Female Flesh recipies

[Gary D]

Hi. I am attempting to paint a 1/24 scale female figure that has a great deal of surface area that needs to be covered in a flesh base coat. I'll then need to blend on oils by hand or airbrush them (if I can get it right). Any ideas on paint mix recipies that show percentages of colours to use? I am used to using Vallejo acrylics as a base coat but by themselves they don't look right for a base coat. ie. Sunny Skintone alone doesn't seem realistic.

Also, anyone had any luck airbrushing on Winsor Newton artists oils before or should I just stick with acrylics? I have an Iwata HPC+ but am not a very good airbrusher.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[Mark Yungblut]

Haven't tried oils in an airbrush. I recently completed a bust and airbrushed all of the flesh using the Andrea Flesh set.

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32520

They airbrush beautifully as long as you thin them with water and alcohol.

Mark

 

[Einion]

Hi Gary, skin colour for women can be just the same as it is for men, it mostly depends on natural colouring and how much sun the person has been exposed to.

There's a full set of fleshtone mixtures listed in this post.

Also, anyone had any luck airbrushing on Winsor Newton artists oils before or should I just stick with acrylics?

Yep, you can airbrush oils if you want long as they are thinned sufficiently. With oil paint you might have to be careful to use some additional oil as well as lots of solvent to make sure the paint is bound sufficiently once it's watery enough. But it depends on how oily your paints are whether this would really be necessary so maybe try some tests, see how it works with solvent only first.

If you do end up trying this and you don't have a spray booth I would recommend you don't thin with turps unless you have another way of ensuring good ventilation. If you want to be cautious about safety you might also prefer not to spray with cadmium pigments, which are only toxic by inhalation or ingestion.

I have an Iwata HPC+ but am not a very good airbrusher.

FWIW you don't need to be very skilled to be able to do zenithal spraying

Einion

 

[Gary D]

Wow! lots to think about. I will seriously give consideration to the andrea set Mark.
Thanks.


Also, thanks Einion for digging into this topic and providing your previous posting. I'll do some experimenting first with the mixes and an old female figure out of the parts box. Worst comes to worst, I can always strip the paint off and try again!

thanks again fella's.


Gary

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Gary,

I'd would agree with Einion that airbrushing is for zenithal effects is quite easy, and airbrushing oils is do-able too.

I did a review on airbrushing techniques, by Geoff Illsley, where he demonstrates airbrushing oils.....

His formula for flesh tones was White, Burnt Umber, and Ochre (from Memory) which he mixed in various ratios for almost all of his basic flesh tones.
(Highlighting was done separately)


I'll re watch the DVD again, and post some notes on here if you like.

Einions knowledge is seemingly boundless......he seems to be a walking scroll of knowledge!

Cheers

Jamie

 

[Gary D]

Thanks all for replying to my question.
Yes it never ceases to amaze me how much information Einion has stored in his head. Thankfully he cares enough about our hobby to constantly share it with us.
I have traditionally used Titanium White, Yellow or Gold Ochre, and Burnt Sienna for my flesh mixes for males (ala Shep Paine). I also use a touch of Venetian Red for cheeks, lips etc.
I wonder if the same paints are used for painting females but with different ratios. Also, by adding oils to help move the paint through the airbrush, would that give it a sheen that would be undesirable?

Any thoughts?

thanks,

gary