Belegarth

Us Goblyns , Orcs & Demons should share our tips & tricks on changing color

Food coloring is the fastest way to color yourself. But it takes 2 to 3 good showers and much scrubbing to wash it off.

I recommend mixing it in a spray bottle with a little water. This is the fastest way to cover your body. A friend to spray your back is very helpful. You can also mix in a little sunscreen. Or put sunscreen on before you get green.

The thick skin on your hands and feet will absorb more color than the rest of your skin. I wear boots so that I don't have to dye my feet. Sometimes I wear plastic gloves on my hands while applying to cut down on the amount of green they soak in. For the face I mix less green with water in a bowl, and apply with a washcloth or paper towel. Eyebrows and the tiny hairs around your face will also absorb the green if your hair is light colored. So you might want to put lotion on them before hand ? Rubbing chapstick into the pores of your nose helps keep the color out of them. I like to paint my nails black before getting green, it helps keep the green from sinking in.

Afterwards nail beds will be green for a week or 2. Scabs will be green until they heal and fall off. Armpits also hold more color than the rest of your skin, but it might be due to anti perspirants pulling the color in when they close your sweat glands. If your skin is prone to black heads you will end up with green heads that may need extracting. Try a hot shower and a face brush first. A nylon bath poof and soap get the green food coloring off your skin really well. Dr Bronners soap is great. Or that orange clean stuff you can get at Harbor Freight. Apricot scrub for your face. Bring a mirror into the shower with you so you can tell when your face/ears are clean. Or a buddy

I also use different color eyeliners and eyeshadows for contrast to bring out my inner gobbo. Black around the eyes, and black lipstick really adds to the evilness. Black hair gel to cover the mundane haircolor.

Goblyns: don't forget to cover your elbows & knees. They are goblyn errogenous zones !! ( Unless you're a shameless goblyn like Snotbelly )

Orcs; Black food coloring actually turns out dark green on your skin.

Helpful, but not required;

Instead of water; Ben Nye LiquiSet in with the color spray is excellent.


And after all the face paint and makeup is on, a spray of Final Seal is great


http://stageandtheatermakeup.com/bnseal.htm

If you don't have these things, the food coloring alone still works great.

I tried using Ben Nye green cake makeup at Yestare. It took me 2 hours to get green !! I needed lots of help with my back. And it rubbed off on everything, even after it was set with translucent powder. It felt thick and icky. Still took me 2 showers and a long soak in a hot bath to get it all off. (Years later it is still on the edges of my leather armor.) I will not be using that again.


With Ben Nye cake (grease) makeup, Yestare 2008

I haven't tried acrylic paints, from what I've seen they tend to peel all nasty and make you look more like a rotting zombie ? (Edit 2011; if you use an airbrush and cut the paint with 50% water it peels less )

Gotta give credit where credit is due; Smudge & Morgack are the goblyns who enlightened me in the ways of green. Thank you ladies ! & Snotbelly taught me how speak goblyn

GFS has the best price and largest bottle of food coloring;

GFS Stores; http://gfs.know-where.com/gfs/



Please add your tips & tricks

And pictures !!!




*2011 edit, click here for airbrushing tips*

You look amazing. If I ever want to paint myself like a tiger now I know who to ask.
i'm serious.

Had to do it.

Thanks Lodian,

Soo, exactly !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco



"It's Not Easy Bein' Green" (lyrics by Joe Rapposo)

It's not that easy bein' green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy bein' green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water- or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bein'_Green

hey another thing that helps out a lot is camo face paint you can normally find that in a wal-mart or any sporting good store.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Kermit is a *. Not only is it easy being green, it's * fantastic.

Lady Lyllith and I at Yestare 2008 ( Ben Nye cake & powder )


Picture by Oni (Food coloring)


greenskins.. post your pictures !!

by the way ... .. is any one up for a wet elbow contest? he he he ha ha ha . happy times

While I am new to being green, I have extensively used the face paints and cream based paints. They are excellent for more detailed painting, but they do tend to smudge. Also, if you have sensitive or more oily skin, you are much more likely to break out.

It's far more difficult being un-green.

Salamander wrote:While I am new to being green, I have extensively used the face paints and cream based paints. They are excellent for more detailed painting, but they do tend to smudge.

Liberal amounts of Final Seal will prevent smudging. If you want a cheap but cancer prone alternative, blasting yourself in the face with hairspray will set your makeup just as well if not better. I still don't recommend it.

As someone pursuing a career in special FX makeup, I'd suggest that if you're going to use cream or grease paint, that you apply a light coat of translucent powder.

I tried the coat of translucent powder over the Ben Nye cake paint at Yestare... it still rubbed off around my clothing and armor.


Moar pictoors;


Chupa and I Halloween 2007 (food coloring)


Food coloring

Sweet Pea tried something interesting at Geddon. She mixed lotion (For good smelling), Sunblock, bug spray, and dye. The resulting mess was fun. It had all the sprays and goos one needs, smells good, and is much easier to spread than just plain dye.

