Tag Archives: Christopher Agostino’s Transformations

How-To use UV (Dayglo), Metallic and Interferenze Makeups – FABAIC 2011 Class

Under Blacklight, only the UV makeups show, all the metallic colors underneath the UV dots turn dark

by Christopher Agostino

Class notes from my presentation at the Face & Body Art International Convention FABAIC 2011

Under regular light, this same face design also looks good, with shimmering Metallic and Interferenze colors, and the Kryolan UV colors still look bright, even over a metallic base color.

My intention in this class is to give participants an understanding of how to use Kryolan UV, Metallic, and Interferenze Aquacolor makeups for face and bodypainting. A hands-on and very practical class in how to use specialty makeups from basic application and tricks of technique to design concepts like how to get the most out of your metallics, how to make Dayglo designs look good in regular and UV light and how to get the maximum effect with minimal makeup expense — the primary focus is on how to incorporate specialty makeups into regular face and body designs that look good in a variety of settings. Although these are specialty makeups I use them most often in my regular faces, using the brightness of the UVs to “pop” a design, or the shimmer of the Interferenze to add glamour. Even we I am painting for an event that has Blacklight (such as club or adult party) usually the blacklight is in only part of the space, so the bodypainting needs to look good both ways —under white light and blacklight. This is a very different approach than how one would use these UV makeups for a BlackLight Show.

Kryolan Aquacolors are the only specialty makeups I use. Their UVs create the brightest effect and are the most flexible in application. Wolf Reicherter was also at the convention teaching classes in “Blacklight Magic”, painting full UV body designs for nightclubs and performances.   http://www.wolf-bodymagic.de/

He’s a true master of the medium, and he made the point that Kryolan’s UV Aquacolors (both the cakes and the liquids) are so flexible that they can be applied with any amount of water, from a wash effect to a thick cream, allowing for real control of the amount of light the makeup generates, so you can get subtle shading effects with thin applications and also can go right over other colors with thicker applications and still get the full fluorescence. The UV colors I use most often are Pink, Orange and Green — because these three also look very bright and wonderful under white light so can really add color to any design.

Metallics and Interferenze are two types of Aquacolors that shimmer. The same color can come in both types: there is a Metallic Silver (which looks very much like real silver metal) and an Interferenze Silver (which has a more pearlized appearance), for example. Intereferenze makeups have the pigments ground very fine, so they can sheen in more than one color as the light moves across them, such as the beautifully subtle color “Nacre”, which is a pearlized white that has glimmers of pink and gold as the light changes. I use a variety of metallics and interferenze for special projects like full bodypaintings. The ones I use most often in my regular facepainting kit are the Metallic Silver and several Interferenze colors: Gold, Copper, Bronze, BG (Blue Green), Strauss Wine, and 838G Electric Ocean Blue.

www.kryolan.com

In preparation for the class I painted a model (Jessica), with a variety of techniques to show the range of possibilities, then finished the painting in the class to show application methods and let the participants try the products and paint. Photographing a UV painting is hard, and we had limited time to try before vacating the Blacklight room, but I did manage to get a few reasonable shots. I include here shots of the face and the back, in both regular light and under Blacklight — notice how the face looks completely different under the two different lights, but still works both ways. That is the goal. It has to work both ways because at most events the people you paint will be seen under both types of light, and you want there to be an exciting change as the person you paint moves under Blacklight, because that is part of the fun of Blacklight, the surprise effects.

CLASS NOTES: ( click here for a pdf of these notes, plus a list of Kryolan Aquacolors) Dayglo&InterferenzeClass_Hints

The design on the demonstration model’s back, under Blacklight. See how the UV colors fluoresce, and everything else turns black.

Kryolan Dayglo Makeups (also called UV or Blacklight)

•  UV makeups are special effect makeups — go all UV only if the gig is all blacklight.

•  Most gigs are regular light, so I mostly use UV makeup to add “pop” to regular designs.

Use in combination with regular colors for brighter designs in normal light – makes elements of the design stand out. EX: UV eyes on eyelids can be seen from across the room • UV green stipple on top can make a spooky or alien face “glow”  •  UV orange over reg. red is a powerful background for dragons, etc.  • UV orange tiger image can seem to leap off a regular blue background  •  try UV colors as accents over the same aregular colors, like UV pink dots on a pink butterfly wing

•  Mixed light: the design has to look good both ways. Generally an all UV design doesn’t look as good under normal light – so include other colors too and feature UV elements of design that will pop out under the blacklights. Christopher’s Trick – I mix UV colors with Metallic Silver or Interferenze Gold to get a makeup that still flouresces under blacklight and also looks glittery under regular light.

