Lions And Tigers And Buttocks, Oh My! Body Painting By Craig Tracy

Along with the likes of Joanne Gair, Emma Hack, Verushka, Guido Daniele and M.A.C. make-up body artists I have featured, Craig Tracy is another individual who creates art with body paints on the human form.



Born and raised in New Orleans, Craig Tracy, shown working above, first started body painting in 2002 and opened his Louisiana gallery, Painted Alive Bodypainting, in early 2006.

Using a traditional paintbrush, an airbrush, sponges and finger-painting, Tracy's body paintings each take approximately one full day to complete. He uses a different model's body (and in some cases, multiple models) for each image.


above: " Toes" by Craig Tracy

His work has been used in several ads and other commercial applications. Being from New Orleans, it's not surprising that he has many jazz related images, but my favorites, without a doubt, are his nature and animal works.


above: "Elements" by Craig Tracy

The images of his work in this post are actual photos of body art in which Photoshop was NOT used.

Eminence (Lion):

the process:


Tiger (on breast):

the process:


Twee Fwog (his title, not mine):

The process:


Shelter (Elephant):

the process:


"O":

before and during:


South Side:

the process:


Koi:

the process:


Inferno:


Inclement:


His stunning illusory image of a tiger was created with three models to increase awareness and benefit a cause that is near to the heart of the artist:


Tigers have always been his favorite animal and when asked to aid in the effort to protect, repopulate and re-wild this the most endangered tiger in the world, Craig immediately said yes. "Only 100 South China Tigers are reported to remain alive and if my body painting can help increase that number by one then I'll have lived with purpose." states the artist.

the process:

Craig with the final work:




Please visit http://english.savechinastigers.org/ and help support this effort if you can.

See much more of his work here.
©2009 Craig Tracy, Painted Alive Bodypainting Gallery, All Rights Reserved.
827 Royal Street, New Orleans LA 70116.

The Super Sexy Body Painting of Joanne Gair

It dawned on me that I really couldn't mention the talented work of Joanne Gair in the context of a post about body painting without showing you some of her amazing work, so now I've decided to do just that.

Joanne's work is especially sexy in addition to being impressively detailed. She's done the body painting on many famous models for issues of Sports Illustrated over the years, including painted on swimsuits and sports jerseys.

Many a red-blooded male will be very happy I chose to share these with you, as you will soon see.

Painted on Swimsuits for Sports Illustrated:

SI 2009
Brooklyn and Julie:

Irina and Jessica:


SI 2008:
Jessica:

Quiana:

Tori:

Sarah O'Hare and Marisa Miller:


SI Pre-2008:

Rachel Hunter and Heidi Klum:

Yamilla:

Rebecca Romijn and Noemie:

Petra:


Painted on sports jerseys:



Painted on Rock Concert Tees:



Heidi Klum Painted on Pin-Up Series:



and a few more of her amazing images from various projects and editorials:




Joanne Gair :: The Art of Illusion (from her site):

Joanne Gair is an artist and image maker who has emerged as the premiere make-up artist/body painter in the world. Originally from New Zealand, Gair had a keen interest in art photography and exploring different mediums, which is what eventually led her down the path as an illusionist and to the United States.

As a make-up artist and body painter, Gair has worked worldwide with the top photographers, directors, super models and celebrities. Her work spans all media, with many memorable editorial covers and layouts, fashion campaigns, advertising, music videos, commercials and motion pictures to her credit.

Gair’s extensive work with editorial (Vogue, W, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Black Book, Harper's Bazaar), fashion campaigns (Donna Karan, Versace, Victoria’s Secret, Guess, bebe) and cosmetic companies (L’Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, Oil of Olay, Rimmel), has established her as a fixture in the Fashion Industry. Her editorial work spilled over to a two year stint as beauty editor for New York based Black Book magazine.

Almost everyone has seen the August 1992 issue of Vanity Fair, featuring Demi Moore wearing nothing but a suit of body paint. This cover earned Gair worldwide recognition and put her at the pinnacle of the body art genre. The brilliantly painted swimsuits in the 1999 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, featured a twelve page layout using six models as the canvases for Gair’s art. The bathing suits (replicas of original designs) exemplify Gair’s close attention to detail and sense of realism that have made her the master of the art of illusion. Her work has now become a yearly fixture in the SI Swimsuit Issue.



Gair’s first book Paint A’ Licious was released in October of 2005 and featured over 40 new photographed and body painted images. Her second book Body Painting Masterpieces By Joanne Gair, a retrospective of her career to date, was published in 2006. Sports Illustrated released a collection of Gair's body painted swimsuits in the 2007 book In The Paint - The Art of Joanne Gair.

Joanne Gair continues to drive herself to explore and experiment in her work, in an effort to bring something new to a project every time. In an industry besieged by trend followers, Gair has established herself as the trendsetter.

Buy books by Joanne Gair

Joanne Gair website