Bodypaint | clairegolbymue

BodyPaint

I decided to take my initial body-painting concept forward into a fully realised design and makeup. Contexturally, I think (like most bodypaints) this is for one-off purposes, just for a photoshoot, so factoring in longevity, wearability or performance issues are not necessary.

This is the pose that my model will be positioned in. I've altered it slightly from the initial pose, so that the head meets the knees. This creates a more accurate shape at the back (for the shape of the deer head) and also eliminates a big dimensional gap that would have been between the knees and then head.

On the right is my sketch of the shapes over the pose showing the dark and lighter areas.

This is my final full colour design painted over the pose.

I plan to use aquacolours both on brushes and with an airbrush.

I thought creating a hair-like look with the paint could be achieved by using the dry-brush method, where the majority of the paint and moisture is removed from the brush, so the paint and bristles create thing, defined lines. I briefly thought about using stencils for this, but I think from a slight distance, detail like that wouldn't be discernable, and painting it on with a brush will be sufficient.

I'm not sure how the dimensional constraints will affect the design.

With the hair I thought of a few different options. I thought a bald cap would be the most effective way to eliminate the hair completely.

I briefly thought of fullers earth but that would be way to crumbly and be more of a hinderance than a help.

I also thought that slicking it all back with thick hair gel might be a good option, as I could paint over it.

Execution

This is my model in the pose before the painting. I decided to just put her hair in a bun and paint over it to save time and for my models comfort.

I started painting with the highlight areas using a lardge square ended brush and then went in with the darker areas. I then painted a mid-tone between the two. This was so I could map out the primary shapes before I started any detailing or painting in important areas, like the eyes, because black would be really difficult to remove without distorting the rest of the paint.

I then started using the airbrush to help blend the colours more by slightly overlapping them. I think in instances like this, using an airbrush to cover large areas takes longer because of having to constantly re-fill the colour.

Over this, I added brush stroke lines to create directional hair lines, which I think helped with adding layers and texture.

Overall I think the piece looks ok - nothing like as good as my initial design but reflecting upon it I know why that is, and where I went wrong.

I think the texture of the hair breaks up the flow of the piece because of its texture. I think either slicking the hair with gel, or a bald cap would have produced a much smoother overall image and the paint would have adhered better.

The ears didn't really work, which I think is partly because I overestimated how big the arms would be. From the angle of the design, the arms look very slim, which meant the ears didn't really translate well. I do think if i'd have moved the eyes down then I could've painted the ears into the shoulder area.

The eyes also ended up looking much bigger than i'd planned. I now see that if i'd just have painted the eys onto the thighs, I would have been able to paint the ears more in the shoulder area and everything would have looked more in proportion.

Again, due to dimensions, I think the nose looks too small. Overall I don't think the image is particularly great. I really liked my concept, and i'm glad I gave it a go. I learnt a lot about working with texture, dimension and shape, as well as practising my airbrushing.

2nd Attempt

- After further experimentation, I decided to re-do this design in a different pose. I was disappointed that the ears didn't translate at all through my last design, and how much the dimensions of the pose distorted the design.

- I altered the pose so that the arms would be bent to form the ear, meaning they'd have a thicker, triangular surface to be paited on. I also turned the model over so that the rest of the design could be painted on the back.

- Because of the design and the body shape, I had to contour around the body-paint at the lower back so that the nose and design could still come to a point, or it wouldn't have made sense. I tried first with green (as i thought it might be easier to photoshop) and then black, which I think translates better in these photos.

- I know the ears translated much more effectlively in this pose, which is great. Obviously because the back is almost flat, the rest of the design was much easier to do and came out a lot better.

- As i'd done the design once before, and this time the pose was easier to work on, painting it only took me 90 minutes instead of 180 minutes.

- I was also able to add in a lot of texture with varying degress of brushstrokes, which created a more realistic and coherant look.

- I found that mixing up a bigger amount of the colour was a better way to achieve fluent working, as you don't have to constanlty mix more up. Also its very difficult to get the exact same colour twice, so this way it will create more fluency throughout the piece.

- I covered my model's head with a black blanket, as tucking it under would have distorted the image slightly, and painting it all black would've been time consuming and unecessary.

- I'm really pleased with this second outcome. It was quicker and more efficient. I hadn't thought of changeing my initial pose at all, as I found creating the shape for the design so difficult initially. I'm glad I did, as this image translates far better than the first attempt.