I was working on coming up with ideas for future body paints and decided that croquis (commonly used for sketching out fashion designs) would speed up my production. However, after a brief Google search, I couldn't find any that I felt were suitable for body painting! They were all outlandishly skinny and thin (which, while fine and visually appealing for fashion, made it very difficult for me to draw in all my design onto the tiny little body) and usually had hands crossing the body or one leg behind the other. I also couldn't find any croquis that were drawn with a grey outline (this is a personal preference on my part- I like to draw the body with a light grey color so that I can concentrate on filling in the color and design of the body painting).
So, I decided to make my own: complete with light grey outlines, realistic body figure type, no cross body arms or legs, and a front and back view. I figured that I would share the croqui with everyone else, and hopefully it will help you in the production of your own body painting ideas.
Edit: I'm still not sure why the image is showing with the grey background- I am trying to work things out between Photoshop and Blogger to play nice and upload the image correctly. Please stand by.
As promised to a few students, here is a little post that will hopefully help with trying to mix foundations from primary colors (red, yellow & blue) and tint/toning it with black and white.
First of all, lets take a look at our color wheel again, shall we?
So, our primary colors are red, yellow and blue. By mixing one primary with another, we get our secondary colors (orange, green, purple). Mix a primary and a secondary and you get a tertiary. So, can't help but notice that brown isn't on there...?
The color brown is made by mixing all three primary colors together (in different amounts, for the desired tone of brown). As in the picture to the right, my preferred method is to mix orange (which is red+yellow) with blue. Because, aside from brown, skin tones are usually mostly reddish or yellowish, I find that starting with an orange color and adding small amounts of blue gives me more control over how the color changes. From there, I tint and tone the color lighter or darker using black and white to change the saturation of the color. Of course, if you'd rather start with green and add red (still ends up being the same combo of colors, just different starting amounts) y'know, go with what ya feel.
Here is a great video by a painter who goes through the process of mixing a skin tone using a similar technique.
Having a deeper understanding of color theory in makeup is an incredible advantage. Corrective makeup is all about knowing which colors compliments the other, and in turn, cancels it out (neutralizes it). Complimentary colors are the colors directly across from each other on the color wheel.
A corrective concealer pallete by Graftobian
In the pallete above, the 'blue neutralizer' (great for covering up old black tattoos which tend to turn blue as they age) uses blue's complimentary color, orange. The 'deep red/purple concealer' uses purple's complimentary, yellow. The 'redness remover' uses red's complimentary, green.
Notice that these concealers do not use intense, saturated colors- instead, they have been tinted and toned to match that of the average skin tone. If you swatch a color against skin and it appears as a noticeably darker or lighter splotch on your arm/face when you squint, then you either need to tint or tone with back or white to match the saturation.
Finally, identifying whether you have cooler or warmer undertones in your skin will help you determine how much yellow or red you need to add to your mix to match your foundation. Ivory and olive tones will have more yellow, while porcelain and ruddy complexions will have more red.
Hope this helps! If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comment section!
"Which eyeshadow should I pick to really make my eyes stand out?"
"I hate wearing light purple colors, it always makes me look washed out!"
Cool vs Warm lipstick swatches
Believe it or not, color theory plays a huge role when it comes to choosing and applying makeup.
There are different skin tones to consider and match (ivory vs porcelain, sallow vs ruddy) as well as undertones of different ethnicities (a Filipino person is going to have a different skin tone than an Asian person, who is going to be very different from someone with Irish heritage) Many makeup manufacturers utilize color theory when organizing/identifying their product. (MAC's NC or NW lines, or L'Oreal's C, N, and W) Different colors will either compliment or detract attention from eye colors. You can also utilize knowledge of color theory in SFX to make a person seem ill, sickly, feverish, anemic, etc.
Here I've gathered a few tutorials that I've found have helped me understand color theory better when it comes to makeup. See them in this post after the jump!
