When colours come alive!

Designs which are bright, bold and sometimes utterly bizarre are on display at the World Bodypainting Festival. 

More than 300 artists from 45 nations are involved in the three-day competition based at Woerthersee Lake, in south Austria, which started last week.

Is that an octopus on my head? Naah, that’s a model at the World Bodypainting Festival. All photographs: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

The model has gone green with envy. But shouldn’t it be us going green at the sight of her bodypaint?

Covered in lots of blue this woman appears to have a battering ram on her head.

Butterflies or possibly sunflowers have inspired this artist to come up with this bright and colorful design.

Even the darkness can’t stop her from shining.

One can only imagine the amount of planning and time it takes to paint the models with such detail during the annual festival.

With a white body background the artist here is able to use a breadth of different hues to bring to life the design.

This model is the queen of her castle.

My body, my canvas. Around 1,500 participants are competing in the brush and sponge, airbrush and special effects categories.

Quite eye-catching. Crowds can’t help but photograph this woman in all her glory.