• CLOUDY DAY EFFECT – because clouds block some white light, but let UV light through, UV makeups glow a bit on cloudy days at outside events — and also near sunset.

APPLICATION – UV makeup tends to be softer/stickier. Use more water, apply more thickly.

BASIC APPLICATION ADVICE= “It works — make it work for you”

Creating Designs for Full Blacklight — hints

• All UV colors glow bright under blacklight – the individual colors don’t differentiate much – therefor the essence of UV painting is controling the image through the use of black, not the colors. Think of stained glass.

• for brightest effect, paint UV directly on skin or over white base. (but can still work over colors)

• white underwear is a problem, it glows too bright – even if you paint over it.

• Black can make parts of the body disappear.

Under white light, the same UV colors are bright, but not fluorescent. Notice how different the dragon’s fire looks here, because I “hid” the UV orange flames over regular orange, knowing that would be an exciting change in the image as the model goes from white to UV light. The silver on the armor would normally turn fully black under UV light, so I mixed a little UV Blue into it so it would still fluoresce a bit under the blacklight.

Photographing UV Designs  — ain’t easy. On a digital camera, manually set the ASA as high as possible (I shoot at 1600), use a tripod, shoot under full Blacklight (not mixed), No Flash, take lots of shots and then adjust levels on the computer.

•  Will look nice on the computer, but they don’t print well (printers can’t print the colors true)

•  I sometimes add some blacklight during regular foto shoots to get UV accent colors to pop.

Kryolan Interferenze and Metallic Makeup

•  These I think of as “fancy makeups”, not special effects. I use them all the time to help people be excited about their faces.

“Premium Faces” – at our Bronx Zoo concession we get extra $ per face for incorporating Interferenze or UV makeups into our regular designs.

•  I prefer metallics and interferenze makeups over using glitter because I can paint with them in all the same ways I use my regular makeups, both with sponges and brushes. Part of my regular kit.

•  They blend beautifully into, over and under regular makeups.  red/gold blends; purple/gold; blue/silver; green/gold; red/copper; blue/Strauss Wine; etc. Or stipple a little Metallic/Interferenze over regular base to make amore “fantastic” background. APPLICATION is a little trickier than regular bright colors, so may need to use more water than usual, or try dabbing with a sponge rather than swipping or using a brush.

•  Can use a full metallic/Interferenze base with regular colors on top and give all the colors a metallic sheen – can also go the other way: try metallic/Interf. over a solid black or dark base.

See my fine art  Bodypainting Gallery

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NY Makeup Show Bodypainting — Bodypainter or Makeup Artist?

by Christopher Agostino

This was my second time painting a body at The Makeup Show New York for Kryolan Professional Makeup and it was an exhilarating experience. It was also great to get a chance to work with Rebecca again, my model. I think of her as a muse, for she has always encouraged me to take chances and helped me develop the designs I paint on her through our discussions as we paint. I believe that bodypainting is a collaborative art between the painter and the model, and Becca is a great partner in the effort. We started painting at 10:30 and completed the full body in five hours. I did get the chance I was hoping for to realize a better iteration of this Animal Body design I have explored over the years. I changed the design to flow better around the body, including changing the direction of that movement, and I came up with better face design than previously. Given that this was a commercial gig, painting in the booth of a makeup company to demonstrate the product and draw attention, I’d rather be painting a design I am familiar with and confident in than trying something completely new (as Becca and I did the following day in a  studio session). This design also gave me a chance to show off the beautifully bright colors that are the reason why Kryolan’s Aquacolors are my makeup of choice.

James and Jessica interviewed attendees on their reaction to a painted body

With James McElligott there filming for his documentary we drew some additional attention. He also did some interviews with people that were stopping to watch, and, even though we were at a Makeup Show, there were a surprising number of people talking about how unusual it was to see a fully painted body. The one episode of Face Off that I saw was when they had to paint a body and I was surprised by how uncomfortable some of the contestants were with the concept of body paint, how unfamiliar it was to them. It’s a reminder to me that bodypainting still has an ability to shock and surprise people and, although I may be immersed in a world of painted people, what I do is unusual.

Which adds to the excitement of painting at The Makeup Show, for as I said to Rebecca while we were setting up, it makes me feel like “a real professional”. Face and body painting isn’t the kind of job that shows up on lists of professions for career day but at the Makeup Show I can feel a connection as a specialist within a small part of a large industry. I never think of myself as a makeup artist — understanding the level of expertise and training that comes with that title — but painting in that context I kinda have to. And I know my limitations: I can’t make a women’s eyes look beautiful for a wedding unless she wants cat’s eyes. I wouldn’t assume that the serious makeup artists at the show, doing fashion or TV and movies, would have seen me as part of the same profession, maybe more like something on a fringe, yet there was no lack of camaraderie and plenty of positive reaction to my process and the completed painting.

