Working with The Human Art Collective

Okay... prepare for a long post with some gushing, awing, and lots of photos; this last weekend was definitely a dream come true. Saturday the 7th and Sunday the 8th I had the AMAZING opportunity to work with a body painting group based in Northern California called The Human Art Collective. I was invited by some friends of a past employer, who are models and artists themselves, knowing that I was interested in that field of work. Each day consisted of 7+ hours of application and preparation, and following that was another 6+ hours of showcasing at SubZero Festival in Downtown San Jose! Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there the entire time; school and my job got in the way; I did get to be there for one of an application periods, and for one night at SubZero though! I'll start from the beginning:

I arrived around 1pm on Saturday, and I must say I was a bit nervous. I enjoy the art of body painting, and I think that it's absolutely beautiful and intriguing, but I had never been in an actual situation where I was able to watch professionals paint on semi-nude bodies. Yes, I was worried about the whole 'nude' part at first. I was legitimately like 'oh god, I'm about to go to this place with a bunch of naked people walking around!' and I was worried that I was going to act like a nervous, red-faced child while I was there, and make everything awkward; but it was quite the contrary actually. The women are wearing pasties and underwear, and the men are wearing briefs, so they're not as naked as I thought they would be. After being there and helping out, painting, and getting involved, the fact that they're naked is the least of your worries! You totally get over the fact that your 'canvas' is a male or female without their clothes on, it's not sexual or awkward at all, I was actually surprised at myself for getting over it so quickly. The atmosphere is totally easygoing, carefree, and fun. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, it literally showed me (even though I already knew subconsciously) that the naked human being is not just there for sexual or pleasurable reasons, but it is literally an art form that I fell in love with almost immediately.

Anyway; I was kindly introduced to all artists and models, and then I was assigned a project by the very talented airbrush artist Rich, and his model Audrey. I started by using a kabuki brush (which I have never used to paint before, and I now realize that I need to buy these in numbers, they're amazingly useful!) to paint a light blue base coat on Audreys legs. Audrey was there as a first time model, and she was very sweet! It was a cool experience being a first time painter, painting on a first time model. Rich was very helpful, and gave me some great tips and advice! Afterwards, I then made my way to the front yard where they were airbrushing some stenciled leaves on a model named Patrick. I have an airbrush machine myself, and I've only used it a few times, but I had never used it on someone else. Ciara, the woman/model who invited me to her home, and Chrysalis, the very talented SFX makeup artist who had created Patricks character, asked me to help airbrush the leaves. I got a couple of good stencils in there, but then I spilled some paint on him by accident and counted myself out, haha. It wasn't a huge deal, and it was easily fixed, but I was nervous about messing something else up! 

I observed everyone else for awhile, watching painting techniques, and tools used. I then returned to Audrey and Rich to paint some stars on her face, chest, back, and arms; and then I helped hold the stencil in place while Rich airbrushed a pattern onto her painted dress. So, I did little things here and there to help out, I was thrilled to be able to pick up a brush; even if it was just for little details. Everyone was so nice to me, they were really encouraging and were pleased to have me there! It was an awesome feeling being welcomed by a family of amazing and talented artists. Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the festival that night because I was scheduled to work, but here are some photos of Saturdays application period, and the finished looks of that day! As you can probably tell, the theme was 'Elements', Air, Water, Fire, Earth. (none of the photos are mine unless stated otherwise).

                                    Photo by me; Air                                Finished look; Fire Phoenix

                                                                      Finished looks; Earth

                                                    Finished looks; Air & Egyptian Goddess

                                                Finished looks; Fire Phoenix & Embers

My Photo

HAC in the Silicon Valley Business Journal! (I'm in the background!) :)

HAC in the Silicon Valley Business Journal! I helped paint her stars :)

                                                     Earth; Before and after application

My photo; mask application

My Photo; Air

The next day I was at work throughout the entire application period; but I was able to attend SubZero on Sunday night. I got there at 6:30, after spending thirty of those minutes just looking for parking (DT San Jose can be a nightmare!). The festival itself was absolutely magnificent. I don't know why I had never gone before! An entire street of booths were set up, from small businesses to solo artists. A stage was blaring music from a live band, food trucks were everywhere, and there was an entire section dedicated to chalk art. It was all so fascinating!

The HAC booth had a big x-shaped wooden panel that allowed four different backgrounds for the elements, an open tent where the crowd could watch live body painting, and another tent and table where they could sign up for more information and classes! I was immediately given a 'crew' badge and started to help out by asking the models if they wanted water or anything to drink. Like I said, I wasn't there for the application period, but the models/body paints looked AMAZING! The theme was still Elements, but different artists were assigned different elements this time, so they had completely different looks. I spent the rest of the night (until 11pm!) assisting artists, promoting the collective by handing out stickers and information, letting the crowd know that they can donate $1 to vote for their favorite element, etc. Little things, but I enjoyed being there in general. Just observing everything was an awesome opportunity for me, being as this was my first volunteer experience in the field! I had so much fun, and I didn't want to leave. Here are the finished looks from SubZero festival on Sunday (the last) night! (none of the photos are mine unless stated otherwise).

My photos: Selfies with the lovely Brea, and makeup application on Ciara

  Brea & Ciara finished! (water)

A-MAZ-ING 'earth' bodypaint!

 Fire and Water elements

More application (live!)

 More water! (Sharknado!!)

Water and Earth

Water and Fire

Absolutely breathtaking works of art if you ask me!

 I was more than thrilled to be apart of this event. As I've said many times before, it was an amazing experience and I am so grateful to have been apart of something so beautiful. I met so many great people, and I can only hope that I will be attending many HAC events in the future. I'd like to end this post by thanking everyone that welcomed me and got me involved this weekend. It truly was a blessing! <3

Check out their website: http://www.thehumanartcollective.com/

and like them on facebook!