Brush and spray

This week, I have been working on a blog post for The Black Light Magazine to follow up on a recent photoshoot, where we had an opportunity to observe and compare the work of two makeup artists working side-by-side and using very distinct techniques. This is a replication of this blog post with some additional notes

Both of the artists applied full body makeup using fluorescent paints to female models, but one of them, Jenny, used airbrush and stencils, while the other one, Cory, applied a more conventional brushwork. Each painting technique had unique features, required different posing approaches from the models, and ultimately resulted in very distinct photographs.

The main difference between the two techniques, besides the fact that airbrushing has a distinct advantage of covering large areas quickly, is that spraying thin layers of paint creates an illusion of mixing the colours. The spray actually creates a pattern of small dots of colour, which the “mixed” optically. In other words, the viewer perceives them as mixed. This effect is similar to what Georges Seurat and other pointillists explored during the golden years of post-impressionism.

Cory did not mix the florescent paints, which would reduce brightness of the colours and could potentially affect the fluorescent properties (a feature that would be interesting to investigate experimentally some time in the future). Instead, he applied the paint in discrete, thick brushstrokes, which created a van Gogh-like effect. He made use of the patterns of brushstrokes, creating the sense of motion by making them meander along the model’s body. In fact, the model recognized this feature of finished painting and skillfully utilized it in her posing by exaggerating the undulations of the painted patterns in her dance-like moves (which, incidentally, had to be performed very slowly to accommodate the slow shutter speeds that we used).

Looking at the finished body paintings, the inherent imperfections of the hand-painted pattern gave it a unique, one-of-a-kind look. On the other hand, I am intrigued by the possibilities of airbrushing, because it allows quick coverage of large areas and layering and optical mixing of otherwise immiscible pigments. In the case of body painting, the “mechanical” style of the airbrushed makeup creates an interesting contrast with the natural features of the model. In general, perhaps, a combination of stencilled and free-hand airbrush painting can give the artist the best of both worlds – the efficiency of the airbrush as the tool and the human touch of the painter who wields it.