How to cover tattoos: fast, waterproof and rub proof (With Video Tutorial)

Airbrush makeup allows for the fastest, most durable and most undetectable tattoo coverage. In the video tutorial below you can see the process carried out mostly in real time. In this post I would like to go a little deeper into the details, but first an important disclaimer: while airbrushing as a technique is much easier than commonly perceived, I would definitely not improvise on others before extensive practice. Attend a class if you can, and if you can't be sure to check these pages for more information that may be useful in selecting the equipment and products that are best for you. 

PRODUCT SELECTION

Airbrushing offers incredible coverage that will be practically imperceptible, thanks to the process of nebulization of the foundation. There are many brands that produce makeup that is specifically designed to be used with an airbrush, and that will dry fast and be more durable than traditional brands. My first advice is therefore to use a made for airbrush product rather than try to dilute and spray your normal foundation. Airbrushing traditional products will still save you application time, but traditional formulas will not gain more durability simply by being sprayed. While silicone based makeup will retain its water proof finish, there are specific products created by airbrush brands specifically to cover tattoo, and these are the ones that will allow for the best results. Among these, two are definitely worth mentioning: Tattoo Cover by Dinair and the Dura line by Temptu.

Tattoo Cover (formerly known as Colair Extreme) is a water based formula that becomes totally water and rub proof once applied. It is truly an extraordinary product that can also serve as blocking concealer on the most severe skin irregularities, as well as latex safe skin color for SFX prosthetic applications. The product is available in a range of shades matching almost every color in Dinair's beauty lines (Glamour, Radiance, Soft Glow and Neutralizer).

The Dura line by Temptu is an alcohol based foundation that is available in the 12 shades of the classic S/B line by the same brand. Adjuster colors for color correction are also available, but almost never necessary in that the product offers enough coverage even for the darkest tattoos.

Other products that can be used successfully for tattoo camouflaging are the Endura line by European Body Art, the Hydro Proof line by Kett and the Nebula line by Kryolan. Non-monetized links to all these brands are available in our LINKS page.

HOW TO COVER TATTOOS: A STEP BY STEP GUIDE

The process of covering up a tattoo is pretty much the same for all the products listed above, regardless of their specific formulation. Each step will have a slightly different duration depending on the product you chose to use.

STEP 1: Shaving the area

Shaving the area you are going to cover is always necessary, even when there are no hairs visible to the naked eye. Even the tiniest, thinnest hairs will create texture unless we shave the skin first. 

STEP 2: Cleansing the skin.

A couple of minutes after shaving the area you can move on to cleansing with IPA. This will eliminate any oily residue and the skin will be ready for the application. 

STEP 3: Light layers

Now you can move on to layering the color in light passes. Color matching before starting is crucial in order to find the shade (or shade mix) that will be right for the skin tone. Don't be tempted to cover the whole tattoo immediately, as this will lead to hot spots and visible product accumulation. Proceed in light passes and keep the airbrush at the right distance. You will see the tattoo fade more and more with each pass, and by working this way you will allow each layer to dry before moving to the next one. As colors oxidize once applied and usually darken, this will give you a better sense of the final result. As I was saying, color correcting is almost always redundant with the products I have listed above. 

STEP 4: Setting Powder

Once you have layered enough passes you can move on to setting the area with HD powder or any fine powder. This will eliminate any residual wetness or stickiness. I advise using a flesh tone powder rather than a white or clear one, as these will leave behind a whitish cast. You can apply the powder by brush and later remove any excess with a setting spray or even water.  

STEP 5:Spattering (Optional)

Even if the airbrushed coverage doesn't add texture to the skin, its blocking power could create a very uniform effect that might look a little artificial also depending on the color scheme of the skin we are covering. In order to break up this seamlessness a to achieve a more natural result, we can break up the tonality by spattering darker foundation shades (or even blush shades if alcohol based). In order to spatter with your airbrush you simply have to remove the needle and nozzle cap and lower the air pressure to the minimum, then flick the airbrush lever. Of course you will have to be extra careful not to touch the skin with the exposed needle.

CLEANING YOUR TOOLS AND REMOVING THE MAKEUP

 When working with alcohol based products or with Dinair's Tatoo Cover it is crucial that you clean the airbrush immediately after the application. Failure to do so will lead to a very long, in-depth cleaning of all the pieces later on, because these colors create a sort of stubborn film in the deepest recesses of the airbrush. Removing the makeup from the skin on the other hand is quite simple if you use IPA or lacking that a very oily makeup remover.

