UV Body Painting on wonderful horses (TV commercial)

Oh my god, this is going to be so fab! That was my first thought when producer Taina Sirola called me and asked me to join the team for a TV commercial for Veikkaus. I was so excited to hear the stars of the film and my models would be horses! I had never painted horses before, but I was up for the challenge.

I knew we'd have to work on the horses' terms and do everything the way that would be the nicest for them. I asked a little advice from my German collegue who had painted a horse before and got some good tips from her. It was good we also had a test day before the actual shooting days to see how the horses liked us and the whole idea of being painted. I was a little bit nervous in advance, but for no reason. Our furry friends were totally relaxed!

The main star of the film Bensin Barvbie Li aka Barbi. <3

Some guys almost fell asleep...

The designs were discussed and planned with the Creative Director and the Film Director. However, I was given a lot of freedom to use my body painting expertise to create the wow effect. I am so happy my views were appreciated and I was trusted to come up with something big. 

The paints we used were watersoluble cosmetics and meant for skin so they were safe to be applied on the horses too.

Making-of video of this huge production.

We had two long days and altogether we painted 6 different horses. They were all well behaved and such lovely characters. Some of them couldn't care less we around, some were more curious and some almost fell asleep under the brush. <3 At the end of the day they got a bit restless because the trotting scenes of course got their adrenaline rolling. But they were still absolute stars and for us the two days were pure animal therapy. <3

This was one of the memorable projects I've ever worked for and I'm so excited it's got a lot of attention in the media too. Here are two articles about the project, for the first one I was interviewed and got to share the artist's view. 

Iltasanomat: Taiteilija maalasi hevoset kauttaaltaan hohtaviksi tv-tähdiksi: ”Barbie on varsinainen missi”.
M & M:  Veikkaus lähti uudistamaan ravipelaamisen brändiä: "On tuotu mukaan vähän rock-henkeä" .

Here is the killer final TV commercial we created.
I think we are all so proud of this outcome. This was the best way to finish the year 2017.

Horse paintings: Riina Laine
Painting assistants: Minja Konttori & Mari Pylkkänen

Creative director & Agency:
Tuomas Kotialho / Miller & Lean
Director: Mari Mantela
Producer: Taina Sirola
DoP: Jean-Noël Mustonen
Music: Erkka Lempiäinen