red hong yi paints ronaldo, neymar + messi using a football

red hong yi paints ronaldo, neymar + messi using a football
all images courtesy of red hong yi

corresponding to the recent kick off of the 2014 FIFA world cup, shaghai-based artist ‘red’ hong yi has painted a portrait of three football superstars — cristiano ronaldo, neymar and lionel messi — using only her feet and a soccer ball. eight different colored paints are contained in buckets, which the artist uses to dip the football into. bouncing the ball between her feet, red carefully composes the images of the three faces onto a solid white canvas laid on the floor of a soccer pitch. the hues of each player’s jerseys are represented in the portraits as well as physical characteristics that make them immediately familiar to the viewer. take a look at the video below to see how the large-scale work was made and the final result.

the final portrait of cristiano ronaldo, neymar and lionel messi

the artist paints with her feet

kicking the ball around the canvass creates the images of faces

the beginning of the painting commences with the outlines of the heads

a yellow-dipped ball will serve as the background

the artist dips the soccer ball into buckets of colored paint

carefully maneuvering the ball around the while colored canvass