Body Painting

With the World Body Painting Festival (and of course the Body Painting Award) coming up on the 17th of July, it's about time to get you all fired up in your body painting know-how.

More about this festival coming soon, but first a short introduction in the art of body painting.

Body painting is a form of body art, and has probably been around since the beginning of civilization. In almost every tribalist culture, body painting was performed during ceremonies or merely just for the beauty of it. Back then they used clay and other natural pigments.
Body painting still survives in parts of the world, and especially 'Mehndi', the form of body painting that uses henna dyes, is now very popular in the western world. The henna tattoo is semi-permanent.

Since the 1960's, body painting emerged as an actual art form. However, there is the never-ending discussion about it's social acceptability because body painting practically always involves nudity.

But no art without paint of course, and you'll be happy to know that the paint is restricted to guidelines: the body paint has to be non-toxic and non-allergenic. The paint easily washes of with water and soap.

As for the henna dyes, which Mehndi uses, there's a difference between the synthetic black henna, and the natural brown henna. The natural henna dye is completely safe when body painting, but the synthetic black henna dye could cause allergic reactions. You should have yourself patch tested before using these at body painting.

This should get you started, next time, more about the festival!

Japanese Body art painting

Body Painting Part 2 Japanies

Body Painting Tips

Body painting is one of the most unique kinds of art. People from all over the world paint their bodies to express their thoughts and feelings. People paint their bodies when they are cheering for their team. They also paint their bodies for specific events. Just like a clown paints his face to make people laugh similarly people get their body painted for many reason. The painted body represents creativity and imagination. There are certain tips one can follow while painting their body. A certain procedure is followed for painting the body to ensure that the paint looks beautiful and portrays a sharp image.

Before painting the body it is a good idea to wash and dry your body so that the dust particles are removed. This will help in creating a uniform layer of paint. There are several methods for painting your body. Select the one that best suits you for the following: tempra, markers, liquid latex, airbrush makeup, PAX makeup and textile acrylics. Each technique has its own pros and cons. Using markers are safe and they are cheap but it takes a lot of time to paint the body with markers. Also these markers have to be frequently replaced as they finish up quickly. Using tempra is a bad choice as it flakes off when it dries and makes quite a mess. Although it is cheap but when the paint dries up it becomes powdery.

The use of airbrush makeup to paint the body is a very good choice and highly recommended by professional. Unfortunately it is expensive but the quality is wonderful. Painting with the help of airbrush makeup is flexible and provides excellence in the quality of work. Another good choice for painting body is the use of textile acrylics which are cheap, easy to use, good looking and safe to use. All these are the perfect methods for painting the body. Apart from this while painting the body one must keep certain things in mind. Use a sponge if a larger area is to be painted, it is quicker and easier. Visualizing the end result is a good idea as it will help in the perfect painting of the body. Add special effects by using glitter and other shiny cosmetics. Keep a bundle of tissues while painting so as to quickly remove the mistakes while painting and drawing. All these tips can help in painting the body perfectly.