I watched the first season of Skin Wars this week and I can honestly say it was a great show. Rebecca Romjin, known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men series, hosts the show alongside judges Robin Slonina, RuPaul Charles, and Craig Tracy. Ten body painters from across the United States are selected to compete in the competition for the grand prize of $100,000. A few other prizes are given out along the way, but ultimately every painter has their eyes set on the jackpot- and it shows. The pieces that the artists create at the end of each mini-challenge as well as during the concept challenges are nothing short of breathtaking.

While the amount of time for each challenge varies, the artists are always working under tight time constrictions and still manage to produce brilliant works of art. Similar to other game shows, viewers are able to get to know the competitors each episode with footage from inside the contestants’ house as well as the contestants’’ reactions to their various tasks, competitions, and interactions with the other competitors.

Before this show, I had only ever seen a few body paintings (one of those being the character of Mystique) and so I was not familiar with the technicality of the painting. I learned a lot about the process of body painting from watching this show and I really believe body painting is an underrated form of art.

Body painting is so natural and beautiful; the canvas is a real, natural human body with all of its assets and imperfections. Artists are able to incorporate every inch of the body from head to toe and turn someone into an inspiring work of art. Artists can even animate their work by having the human models move around and behave a certain way. Skin Wars is an entertaining show that encourages artists to take their creativity to the next level while exhibiting fascinating artwork to the audience.