Captain America

Body Painter: Pashur  |  Model: Sean Lerwill  |  Photo by: Chuck Aghoian

Recently in Los Angeles, my friend Jazzmin invited me to come to a body painting for a Golden Age Superhero photoshoot. I thought, "Heroes AND bodypaint? I'm in!" Then it was the great debate with myself, so many great choices to choose from! I finally decided on The Phantom, (and was quite excited about it) but then was unable to find a bald model available on the date of the photoshoot!! Who knew bald super heroes would be hard to find in L.A.??  Jazzmin then told me she had found a model who would make a great Captain America. Enter Sean Lerwill, a U.K. actor and model who just happened to be in town, and who just happened to make the perfect Captain America! Turns out that not only does Sean make a great Golden Age Super hero, he's also just an all around cool guy. We had a great time turning him into a Captain America that could give Mr. Evans a run for his money! I turned it up a notch by adding in metallic blue, to really send home that Super Hero look. It  turned out to be a great day in any Verse

Body Painter: Pashur  |  Model: Sean Lerwill  |  Photo by: JMV Photography

The LA Make Up Show

In March,  Andrea of Bad Ass Stencils fame, asked me to come body paint at her booth, Bad Ass Stencils, at the L.A. Make Up show. Of course I agreed! I painted Simone Dawes with a colorful Scarab type design. I tried to showcase many "out of the box" uses for the stencils by creating a multidimensional design that came to life through the strategic placement of various textures. The makeup show itself was fun, and I saw a lot of familiar faces!  Afterwards, we went to party at The Velvet Margarita, the most delightfully tacky restaurant in L.A.! Here we had an amazing Mexican meal and an amazing margarita (or two, or was that three? hmmm...could have been four). Viva la Bad Ass!

Zombies. Super Heroes, Hip Hop Stormtroopers... and Bananas ( yes, bananas)!

Pashur's body painted zombie creation on actress, Jennifer Rice

I was hired by a really cool "zombie survival" company called Z-booth to paint people as zombies at Long Beach Comic Con. The convention was full of creative cosplayers, zombie lovers and comic fans. It had everything from pint size Edward Scissorhands characters to break dancing hip-hop stormtroopers! Some of the more entertaining zombies were the people that came dressed as a character and then let me zombie them up. That's how we got Zombie Captain America and Zombie Amy Winehouse. Then there was the Banana....a guy dressed as a banana. Not quite sure what that was about but it was pretty funny!! I zombied up my girlfriend who proceeded to scare people (usually into joining the hordes of undead and becoming zombies themselves). Some other fun requests included sugar skulls and a few black eyes. The convention was a blast, but then again, zombies always are!

Once Upon A Time...

"Mirror Mirror" by Pashur

I returned to one of my favorite events of the year, Hilloween, A Halloween costume party for charity. This year the money raised went to Team Smile - which helps give dental work to kids in need that can't afford it.

"Enchanted" by Pashur

The themes have varied over the years, and this year it was "Fairytales and Nightmares!" What says fairy tales like an enchanted mirror? Thus, I had my body paint design theme for my awesome model, Natalie Heart. I also squeezed in "Hilloween" across the top of the mirror as a bonus touch for the event I was painting at.

This Halloween event had quite a mix of tricks and treats! I also painted a regal golden fairie queen on one of the co-organizers of the event, a zombie on one of the sponsors, a circus performer as Little Red Riding Hood who was attacked by the big bad wolf, and dozens of the event staff as ogres and fairies.

"Golden Fairie Queen" by Pashur

A special big thanks to my team of painters that helped rock it out, Nick Wolfe and Sonya Grafft.

Fantasy Fest 2013

It was another incredible year at Fantasy Fest body painting at Paradise Tattoo in Key West, FL. My crew and I were so slammed this year! I literally started painting at 10am everyday and did not finish until after 11pm on some days!! I knew it would be like this going in, as I was already booked solid with appointments before I even arrived to Key West.

The theme this year was Super Heroes and Villains. It felt like I body painted every Marvel and DC character there was... Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Batgirl, Spiderwoman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Sue Storm, Captain America and the like. It’s amazing how many variations people come up with for these characters!  A whole week of naked comic book women, it was like an x-rated version of Comic-Con!

Not everyone went the comic book route with their body paint designs. Here are just but a few of the many designs I body painted this year...

A Native American design with a dreamcatcher.

An abstract design with glitter to match her mask.

A detailed motorcycle.

An evil clown.

Body Painting at Fantasy Fest requires you to paint very fast. You have to be able to crank out high quality body paintings very quickly. Almost every design I body painted this year at Fantasy Fest was done in less than an hour. Some took only 30 minutes, some took 45 minutes, some took the entire hour to body paint. Only three designs I body painted this year took 2 hours, and those were full body designs.

Next year will be incredible as well. The Fantasy Fest theme for October 2014 is Animeted Dreams and Adventures. Only 11 months away...

Body Paint Lingerie

Lingerie demo body painted by Pashur

On Nov 7th, I taught a sold out body paint lingerie workshop in Tampa.

My demo model, showed up in a purple silky robe, which inspired the metallic purple color I chose as the lingerie base. She looked fantastic painted up in purple lingerie, and now I know why she owns a purple robe!

I painted this design while explaining the step by step process to the workshop. The entire design (corset, panties and stockings) took a total of 75 minutes to body paint.

One student in the class, mentioned how easy I broke down the lingerie. I think with any project, a clear guide is extremely important, and once learned gives you the ability to create amazing art. The students were fantastic, and really soaked in the guide I taught them. The result? Well I think they surprised themselves!! It's moments like this that make me really enjoy teaching, seeing students discover in themselves the ability to make something incredible. I think they each created a portfolio worthy piece, I was so proud of them!

Bad Monkey! Salute!

While I was in Florida visiting, my friend Wyndy lined me up a body painting project at Bad Monkey, a military themed bar in Ybor City (Tampa, FL) on Nov 6th.

The bar was decorated with military decor, so I chose a retro military pin up theme of course! The bar's interior also provided lots of photo opportunities for my model, who I had just met the day before. I am so glad she agreed to pose, it really turned out great!

I wanted to show the stages of the bodypainting, so you can see it from start to finish….

Step-by-Step of the design painted.

I’m pretty sure she could have said “drop and give me twenty” to anyone at the bar and they would have happily proceeded to do so! She was a hit!