With the passage of time we often look back at past projects. One of my favorite body paints I have done has to be my Venom body paint. If you are unfamiliar you can check out the blog here ( http://mattgoodlettmakeup.com/blog/2018/5/25/venomiss ). I was really proud of it and people seemed to really like it. Not just because of the body paint but the great model and amazing photography. It also doesn't hurt that Venom is such a beloved villain who has amazing character design to draw from.
All that being said looking back on it nearly four years later I knew I could do it better. Except for the tongue and teeth I pretty much used all black and white paint with some high lights here and there. The more I have looked at it over the years I knew I could do it better. I have a real issue however with revisiting things I have done in the past. I thought this would be a great way to show growth however.
I contacted my friend Danny Alexander who had shot the first Venom body paint I did. I knew if I was going to redo it I wanted and needed him on board. I have worked with Danny a lot in the past and he always captures my body paints perfectly. Not to mention he is a bit of a nerd like myself so he is familiar with the subject matter more than most. He and I started thinking about models that could pull off the look. We talked about several different people then it hit me, I knew the perfect person.
Olivia Storment
First image by Alex Bays and the rest by Kyle Kozinski
The Halloween event I worked this past year had this fantastic aerialist by the name of Olivia Storment. As Venom swings through the air it only made since to have a model that did the same. When I met Olivia she came off as very shy, soft spoken and reserved but watching her perform she was anything but. I wasn't sure if she would be interested in being painted as a comic book character but I had to ask. She had just modeled for a body paint show I hosted for another artist so I had hope. I am so glad she agreed to be a part of this project.
Like the last paint I started on the mouth, tongue and emblem first. I paint sketch it all out in white first to see how the tongue and emblem would meet up. I wanted to cover the spider a bit with the tongue but I didn't want to obscure it too much. This time instead of white then yellow I started with a nicotine color for the teeth with some brown to give them a dirtier look. I didn't use white for the emblem this time around either. I used a mix of a color called tainted flesh, tendon, and light gray. The biggest change though was the "black" of the symbiote that is Venom. Basing in black last time didn't leave me a lot of room to move for high light and low light. Instead I based in dark blue. This gave me a lot of room to move with highlight and lowlight to make for a much more detailed look. To punch up the gnarl factor I added some green slime to the mouth elements. I almost didn't add the slime but I feel like that little bit of green added so much to the overall look. To finish it off I added some white highlights to really pull out Olivia's musculature as well as other details and to make some things look wet.
In Olivia's Words, “Going into this I was beyond stoked and excited. I had only been body painted once before and was thrilled when Matt asked me if I could be a part of this. I didn’t know much about the Venom character, except for only having seen the first movie which I loved. I’m obsessed with all things demons and monsters so I was super ecstatic to be turned into this famous villain. The day of I was a little nervous, but when things got started I could not stop smiling. I was probably having too much fun. Looking in the mirror when everything was finished, I was in disbelief that this amazing, super detailed piece was on my body. Saying I felt cool is a huge understatement, and I was honestly pretty sad when I had to take it off. I feel so lucky that I was able to participate with such talent in this awesome project. I can’t stop thinking about it!”
Danny was pretty much able to match his lighting set up from last time which I felt is what really made my original venom paint look so good. The way Olivia was able to hold her body was awesome. She really brought strength to the character. I was nervous to go back into this character because I was afraid I couldn't make the changes drastic enough to make it wort it. With the help of an amazing photographer and model I think I was able to achieve and showcase the growth I wanted to in the past 4 years and I hope you think so as well.
