I’m still trying to get used to these paints! They’re very fun to play with, without a doubt – but they’re definitely different from working with my favoured styles of paint. For one, the amount of water to paint and how often to reload the brush is a balance I am only just starting to get a feel for. Erin was kind enough to let me use her as a human canvas again today, so I wanted to try something with a bit of a peacock flair.
Annnnd I was lucky enough to have another human canvas last night! This time I went with a cherry-blossom inspired piece. Nothing wrong with a few florals, right?
I really love the way the blue, green and yellow blended for the background. I think I’m going to have to try that again soon!
Most of my my body art, up til now, has been created using sharpie markers. I love them for that purpose! They produce clean, precise lines, blend well, and give a finish not unlike a tattoo (albeit a bit shinier). I’ve even used them for facial art. I definitely won’t be giving up sharpie markers as a medium for creating body art any time soon.
However, I’ve had a project come up that requires something a little different: paint. Sharpies get their due when it comes to creating tattoo-like body art, but paint definitely has something sharpies don’t have: vibrancy of colour that sits ‘on’ the skin to cover it completely. Especially when it comes to white.
Thanks to Erin McNamee for being my canvas here!
It has been a long time since I’ve done any actual, honest-to-goodness body painting, so I am still very much getting used to the feel of the paint. It’s different to work with, as it is water-activated and dries relatively quickly when applied to the body. Getting the right consistency of water and paint loaded onto the brush was a little finicky at first, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.
Later the same evening I had a request from a friend to do a little painting on her back too. I won’t say it is my finest foray into the world of painting on bodies, but every little step is a development of skill, so I’m happy to post the picture anyway! Sadly, because some of the paints used are pearlescent, they didn’t photograph particularly brilliantly.
I will say, I absolutely adore how vivid the colours are, using these paints. When I do have the water/paint mix down right, they’re fairly opaque and with a little practice, I am confident that I’ll get better at using them. I’ll just have to practice more before my super-secret-project that requires body painting skills comes to a head!
I was contacted just a few days back with a request:
“Kat – would you be OK with me getting a tattoo of your Zombie Jeebus. I know it is unlikely you would ever find out but I would feel shitty if I got it done without at least asking permission from the artist!”
My response was an instant ‘Hell Yeah!’ quickly followed by a ‘But please send me a picture so I can put it up on the site, ok? I wanna see it!’
Talk about being stoked – I love my Zombie Jeebus, and the fact that someone would want him on them for life is just awesome to me.
Well, a few days have passed, and David (hope you don’t mind that I’ve used your first name here) has gotten tattooed – apparently this was the quickest he’s ever gone between seeing something, immediately knowing he wanted it as a tattoo, and getting it done. I’m really flattered.
Just in case you’ve come in late and want to see the originals, Zombie Jeebus was first found in the post ‘Zombie Jeebus wants You!‘ then quickly followed up with a touch of colour in “What to do if faced with a Zombie Jeebus‘. The tattooist did a great job of converting it to ink on flesh, don’t you think?
Thanks for asking to get Zombie Jeebus as a tattoo, David. Your email with the photo of the finished tattoo today just made my day.
Kat Johnston Body Art: I’m feeling a little koi today with this sharpie marker tattoo!
Last night I had someone over wanting an image of a koi, and this is what I came up with! I’m rather happy with the overall result. It would have been somewhat better if my fine black pen didn’t keep conking out on me every 2 seconds as I approached the end of the drawing (which is what accounts for some of the the shoddy outlining on the waters), but still, it isn’t all that bad. I think I might have to introduce a round of something to clear the skin of any residual oiliness before beginning my work next time, for any larger images.
Some days I wish that sharpies worked a bit more like other media – paint, pencils… even biros. The inability to build up some shading did result in the fish looking as if it is simply ‘sitting’ on top of the water – well… that and my distraction here and there. I did have some tendrils of water snaking across the body, but they kinda got drowned out because I lost my lines when I was going over the top with the darker shades and outlining. But no matter! I shall remember that more for next time.
The other thing I would love to have is a blending base. At the moment, I have about three shades which work well as a blending base, but all three are in the warmer area of the spectrum. I’m not sure what anyone else would call them, but I am referring to the colours which blend well into the skin while also having the ability to ‘pick up’ the other colours and apply them evenly, with an effective gradient from a strong colour into almost-skin shade. Anyhow, it is something for me to look into. I’ll see what I can find!
There was a get-together on Saturday night, featuring a few old friends, and a few new. The ever charming Jaki (a friend of mine with a near psychotic obsession with Hello Kitty) proceeded to very thoroughly freak out one of the new crew by consuming a lemon wedge… rind, pith and all.
Anyhow, the new addition to our little group had to scoot home early for some reason or another (possibly a made-up excuse to escape having to witness a lemon being decimated by a perky, Hello Kitty loving geek), but we continued on with the evening back at home… where I was promptly asked to fetch out my sharpie markers and draw a lemon for someone to ‘bite’, so that we could send a picture on! Anyhow, this was the result.
Lovingly rendered, taking way too long because my thin black sharpie is all but run out (side note: really must replace that soon) and under the stress of having a canvas that moves too much because she was laughing and conversing as if there wasn’t someone on her back trying to draw a smooth line or shade carefully, it nonetheless turned out not too bad.
I think I have to do some more of these little ‘temporary sharpie tattoos’ some more in the near future. They are, after all, incredibly fun to do, even if they are a little labor intensive for the amount of detail I tend to want to throw into them. Anyone in the Brisbane area want me to draw pretty things on them?
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