Beetlejuice face painting is actually super simple for Halloween, you just need a pale face and a few touches of green moldy stuff on your face. Oh, and paint dark purple around your eyes.

#74 Harry Potter

Well, Being a Harry Potter for Halloween doesn’t require much face painting, you only need to recreate the scar 🙂 And it will literally take 5 minutes. Find round glasses and you are good to go.

#75 Voldemort

The mighty and the one who makes the blood cold.

#76 Death Eater

Death Eater is another cool and easy idea for Halloween face painting, you need black, grey, and white colors.

#77 Mileena

Mileena is a fierce fighter in the Mortal Combat series and has a great fighting advantage – a huge mouth with sharp teeth. She wears a purple outfit:

#78 Skull

Painting a skull on your face for Halloween is easy and classy, but you can elevate your costume a bit and make your skull cartoon style, Santa Muerta style, or in surprising colors – why not?

Pro tips – get a detail brush and create skull cracks with black paint. Get a sponge and apply bronzer or dark skin foundation tone to create stains on the bone.

#79 Mime

Super easy to paint your face as a mime for Halloween. Paint it whole white (or leave just your skin tone) and add mimic, tears, a smile or sad face, and a nose boop. Done!

#80 David Bowie

Definitely not a scary idea, but if you have a party for Halloween you can also represent dead celebrities, and David already had a very cool face painting once, so we can recreate it.

You need red and blue paint and that’s it:

#81 Spider web

A simple idea for quick face painting if you are late to a Halloween party. Spider webs go nice around the eyes and the spider can also go down like a tear:

#82 Scars, blood, and cuts on the face

Simple and fast to make, to imitate cuts on your face for Halloween (make sure to have a cool story behind it like you were fighting a dead ninja who came back to life or something).

Basically, you need dark red, almost black color to imitate old dried blood and cuts or stitches.

An alternative can be slit throat:

#83 Lines (Lightning)

You can imitate fumes or lightning or blood vessels on your face with makeup or paints. It is quite easy but you need to have steady hands to make nice thin lines:

#84 Dead pirate

Pirate dead or alive as face painting will be a good idea for Halloween, to make it more relevant you can paint on your face a pirate’s skull:

#85 Pop art with a tear

Pop art looks 3D and very unique, but doesn’t take too much time to make it as it is mostly outlines, so I would recommend it for beginners and impatient people (like myself):

To be honest, any character can be customized in pop art style so it is a good way to personalize your Halloween body costume.

#86 Chucky

Chucky Halloween face and body painting works ideally for kids but can be done on adults too. You need to do hairstyle, paint scars, and get similar clothes (or paint them):

#87 Annabelle

Annabelle is another doll that is classic for Halloween and actually very easy to paint both for adults and kids. You need to outline your eyes and brows, and add some blush and details.

Some artists do bigger eyes painting over eyelids.

#88 Zipper on the face

Unzip your face painting is quite scary for me, but looks easy to do. I would either glue the real zipper or paint it. To make it more realistic you can use wax or special liquid to make textures and fake blood.

#89 Cruella

You can choose what Cruella version you like more – movie or cartoon and go with it. Technically, it is more about hair color (you can get a wig) and black and white make up:

Tutorial

#90 Jigsaw Halloween makeup

These movies kept me anxious for so long! I think Jigsaw is perfect for Halloween. It can be easy makeup with just red spirals or full-on jigsaw doll face and body painting.

Easy option:

Face and shoulder detailed option:

Body and Face Painting Halloween Ideas For Kids

You can make a couple of designs and also match paintings with your children. It can be either a child character or just a mini-version of a scary movie or game character that your kid likes! This way they will definitely have a lot of fun with their custom-painted costume!

#91 Animal Faces

Tigers, lions, butterflies, crocodiles – any animal your kids’ love will be a great and easy idea for Halloween face painting:

#92 Kids Superheroes

Hulk, Spiderman, and Superman are some of the most popular choices for kids’ body and face painting.

