CREDIT: JOSHUA R. WALLER
Beauty Boy with two of his body painted creations for RAW: Natural Born Artists.

There are a ton of amazing characters out there that are perfect for cosplayers, geeks and comic book enthusiasts to portray themselves as. Sometimes these characters have intricate costumes and outfits, which can be difficult to pull off for those who are not the most skilled when it comes to materials.

However, for those who are better at visual arts, an amazing way to portray these characters is by forgetting about all the clothes and simply painting the entire body.

While body painting can be challenging, by having all the proper tools and guidelines as well as enough practice, you truly can create something amazing.

The best way to start a body painting is by drawing out your character on some sort of croquis. This will help you visualize all the colour and details as well as where it is going to fit on a human body. The hardest part is working out how the detailing will wrap around certain curves of the body. Without having some sort of plan, the body painting application can become disastrous.

The next thing is prepping the model. Make sure you choose someone who is patient and that you can be comfortable with as the process can be time consuming. Then you are going to want to make sure the body has little to no hair as this will make the painting process a lot smoother. The last step for prepping is to apply a barrier to the model, as this will make the removal process much easier. Derma Shield is an excellent choice.

Next you are going to want to start with your base coat of paint which the best thing to use is a water-based paint. Brands such as Kryolan, Ben Nye and MAC all make excellent body paints. A few different ways to apply this paint is with a sponge or large brushes.

Once you start getting to the detailing of the body paint – make sure the base is dry – there are a few options depending on your skill level. If you are a really skilled painter, you can hand paint the details using the water based paints, or you can add a lot of dimension and texture by using an airbrush machine. If you are not the most skilled, you can always pre make stencils out of plastic sheets and then stipple paint over top of them. To get a really neat effect, you can use all three methods mentioned.

Body painting is a fun and creative way to turn the human body into a work of art. Have patience with it, as it can be time consuming and somewhat daunting through the process. But once everything is completed, you will be truly amazed. Start off with some simple designs and work your way to a full body paint.