"BEAUTY" CAMOUFLAGE OR SPECIAL EFFECTS?

For best results it is important to keep in mind that covering tattoos for "beauty" purposes is rather a camouflage work, where the primary goal is to prevent the eyes from focusing on what would otherwise be an obvious feature. If your goal is an absolutely perfect coverage that may recreate the exact color scheme of the rest of the skin unto the smallest details, you most likely will not use the technique described above, but rather a a multiple layer spattering of sheer alcohol base colors. This spattering technique is used in Special Effects, and it is not the object of this tutorial.

Airbrush for Special Effects: Easy Succubus Halloween Tutorial with 3rd Degree Silicone

Halloween is many a makeup artist's dream festivity. Creativity runs amok and everybody is trying to outdo each other in coming up with the most whimsical and surprising look for the occasion. Some newbies might even feel intimidated at times, but the industry nowadays is supplying us with so many amazing products that literally anyone can create a frightfully good makeup without too much effort. Like every year we turned to our favorite online store in the world, Camera Ready Cosmetics, to put together the look you see in these photos and video tutorial. If you follow these pages you might have read our previous Camera Ready rave review of a couple of years ago. Since we wrote it the business moved to a new location in Dallas, Texas, and grew exponentially under the guidance of their amazingly talented founder and owner, makeup artist Mary Erickson. They now stock about twice as many brands, have lowered their shipping costs and continue with their policy of unrivaled customer service. Much to our delight, they stock an extensive catalogue of airbrush products and special effect supplies, and they ship all over the world at fair prices when many of their competitors still hesitate to do so. 

Let's talk about some of the products we used in our demo, hoping that what you see and read here will inspire you to get creative for Halloween 2017!

3d Degree Silicone Modeling Compound

This amazingly versatile product is made of two components that must be mixed in equal parts. It is extremely easy to blend on the skin and can be cleaned up and smoothed out while still curing with 99% alcohol. It will cure in about 5 minutes, so be sure to work fast. Also be very careful not to cross contaminate the jars when extracting the product, or you may render it unusable. This product is available in various colors. We had the clear version which can also be easily colored intrinsically by mixing pigment in powder form. Once cured the application will look very shiny, but it can be painted easily and blended perfectly.

Skin Illustrator On Set Palettes

These alcohol activated pigments are the most famous and most widely used in the professional SFX industry. The On Set Palettes are smaller, more portable (and less expensive) versions of the full size product, and the colors apply so sheer on the skin that they will look like they are coming through from underneath, with a startlingly realistic effect. They can be reduced with their special Activator, which is less irritating to the eye than straight alcohol 99. To use these colors in your airbrush, as we did in the video, simply pour

a small amount of alcohol or activator in your airbrush cup and then "tint" it by dipping a brush into the palette's well and then "rinsing it" in the airbrush reservoir. It is a simple process that is quicker to do than to describe, and require minimal experimentation in order to achieve the right color intensity. If you don't want to do this, you can also order the same colors you find in the palettes in a liquid format that is ready to be airbrushed. 

European Body Art Colors

EBA is another brand that is becoming an industry standard in the SFX world, with outstanding lines  for airbrushing and solid palettes. We used Endura Airbrush Liquid (alcohol based) in white to prime the face and get rid of the silicone compound's shine, then some flesh tone and some straight black to finish the makeup. EBA also offers Endura Vibe, a line of water based colors of extraordinary pigmentation and water and rub resistance.

Bdellium Tools Brushes

So you finally saw me using a brush or two, and these could only be coming from the amazing SFX collection by Bdellium Tools, a vegan product created especially to achieve amazing pictorial textures. These brushes are another industry favorite, and if you look hard enough in related videos, you will see them being used by the very best artists in both the beauty and the special effects fields. 

Graftobian Walk-Around System

We fully reviewed this beauty in a previous post that you can read in our Kits Reviews page, and we are happy that CRC is still stocking this beauty!

Airbrush Makeup Guru Profiles: an interview with RJ Haddy from Face Off

Long before it became popular in beauty makeup, airbrushing has been a staple in the special effects industry, as the amazing show Face Off demonstrates in every episode. We will be talking more and more about FX on these pages, and what better way to start on the subject than an interview with one of our favorite Face Off alumni of all times: "RJ" Haddy!
Please click on each image to see every amazing makeup in full size.