#93 Skull

The traditional Halloween idea of skull or bones works for kids too.

#94 Clown

It can be Pennywise as well:

#95 Ghostface

#96 Zombie Mummy

#97 Chucky Kids Face Painting Halloween

#98 Mouth Monster

Just like for adults we’ve seen huge mouths going to the neck, kids like the same idea too!

#99 Kids’ Pumpkin Face

Fun and easy face painting for kids – cover the face in orange or metallic orange paint, drew black lines and add a leaf on top or on the cheek 🙂 Mouth can be black and scary.

#100 Kids Dracula Easy Face Paint

For kids, it is better to paint fangs as they can play and swallow tiny fangs sold online. Use black and red paint to accentuate eyes and lips, and draw white fangs:

What type of paint do you use for body painting?

You absolutely need to use professional face paint that has a non-toxic formula, is safe to use on face and body skin both for kids and adults and is easy to wash off. To paint the whole body in one color it may be easier to use spray paint.

Some pigments can be very strong and color not only the skin but also your clothes, please test the paint on a small area before actually painting yourself. Some crafters simply use makeup to create Face paintings for Halloween, which is normally safe to use on skin, has a cream-like texture, and will be easy to remove with a makeup remover or facial cleanser.

*This whole body painting was created with Mehron paints by Nicole Aspradakis*

What is the safest body paint?

Kids Face Paints for Halloween (Snazaroo)
Body paint Bruxa
Body paint (liquid latex)
Pro Mehron Makeup for Halloween Face Painting – pro artists and cosplayers use this brand. It is very good.
TAG face paints – one of the biggest and high-quality brands.
Cheap Amazon bestseller – Anthena Face and Body Paints
To glow in the dark – Neon face and body paints.

Halloween Body Paint Costumes Guide

How do you body paint for Halloween?

You can use paint and add details to your face or other body parts, you can super easily do it at home. But start early as the preparation will take time!

Method 1:

Use a brush to apply the thinner paint lines like a sketch using white paint (I would recommend using quite fluid paint).
Then clean the brush and color the areas – always have a reference picture nearby to make sure you’re doing everything right 🙂

Method 2 – for painting the face

Cut open the makeup sponge and then load the sponge with paint.
Test the paint on a small area to check that you have no allergic reaction.
Use a stipple effect – paint the face. To make thin lines use a liner or thin detail brush.
Close your eyes when you’re painting the area around to avoid paint getting in your eyes. Watch the area around your lips as well, as if you eat something during the night, you won’t eat paint!

Be sure to use skin-safe non-toxic paint that will be gentle on your skin and is easy to remove (on the same day! haha)! Choose water-based paint.

How do you prepare your skin for body paint?

Just make sure to have clean scrubbed skin with no oils on it as the paint won’t stick. Better scrub it the day before in case you have any sensitivities.

Don’t apply your regular moisturizer but you can use a special base foundation for body painting.

To Sum Up

We love disguises for Halloween but this year why not try something new – body and face painting? I’ve surfed the Internet to collect some awesome Halloween body painting ideas and I hope you can find something for you: from easy vampire ideas to cool ideas from games and movies like Darth Maul or Mileena.

I suggest using Youtube over Pinterest to look up ideas, as there you can directly check the video tutorial.

Happy painting! And if you are done with body paint experiments, go check my other cool ideas for painting on canvas:

Masha Eretnova

Masha Eretnova, born in 1991, is a Buenos Aires-based certified teacher, artist, and member of the Professional Artist Association with 20+ years of personal painting journey.

She started painting and drawing very early and is now an international abstract artist and educator passionate about acrylic painting, gouache, and crafts.

Her works are part of international exhibitions and contests, including ArtlyMix (Brazil), Al-Tiba 9 (Spain), Exhibizone (Canada), Italy, and many more.

Besides her artistic pursuits, Masha holds a post-grad diploma in Teaching Film Photography and 2 music school diplomas: piano and opera singing.

More about Masha’s art journey and work.

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