How to paint easter eggs – tips and tricks!

Figuring out how to paint easter eggs can be a bit of a struggle for beginners. I put together a list of tips and tricks that will help you with this fun easter craft!

How to paint easter eggs – tools and materials

Using the right tools is key to get the best results! Painting is SO much easier if you use the right brush. These are some of the tools I use:

bamboo skewers (available here*) to hold and dry the painted egg

black marker, fine (available here*) – the easiest way to draw fine lines or details. It needs to be waterproof!

pencil – to sketch a pattern or grid. Can be easily removed with your finger or a little water.

white chalk or charcoal pencil (available here*) – to sketch a pattern on a darker base.

soft flat brush (available here*) – to paint the base color or larger areas.

fine tipped brush (available here*) – to paint details and lines.

paint –  acrylic paint (available here*) thinned out with water, works really well

 

Tip 1: Preparation

Before you can start to paint your easter eggs, you have to blow them out! There are a lot of helpful tutorials on the internet, if you are unsure how to do this.

Clean the eggshell with some warm water (and maybe a bit of soap) and wipe it with a paper towel. The egg should be completely dry (even inside) before you start to paint it.

Tip 2: Holding and drying

Bamboo skewers (available here*) are really helpful tools for easter egg painting. You can hold your eggs without smudging the paint and leave them to dry without worrying about marks.

Tie on a rubber band to keep the easter egg from sliding off the skewer.

Tip 3: Flawless base

Use acrylic paint (available here*) for the base coat. Mix it with a little bit of water to thin it out. It should be easy to apply and go on smoothly. I recommend a bigger flat brush with soft bristles (available here*) to apply the paint. If the brush ist too sturdy, your paint will be streaky.

Put the egg on a skewer (see Tip 2) and turn the skewer with the rubber band side up. Slide the egg down a little bit and let it rest on your fingers. – Just so that there is a bit of space between the egg and the rubber band. Start to apply the paint from the top in soft, downward strokes. Concentrate on the upper half of the egg, stopping short a bit before your fingers. Turn the skewer down and let the egg rest on the rubber band. Now you can complete the base on the other half of the egg. And all without getting paint on your fingers or smudging the paint. 🙂

Let the easter eggs dry by placing the skewer into an egg carton and apply another layer of paint if neccessary.

 

Tipp 4: Grids and rubber bands

It can be hard for beginners to draw straight lines on an egg, evenly space out symbols or find the right position for a drawing. But there are some easy tricks to help with that.

A simple grid helps you to conquer the curved surface of the eggshell! Regardless if I want to do a seamless pattern or just draw some symbols on the egg, I almost always start by dividing the egg into sections.

Put a rubber band around the egg and trace it with a pencil. Now you have two perfectly divided halfs!  You can put on multiple elastics to make a grid.

Take your time to straighten out the rubber band and make sure it is centered. Hold it down with a finger while you trace it. Simple and effective, isn’t it? 🙂

Use wider rubber bands to draw parallel lines for borders and edgings.

It can take quite some time to straighten the rubber band out. Use one that is neither too tight nor too wide. It should fit snugly around the egg.

Tip 5: Egg cup trick

Another useful tool for straight lines is a simple egg cup. Especially kids might find that easier to use than the rubber band method.

Place the egg into the cup and straighten it. Turn the cup a few times to look at the egg from every angle. Use a finger to push it down gently and trace around the edge of the cup with a pencil.

Tip 6: Freehand lines

If you are a bit more practiced at painting, you can toss the rubber bands and try freehand drawing.

Start by finding the highest and lowest point of the egg and put your fingers there. Draw a line from finger to finger. When you do the other side, find the end points of the line and connect them. Make sure, that the lines are neatly on opposite sides.

Find the middle point of the lines and mark it with your pencil. Connect those points across the egg for a lateral line. Since the egg is round, it can be hard to keep going in the right direction. I always turn the egg back and forth to keep a sense of where I am going. If the line is very long, it is easier to find the middle first and draw from there.

Tip 7: Easy pattern

If you have sketched a basic grid on your egg, you can use it to draw seamless patterns or space out everything evenly. Since the egg is divided into even sections, you can just bisect all the lines and connect the dots for a simple pattern.

Tip 8: Even circles

Drawing straight lines on a round surface can be hard enough, but a circle can be a real struggle. Especially if you want to do more than one and they should all be the same size.

Measure out the space with a compass and draw a circle on to a piece of paper. Cut out the circle and use it as a template on the easter egg. Hold it flat with one hand and trace it very lightly with a pencil. Then go back in with your pencil and perfect your circle. Simple as that! 🙂

Once you get the hang of it, even advanced shapes and patterns are easy to draw. Always start with a basic grid and mark out the rough shape of the pattern first. And then you will get to a point, where you don’t even need that. 🙂

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