Rebecca is a makeup artist, so she was much more savvy than I about the vendors and the products, and when the painting was completed she had the additional pleasure of meeting Tate, her favorite contestant on Face Off.

Becca with Tate from Face Off

Is a bodypainter a makeup artist by definition? I think that is something for someone with a more legitimate claim than me to decide. Certainly a makeup artist can be a body painter, can include body painting within their everyday set of tasks for whatever job they are at. And many bodypainters come into this specialty as trained makeup artists and can handle cosmetics and make beautiful eyes — once while watching Nathalie Simard paint a fantastically theatrical full body design I was struck by the delicacy with which she did her model’s eye makeup.  When I think about it at all, I think of myself as a visual artist that paints on people.

www.kryolan.com

http://www.agostinoarts.com

See my fine art body painting at  https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/body-painting/

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NY Makeup Show Body Painting – Animal Body – Pt.1 animal silhouettes

From my book "Transformations! The Story Behind the Painted Faces"

by Christopher Agostino

How to use Animal Silhouttes for Face & Body Painting

photograph by Rich Johnson

At the New York Makeup Show this weekend I’ll be painting a body as a demonstration for Kryolan Professional Makeup. With the opportunity of full day for the painting and an excellent model to paint I’ve decided to re-visit a design I’ve never yet quite realized as intended, the “Animal Body”.  In 2006, I painted the design above for my book as a reference image for the pages about using silhouettes —  really more of a cheat sheet than a body design. At the Face and Body Art International Convention (FABAIC) a few weeks later I tried wrapping the animals around the body when an unexpected opportunity to paint a model came up — a more effective design, but we didn’t have enough time to complete it. I did get some nice foots of the torso, including one from Rich Johnson we’ve used as a logo image. Since then, I’ve done pieces  of it and some variations, and for the Makeup Show I’ve got a plan for the full body.

http://www.themakeupshow.com/makeupshow/NY/index.html

www.kryolan.com    http://www.fabaic.com/

Where does an idea come from? I’d done a parade of realistic animals on someone at the St. Francis Day Fair to capture the march of the animals into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan for the annual blessing of the animals.

I also used them in black silhouettes on the side of a bowl I made to commemorate my wedding with Lorraine in 1991. Later they walked around Lorraine’s belly to celebrate the coming birth of our son. Putting the animal silhouettes against a sunset came afterwards.   I’d seen a wonderful painted face with a black pterodactyl against a red sky, sent to me on a greeting card from England, and also an image of shadowy giraffes in an African sunset. So my animal parade became silhouettes against the sunset , the first time I painted it was on myself in the foto from 1992 that’s in the banner at the top of this webpage.

For a facepainter, these simplified pictures, or icons, can be used to add an animal to a scenic design. You can find source images in pictographs, pottery and painted decorations on all sorts of traditional art objects —or you can invent your own icons.

Click here for a pdf cheat sheet of animal pictographs:  AnimalSilhouettes_facepainting_agostinoarts

To simplify an animal down to an iconic symbol, use a design incorporating or exaggerating a significant feature of the animal or use a silhouette of the full animal’s shape. Most animals can be recognized by their shape: for example, a snake can be drawn as a simple S-curve line with a forked tongue, and pretty much any four legged animal shape with a long neck reads as a giraffe.

You can paint the shape of an animal in one solid color. It’s an easier, faster and often more effective way to represent an animal for a face design than a full-color, detailed approach. Most often I place animal silhouettes in black against a brightly colored background, but you can also use white animals on dark backgrounds (like dolphins in a blue ocean) or make your animal shapes in colors (like sky blue geese flying across a sunset). The body at the top of this post, the “Iconography Body” done for my book, was intended to show many of these ways I’ve been using for silhouettes on faces.

Once you can paint the silhouette you can add selected details to emphasize the significant features of an animal (like the teeth of a dinosaur), or add elements for more purely decorative effects (like putting yellow spots on a black gecko). Remember that an image doesn’t need to be realistic to communicate meaning,  you can adjust it or distort it to better fit the features and make a better design.

http://www.agostinoarts.com

From FABAIC 2006. Bodies painted by (from left to right) Nathalie Simrad, Raphaelle Fieldhouse, me and Jinny.

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