FACE PAINTING
by Mark Samuels
Exclusively for Bassculture Islands
Even though I am inspired by henna for
the creation of these patterns the original
inspiration for marking the face actually
came from anime and manga like “Zoids
- Chaotic Century”, “Tenchi Muyo” and
“Mononoke Hime”. In these anime the
characters often times had facial markings
that helped to define them. I suppose it left
a really strong impression on me and when
I started painting faces I wanted to recreate that same aesthetic that I found in the
anime characters, but the influence of the
henna just came naturally in the process.
The process
1. The model is covered in a coat of waxy
body paint, which becomes the base for
my canvas.
2. I apply a layer of neon paint over the
model which becomes the texture of the
skin.
3. The design is done in a fluorescent paint
that I cone out in the same way that I do
henna.The patterns are informed as much
by my feelings as they are by the shape of
the models face.