Tag: avatar

Avatar Costume: Dr. Grace Augustine with Body Paint

Dr. Grace Augustine costume with body paint

Who could resist dressing up when going to “Avatar: The Exhibition“! Since it was December, dressing up as Dr. Grace Augustine (Na’vi version) seemed like a more practical option in order to stay warm.  Here are some tips for doing this costume:

Paints used:

I used the paints that come in the Silly Farm Pandora kit.

  • 1 Kryolan Light Blue
  • 1 Silly Farm Avatar Rainbow Cake
  • 1 Wolfe White
  • Fixative Spray

Clothes:

  • Maroon or red tank top
  • Tan safari shirt
  • Tan Cargo Shorts
  • Brown hiking boots
  • Dark calf height socks
  • hemp necklace
  • Headband (long strip of light colored fabric)

Steps:

1. Get dressed in your tank top and pants. If you’re planning to wear shorts and paint your legs, leave your shorts off and just carefully pull them on at the end.

2. Paint a layer of light blue all over the exposed areas. Don’t paint your hands yet.

3. Using the dark blue side of the combo cake, paint stripes on your face and arms. Allow the stripes to be a bit uneven and jagged, they’ll look more realistic this way.

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4. Using the light blue side of the combo cake, paint a thin stripe down the center of each dark blue stripe. This will help give it more dimension and depth.

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5. Using the white cake, paint small white dots while following the edges of the blue stripes.

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6. Put on your wig, necklaces, and remaining clothes.

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7. Paint your hands. Then spray yourself with fixative spray to help seal in the paint.

8. Have fun!!

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Neytiri from Avatar Costume with Body Paint

Apparently blue is my color!

This year’s costume was Neytiri from Avatar.  I decided to use body paint instead of liquid latex like my Mystique costume last year.   I did the majority of painting myself, though I needed help with my back.  Here is the final result, but keep scrolling down if you’d like to see more photos of the process.  The professional photos are courtesy of T.J. Hall Photography.

Breanna Cooke as Neytiri from Avatar with full body paint. Photo by TJ Hall
Photo by TJ Hall Photography
Full body paint costume for Neytiri from Avatar. Photo from T.J. Hall Photography | www.tjhallphotography.com
Neytiri from Avatar with body paint
Backside of body paint.

Body Paint

I purchased a “Pandora Kit” from SillyFarm.com.  The kit included all the blues I needed, and it worked perfectly for painting a full body.  I also purchased some glow-in-the-dark body paint so that the white dots would glow.

1. Apply the light blue all over your body with a sponge. 

Starting out the painting

2. Use the 2-blue combo cake (it should be shimmery) for the stripes. Start by painting stripes with the dark blue, then add a highlight with the light blue right on top of the dark one.

Painting Progress

3. Use white is for adding the dots, then go over them again with glow paint (optional).

Closeup of arm details.

UPDATE 10/10/2012: Check out my tips on how to seal water-based body paint.  This will help prevent your paint from rubbing off on everything.

Costume

I made the beaded arm bands by painting Mardi Gras beads and sewing them onto  elastic bands.

Painting Mardi Gras beads with acrylic paint
Closeup of arm bands.

I purchased the wig online.  If you search for “Deluxe Neytiri wig with ears” you’ll find the same wig from various vendors.  I also glued some feathers into the braids to make it fuller and match Neytiri.

Feathers added to the braids of the wig.

I made the outfit from scraps of fabric and a bikini bra top from the fabric store.  I made the straps by braiding fabric and I stitched fabric on to the front of the bra cups by hand.  The loincloth (not pictured) was  two rectangles of fabric sewn on to a pair of black underwear.

Bra top from fabric store.
Straps made of braided fabric.
Top with fabric attached.