08-01-2010, 11:45 AM
Making paint is actually a very complicated process. The paint we use today involves a lot of hard-to-come by (for a wolf) materials and chemicals in order to retain its consistency and pigment. A list from one outdoor paint (which I used because your character will be exposed to the same elements) includes: water, aluminum silicate, quartz, titanium dioxide, acrylic vinyl polymer, and calcium carbonate.
To make a paint that would be safe for a character to wear would involve using limestone, milk, oil and dyes to make a paint as we know it. Because your character is not a luperci it's highly unlikely they would be able to mix and gather these things without great difficulty. Additionally, this is not permanent paint--it would wash/fall out after a few days. Even Native populations, who used paint, were limited to the colors they could find in nature, and often mixed these with clay in order to get them to stay on the skin. However, this was not permanent either, and washed off with water.
As far as finding human paint, because it does use natural ingredients it DOES go bad. Paint can "sour" because it has natural ingredients in it, and it reeks when this happens. Trust me, I worked in theatre for many years and had to throw away gallons of paint because it had gone bad.
Like it was previously mentioned, dye is probably a better and more long-term solution if you want a colorful character. However, I would also advise if this is the case you switch the species to something that can be a Luperci in order to allow them to shift. If you really want a hyena, you will probably run into some issues with them being so colorful.
Your other option would be to have the hyena make friends with a luperci who can make paint and go from there.
To make a paint that would be safe for a character to wear would involve using limestone, milk, oil and dyes to make a paint as we know it. Because your character is not a luperci it's highly unlikely they would be able to mix and gather these things without great difficulty. Additionally, this is not permanent paint--it would wash/fall out after a few days. Even Native populations, who used paint, were limited to the colors they could find in nature, and often mixed these with clay in order to get them to stay on the skin. However, this was not permanent either, and washed off with water.
As far as finding human paint, because it does use natural ingredients it DOES go bad. Paint can "sour" because it has natural ingredients in it, and it reeks when this happens. Trust me, I worked in theatre for many years and had to throw away gallons of paint because it had gone bad.
Like it was previously mentioned, dye is probably a better and more long-term solution if you want a colorful character. However, I would also advise if this is the case you switch the species to something that can be a Luperci in order to allow them to shift. If you really want a hyena, you will probably run into some issues with them being so colorful.
Your other option would be to have the hyena make friends with a luperci who can make paint and go from there.