 

Robert "RJ" Haddy

Robert"RJ" Haddy is a terrific special effect artist with extensive movie credits and impressive teaching experience. A native of Charleston, West Virginia, He has become a household name to FX fans world wide thanks to his double stint in Face Off, the SYFY hit reality competition show that has played such a major role in bringing the world of special effects makeup to the mainstream public. RJ was one of the three finalists of season two, and returned for a further five episodes for the show's fifth season, an atypical "veterans vs newcomers" edition. His Bell Hop makeup, inspired by the imagery of Tim Burton, was one of the most memorable looks ever featured on the show, and in my opinion it sums up RJ's most prominent trade mark, with its mixture of perfectly executed makeup, inspired fabrication and superb attention to details, all accompanied by an irresistible underlying sense of humour. Since the show RJ has kept an incredibly busy schedule, teaching highly praised courses and seminars and being featured prominently in the most important makeup related events around the US. RJ has his own product distribution website, www.radfxco.com, and has also achieved what to us airbrush makeup fans is the ultimate accomplishment: he has designed a signature airbrush called "The Shadow" with Leading American airbrush brand Paasche. We are very excited to be able to ask RJ a few questions on his life and his art.

-What made you decide to become a makeup artist?

 Well I started out as a puppeteer when I was very young building and creating puppets, and it sorta transformed (or transgressed if you will LOL) to FX make up because the techniques and materials for more advanced puppetry are almost identical. In fact it's FX artists that create all the animatronic monsters you see in films.

RJ's unforgettable Bell Hop Face Off Makeup

-During the course of FaceOff you often described the beautiful relationship you had with your parents. Were they immediately supportive of your passion for FX?

Not from the get go. I think my mother still wants me to become a dentist or a doctor at some point, lol but once they saw what I could do that I was pretty decent at it and could make things with my hands they became very supportive.

-You are a graduate of the celebrated Joe Blasco Make up Artist Training Center in Hollywood. How difficult was the transition into the professional working world after leaving school?

Actually, if there was one thing that was the best help of attending Joe Blasco it was the preparatory for how to find and procure jobs: that was the most valuable information parlayed to me through the courses ... I was already a pretty decent make up artist by the time I got there but had NO clue about how the business of films worked or how we as make up people were to find jobs and work in the industry. So for that reason above all others it was beneficial and worth being in school. This is business stuff that you can either learn by getting thrown to the wolves and making lots of mistakes, or from someone a little older and wiser, and that was a HUGE help!

-Your original creations seem to be conceived with performance in mind, as opposed to static beauty, and I know you have some acting experience already. Do you imagine yourself pursuing acting more in the future?

RJ in his super popular Penguin cosplay

 Actually yes, I just finished filming a cameo role in a very neat thriller by Fist In Post productions called “Old Baby” and I am currently working on producing my own film “The Family Business: Blood is Thicker” for my own production company Rad F/X Pictures. I will star in the film in a way reminiscent of an Eddie Murphy or Mike Meyers vehicle where I wear several character makeups and play 3-4 different characters throughout the film. The difference between those guys and me is that I can design and apply the make up AND act in it ;) It's going to be a wild ride of a film Id love it if you could check it out a little more by visiting our facebook fan page for the film and there you will find lots of behind the scenes photos and exclusive stuff that I won't be posting anywhere else. What we do is only 50% completed when we pass it off to the actor. The actor has to create that character based on the script and what you have physically transformed them into. Many times they do not have the complete puzzle until the first time they see themselves in make up: Now think of a make up artist, who is also an actor, creating the make up for the many weeks prior to the first application. That person will SOAR in the role because of all the prep time they have had to think about the physical direction the make up is going into and I think its honestly the purest form of BOTH arts. I love acting make up artists like Lon Chaney, for example... and even Tom Savini... Actors who intrinsically KNOW how the make up is created and how far they can push the boundaries are usually very seasoned in wearing FX make up and have been doing it for many years. Stuff like that usually only comes in time... but an acting make up artist knows both sides of that coin and can hone in on a character BEFORE ever seeing himself in make up and once he is ... stand back and watch the show ;)

-I would like to move on to our favourite subject now, which is of course airbrushing. Face Off did an incredible service to this technique simply by showing how much it is actually used in the FX world. A lot of our readers, especially here in Europe, had no idea of the extent of its use until they saw the show. When did you first learn how to airbrush?

 I picked up my first airbrush, a Paasche VL, when I was 13 years old. I was instantly hooked, but I was also a stupid kid, lol ... I didn’t understand the importance of or how to clean one properly until after I went to Joe Blasco. Cleaning is VITAL to keeping your brush in proper working order! Not tomorrow, the next day, or next time you use it but IMMEDIATELY after usage and before you store it. TRUST ME! It really is a key component in speeding up the entire process.

