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This
document is not meant to turn you into a body painter. What it is, is a brief
tutorial that discusses the various aspects of body art and timelines to create it.
Its
difficult to explain to people that this is art that may take years to create.
There are hundreds of small details that I pay attention to.
Body
art to most people is painting pretty pictures on nice bodies. This is not what
I do.
A
short story. In the 1940’s there was a reporter who went to Jackson Pollock’s
studio. Jackson was new on the scene. Abstract art was little known and even
less understood to people.
The reporter asked a few questions and then he
sat down to observe the artist creating a huge piece of art. He said in the
article that followed his visit
“I watched him dance with the paint as he made his way across the
huge piece surface.”
This
single sentence changed my life. Up to that point I had been trying to make
those pretty pictures on bodies. It allowed me to break free from the regiment
of painting pictures on body. I was
going to dance with the paint. From that point on I never painted another pretty
picture on a body.
I started
dancing with the paint. I watched what and how it landed on the models body. I observed
how it changed with each color that was mixed with other colors. And I would
lose myself in the dance. What differed from Pollocks abstract painting was
that I was painting in 3 dimensions.
In
that time I’ve worked with hundreds of volunteer models who all played their
part in making the art.
As
I said, this is art that may take years to create. The session with the models
is one small piece in the process. So here are some of the steps in the
process.
STEP
1
Brainstorming
This
very first step is in some ways the most controversial because most artists
don't consider the time used to think about a piece of art as an actual step.
But to conceive art from the thought process all the way to the final step, is
super critical. With that said, the brainstorming step doesn't involve a single
piece of art. It requires an idea that stretches through the whole
series.
It’s
important that I consider the basic idea first and whether it will support the
amount of art that will be generated from it. My largest series is called "enchantment".
It’s a simple word with a thousand variations. It gives me the fuel to generate
a lot of art.
STEP
2
Building
the Set
Once
the theme is decided upon, I must start considering how it can be brought to
life. In this case I often spend months creating the 3-dimensional setting that
would eventually host the series. I wander secondhand stores, estate sales, and
yard sales looking for materials and accessories that can help bring the idea
to life.
In
the case of the Enchantment series this took several months alone to both
gather and build the complete set. Keep in mind that this also included
lighting mechanisms. It’s not just a matter of a few lights. I am creating the
mood using the lighting. Even in a series which I create in monochrome, I still
have to consider and place dozens of lights.
Step
3
Models
This
step runs contiguous with the other steps. I begin searching for my models
right from the start. Models must be willing to be photographed nude. They must
be comfortable being body painted. They must take instructions well. This is no
small task. To create a series there may be dozens of models spread out over
months. Models must go through a test shoot in order to qualify. The exception
to this is if the person has previously modeled for me before.
Step
4
Getting
Started
Scheduling:
Once the set is built and the models chosen, we can focus on scheduling. There
were 14 individual shoots with 1-5 models in each shoot. They are not all
scheduled at once. I try to do two shoots a week until I am satisfied that I
have gotten what I want.
Studio
Prep: this is different from set building. In this case, the studio must be
prepped. Paints must be laid out, materials put in place and anything I might
need must be at hand. There is usually a lot of running around for things
forgotten. I usually have 1-2 helpers ready to help. This prep time may also
include things like clothing that I may put a model in, jewelry that I place on
them, and whole lot of worrying I've forgotten something.
Step
5
The
Session
A
typical session begins around 7pm. Helpers have already been with me most of
the day. The session lasts 3-6 hours, so its a pretty late night for all of us.
This includes shower time. I built an actual outdoor shower to support my
models. Having them clean up indoors usually clogs the plumbing with
paint.
Now
I usually work off a basic script for where I want each session to go. Its
divided into sections. A section usually has three parts. The staging, the
painting, the photographing. I already have in mind what I want to do with each
section. The painting itself is actual three-dimensional abstract painting. I
work to create patterns and merge colors together in variations. The first
paints are laid on the bodies; the models are posed how I want them and I begin
photographing. Paint, pose, photograph, paint, pose, photos, over and over
again until I build a portfolio that is anywhere from 1,000 - 5,000 individual
photos.
This
is the process. I send my models to clean up and I immediately begin reviewing
the photos.
In
the case of Enchantment there are 14 sessions over 7 weeks for a total of
75,000+ photos.
You can see how the timeline can extend. After all of those
steps, we are left at the end with 1,000 - 5,000 photos taken at every stage of
the body painting session. If I am working on a particular idea, then this
number of photos are taken for every session. 14 sessions in the Enchantment
series.
This is a serious amount of photo work. Of course I don't
use every photo. My rule of thumb is can I get at least 10 pieces of art out of
every 1,000 photos.
So why take so many? Two reasons. First for every single
pose of a model, I may take 3-10 images. Some of these are done as different
settings on the camera. The rest are because I am constantly moving around the
model to get different angles and different lighting. Second, it gives me
slightly different angles which I may use later with different series.
These
pieces were full color and had a different direction that series went.
Enchantment on the other hand focuses more on monochrome, with only select
colors showing. It’s often moody and takes moving around of lights during each
and every shoot. Add to that, my skill level has changed since the initial
series was done.
So, we are now in post-photo shoot where we begin The Sort.
I'm going to walk through every single photo from the session and note which of
the images stand out to me. This is a time-consuming process but necessary.
Once I have my list narrowed, I'm going to begin the final art. I'll let the
photo suggest to me what it wants to become. At the same time, I'm going to add
or remove colors, add shadows, etc. until the final art emerges.
By the time I'm finished, usually several weeks later I'll
end up with a series of art that tells a story to the viewer. Not just the
title of the piece, but the colors, the intensity, the overall effect that
image has on people.
If you combine the time it takes to do all the other steps
prior to creating the actual art, it still won't equal the time it takes to
create the art. And just for general information. I don't use Photoshop. I use
Corel Paintshop Pro. I'm not looking at filters to create the art for me. Instead,
I'm building the piece of art up using layering techniques and my own eyes to
bring out the story.
I'm touchy about this. AI has really given artists a bad
rap. The difference is, are you letting the program create the art for you? Or
are you creating within the art yourself? There is a huge difference.
The Final Conclusion
So, combine everything and any given shoot may have
anywhere from 40-500 hours of work put into it. These final steps move the art
to conclusion, where the shoot often has a name and an idea and each piece of
final art tells a complete story which the viewer interprets the stories
ending.
But it never really ends and I think that's the most
important part. I have saved every single photo I've taken in the past 30
years. Even when I was a professional fashion photographer (pre artist). I have
nearly 3 million raw images in my database. I can with a moment’s notice return
to older photos and do something new with them. I am never without inspiration.
There are no limits except for your own imagination. If I
never worked with another model, I still have enough source materials to go on
creating art for decades.
Please note that I haven’t mentioned a lot of things in
this tutorial. To mention every details would create a document so long that I
doubt anyone would read it. But I want you to keep one word in mind. “Metamorphic”.
I’ll explain this at some point.
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