ISO more information for starting new

Hey there!

I am pretty new to the face painting world and I have watched many videos, read websites, etc. but there is still a bit of information that I don't seem to have a straight answer for.  These are some questions I have that are still unclear:

1.  I watched a few videos on face painting and some painters said "Cake up your brush", some videos didn't show how much to coat their brushes, some said "spray the paint and wet brush", some "spray the paint", and it just got me confused for if this is for all the paints... so my questions for this one is:

Is the amount of water used on the paint the same? including cakes? If they are different, what should it be?

Should I cake up the brush to the metal edge?

When using the sponges, should I only wet the sponge or wet both paint and sponge?  (I would think it would be too wet if I wet both)

2.  So far I have been using silicone skin sheets, my niece, and my hand/arm for practicing designs and I did not time myself, I was more concerned of making a nice design.  I would like to get better but at the same time speed up to complete it.

For practicing your designs, do you use a timer?
Do you keep doing same design over and over?  What if you are just going based off your mind for a design?  Should I just stick with designs that I find throughout the internet?

I'll stop here for these questions, I don't wanna over flood this post

in general, you want to use whatever technique works for you and the brands of face paint you have.  

you can tell by practicing if things are too wet or too dry -
too wet - bases are thin, streaky or smeary, and lines run,
too dry - bases are thick, get grainy or feathery at the edges, and lines are rough.

the more paint you load on your brush, up to the metal ferrule, the longer you can paint. but smooth the brush tip by wiping or twirling along the cake, so paint doesn't clump up on the brush.

as for practicing designs, you will probably be more successful copying other designs first, and then developing your own.

this is because there are various strokes and elements of composing a design to learn, which you can then use to make your own designs.

i started out just copying other designs until i realized this. then i began to pay attention to practicing strokes, drawing different kinds of stripes, spots, eyes, etc. and techniques like blending, shading, creating texture, etc.

once you learn the different techniques, it becomes easier to practice new designs, because you just put together the different elements, as needed.

i'd say the rule of practice is do it until you are happy with your results

Thanks! I just got the One Stroke book from Gretchen F. and lots I can practice from.