Figure Woes

[jdun91764]

I have been building armor models for several years. I have grown in my armor modeling - both in build quality and finish/weather, but my figures have plateaued.

I have tried oils, enamles, and acrylics. I of couse build in 1/35th scale. My uniforms look toyish and the demarcation lins between the hilights and shadows are too bold.

I would like to try painting with Humbol enamels or oils for the flesh tones. Can anyone give me some sample mixes for base flesh tones in bothtube oils and enamels.

For oils I use : White, Gold Ochre, and Burnt Sienna. I base coat the flesh areas with an acrylic tan like Tamiya flesh or Sand. I then add the il mix over the entire face using a clean brush to remove as much as possible. I then add shadows with raw or burnt umber. My hilights are the base mix with more white added. When I am done everything looks "muddy"- usually my hi-lights are gone and the shadows are wrong.

I have tried, studied, and tried again.

Any and all pointers would be greatly appreciated. I am wiling to try ANY medium- so please let me know what works for you.

Thanks-

JD

 

[KeithP]

James-

Give a read to Craig's wonderful Armoram article. This got me started and should help you, too.
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=mod...ticle&artid=117

Also, I attached a BMSS link. Sounds to me like you may be over blending or using too much paint for your highs and shades....
http://www.btinternet.com/~model.soldiers/page38.html

I try a slightly different flavor for each of my figs for flesh. If you want, go thru my bench. I am almost 100% sure that I have the mixes there, too.

Try to avoid using too much tit white in your highlights. Use a bit of your base flesh with the tit white. Also, for your first wet on wet high, put some Jaune Brilliant or Naples yellow in the mix. Use the tit white for only your highest high.
Go sparinginly too.

I should have also mentioned that trying to paint Tamiya and DML figures is a waste of time, IMO. Try a good quality Pegaso or Michael Roberts resin figure. Very difficult to paint detail where there is none...

And, most important keep at it...

Keith

 

[Ray-Bud]

Don't get frustrated---I am also new to figures, and am still working on my flesh tones. The biggest problems that I initially dealt with were using too much paint, and thinking that adding white to my highlights worked. Avoid using white as a highlight if at all possible--there are a number of articles on flesh tones in Military Modeling and HM--both for oils and acrylics. I would also agree that it's easier to show great details when you start with a quality subject. Good luck, and keep painting.

 

[Mongo Mel]

JD,
I sent you a PM with some more info that I hope will be useful for you.

Keith,
Thanks so much for recommending my article
I appreciate it
Craig

 

[garyjd]

James, I would suggest you use what medium yields you the best results and then build off of that. You may be selling yourself short by thinking "that's as good as I'll get with oils", etc etc. Be it sculpting or painting, We all hit those barriers just keep pushing ahead. ~Gary

 

[PJ Deluhery]

Hi JD,

Clearly, you are an experienced modeler with expertise in some areas. Rather than start over, it may make sense to build on what you have. I gather you use acrylics on your armor. There are plenty of people here who get first class results with acrylics - in fact, with any medium. It's just the techniques that are different. It think it's important to use what works for you. In the end it's the painter - not the medium.

It seems to me that the hardest thing with oils is to learn how much paint to use. Most people start out using WAY too much. Use as little as possible - then cut that in half. You might be close to the right amount of paint. Once it goes on, you can't really get it off! You can always add more paint. Paint should be the consistency of milk. Remember, with the undercoat, you don't need that much color saturation. What you are trying to create is a very thin surface coat that will stay wet long enough for you blend. I also agree that you may be overblending which will give you muddy tones, especially if there is too much paint.

After you undercoat, and apply the mid tone of oils, let the paint set for an hour to two. You may find the wet-on wet works easier that way. Also, lay your oils on something absorbent when squeezing them out of the tube and let it set a half hour - to get all the excess oil out of the paint.

There are a thousand flesh mixes. A good basic one I started with is Burnt Sienna and Titanim white. Shade with Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber; highlight with Naples Yellow and Titanium white.

Keep trying and don't get discouraged. You WILL find what you need to get off that pateau! Good Luck!

 

[Einion]

Hi James, if you want to get a really good grasp on painting fleshtones in oils I'd skip the hobby-related guides entirely and go straight to artists whose job it is to paint them to a high standard. I like the instructional books from John Howard Sanden but there are a number of others you might like yourself so browse the local library and bookstores, see what you can find.

Your basic mix is too orange - Gold Ochre is a dulled yellow or orange-yellow, Burnt Sienna is usually a dark orange - at its most basic fleshtones need to be mixed from a red and a yellow with white to lighten and something to neutralise (dull) the mixtures if necessary. If you use a yellow earth and a red earth as your base you won't need a neutraliser but you may need to add a little of a true red, crimson or rose paint for areas such as cheeks and lips.

Be very careful about using Raw Umber in fleshtones, they are commonly very dark yellows or orange-yellows (!) and they often don't look right; and even though Burnt Umber may be the right hue it's far too brown to be realistic if used alone. You'll find that many portrait painters avoid using either and if they do use one it's in very controlled amounts mixed with other paints commonly.

To give you some example mixes:
light highlight - Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light;
midtone - Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, a spot of blue;
shadow - Cadmium Red Light, Yellow Ochre, Titanium white, a touch more blue.

Light highlight - Titanium White, Gold Ochre, Quinacridone Rose;
midtone - Titanium White, Gold Ochre, Quinacridone Rose, a spot of black;
shadow - Burnt Umber, Titanium White and black.

Einion

 

[KeithP]

I would not care to argue with my friend Einion when it comes to oil painting.
And, I will get ahold of one of the Howard books, too.

But, there is alot to be said for looking at fundamental techniques on figures from fellow hobbyiststoo. At least for me...
Aside from Craig's article, I think I got more useful oil painting info from Phil Kessling's HM articles and some of Lou Masses posts here and elsewhere.

Keith