And that's why I stick with food dye. Easily blendible with sunblock and doesn't just rub off. Cream makeup isn't really intended for running around all day in the woods, but if you're going to wear it, the powder is your best chance. If someone looking to green up is apprehensive about food dye and is instead looking for a type of stage makeup, I'd go with grease paint. It's less likely to rub off, but a **** harder to get off.

purple is where its at. purple will be the new green

One tip for getting the grease paint off is ..warm water and some dawn soap..or any soap with coffee in it takes the stuff right off. Also make sure your grease paint isn't old. Its normally pretty easy to get off when its new. (Oh and baby oil that takes it off to.. when you go to take the paint off..rub some baby oil on it ,let it sit for a few sec, and then rinse off with warm water.)--that is a tip I learned from Morgakh. Works pretty well and it helps your face feel better after a long day in the sun.

Forgive the pinkie intrusion, but as someone who taught Keiko at least some of what she knows....

Glycerin soap will get most anything off your skin, from waterproof eyeliner to regular paint. Baby wipes will get the majority of the makeup off (baby wipes take almost anything off. Sorcia's used them to remove paint...makes you wonder how they're able to do that and be safe for use on a baby's butt) and you can scrub around the edges with the glycerin soap--combining that with an exfoliating scrub will make things a lot easier.

Kryolan and Ben Nye both make airbrush makeup that can be ordered in large quantity from both their catalogues and can be applied with spray bottles or sponges if you don't have an airbrush. It can also be diluted (not by much; to be used in an airbrush it needs to be pretty thin in the first place) and applied with a wide paint brush.

Ben Nye's final seal really is the best thing available for keeping your makeup on. Baby powder works just as well as the translucent powder , smells nicer, and is a little cheaper than the makeup kit stuff. Uh...that's it for now.

::running::

This thread RULES.

I can't wait to paint up!

We need more pictures in here...

Mibs ? Illiak ? Diego the demon ? Where are the evil ones ?

Allow me.



Mekoot Lob'o Lizardman!

I will guess it was a fishnet shirt and sprayed

You guess correctly. Apparently that's like the "Beta" version of the paint-up he's working on. White skink pimp that he is.

Lobo was by far the best dressed creature at Geddon's feast

So, Icing Dye does not work so hot... I bought some Wilton Leaf Green Icing Color and it's pretty dang weak.

Any brand recommendations, oh Green Overlords?

McCormick. Every time.

Does McCormick make a purple, or would I need to mix to get one?

I know I've seen those 4-packs of neon colors they have now, one of which is purple. But I don't know if that's McCormick or not. Spike?

Galya is right. I believe McCormick only has purple in the neon 4 packs. I've never seen them with a single regular sized bottle.

Thanks, guys. I reckon I'll just find the blue, red, and green colors and buy them all. As a hobgoblyn, I (a) have choices to make about my skin tone(s) and (b) can even have more than one at the same or different times! Hooray!

Just don't show up looking like a tie-dyed turd.

...


...fine...

*puts away his "hippie turd" costume*

Results! (large pics)

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d124/ ... C04500.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d124/ ... C04499.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d124/ ... 511_ps.jpg

Conclusions: Being green is awesome. I need to work on my application method and try not to spill half my * bottle of McCormick's all over my bathroom and garb :C. Also, I need to learn to take pics as soon as I'm done, not half-drunk 2/3 of the way through our Halloween party...

Try filling a little 8 oz spray bottle with green, there tends to be less spillage that way. It's what I use. And I like your designs over the eyes, nice touch.

Why, thank you. Earlier in the evening, they were recognizable as a third eye on my forehead and similar/mirrored "scars" drawn through all three eyes. There's some roleplay background bulshytt on the Arrakis BelWiki page explainin' that one "scar" is real and the other two are warpaint designed to restore the balance and equalize the perspective of all of his "eyes".

An 8oz spray bottle, hmm? I bought the 1 oz (biggest I could find) bottle of McC green. How much do you recommend in the spray bottle and how much water or whatever you cut it with? I only did the one "coat"... I found that diluting the dye gave me a very light green, whereas what you can see in the pics is me using the dye straight and rubbing it on with folded up paper towels.

Another greenie ! Excellent

Now that you mention it, the spray bottle works great when you are doing large parts of your body. If you're only doing your face paper towels are a good idea. I prefer to dilute the food coloring with just a little liqui-set. Let your first layer dry, and then add another layer until you achieve the color desired.

Lately I've been a lazy goblyn, I've just been using makeup on my face. Much easier at events without showers, and times when you don't want to go through all the time it takes to clean off the food coloring.


Yesterday at Mordor's Halloween battle with Ikasha. Goblyn "lite"


Ingredients for goblyn "lite" (all except for the black lipstick)

Here's me on Halloween... mostly white powder, white contacts. Dead Marie Antoinette



Goblyn lite for a party last weekend

Food coloring FTW.

Arrakis wrote:How much do you recommend in the spray bottle and how much water or whatever you cut it with? I only did the one "coat"... I found that diluting the dye gave me a very light green, whereas what you can see in the pics is me using the dye straight and rubbing it on with folded up paper towels.

