Valentine's Owl Nail Art Tutorial

So, it has become pretty clear that you guys really liked my Valentine's owl design! It is one of my most popular posts and I've received a lot of really awesome feedback from you guys about how much you liked it.

I had a request for a tutorial on how to do this manicure, and while I don't have time to do a full on-the-nail demo, I did manage to draw up a quick Photoshop tutorial for you all.

Good luck, and enjoy!

1. Using a striper brush, paint on two small lines for legs.
2. Grab a nail art brush and paint a fat circle on top of the legs. I used a flat ended brush.
3. In the same color and with the same brush you used for step 2, paint on two tufts at the top of the head.
4. Take the large end of a dotting tool and put on two dots of white for the eyes. Once the white dots dry, go over them with two yellow dots. Putting the white down first will ensure that the yellow shows up well.
5. Using the small end of a dotting tool, add two smaller black dots in the center of the yellow dots. 
6. With the end of a small nail art brush, add two small white highlights to the eyes. They should be positioned off center (see picture).
7. Make a small triangle for the beak in white. Once the white is dry, go over it with your yellow. Again, this is to ensure that the yellow is bright and pigmented.
8. Create the small hearts on the belly by using the small end of a dotting tool to make two strokes inward towards each other. The strokes should connect at the bottom to form the “point” of the heart.
9. Paint on two small wings on either side of the owl with a nail art brush.

By the way, feel free to replace "nail art brush" with small paintbrushes or whatever you can get your hands on. The dotting tools can also be replaced by bobby pins, the plastic balls at the end of a sewing pin, or whatever else will help you easily make a small circle. Be inventive! Any tools listed in the tutorial are simply what I used when I did this design.

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freehand, nail art, tutorial, valentine's day