The Fire Breathing Dragon, one of my most ambitious projects. I will take you behind the scenes.
Sean Avram, an internationally recognized body painter, was in Calgary on a teaching gig.
He was fresh off the Skin Wars Reality TV show. He shared how he had been eliminated the day before the multi-model painting challenge. He had planned a fire-breathing dragon.
This was Saturday; he would fly home on Monday.
I offered, “We should do it; I have space and can get models.” He looked at his students, also accomplished artists; enough said -Yes! It was on!
I lined up models, drop cloths, food… all that support stuff you need.
When models and painters arrived, I had the painting stations and food stations ready to go.
He had sketched out his vision: 6 models. One was fire breath, one was the tail, one was the underbelly and legs, another was the face, another the neck, and the last was his back.
We assigned models positions, each paired with a painter.
Now, this is different body painting. We had to work out the fine details of posing to shape our dragon. It was a collaboration, with thoughtful input from everyone, as we worked on Sean’s design.
Then, suddenly, it worked – we had our shape. Removing their clothes, our models recreated the dragon pose for the painters.
As the girls held their poses, each painter sketched out the body design. The style had to match; the bodies had to blend, like a puzzle.
Then the dragon came apart. The painters started. Randomly, two or more models would pose together, letting the painters check progress.
It made for a long day; we started around 9:00 Am and the last click was at 8:45 pm. The studio waited for cleanup the next day.
Some models would lie down, catching a catnap as thick layers of black paint dried and their painter snacked.
It was also mayhem. 800 sq feet gets small when half is being set up for the session, tables of food, paint trays, sketches, all with the hum of airbrushes slaving away.
As we got closer to the finished work, our models were constantly reposing into the dragon so the painters could check how designs blended.
The room buzzed with energy; we only had this day to do it. Models marvelled at themselves as their bodies disappeared. Painters got so focused on the little details,
Finally, I was up. I had roughed out the lights as the girls did the test poses.
Now it was time to find the angle and refine the light.
All set up, our dragon was about 14 feet long, from tail tip to flame tip.
The design had our dragon curling around.
It became a patient process, not too slow because the models were holding this pose after a long day of finding that right angle.
Once the artists found the set, they did the touch-ups.
And just like that, I had the photo.
The girls collapsed on the floor laughing. We had it. A dragon in the studio.
In the post, I put our dragon inside a castle.
This was one of those delightful, it-all-fell-together moments of my career. I love making things possible.
