We all go through phases of wanting to change up our hair, I’m sure. There’s always the temptation of some drastic change like dying it completely black which you’ll never truly be able to get out, or bleaching it to platinum blonde for a completely blank slate. I’ve never been brave enough to do either, and the most creative I’ve ever been is a hot pink phase I went through in uni which I probably wouldn’t revisit, but that’s where I appreciate the flexibility of wigs. Not only do you have the creativity and freedom to take on an entirely new colour, but a new style too. For one artist in particular wigs are still used as a blank slate for something even more impressive than a dye job.
Character Select
Welcome to Character Select, a weekly column where PC Gamer takes a look at the art and cosplay created by you. Each week, I’ll highlight a few of my favourite pieces, spotlight and interview creators and artists, or generally just chew your ear off about the talents of the gaming community.
In a short interview with The Fader, Osman shared “I decided to start painting on wigs when I realised that I can do more than just add colour. I could actually bring my hair to life by creating stories on the back of it.” These “stories” aren’t just limited to video games either. Across Osman’s entire Instagram page, you’ll find wigs painted with movie covers like Us and 28 Years Later, as well as album covers like The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance.
No matter where the inspiration has been derived, it’s obvious that a huge amount of effort goes into each painting. After all, I can’t imagine painting hair is particularly easy, especially when you have to consider how much detail and how many different colours goes into a video game scene. According to Osman, “painting on very fine strands can definitely be challenging when working on detailed pieces like Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet. Another challenge is working with different hair colours, so each piece often needs a slightly different approach.”
It’s more than just the painting itself too. The wig colour always seems to be carefully chosen to match the painting, such as teal for Super Mario 64, black for Slender Man and the Scary Maze Game, and dark blue for Sonic. The same process extends to any inspired by film and TV too. Then you’ve then got to take into consideration the amount of time it takes to style the wig before or after painting, and that alone is impressive to me before any paint has even been spread.
The range of paintings created by Osman goes to show that inspiration can be taken from anywhere, and in particular, more nostalgic games tend to be what Osman opts for. Games like Cooking Mama, and screens like the Xbox 360 dashboard take pride and place, and even games like Poptropica, a browser game I spent far too long playing when I was younger, have found their spot in Osman’s collection. I haven’t seen a Webkinz-inspired wig yet, but I’d certainly like to in the future. Though saying that, I don’t think Osman takes requests.
If anything, Osman’s work has shown me that creativity really knows no bounds when it comes to bringing what you love to life in different ways. Outside of the odd bit of leopard print or a few hearts on a buzzcut, painting hair isn’t something I’d ever fathomed people would do, and not to the scale and detail of these projects. Now that I’ve seen it’s possible though, I don’t think I’ll be able to appreciate a plain wig in the same way.
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