Artist Guido Daniele Turns Your Arm Into Your Favorite Animal

Published May 19, 2015
Updated February 27, 2024

And you thought that jewelry was the only way to transform your hand into something more exotic.

Guido Daniele Painting

Source: Poblano

We might regard body painting as a relatively new art form, but in reality it is an ancient practice shared across many cultures. Be it tribal painting rituals, henna tattoos or morning makeup routines, the human body has historically presented itself as an apt canvas for personal expression.

In the West, most of our knowledge on the subject begins and ends with clowns painting animals on kids’ faces at birthday parties. But artists like Guido Daniele take the process to the next level. Daniele doesn’t paint animals on human skin so much as he uses paint to transform people into the animals in question.

Guido Daniele Art

Source: Mo Illusions

Guido Daniele Dog

Source: TMAR

Daniele was born in Soverato, Italy. In 1972, he graduated from Brera Academy, where he majored in sculpture. From there, he attended tankas school in Dharamsala, India until 1974. Daniele has taken on a variety of subjects in his work, which he promotes through multiple channels, like advertising, housing murals and set designs.

Hand animals, or “handimals”, as he calls them, are his specialty. It is through this medium that Daniele has become something of an institution in the body art world. Some of his designs are so true to life that viewers often have difficulty distinguishing his hand animals from the real thing.

Zebra Handimals

Source: Guido Daniel

Hand Elephant

Guido Daniele Hand Art

Source: Slideshare

Guido Daniele Wolf

Source: Tumblr

Most of Daniele’s works follow the same simple principle: one hand, one animal. However, some of his more ambitious projects require two or more people to come together for a successful execution.

Deer Hand

Source: Slideshare

Python Hand

Source: Demilked

Guido Daniele Hand Art Duck

Hand Dagger

Woman Lips

Source: Highlike

Woman Cat

Source: Ero Glamour

Women Body Paint

Given Daniele’s ability to transform the human hand into a work of art, it is no surprise that companies such as AT&T and Cartier have commissioned him to promote their products.

Guido Daniele Crocodile

Source: TMAR

Guido Daniele Towers

Source: Gessato

Stonehenge Hand Art

Hand ATT Guards

Source: Guido Daniele

Check out Guido Daniele in action below:

author
Savannah Cox
author
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.