Paint Bathing Suits

Beautiful Illusion

Have you ever seen paint swimsuits before? Perhaps you have and haven't even realized it. What started as a lark has become a bit of a seasonal art form, inspired in part by the annual release of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition.

Each year, the magazine features some of the most beautiful women in the world covered in nothing but paint. These "swimsuits" are incredibly detailed, and appear quite real at first, and sometimes, second or third, glance. It's a testament to the artists' talent as well as the swimsuit models' endurance. Some of the paint swimsuits featured take over a dozen hours to create and photograph.

So the question begs, why would anyone even want to create a swimsuit out of paint? Perhaps the best answer to this is "Why not?" After all, most of us love a challenge, and the prospect of turning a beautiful woman into a walking work of art is just too tempting to resist.

Creating Paint Bathing Suits

Body Preparation

So what does it take to prepare the human canvass for a painted swimsuit? First of all, any area that's going to receive paint needs to be as smooth as possible and therefore hair free. This means there's going to be a bikini waxing involved. Since a fresh waxing tends to leave little red bumps in its wake, it's best to give the skin a day or two to settle down.

On the day of the painting session, the model's skin also has to be extremely clean because the skin's natural oils can interfere with the way the paint takes to the surface.

Endurance is also a large part of the process. The model will necessarily spend several hours in various positions as the swimsuit is painstakingly created, and a good portion of this time she will be on her feet while the bottom of the suit is filled in. This means she should prepare by getting a good night's rest, eating a light and healthy meal and taking a final bathroom break before work begins below the waist.

Mediums

Although these works of fashion art are referred to as paint bathing suits, not all of them are created with standard body paint. In fact, some of the very best paint on bathing suits are created using high grade body cosmetics sold by companies like Mehron; a very well known name in the body art community.

Although no one really creates one of these swimsuits solely for the purpose of swimming in it, some of the products used are actually fairly water proof, allowing models to be photographed in the water. This furthers the illusion that these painted creations could be real.

The one hard rule in swimsuit painting is that the products used are completely non-toxic on human skin.

Tools

As with other types of painting, an assortment of brushes are used to create the desired effect and achieve enough coverage and texture to give the illusion of real fabric. Soft bristle brushes, sponges and even air brush tools are used depending on whether the artist is working with cake makeup or liquid pigments.

Real or Paint?

When created by a true professional, it's difficult to tell the difference between paint bathing suits and the real thing. After all, some of the fabrics used in more daring swimsuit designs can be gossamer thin, and seem more illusion than real. Check out the set of painted and real swimsuit images below to see just how closely paint can look like the real thing.

Real or Illusion?

White hot!

Jamaican scenery...

In living color!

Image Credit

Special thank you to international body paint artist Mark Reid of MarkReidArt.com for the use of his painted swimsuit images.