How to Paint an Avatar Face for Halloween

Interested in dressing up like an Avatar character for Halloween but not sure where to start with painting your face?  You've come to the right place!  I just did a quick Avatar face painting on myself and photographed the process so you can see how to do it, step-by-step!

Please excuse the sloppiness of my painting...I am nearly blind without my glasses, so it was extremely hard for me to paint my eyes! (hence my blank stare)  But, hopefully this will give you the general idea!  Click on the images to see them blown up.

Step 1:  Obtain a face.  This is usually the easiest part. Tie your hair back if it's long.
Step 2: Cover your face with a light blue paint.  I used a light blue that I mix myself from my Kryolan Aquacolor blue and white, and applied it with a natural sponge for quick coverage.  Stop at this step if you change your mind and want to be a member of Blue Man Group instead.
Step 3: Using a brush and a darker blue to begin painting stripes.  I started from the center of my face, forehead down to my nose, and added more working out from there.  To get the tapered look, I used a wide, flat #12 brush, starting with the bristles in a horizontal position and slowly rotating the bristles vertical as I brushed down.

Step 4: Continue adding stripes across your forehead and to your cheeks.
Step 5:  Add more stripes across your cheeks and chin, all the time starting from the edges of your face and working inward to get the tapered look.  At this point I took a brush with the lighter blue again and filled in a little more around my eyes.
Step 6:  Paint your lips purple  (or if you have purple lipstick, that would probably stay on better)

Step 7:  Closing one eyelid at a time (unless of course you have x-ray vision), paint the corners of each eyelid white.  You can leave the center empty because you'll paint pupils there.
Step 8:  Paint yellow circles for the iris in the center of each eyelid.  You'll get a nice, realistic effect if you also outline them with a little green, and blend to yellow in the center.
Step 9:  Paint black circles on the iris for the pupils.

Step 10:  Put a dot of white off-center, so that it overlaps both the iris and pupil.  (These will make your fake eyes look shiny and wet like real eyes.)  If you can keep your eyelids closed long enough to dry between steps, it'll help prevent smearing.
Step 11:  Add some small white dots around the nose, across your eyebrows, cheek bones, etc.  (Google Image search a photo of an Avatar character for reference.) I also added some Blue-violet ultra-fine glitter, which looks great.
Step 12:  Accessorize!  Okay, I didn't buy any accessories...I just photoshopped myself onto an image.  But, if you have long hair, make a bunch of braids, or check out these wigs and ear accessories on Amazon: