Blow your guests away with colorful eggs this Easter! In just 7 simple steps you’ll be able to paint any design you want. Let’s start!
Easter eggs painted with acrylic paint are not safe to be consumed. Eggshells are porous which means that the paint will travel through the shell and taint the egg. Since acrylics are not meant to be digested it’s best to use artificial eggs, or old eggs you won’t consume.
This raises the question: How do you safely paint Easter eggs that can be consumed? But for now, let’s find out how to paint decorative Easter eggs with acrylics!
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1. Choose the right kind of egg
Since we’re working with acrylic paint it’s best to use either styrofoam or wooden eggs. I’d suggest going with styrofoam eggs because it’s easier to handle them.
2. Prep the surface of the egg
Prep the styrofoam egg by priming your surface. Priming your surface allows the paint to stick to the egg better. It also avoids you having bits and pieces of styrofoam mixed in your paint.
You can use mod podge for this. Allow it to dry before painting over it.
3. Pick a color palette
Now the fun part! Do you have a certain theme in mind this easter? Perhaps pastels only? Here’s a full guide on how to properly choose a color palette. Or just browse Pinterest boards dedicated to color palettes.
A common color palette for easter are the classic pastels. Here is some inspiration:
Muted colors look trendy and classy. Vibrant colors look happy and are great for kids!
4. Pick a design
Choose a design of your liking. Before you start painting, figure out how you are going to tackle this design.
Design examples:
Just keep in mind that an egg is round. This means that lines become distorted when viewed from different angles. Make sure to paint in a front view to avoid being misled.
5. Draw a grid to get the composition right
Once you figured out your design, draw guidelines or a grid to assist you. The handiest grids are a horizontal and vertical divider, a ”perfect” grid, and the offset grid.
Horizontal and vertical divider
Simply divide your egg vertically in half. You can draw the line with a pencil. Next, divide your egg horizontally with a line.
Perfect grid
Let’s first divide your egg horizontally and vertically in half.
Then, divide the egg in half once more, on each side of the main vertical line. This will create the blue lines as pictured above.
After that, you divide the bottom half twice more (the dashed lines). Do this again for the upper half (dashed lines).
Whenever two lines intersect mark it with a dot. The dots represent the location on which you can draw a design.
Offset grid (crisscross grid)
Start with dividing the egg horizontally and vertically.
Then, draw a 45-degree angled line through the point where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect. Next, on the right side of the horizontal line, draw a vertical line at a 45-degree angle once again. I did this at the midpoint of the line.
Do the same for the other side. Then draw the two remaining lines at the same distance as the others.
Now you repeat the last steps but this time make it at a 135-degree angle. This will create our grid.
Add dots where the lines intersect. Now you have an offset grid! The dots are where you can draw your design :)
6. Hold the egg comfortably by inserting a skewer
Stick a skewer into the bottom of the egg so you can hold it properly. This way you avoid getting your fingers in the paint, leaving an awful mess.
7. Mix your palette
It may be handy to pre-mix your colors so you don’t have to waste precious time mixing in between painting. This way you can just dip into your paint and paint directly.
Just note that acrylic paint dries relatively quickly so have a sprayer by hand to mist some water to avoid dried out paints.
8. Paint your eggs
Start painting! For brushes, I recommend having at least: a liner brush, a flat brush and a round brush.
| Brush | Creates… |
|---|---|
| Liner brush | Consistent line without getting bigger or smaller |
| Flat brush | A broad stroke with defined edges |
| Round brush | A stroke with rounded edges |
A liner brush is great for linework. It has very long bristles. No matter how hard you press your brush on the paper, the line will not get any bigger, unlike other brushes.
Flat brushes are great for when you need to cover large areas. It’s great to use for painting a base color on your egg. A rounded brush is great for pretty much anything. I have it in all kinds of sizes!
The brush pack below contains a ton of round brushes, flat brushes and cat tongue brushes (flat brushes with rounded edges). It doesn’t contain liner brushes, but are you going to need one of those for your designs?
if you have trouble with brushes there’s a different option: paint markers! The posca paint markers are one of the- if not the best, on the market. They are filled with acrylic paint. Shake them before use, push the pen down so the paint can flow and start drawing on your eggs!
If posca markers are out of your price range, the Niutop markers are a great alternative according to the 2,500 4.5/5 star reviews!
9. Dry by air or by using a tool
For the impatient among us you can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. I personally use a heat gun because it’s easier to hold. (I also use it for my watercolor paintings!) Just make sure to move the blowdryer/heat gun around to avoid burning your egg.
It takes seconds before the acrylic paint dries when using a heat gun.
That’s it! Pretty easy, right? to sum up:
How to paint easter eggs with acrylic paint:
- Choose the right kind of egg
- Styrofoam
- Wood
- Prep the surface of the egg
- Pick a color palette
- Pick a design
- Draw a grid to get the composition right
- Horizontal and verticle
- Perfect grid
- Offset grid
- Insert a skewer to hold the egg comfortably
- Mix your palette
- Paint your eggs
- Dry by air or using a tool
- Hairdryer
- Heat gun
I hope you learned some tips and tricks after reading this tutorial. Happy Easter!
♡ Laura