Personally I've always liked wearing a darker shade, so I apply it straight, no dilution. The spray bottle is for application purposes only. As Cryn said, it's good when painting larger areas, like both my arms. But how much you dilute or mix or whatever is your own preference.

And I'm kinda curious how dark your face was when you first applied it, 'cuz from the pictures, it seems awful light for just a few hours of wear.

I thought it looked super-light, too, especially compared to, say, the pic of Snotty and Cryn further upthread. I don't really know what happened. I mean, I was kind of in a hurry (party prep is no quick thing when me and mine throw a party) and I spilled like half the * ounce on the bathroom rug and my sexy hakama :C.

I'll take more pics next time I green up (god knows when that'll be now that the cold season is upon us...) and see if I get any darker or if I can diagnose a cause...

My only thought is that there are more pores on your face, and thus it tends to soak up more color than other places. So maybe it would take multiple coats to get a darker shade? Not sure, I generally do a big squirt and rub it around, then just touch-up what I missed. Might have to do with complexion too, who knows? Ev'ry greenskin be dif'rent.

pro tip 4 purple. use the neon and add blue. i do a 1 to 5 or 1 to 4 ratio of blue to purple with purple on the heavy side obviously. this makes for a darker purple and less of a barney purple. sometimes i'm lazy and just do a straight purple.

also as i learned very oddly. mixing blue and red equal parts will make purple, but gives like a crazy junebug effect to it and shimmers a bit in the light. I've yet to really experiment with this too much as it freaked me a bit when i first did it.

Makeup by Keiko, Chaos 13

Wow. This thread is awesome.

If I wanted to put say, a black or gold cross on my face and have it last throughout the day. What should I use?

I don't want to do my whole face or head and I don't want it to run with my sweat.

Would food coloring work for this?

Would food coloring work for this?

No, food coloring tends to bleed when you sweat. I'm no expert, only thing I could suggest might be an acrylic paint of some kind, those tend to stay a bit better. Cryn would probably be one of the best people to ask about this though.

I haven't found anything yet that is not going to run.

What about henna tattoos?
How long does that last for? Would it be safe to do on my face? Are there color options?

I have no experience with henna other than what I've see people wearing at events.

Henna is safe for the face, but it only comes in brown (that I know of). It stains the skin for a few days, so make sure it's for a longer event, or you'll have a brown cross on yer face for days.

Yeah, due to the sweating on the battlefield, most everything will run eventually.

But you can start out the day looking good and get pictures taken before it melts

I would say Ben nye powder or cake cream with lots of final seal sprayed over it. Makeup brushes for careful application.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the Mordor Season Opener last weekend I skipped the food coloring and just used Ben Nye Mermaid Green powder. Worked well for the afternoon and washed off easily in the shower. However, it is more expensive than food coloring, and I don't know how it would hold up to summer temperatures.

I regularly used Ben Nye back when I was going to raves regularly. It held up reasonably well, so unless you take a face shot I think it will hold up decently to summer temperatures. I have some black that I pull out for special occasions here in Hawaii (though I've never worn it to the beach), SO...*


*your milage will vary.

Plain acrylic paint works fine. It doesn't run at all; the only thing you need to worry about is scratching/rubbing it off when you're wiping away sweat.

Word of warning, though, Jesus painted a cross on his face for Melcaorme one year with this method - bar down the middle of his face and one right across the eyes. He ended up with a massive sunburn on the areas not covered by the paint, so sunscreen would be a good idea.

Last Halloween I started using an airbrush;


2010 Halloween


2010 Zombie Crawl

They have relatively inexpensive airbrushes and compressors at Harbor Freight.

This isn't something you can do by yourself though, you need a patient friend to help you. And this won't work at a campground without electricity or running water.

I used acrylic paints diluted with 50% water. Combinations of colors; for the Goblyn; green, black and brown. For the Zombie; white, black, brown and a couple drops of blue. It takes a while to get the hang of using an airbrush, but it creates a really neat look. Start with your base color and cover most of the areas. Then mix new batches with different shades for highlights & lowlights and to create contrast. When working with skin you want the pressure around 30 to 40psi. Around the eyes and ears down to 20psi. You'll want to cover your work area with an old sheet or painters cloth. Have cardboard handy for testing the paint out of the airbrush. When you change colors, spray out the old color on the cardboard. You'll want to give yourself a couple hours for this process, it's very time consuming. Be sure to thoroughly rinse out the airbrush right after you finish using it.

You can also use stencils to add neat textures;



2011 Zombie Crawl. Photo by B.Fry.

(Tad used elmers glue and toilet paper to create wounds on the other zombies. I'll try to add pictures of that later)

After the airbrushing I still use eyeliners and eye shadows around the eyes

This all washes off much easier than the Ben Nye cake makeup or food coloring. It only takes 1 shower, and that's why I prefer it.

I'm just getting started with this art form. If you have any of your own tips or pictures please post them