-What aspects of airbrushing that you like most, and what in your opinion is the greatest misconception in regards to this technique among young makeup artists today?

18 to 88 Aging on actor Jordan Nickles 

 Well That's a tough question.... but I guess I can summarise it in this way: an airbrush could make a MONKEY look like they know how to paint. I recently did a make up that was a typical “cracked doll make up” for a client. I decided I would paint the cracks in by hand the first day. The second day I used the airbrush to paint in the cracks and the difference was astounding. I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but it was just a more complete, uniform look. Also I love the process of painting in thin translucent layers. You can get the thin washes of colour layered one on top of each other until you have sufficiently created the illusion of the translucency of real skin. That is VERY important. It has to be broken up. You can't just leave a porcelain doll finish on a character make up (unless its a porcelain doll, lol ) and think that's finished. The look is created by layering many many thin washes of colour in organic patterns. Ve Neil would say to me on the show: “Your paint jobs are nice but they’re a little flat ...” well I learned how to fix that throughout the 2nd season on Face off. This was the most invaluable technique I took from the show. The way something is painted can destroy a beautiful sculpture, or save a mediocre one.

-You had the amazing opportunity of creating your own signature airbrush with a major company. What makes "RJ's The Shadow" different from other airbrushes?

RJ Haddy's The Shadow Airbrush

 Well first and foremost, Paasche is an American Made product. (SORRY EU! lol) but honestly that is very important to me, keeping people in jobs and manufacturing a high quality product at the same time. Secondly the price is VERY affordable at US $155 its FAR less than other brands of the same quality. Third point it has a 3 year warranty not the usual 2 year warranty. About specific stats, the cup is smaller because I specifically asked for that. As I blow through colour quickly and want to move on to a new choice its much easier than emptying out the cup cleaning out the residue and when you are on Face OFF trust me, time to clean an airbrush is NOT available. We also have developed a special needle and tip for the gun that sprays at .32mm, which is in between the Talon airbrush standard of .25 (fine) and .38 (medium). This is a neat little bonus that the Shadow has over the other guns. The gun comes installed with that set at time of purchase but it also includes in the box a tip, needle, and cap for the size .25mm fine spray, if you wish to get down to finer details. All Talon Parts will interchange with the Shadow as well. So if you already own a Talon this is a perfect complementary gun to set up next to it. I set up three or four guns when I am working and have the quick change fitting on my hose and I just pop back and fourth between those guns.... its so much easier!

-Is there a kind or brand of paint/makeup you prefer to use in your airbrush?

European Body Art, the Endura line specifically. It's amazing and it paints anything! Skin, Silicone, Hair, Latex, Foam Appliances, Fabric. Its tough as nails but gentle on the skin. It's the best paint out there. I always cut it with 99% and thin it because its just a great highly pigmented paint.You can use it full strength if you want to but I prefer to thin it, you can essentially stretch a 1oz bottle into a 2 oz bottle so you definitely get your moneys worth!

Actor David Selby made up as Lincoln by RJ 

-We follow you on Facebook and Twitter, and we love to see how phenomenally busy you are. What future goal would you like to reach in your career?

I’d like to start producing and directing my own films more regularly.That's why “The Family Business” is going to really be a proving ground so to speak. We will definitely show the world what we can do here in West Virginia with a little drive, ambition, skill , and just plain ol stubbornness to not give up! :)

 

-Finally, going back to Face Off, is there an aspect to the show that is less apparent to the public, but that was important for you as you actually went through the experience?

I think definitely the one thing none of us realised or counted on was the fact that we would become such good friends and close through the experience. Now after seven seasons it's become like an exclusive fraternity/sorority where you all have a common background of having been through this “trial by fire” so to speak. That's been the biggest reward of it all as well! I'm incredibly close to several members ... Beki Ingram, David Greathouse, Roy Wooley, Nix Herrera, Frank Ippolito, Rod Maxwell , Jerry Macaluso, Scott Ramp, Brea Joseph and Athena Zhe who was crucial to my team in the season 2 final. And of course I cant forget my fellow finalists from season 2 Rayce Bird and Ian Cromer.... that's just to name a few. They are all wonderful. They have become wonderful confidants and friends because of the experience. The friends we’ve made at SYFY and the production company Mission Control ... the casting company Pittman Casting ... All amazing people and truly wonderful friends!

RJ's love for fun in his work and his unassuming, lovable character make him the makeup artist you would love to work with and the teacher you would die to learn from. We look forward to meeting him at one of his courses one day, and to reviewing "The Shadow" on these pages soon.