Fascinated by tattoos or skin art? Well here's another one you would appreciate too: painted bodies. 

In my previous blog, I wrote about if skin art is a go or a no-go for people. I also wrote about the types of art on skin. Aside from tattoos, body painting is one of the popular type of skin art which this blog will be about. 

 

 

♥     Some Info on Body Art     ♥

There are various materials you can use to create skin art. You can use acrylic paint, make up or even colored pens like I do! Here's some pen art I made on my hand.

(Photo credit @Artgirl via Steemit)

 

Aside from making art on individual body parts, of course painting the whole body involves way more time but it is still a temporary thing to enjoy. It cannot last for more than a day. If you are part of a show or event though, I guess you can walk around in body paint like latex or acrylics for more than a day? I don't think it is good to wear body paint for extended periods of time as it might get uncomfortable in the long run.

Demi Moore's Birthday Suit (Photo credit via Bustle)

 

Some celebrities are no stranger to body paint. Usually they are painted on when they get wounded on screen or they can also be applied with prostethic make up  and effects for a more awesome show we can all appreciate.

As an artist, the paint to use will depend on the model or person's skin type and the purpose of the art. If you'd like to paint yourself, you would have to look for the best fit for your skin, just like choosing make up. This means you will have to do some trial and error on which ones work best for you like some cosplayers do. 

You can make fantastic out of this world fantasy body art that's why it's really popular to a variety of people.

(Photo credit: Karl Hammer via Wikipedia.org)

 

Ancient humans used natural dyes or pigments like henna to color and adorn their skin for various rituals, spiritual events or during wars. Nowadays we just paint bodies for fun or to express ourselves in art and to entertain people. There are artists who are doing body painting for a living too because their art is unique and incredible.

(Photo credit via Pixabay)

 

Let me introduce to you two artists who are known because of their body paintings : Johannes Stoetter and my Instagram discovery, Kay Pike. Why did I choose them? Because I like comics and body art. Haha. Why not combine the two together in one post right, so here we go!

 

 

♦     Kay Pike     ♦
Body Paint Cosplayer

Two years ago I was into designing and selling my own temporary tattoos (SkinTatz) and so it's no surprise I was reading and checking tattoo pics and articles that I eventually discovered this amazing body painter, Kayleen Pike, from Canada. Who needs a costume when you can just paint it on, right? 

Spider Woman (Photo credit: KayPikeFashion via storeenvy.com)

 

Pictured above is one of Kay Pike's work. I love Spider Woman but for some reason this character is so underrated and unpopular. When I read the comics I liked her a lot so upon seeing Kay Pike as Spider Woman it really amazed me. It looks cool! If you look at the picture, you will see that she looks like she's straight out of comics! That's why I like her and a lot of people also like her work because it is more of a comicbook style body art.

She does western comic characters plus some anime and game characters too. She can do either male or female characters without a problem. Aside from doing body painting she also sells prints of pictures of the characters she's done. Ms. Pike also attends comic conventions and joins in talks/panels about body painting. Cool right? 

Check out a livestream video of her doing her body painting below.

(Video credit: KayPikeFashion via YouTube)

 

Her process first involves looking at the character's profile and images to determine how best she can do an optical illusion to fit the art to her features. Then when she's done researching and planning, the painting proper begins. Of course this takes hours to get finished, it can take up to 15 hrs to be exact. The total time will depend on the complexity of the character she will paint. 

This also made me wonder if she is painting herself naked or not. Lol. I wouldn't want my nude body on public display if it was me. I would still like a sense of decency if I had some body paint on. Even if I was painting on someone else, if ever I would, I will definitely have them wear underwear that I can paint on. The problem would be the material might make disrupt the smooth continuity of the artwork.

Kay Pike as Lady Deadpool (Gif animation via giphy)

 

That question or issue has now been answered with Kay Pike's very own video. I saw that you can use liquid latex instead. (And yes there are sellers of liquid latex locally.) You can check on YouTube for Kay Pike's video on how she applies liquid latex on boobs. Haha.

It is definitely the best way for models to get decent before getting their whole skin painted on and it will most likely look better in pictures and won't be as noticeable as wearing painted on underwear or being totally naked.

Want to know what she looks like without all that body paint? Here she is.

(Photo credit Kay Pike via Instagram)

 

 

 

♠     Johannes Stoetter     ♠
Body Painter of Fine Arts and Nature 

(Photo credit: wb-production.com via jlinterviews)

  

Now this guy is well known since his artworks have gone viral in various media. Johannes Stoetter is a self taught Italian artist who speaks German plus he is also a musician. He made it into general public consciousness because of his nature inspired body paintings of people who become animals or fruits. 

Watch the video below and see for yourself.

(Video credit: CBS Sunday Morning via YouTube)

 

Now do you see why he's famous? As shown in the video, he has also done paintings for ad agencies for commercials and prints. If that isn't something to be proud of then I don't know what is. Lol.

(Gif animation via giphy)

 

 (Gif animation via giphy)

 

Like Kay Pike, he also has art prints for sale online if you're interested in owning a copy.

Body art is amazing right? Would you like to know what are the brands or products they use? Haha, I would like to put it here as well but I am not here to sell the paint. Let us just enjoy the beauty of body art shall we? 

  

 

© Art x Stephanie Rue
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